The Monastic Immersion program has just kicked off with last Tuesday night’s orientation.
The idea of the program is to learn Buddhism by living and practicing in a Monastery and maintaining the monastic schedule. Thirty participants from a wide spectrum of religious and educational backgrounds will come to CTTB to participate in the program for ten days. I’ll be there for every section of the program, taking a break from my regular schedule to commit every moment of the day to the session.
We’ll be reading passages from various works on monasticism and its relationship to society in a variety of world cultures, going into more depth specifically in the history of the Buddhist tradition. We’ll also be studying a variety of Buddhist rituals and practices related to diversity of monastic life within Buddhism, while also engaging in them experientially during the intense daily schedule.
The main instructors will be Bhikshuni Heng Chih, who has been a monastic for over fourty years in our Mahayana order, and Martin Verhoeven, was trained as a Buddhist monk for eighteen years under Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. We’ll also have guest monastic speakers, including Theravadin Bhikkhu Ajahn Pasanno from Abhayagiri Monastery, and Venerable Bhikshuni Losong Drimay from The Land of Medicine Buddha.
Franklyn will be up at CTTB for at least part of the program as well too, so, packed schedule permitting, we’ll be updating the blog and with news and reflections as the session continues.