hello from Maya

Hi Everyone. I am Maya and have been lurking. I want to express my gratititude for this forum. I have not been to Shasta Abbey. As part of my search for a temple to do monastic training at, I was planning to go for an intro retreat around the time RM Eko resigned and decided to watch and wait before contacting the Abbey. Please know that the honesty and openness of many of you has been a helpful teaching for me.

I may visit Shasta Abbey at a future time but for now, I am going to DeerPark Monastery (Thich Nhat Hanh lineage) for a few months.

Thank you for your compassoin and willingness to be vulnerable.

with bows,
Maya

hi Maya -- welcome! Drop in anytime.

I hope you enjoy the retreat at Deer Park. Come back and tell us how you found it, if you like. I know a number of people here would be interested, myself included.

cheers,
Lise

Dear Maya,

Best of luck to you. I have great admiration for Thay. If you get to the part where you shave your head, make sure you have a good hat. You lose 80 to 90 percent of your body heat through your head!

Let us know in a few months how it went and what you decide.

Best wishes,
mokuan

Hi Every One!

Happy Lunar New year!
Update:

My family came to the monastery to visit for Lunar New Year and to talk with the Abbess. I will be remaining here a few more weeks and then go home to take care of things so I may return in late spring to stay.

I want to share a little with you as your sharing on this site has been very helpful for me. I feel that your experiences have helped me be more realistic in my discerning of a place to train.

For me the only way to know if this is the way is to do it -so if all goes well, I will be ordained a Novice this September. And you know, just be where I am.
It isn't easy here but my mind and heart are growing and I want to stay. The Sisters and Brothers are kind and practical. I like that.

I was afraid my family would be angry as they paid my way through Dental School and I've only been in my Uncle's practice a year, but no, they say I must try it as it hasn't left me alone. Also the Monastic Sangha of their Home Temple (Hsi Lai in Calif.) is super supportive and spoke kindly of me to the monastics here.

I was worried that being Chinese I might not fit in but it doesn't matter at all.

Anyways. That's all for now. I have to help in the kitchen. I'll be in touch again.

with bows of gratitude,

Maya

Maya wrote:

Hi Every One!

My family came to the monastery to visit for Lunar New Year and to talk with the Abbess. I will be remaining here a few more weeks and then go home to take care of things so I may return in late spring to stay.

For me the only way to know if this is the way is to do it -so if all goes well, I will be ordained a Novice this September. And you know, just be where I am.
It isn't easy here but my mind and heart are growing and I want to stay. The Sisters and Brothers are kind and practical. I like that.

I was afraid my family would be angry as they paid my way through Dental School and I've only been in my Uncle's practice a year, but no, they say I must try it as it hasn't left me alone. Also the Monastic Sangha of their Home Temple (Hsi Lai in Calif.) is super supportive and spoke kindly of me to the monastics here.

Anyways. That's all for now. I have to help in the kitchen. I'll be in touch again.

with bows of gratitude,

Maya

I'm not familiar with Hsi Lai, and which temple are you actually going to study in?

I believe one of the main lessons to take away from this forum is the need to maintain independence. That way if you feel the need to leave the temple in the future you will not be held back by financial or other constraints. There is a natural tendency, which may be encouraged by the community members, to want to burn your bridges and throw yourself in wholeheartedly. I support the "throwing yourself in" part, but not the bridge burning.

Best wishes on your journey!

Hi Maya and Isan,

Hsi Lai is a very big and impressive temple in Hacienda Heights California, very near where I grew up. It is a progressive and positive lineage from Taiwan. Nice people.

So Maya, keep your eyes open, your head cool, and your feet warm - to paraphrase an old master. May it go well.

Kyogen

Hi Everyone,

Some clarification: Hsi Lai is the Temple my family attends and where I grew up. I love them but have no sense of belonging there. I will be training at DeerPark Monastery-- at least at first http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/. Check out Clarity Hamlet.

Isan, Thank you for your advice.

My Dad and uncle will be looking after the financial side of things for me for a while. I saved everything last year and even new dentists make a decent salary. And thanks to my family i have no school debt so all is well. I'm also taking a year's leave of absence from the practice initially, so I can return to my former position if necessary.

Kyogen Roshi, I will keep your words in mind. Truth to tell, I will miss my hair. It's a little embarassing how much.

more from me soon.

with bows,
Maya

Maya, do keep checking in --

I'm curious, you have to cut your hair right away? Or maybe you've done a term of postulancy already and you're at the next stage? Forgive me if I've missed part of your posts.

I would miss my hair too. Except lately, the bad-hair days far outnumber the good ones . . .

L.

Hi Lise and all,

Actually ones hair is cut just before taking novice ordination, which is planned for September at this time. I'm just being silly early. My hair is super long and I'm used to it.

I don't think therre is a postulancy at many monasteries. There is a period of lay residency and guidance in living the precepts etc. In my own situation, I took Refuge precepts as a young girl and Bodhisattva Precepts as a teen at Hsi Lai Temple. So the monastics and I agreed that if I am happy there and am going to pursue ordinatio9n. There is not a good reason to wait forever. In the U.S. most of the novice nuns are in the Vermont Monastery so I will probably go there for traning at somepoint. Also probably to Plum Village and other places.

SInce my family does business in Asia and I grew up helping out, I am fairly fluent in a few of the languages including Vietnamese so that's also useful.

Maybe some of this is cultural because it seems a natural, no big deal (except for the hair) thing to do. To check out Monastic life as I feel called to full time training and service. I think part of my interest in Shasta is the fact that it is Western (and so for me not "cultural"). Silly, yes? I want to be "pure"' in my motivation. GIGGLE.

ANyways. I will go home next week and I am looking forward to it.

Hope allis well with you good dharma brothers and sisters.

with Bows,

Maya

I will keep in touch and will upload before and after pictures at some point.

Hello Maya,

You seem to have a pretty clear idea of what you are doing and why, which is very good. Please do stay in touch on this forum.

With palms joined,

Kyogen