QUESTION
Greetings, Ven. Robina.
I am inquiring about advice for nuns entering the sangha who are from the West. Also, I’ve read about your life and many aspects of your story I relate to deeply.
I have been practicing Dharma for a while and since my partner died I’m seroiusly thinking about ordination.
I have my lamas and they say I would make a good nun. And after much thought and research and such, over the past years, many doors have opened to show me the possibilities and benefits of doing that. And I have the means.
But I was advised by many senior female figures in the lay Buddhist community to ask as many other elder nuns as possible.
Thank you for responding! Many blessings to you!
C
ANSWER
Happy to hear from you, dearest C!
You seem to be on the right track: your mind is clear, you have holy lamas guiding you, you have your practice: all the internal and external conditions in place. Wow! What a blessing.
Why be a nun? Interestingly I just wrote a few words for our IMI sangha newsletter and here’s part of what I wrote:
“And why do I always want to be a nun? From what I understand from hearing Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings, quitting samsara is an uphill battle, insurmountable even, without living in vows, especially the vow of no sex.
“Many lay people these days live celibate lives: they live like nuns and monks. But if it’s not done in the context of vows, there’s no power. And then the only time the action of refraining from sexual activity leaves a karmic seed is when the mind is involved, in other words when there’s intention; and for it to be a worthwhile seed the intention needs to be driven by a pure motivation. How often in a day would that happen?
“As Rinpoche says, just being good is not enough.
“According to Rinpoche, the power of vows is such that twenty-fours a day we’re keeping them, not only are we dropping into our mind delicious, rich, virtuous karmic seeds, we’re also putting atomic bombs under the past negative ones. And it seems that living in vows purifies all four ways that karma ripens: the type of rebirth, the tendencies, the experiences, and the environment.
“As for the tendencies: that alone is fantastic. Can you imagine waking up next life with no thought of sex, no attachment to people and things, and the rest? What a relief!”
This for me is key, C. This is the bottom line. For sure living in a community, studying, practicing together is so powerful. But it’s the vows that enable us to get out of samsara.
So, dearest one, it seems to me you’re doingbeautifully. I rejoice!
Stay in touch if you like, for sure.
Love and blessings,
Robina