How does one become a monk?

[iloveds]

I have someone close to me who wants to be a monk.

Does anyone know how he should go about it, how long it takes, the process, how to request etc?

Has anyone become a monk lately?

[Losang_Tenpa]

It took me over 10 years of continually asking my Teachers, including asking the Dorje Shugden oracle, before conditions were right for me to ordain. I had much purification to do and merit to collect before I was ready.

When I was finally ready, everything fell into place.

[iloveds]

So how does it go like...

Did you start with a letter? Did you request audience? For the ceremony/ baptismal (sorry don't know another word).

Care to elaborate your experience?

[Losang_Tenpa]

I asked the abbot of a well known monastery. I had the support of a few monks who had already been through the process and agreed to guide me along the way. The abbot agreed to help me ordain but referred me to another Lama to take the first step; rabjung ordination.
 Rabjung is a ceremony involving at least 4 fully ordained monk where you commit to leaving the house-holders life. You also commit to using your new Dharma name and wearing the robes of a monk. It is during this ceremony that the ordination-master cuts your hair and explains the robes and possesions of a monk. He also has you repeat certain phrases.
At this first step, although you are a monk, you are not officially a vow-holding monk until you take the next step-Getsul Domba (novice vows).
The next step after getsul is gelong, full ordination.

[iloveds]

I understand refuge vows taken from your Guru, but monk vows is it the same?

[Losang_Tenpa]

They are 2 different things, although parts of the ceremonies are similar.
 The Lama who granted me ordination actually was very thorough and started by giving the genyen vows (layman vows) again.
Some of the aspects of the actual ordination for a monk are not to be disclosed to laymen (at least that is what my ordination master told me)

[WisdomBeing]

This is an interesting topic, albeit perhaps more suited for the General Buddhism section of the forum... but I'm curious - is the process the same for becoming ordained as a nun?

[DSFriend]

Appreciate the discussion and do keep sharing.

Note: This topic will be moved to the General Buddhism section.

[buddhalovely]

The first step is an initial visit with the candidate. The number of visits depends on distance and finances, Brother Michael said.

Secondly, the candidate is interviewed by the vocation committee, vocation director, novice director and a senior monk. The candidate must provide three letters of recommendation.

“This is usually done in one long visit or several short visits,” Brother Michael wrote in an e-mail.

The third step, observership, entails the actual living in the monastery and living as the monks do. Normally the stay is about two months, which can be extended if the candidate wishes.

Next, the candidate leaves the monastery for a minimum of 30 days to further discern his vocation. If accepted, he returns for postulancy, which is typically a one-month term during which the candidate is helped to adjust to monastic life before entering as a novice.

The novitiate is the sixth step for an aspiring monk. During this time, which is normally about two years and five months, the candidate is clothed in the white habit of a novice, and continues his discernment process.

The novice then makes his simple vows. He becomes a “junior”—a monk in simple/temporary vows. The monks take three vows—those of obedience, stability (to live in this particular monastery for the rest of one’s life), and conversion of manners, which the monk makes to devote his life to conversion. Simple vows may last anywhere from three to nine years.

Finally, a monk makes his solemn (final) vows, promising to live out the vows in the monastery until death (or rather, heaven).

http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/2007/04/26/monk/