Bhikkhu Training
The Next Generation
The final element of the LBDFI mission is the training of a new generation of Indian monks. In 2007, the Foundation supported 108 monks with food and requisites at the Mahabodhi Society of India. In 2008 the Foundation supported projects to give training in the English language to monks from Bodhgaya viharas. In 2012 the Foundation conducted a research project in Sarnath with 20 monks from Bodhgaya to research the needs of a training program.
Pratimoksa in Bodhgaya
Traditionally, monks recite the Vinaya on a full moon. It is a special ceremony that requires the ground where it occurs to be blessed. Ordinarily the different international Theravada Sanghas perform this recitation within their respective monasteries. LBDFI encouraged a jointly-held Pratimoksa recitation that would occur during or close to the time of the Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony.
This ceremony is intended especially as a training for Indian monks, whose ties to their tradition may still at times be tenuous. Pratimoksa recitation helps these monks internalize the monastic rules, as do the confession and observance of confession.
Collaboration with the Mahabodhi Society of Bangalore
LBDFI has now initiated a nine year training program for Indian monks. In collaboration with the Mahabodhi Society of Bangalore, five Indian novices per year will be enrolled into a training program to produce a new generation of Indian monks with full monastic education. Our vision is to educate 108 monks in this manner in the next 25 years and encourage them to reside at the newly revitalised centers of population and pilgrimage that are emerging all across the Motherland of India.