Buddhist monk education level

Question

I saw that many of the western monks like Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Shumedho, Ajahn Sucitto etc. have an university degree. I'm 24 years old from Switzerland and I only finished secondary school with 15 years old. I tried many times to make an apprenticeship as an information scientist but failed due to my strong depressions. I was a few times in a psychiatric clinic because I tried to kill myself. The last 2 years i was just staying at home with no goals in life.

I started to read about Buddhism and meditation. I really think that this would help me out in my difficult life. I even thought about to join a monastery and become a Theravada Buddhist monk. I just worry about my education level. I saw the youtube videos from the monks mentioned above. They seem very intelligent when they speak due to their education in an university. I feel pretty dumb compared to them.

tl;dr

I went to:

• 1-6 primary school
• 7-9 secondary school

Is this enough to become a monk?

Answer 1

The main objective of being a monk is to attain Nibbana as soon as possible. Not to achieve recognition for being knowledgeable or intelligent. Read the story of the novice Culapantaka who couldn't even memorize 1 stanza for 4 months.

I went to: 1-6 primary school 7-9 secondary school Is this enough to become a monk?

Being capable enough to chase away a crow is enough to be ordained as a novice. So, yes!

Keep in mind that you don't have to make youtube videos or preach to large audiences, just because you get ordained. You could simply stay in a forest or monastery, meditating. Wanting to be recognized can cause a lot of depression in a person. Work on giving up that need.

Answer 2

I could suggest you try to make some personal contact with Buddhists. I think that joining a monastery isn't an all-or-nothing, black-or-white things: for example you can visit a monastery, stay for a while, before you ask to become a monk.

To try to answer your question, here are some quotes from Plum Village (which is, apparently, Vietnamese Zen),

Becoming a Monastic

There is also a wide variety of ages, from age 15 to 79, though most of the monastics are in their 20’s and 30’s.

All applicants must be under 50 years of age. No academic degree is required. If you are under 18, you must have permission from your parents. Those who have serious or terminal illnesses or severe disabilities can not be accepted as monastics.

As a candidate for the novitiate you should stay in either Plum Village Monastery for at least three months. In this way you can have direct experience of monastic, communal life and the Sangha can observe whether or not you have a strong monastic vocation.

Or, for Theravada more specifically, a web site for Theravada in Switzerland seems to be http://www.theravada.ch/

One of the pages which this links to is http://www.geneva-vihara.org/fr/bhante.html which says, about its chief monk,

Bhanté Dhammika est moine depuis l'âge de onze ans. Il a étudié le Bouddhisme, la langue Pâli et le Sanskrit avec son propre Maître, Vénérable Mãwanané Pemãnandã au temple de Sri Vijayãnanda à Habarakada/Gãlle au sud du Sri-Lanka. Puis, il a poursuivi ses études à l'Université de Colombo au Sri-Lanka, puis en Europe à la Sorbonne en France.

So this man clearly did most of his studying after he became a monk.

Anyway I suspect there are many different types of career path for Buddhist monks ... for example some might be more scholars, others might meditate more, others might act for (interact with) the lay community, etc.

Answer 3

I'm sorry Paul, but to become a monk, you need to have a PhD.

PhD = "Permanently holding onto Dhamma" :-)

This website has some requirements and procedures to become a monk.

You need to first become a novice monk (samanera), which involves taking up the ten precepts of the novice monk.

But before becoming a novice monk, you can consider becoming an anagarika, who observes the eight precepts.

You will first be asked these questions before ordination:

1. Do you suffer from leprosy? If you do, answer 'Yes, Venerable Sir', if you do not, answer 'No, Venerable Sir'.
2. Have you got boils?
3. Have you got eczema?
4. Have you got tuberculosis?
5. Do you get epilepsy?
6. Are you a human being?
7. Are you a man?
8. Are you a free man?
9. Are you free from government service?
10. Have you got your parents' permission to be ordained?
11. Have you a set of three robes and an almsbowl?
12. What is your name? (My name is Naga.)
13. What is your preceptor's name? (My preceptor's name is Venerable Tissa.)

I also have in this answer, some quotes on how mindfulness and meditation helps depression, including a quote from Scientific American.