Why would I ordain?
03 Exploring Monastic Life (2025)
Venerable Thubten Chonyi 
Exploring Monastic Life 2025 
Jul 28, 2025 Part of a series of teachings given during Sravasti Abbey's annual Exploring Monastic Life program in 2025
- Audience responses to the question, “Why would a person ordain?”
- Why confidence in the possibility of liberation is essential for our practice
- Ethical conduct creates the causes for a higher rebirth
- Living as a monastic helps us to prioritize the Dharma
- How monastic communities support the Dharma in our world
- Questions and answers
- Clarifying why one needs to ordain to accomplish spiritual goals
- Why do we dedicate for the benefit of beings we don’t know?
- Contemplating the disadvantages of cyclic existence
- The importance of carrying the Dharma with us to benefit all beings
Venerable Thubten Chonyi
Ven. Thubten Chonyi is a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She has studied with Sravasti Abbey founder and abbess Ven. Thubten Chodron since 1996. She lives and trains at the Abbey, where she received novice ordination in 2008. She took full ordination at Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan in 2011. Ven. Chonyi regularly teaches Buddhism and meditation at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane and, occasionally, in other locations as well.
