I know Bhante is now in Canada, I wasn't thinking of going to a monastery to "be close to a certain monk" like a groupie following a rockstar around lol.
I also wasn't thinking of any time soon because of covid, obviously we have moral obligations to not cause anyone harm and even travelling to far away from my home could be a potential for causing harm.
I am thinking of a more distant future, a few years in the future or even a decade.
I have a bit of a conundrum where I am trying to find a place that teaches true dhamma and where I can practice true dhamma on my own terms (to some extent) which from the way Bhante was explaining in this video it seemed that that place may be more suited for me.
So I am not looking for a monastery that is full of statues and where things like prayer wheels, offerings to statues, heavy chanting and singing songs ect. Basically dhamma devoid of the religious stuff that multiple traditions have added to it.
Just solitude, renunciation of material things and refuge to sangha.
It's hard to articulate exactly what I am looking for but I will know the place when i see it!
This place in Malaysia is the closest I have found to what I am looking for.
https://vbgnet.org/
For context I am in the UK if it makes any difference. As you could imagine, this is not a Buddhist country. Becoming a true renunciate in this society could potentially cause death.
When I was younger I lived in a type of monastery/college/centre that teaches tibetan mahyana/vajrayana.
The majority (if not all) of the theravada monasteries in this country are related to the Thailand forest sangha and teachings from Ajahn chah.
Not saying that there is anything wrong with these places it is just that it seems that it doesn't suit my temperament, specifically the former as it is very much in the world rather than renouncing the world, full of idolatry conjecture, guru devotion, faith and belief systems ect