The following links explain how to become a bhikkhu (monk) and the ordination procedure.
- It is important to note that you must be at least 20 years old, free from government or family obligations, debts and all kinds of obligations related to secular life. During the ceremony, you will go from layperson to samanera (taking the 10 basic precepts) and you will be given the final ordination. You will be asked questions about your health and whether you are a human being. There was a naga who disguised himself as a human to join the sangha. Lord Buddha found out and told the naga to leave. The reason is that it can be dangerous if non-humans and humans live in the same place. To pay homage to this naga, we wear white and for the ceremony, we temporarily take the name naga. Even a deva and a Brahma cannot become bhikkhus.
- The questions are as follows:
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.)
- Actions that prevent anyone from becoming a bhikkhus even if they have the qualities. See this link: Ordination
Disqualifications
The factors that would disqualify an applicant from receiving ordination are of three sorts:
those absolutely disqualifying him for life—even if he receives ordination, he does not count as properly ordained;
those marking him as an undesirable member of the Community—if he happens to be ordained, he counts as ordained, but the bhikkhus participating in the ordination incur a dukkaṭa; and
those indicating that he is formally unprepared for full Acceptance (for instance, he lacks robes and an alms-bowl or does not have a valid preceptor)—the Canon does not state whether these factors absolutely invalidate the applicant’s Acceptance, but the Commentary puts them in the same class as the undesirables, above.
A person may be absolutely disqualified if he or she:
1) has an abnormal gender;
2) has committed any of the five deeds leading to immediate retribution in hell (ānantariya/ānantarika-kamma);
3) has seriously wronged the Dhamma-Vinaya; or
4) is an animal (non-human).
The Canon states that such people may not receive full Acceptance. The Commentary adds (with one exception, noted below) that they may not receive the Going-Forth. Even if they receive ordination, they do not count as ordained. Once the truth about them is discovered, they must immediately be expelled.
The prohibition for having seriously wronged the Dhamma-Vinaya covers any person who has:
a) committed a pārājika while previously a bhikkhu (Pr.I.7);
b) taken affiliation by theft;
c) gone over to another religion while still a bhikkhu; or
d) molested a bhikkhunī.