how longs their waiting process like 3 years? yeah, umm no thx.
What gave you that idea? In my experience every temple is different. Maybe the one you went to had a long waiting list because so many people are trying to get in. The one I went to doesn't have a waiting list or any set time to join.
If you ask if you can stay for awhile as an outsider they'll make a decision as a group. If the group decides they'll let you stay they'll usually give you 2 weeks-2 months. In that time you're expected to contribute by taking part in whatever they're doing, helping in the garden, helping prepare meals, helping out with cleaning, sleeping on the schedule they dictate etc. After a month or so you can make the decision to stay full time. From there they'll start teaching you the things you need to know if you want to become a monk or whatever.
They aren't in there meditating all day. It's a part of it but they do a lot of other things as a group. The one I went to spent much of the day tending to the garden. Everything they ate came from that garden. Meat was never served. On the weekends lots of outsiders came for services. Now and again we'd go into the outside communities to attend events or set-up events. The monks would bring their pots and beg/take up donations.
Every temple is a little different. Each community has some leeway in how they set the rules. It's kind of like the Amish. If there is a long waiting list at your local temple try traveling to another. Where I live is considered the middle of nowhere and there are 7 temples near me within driving distance. Anywhere there is a large Asian community you'll find them. In my are some cater to Chinese, others to Thai, and the one I went to was people mostly from Laos.
But all that aside I mainly mentioned them because they are usually helpful and caring towards the lonely traveler. Assuming you show them respect and don't try to shit the place up. Temples around me are open and have been for a long time now. I think most didn't close for covid at all. Maybe they did in the first few months but not since summer 2020.
Covid was never a big deal here. We didn't have toilet paper shortages. Lots of people never bothered wearing masks. The businesses that tried to enforce the mask thing lost a lot of customers over it. No one cared for the most part. Most people did not go in to get shots. All the large businesses with covid shot mandates can not find anyone to staff local locations. I can't remember the last time the fast food places had their dining rooms opened. They barely have enough staff to work the drive-thru. Tons of people out of work willing to take any job but unable to get hired anywhere because of the covid shot mandates. They're not going to take it no matter how bad things get. At this point they're full of spite and sick of hearing about it. I know more than one person that nearly died from covid that refused the shots. Two local large businesses had to fire 800+ people because they all refused to take the shot. They have not been able to re-staff those locations and one of them has already been forced to move.
Some of our churches closed down over one summer. But they've all been re-opened since Fall 2020. Very few people died from covid here and very few people caught it. But no one knows for sure because most people here refused to take the tests. Our local hospital and Government tried to scare monger with covid for about 2 months in 2020. No one bought it and they stopped. Lots of them failed to win re-election over it. Sheriff refused to enforce any mandates or covid laws. If MSM didn't exist we wouldn't have known covid was a thing.
If you're sick of things being closed travel to the mid-west, south, and small towns all over America. The covid stuff is mainly a problem in the cities. In small town America we've moved on from it long ago.
