TRAINEE PROGRAM

Returning to the Root ·
Listening for Our True Calling

The Trainee Program is a six-to-twelve-month period of full immersion in the monastery at Redwood Vihara. It is designed for those who have already served as resident volunteers or completed our Monastic Immersion Program, and who now wish to deepen their spiritual practice, cultivate emotional maturity, and explore a life of wholehearted service.

This stage is not “becoming a monk.” It is a dedicated period of discernment—a chance to understand oneself more deeply, to heal, to grow, and to discover one’s true direction. Some participants may eventually choose to take further steps towards monastic life, while others may continue as laity to be of service to their families, work, and society grounded in their training at the monastery.

The Why

Modern life is fast, fragmented, and often confusing. Many people feel pulled by expectations—family, society, work, or their own inner pressures—without ever having a clear space to listen to their own heart.

The Trainee Program provides that space that offers:

  • A first-hand experience of living in a monastery

  • A time of inner purification and healing

  • A supportive environment for emotional clarity, steady mindfulness, and genuine well-being

  • A grounded training in compassionate service

Trainees will learn how to care for themselves with kindness, relate to others with wisdom, and allow the mind to return to its natural clarity and depth.

The How

The program follows four interwoven strands. Practice and spiritual cultivation is weaved into the fabric of daily life.  

  • Practice (meditation, recitation, bowing, chanting, Vinaya)

  • Service (kitchen, facility maintenance, website, etc.) 

  • Study (immersion in Sutra-treasury and philosophical texts)

  • Community (noble friendship, mutual encouragement and feedback)

The Dharma-Vinaya and monastic schedule serve as a container to establish a healthy and virtuous ecosystem that is conducive to spiritual growth and practice. Trainees will be required to uphold the Community Pledge to maintain this sacred space for our shared inquiry. The Six Guidelines and the Four Boundless Hearts will be the intentional culture of all our interactions.

The Training is designed around the Noble Eightfold Path, and will involve learning essential cultivation skills such as mindfulness of the breath, body awareness, loving-kindness practice, recitation, memorization, careful listening, wise speech, and occasional periods of noble silence. These skills not only support our inner peace and well-being, but allows us to live together harmoniously in community. The Buddhist sutras/suttas and commentaries will serve as roadmaps for our spiritual journeys; the biographies of great teachers will be our models for practice.

The polestar will be the Bodhi Resolve, the commitment to awakening in order to serve all living beings. This cultivation begins with nurturing our own inner well-being that then expands to include others, and ripples out to the entire world. Compassion and wisdom emerges naturally in our day to day life in the monastery. 

Service is a central part of the Trainee Program. Trainees learn to support the life of the monastery through simple, steady acts of care. They cultivate an awareness of the Sangha’s needs and also learn to welcome and support lay visitors when they come to the monastery. Trainees help with food preparation, cleaning, setting up for community activities, and other daily tasks that sustain the monastic environment.

In a community of noble friends, we will “return to the root.” How deep we go is up to each of us. 

The Commitments

Trainees enter a simple, disciplined way of life that supports clarity, mindfulness, and inner growth. These commitments create a stable environment for practice and harmonious living in community.

Living by the Eight Precepts

The Eight Precepts serve as a way of life grounded in simplicity and compassion.

  1. Not killing — cultivating kindness and compassion

  2. Not stealing — practicing contentment

  3. No sexual activity — finding inner fullness

  4. Not lying — speaking truthfully and kindly

  5. No intoxicants — keeping the mind clear

  6. Not wearing adornments or seeking entertainment — turning attention inward

  7. Not sleeping on high, luxurious beds — supporting wakefulness

  8. Not eating after noon* — living simply and lightly
    *Trainees have the additional practice of following the DRBA tradition of having one meal a day.

Together, these commitments create a peaceful and harmonious environment for everyone to practice together.