When I ordain, can I use the same laptop as I’m using now or does my family need to offer it to me? Also, should I be using a phone when I become a monk? I think it’s unnecessary for me because I can probably communicate with my family using zoom on my laptop. I don’t want to be attached to things. I think I should use a laptop though because I need it to study the Dhamma and use AI to translate suttas and commentaries.
What about my glasses? Does my family need to offer it to me or can I just take it with me when I ordain? I don’t really use my glasses a lot but it is useful in some situations.
I guess having a phone could be useful because I can create audio files for suttas or parts of suttas using text to speech and listen to those.
Only toothpaste, medicines things like that need to be offered.
Other non-money things you bring along from lay life, you can keep. And it’s also my advice to keep, so that you don’t burden supporters if you ever need one in the future. Use until they spoil then can think about how to replace it, by that time, maybe you got a good support base or is in a rich enough monastery to request for one.
Both laptops and phones are good to have. Of course, if your lifestyle is hermit-like, you may just want to find somewhere safe to lock them up. Just keep in mind that SSD storage will degrade if they are not in contact with power source for a while. So every few months turn on the laptop/ phone just to get it going is good.
Technically, a monk can also be offered a hut, so if you own a home, you could just live in it as well. Just as usual, tax issues has to be settled by someone else, etc. Much easier not to have these things which are taxable.
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Thank you for replying, Venerable Sir.
I hope I can ordain as soon as possible. I’m excited to become a monk.