investigating a trip to thailand in the new year, and as part of that, a meditation retreat. do u have any info/experience with such tings in such part of the world?
but I do have a very good friend who was 'sprung' from a thai monastery by his wife. the abbot was happy to let him go because "he eats sooooo much!"
Thailand is full of great, warm, friendly people with great food. The monastic system there is a little bit different from many other Buddhist countries in that it is customary for pretty much all men to live in a monastery and become 'monks' for short periods of time- basically just like extended retreats, then they come out and go back to regular life.
If you want, I can connect you with him, him and his wife often steer people who want to go to Thailand and fill them in.
I guess the first question is, what is the purpose of your meditation? and second, what type of meditation are you interested in?
thanks, monk, for the offer of linking with ur friend. i do have a relative in thailand who i plan to stay with.
the meditation i'm looking for is nothing too deep, just a bit of disengagement as i'm in a life transition - heading for a significant birthday next year, kids growing up, etc.
i've been looking into retreats in Northern Thailand where for minimum 7 days u have a daily program of breathing, sharing and what appears to be a minimal diet. that's sort of my speed, but i don't know of anyone who has done anything like that to see if it is truly restorative.
there's actually a zen centre just up the road from my work, but that is more about the religion. mi a look something that is religious-ish, but without any real <span style="font-style: italic">instruction</span>, caw mi no know if mi really have any commitment to that right now.
anyhoo, i will carefully ask my cousin but she a christian, actually a missionary, so me no want her suggest meditating on turning my life over to jesus or anyhing like that. no <span style="font-style: italic">offense to jcom christians.</span>
no man, don't worry bout it, because zen is not a religion. at least, it should not be. but just see if they offer some seating meditation or even usually they will do a walking meditation.
when you meditate you are not dealing with God or Buddha at all, usually. I still go to catholic mass from time to time and I'm a disciple.
the whole thing with zen is self awareness and bringing out your own buddha nature. zen comes from japan where it came from china where it came from shaolin temple.
it's just like you say, there should be no actual •instructions• per se, because the process has to be intuitive to the individual and self developed- all buddhism should be is a reference to what is already you, and it should help you realize that the more time you spend with the philosophy. That's where a lot of these new age hacks frig up the thing, because they make it more about them as they teach it.
if the zen centre near you they should have a schedule and open sessions- there should be guided and unguided meditations. Sometimes the person leading the group will simply pose a question which you might think don't make no sense and then you sort of sit there and think about it, or they will give you some other sort of anchor to get you going. more times than not you are left off to your own devices after the basics- like how to sit and breathing. so you can just go there and pree how the thing go. only reason I say that is, for some people (like me lol) sitting around in a half lotus doesn't ring my bell. I like what's called 'action' meditation.
if you pm me your address I have a whole booklet here. Thai people tend to go overboard if you show any interest in them, their culture, or country they will bend over backwards.
actually now that I am looking at this you can probably request a copy from www.tourismthailand.org or email them at:
center at tat dot or dot th
or to the monastery:
santikaro at suanmokkh dot org
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