Took train to Chaiya. No taxis at train station so had to get rides on scooter taxis. A bit reluctant at first given the fact we were wearing packs, and our experiences with the other taxis in Thailand, but the drivers smelt our fear and were very considerate, getting us there in one piece.
10 days silent meditation at Buddhist retreat. Anapanasati meditation as taught by the late Buddhadasa Bhikkihu who founded the centre and adjoining monastery. Bathing (and shitting) thai-style! Sleeping on concrete / wooden slabs with no mattresses, wooden pillows. Apparently helps to avoid oversleeping! No shit - up at 4am every morning without a hassle. Unfortunately gave J the added side effect of his knees giving out when he walked.
Mixture of sitting, standing, walking meditation. Also daily yoga and chanting. Rice soup for breakfast - that bit got a bit tiresome by the end. Yummy coconut treats at lunch. Glass of hot chocolate for dinner. The diet helped with some weight loss, Louisa was able to wave farewell to the last bits of the Heathrow injection and J said hello to his ribs and protruding hip bones. The daily chores were fun, Louisa cleaned 30 toilets in total compared to Jonathan's 1, but J maintains that his was much filthier and equivalent to 30, being a boy's toilet. Didn't quite manage to organise torches - made walking round the grounds at night and early morning very interesting!
Meditation training not as specific as Goenka style vipassana retreats - encouraged more to experiment for yourself and the pace is a lot more relaxed. Ended up slipping into vipassana meditation by the end to get into deeper states. Buddhist teaching was wonderfully presented though and had many insights merely from accepting and applying this.
Never realised monks were so crazy! British monk (Tan Dhammavidu) with very dry but wonderful sense of humour gave us dhamma talks most days. Cut through any crap and gave us the essence of Buddhist teaching in very entertaining way. Challenged most of the traditional Buddhist beliefs and encouraged us not to believe anything, but look for the essence and try things out for ourselves. Looked like skeletor, didn't open his eyes much during talks. Would get side-tracked and start reminiscing of cigars and whiskey, giant elephant poo and dogs with tapeworm protruding from their arses. Taught us of the age-old technique of visualising decomposing corpses to alleviate sexual thoughts. Frequently swore. Jonathan can definitely see himself in his shoes in a couple of decades.
Thai monk (Tan Meddi) was crazy - shouting chanting at top of his lungs through the microphone. He was sick and kept doing long, loud dribbly sniffs into the microphone to prove it. Kept going on about how he might well die overnight, like flicking off a light switch, so to make the most of the time we had with him now. Incredible amount of energy - don't think he gets to talk much outside of his sessions at the retreat. Known around the monastery as the tall dark and handsome monk. Has a melodic catch phrase - 'nanananananana' which he manages to slip in to most talks a number of times for a reaction.
Metta (loving kindness) meditation teacher was wonderful. Very healing meditation sessions, beautiful stories to open our hearts. Chanting teacher Ben, also a very sweet woman (former nun). Told us stories of her time as a nun - gave it up cos she didn't like having to cook for the monks! Once got threatened by a king cobra while she was doing her washing. Gave it metta and it went on its way.
Began to really appreciate the nature - so many crazy insects / spiders / birds/ frogs / lizards butterflies / dragonflies / fireflies / grasshoppers / fish, etc. All very cool except for the fucking huge red ants and the nasty mosquitoes - not allowed to kill them even when they come in for the kill! Apparently snakes too, though didn't see any however found evidence of one in one of the women's toilets.
L nearly killed by a falling coconut. One night J got ants in his pants - literally - giant red ones!
After giving talks on importance of constant mindfulness, Nun Aree falls into a pond during one of our night-time group walking meditations!
After finishing retreat, spent one night at the adjoining monastery. Male dorm consists of a single room with wooden floor and grass mat to sleep on, and mosquito net. J gets trampled in the middle of the night by one of the male retreat-goers returning to monastery in wee hours after a presumed drinking binge! Female dorm a little more inspiring but run by very solemn Nun Nathinee.
Overall monastery seemed a little run-down and overgrown. And not a large population of residents either.
Hung out and talked with monk Tan Meddi for a couple of hours. Wonderful guy, very entertaining and easy to talk with - lent us collection of discourse audio CDs (20 CDs full of MP3s) from original talks given by Buddhadasa to copy to laptop. Should keep us going for a while!
Hung out in monastery grounds - mainly overgrown jungle. At night time watched monks congregate and perform chanting for a couple of hours, watched by the nuns. All very special experiences.
Didn't enjoy the packs of semi-stray dogs though. They get freaked out by the crazy noises made by the insects and seem to turn into wolves! Jonathan got charged and almost bitten by one on way to breakfast!
Seems to still be quite sexist - the difference between monks and nuns. Realised possibility of why this is once, after a brief early morning meditation session in the grounds, the two of us observed the behaviour of the roosters. Noting that monks dress in orange robes, similar in appearance to roosters, and the nuns dress in white, similar to hens. The roosters run around cockadoodle-dooing their heads off while the hens congregate and keep quiet. Very reminiscent of the chanting sessions the night before.
30 Baht ($1.50NZ) for beautiful thai vegetarian meal. Accommodation was free, so know where to come if things get tight!
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