Monky business

Naga: mythical beast motif along stairway

After a while on the beaches of Koh Tao, and also unfortunately feeling a little under the weather, we decided to separate and do some different things for a while. Lisa went off to the island of Koh Lanta to work with roguish but lovable dogs and cats. While in the throes of recuperation, I booked a place in a Buddhist monastery for a 10 day meditation course. I'd been thinking about such a retreat for a while, even while in the UK and thought it would help me through this period of quite radical change.

 I set out from Koh Tao - ferry then bus to Bangkok- this totaled about 8 hours. This was followed by the sleeper train to Chiang Mai, on the north of Thailand. This should have been a fifteen hour journey but was mysteriously elongated to 18 hours. Maybe a test of patience by the monks? So, arriving late, my most pressing task was to buy some white underwear. This may sound unusual but during the meditation course, for students, every item of clothing must be white. Every item. The rest would be supplied by the monastery but they drew the line (and frankly so would I) at second hand white underwear.

This accomplished I managed to have my first proper meal in a week, my evil bacteria having been defeated, and had a brief conversation with Lisa, which would be my last until the end of the course. Then it was a talkative taxi ride to the monastery.

Thanks to Thai National Railways I was the last to arrive and the other students were already dressed and being coached by the 'Foreign Meditator Monk'. As the taxi pulled up he bustled out and handed me a form to fill in. Being sweaty and with a large rucksack, I was happy to sit down and answer some easy questions. The monk, who's name was Fra Chaibodin I think, then quickly recapped the important items of what was expected: students were not to gossip or ask another student about their meditation, which in practice meant no students talked at all. Practicing mindful behaviour also meant walking slowly, no rushing, with downcast eyes. This last factor reinforced the silence between students. I was then shown what would be my room for the next ten days. Spartan furnishing, with a nonexistent mattress, but with a private toilet and shower. Not too bad.

I returned, enrobed in white, well more like pyjamaed really, in time for all of us to go to the opening ceremony. This is where we ask the abbot for the gift of being mentored. We had to present gifts of white flowers, yellow candles and sticks of incense. Then we spoke after the 'Monk Translator' (an important fellow who is on hand to deputise and translate for the abbot) in Thai, asking for teaching and praising Buddha, the dharma and those on the road to enlightenment. After 30 minutes or so on our knees doing this we were ushered out and returned to Fra Chaibodin's office for 30 minutes meditation practice: 15 minutes walking meditation and 15 minutes sitting. Then to bed!

A monk photographing Alex

Main temple at monastery

The regular day at Wat Ram Poeng monastery begins at 4am, with a sonorous bell that sets all the dogs to howling, so there's no need for an alarm clock. From then the students are expected to do sets of meditation (walking, sitting, walking ...) until breakfast at 6.30am. Another bell sounds and most people (apart from monks who choose to eat in their quarters) gather in the main dining room. As well as students and resident monks, this can also include large groups of Thais who are attending a one-day or more course. One fond memory is the 'contemplation of food'. This was written down on sheets, spelled phonetically, for us foreigners. Everyone joined in before touching any food. And this was often preceded by the prayers of the monks themselves, delivered in a deep chant. The food was quite good and there was only one occasion when breakfast was too spicy to finish.

As soon as breakfast was finished we washed our own plates and cutlery, then it was back to our quarters. The place we lived in was like a small enclosed block of flats, two stories tall. There are many plants, water features and trees within the monastery, to assist contemplation I suppose, but the downside is the amount of leaves that carpet the ground daily. As such, I learned that an after-breakfast task for us was sweeping. This felt a little weird at first as you could be sweeping next to a fellow student but often you wouldn't meet their eye or speak, as you should be focusing on yourself and your own meditative efforts. So, a little socially awkward but this is what we signed up for, right?

We are then expected to meditate until lunch, which is at 10.30. The meal is pretty much a repeat of breakfast but with a little more food. After this? You guessed it. More meditation, until 2pm, when we went to the abbot to 'report'. These reporting sessions are a central part of the vipassana meditation technique. After a day's meditation this is your opportunity to tell the abbot what you have done or experienced, ask questions and receive mentoring from him. Importantly, it was also pretty much the only time you talk to anyone, which added an extra emotional dimension to the session.

After reporting it was expected that, as the course went on we would meditate for a longer time, up to and beyond the 'recommended' bed time of 10pm. In fact, I was told that I should use the hour between 10pm and 11pm for meditation. Five hours sleep a night did not make me a happier meditator.

The meditation practice consisted of a period of slow, 'mindful' walking where you focus on the mechanical act of walking, followed by a period of sitting where you get rid of conscious thought by focusing on the breathing. It's amazing how much random, 'white noise' thoughts zoomed around in my head during these sessions: memories, regrets, songs, films clips, lists of things to do ... . The idea was to focus on the present moment and realise that these other thoughts were not necessary, distracting and potentially harmful.

While I only scratched the surface of this, despite one marathon day of 12 hours meditating, it made me feel less scattered and brought home to me the amount of energy I frittered away in thinking about things that I couldn't change. There was a point on day three that I even became a little weepy, as during the long silence I more fully realised the friends I was leaving in the UK - not forever but you know what I mean. So, a useful technique and an emotional enema all in one? Maybe so.

'Foreign Meditator Monk'

One other memorable event was being there for a 'Buddha Day' ceremony. There was no reporting on this day and we all attended a ceremony in the evening. One particular monk (not the abbot himself) gave the equivalent of a sermon but he seemed very engaging. Even the non-Thai speakers could appreciate his style as his words frequently caused the audience to laugh out loud! Afterwards, we all took our individual offerings of flowers and incense and went outside. The whole gathering then walked silently around the stupa, which was illuminated by our little flames and a host of fairy lights, trailing clouds of incense. Having that many people moving in relative silence was quite powerful.

Stupa at monastery

Stupa on Buddha Day

The evening before we left, a group of us who had started at the same time figured that our practice was effectively over for now. We stood around and, for the first time, we spoke to each other, asked names, all of that social stuff that you would normally do when you first meet a person, not ten days later! Talking after al this time in silence felt illicit and we couldn't stop chatting and laughing. It felt like a teenage sleep-over, where we didn't want to stop and go to bed!

We also took the opportunity to wander around and photograph some of the more beautiful and weird parts of the monastery. The architecture was really colourful and included lots of wood and decorative detailing along roofs and gable ends. One prominent feature of the decorations were the Nagas, mythical dragon/serpents that appear as handrails. Lots of the designs also incorporated coloured glass so that in sun/candle light they glittered and shimmered!

Remains of stupa, Chiang Mai

Hi-tech braking tool aka 'a stick'

Ready for anything

The next day I accompanied one of the meditators, Alex, to a hostel in the centre of Chiang Mai where I indulged in non-silence, Sang Som (Thai rum that's tasty without tasting much like rum) and an endorphin-releasing zip line experience. This last included lots of shouts of "whoo hoo' and some high tech braking equipment (see photo)!