From my Experience - Going into Meditation Advice

This is a doc I made for a friend looking to go into meditation, with limited experience. It details my experience and I thought may be of useful for other people looking to walk to path… also available as a google doc via this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LQX-9t0MTF4WnXM6dK8DSppFdJzNsK7Ohus27qusnJw/edit?usp=sharing

So as you know, I did 6 months in different monasteries and two retreat centers - all are residential.

Most of the places teach their own meditation technique and so bouncing from place to place as I did is both useful in terms of learning a lot of different techniques and having those in your arsenal as a box of tools to use in your own practice, and very not useful in terms of significant immersion and developing a deeper practice of any of the techniques individually.

All of these places are within the Buddhism framework, which may or may not appeal to you. Buddhism is not a devotional religion and there is no faith or dogma in any of the practices, you are always encouraged to ‘see for yourself’ or test out through your own contemplation a claim that a teacher or Buddhist text may make. However, some people still feel uncomfortable about the idea of any organized religion. I personally am Buddhist, but don’t feel that this gives me a bias in saying that meditating or doing a retreat within a Buddhist center is going to be an experience with more integrity than a secular or commercial center. During your research if you look at centers/courses that you have to pay for, that are for-profit, there is a conflict of interest in terms of seeking universal truth, and them providing a service. I would rather meditate in a community of noble practitioners who have the simple goal of the cessation of suffering, and teach practices and provide advice on my practice in that vein, than a center with mixed framework - the practice always comes across muddied and unclear in the latter in my experience.

You also mentioned that you want to do meditation and gardening. In the Theravada tradition that I’m a part of, it is against the monastic code to till the earth; meaning monks are not allowed to grow their own food. And so I may not be the best person to advise you from my experience on something that has meditation and gardening. The reason that this is a rule in Theravada, is that the Buddha did not want monks to go off into caves forever, reach enlightenment, chill there until death and then die without having to interact with lay people and teach them from their direct insight and wisdom. The monks provide spiritual guidance for their communities and the communities provide food and medicine for the monks so that they may continue to practice. Other traditions of Buddhism do not have this same rule, such as a zen centre I list below.

Also worth noting that although people often use the word happiness as a goal in meditation, this is kind of a mistranslation. Meditation is moreso towards equanimity towards the good and bad and neutral around you and within yourself. You can often feel very, very bad on meditation retreats and happiness gained may be more fleeting than you’d expect. So it’s all about the truth of things, and not about being happy. I’m sure I’m saying what you already know, however I think that this is a really important potential expectation to address.

Words in bold I wrote brief descriptions of in a glossary at the end.

Monastery Name, Location, Duration I stayed and links

S. N. Goenka 10 day Vipassana Course

I did in USA (but takes place all over the world, including UK and is the same in all locations)

https://www.dhamma.org/en/index This is basic info about their structure

https://uk.dhamma.org/courses/code-of-discipline/ This information is very helpful to read in general on what is vipassana and what this course is not (‘not a rest-cure’), very much recommend reading

https://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schuk#normal This is their upcoming courses in the UK, there is nothing for women open at the moment

Comments

I did this course as my first introduction to meditation. It’s all seated meditation, around 11 hours a day for 11 days. The courses are run off of video tapes, with a facilitator. Many thousands of people have done this course, it is very intensive, but will provide you with the foundation in a meditation technique and a feeling of immense inner strength that you can do long sits, you can suffer in meditation and survive.

All ‘new students’ need to do a 10 day course, you cannot do a shorter or longer course before doing one of these, and if you have learned another meditation technique somewhere else, and then want to come back to do another retreat in this tradition, then you will have to do another 10 day course.

Wat Pa Tam Wua, Mae Hong Son Thailand

2.5 weeks first time, then a week later on

https://www.wattamwua.com/ Their website

This is an absolutely beautiful location, it is basically in the furthest north you can be in Thailand before entering Myanmar, and the road to get there has something like 1000 turns as you ascend the mountain. This is a Thai-forest tradition monastery that has the specific goal of introducing westeners to this tradition and meditation practices. Every day you sit and walk meditation together and you have a lot fo your own time to do chores like sweeping, and to meditate in their caves or by waterfalls. It doesn’t teach you very far into the subtleties of the meditation practice, but is a beautiful and accessible introduction. You’ll be surrounded by other truth-seekers and some hippies as your fellow lay people.

There is no need to book and they don’t run specific courses, you just need to turn up in the day time any day and they’ll induct you into the monastery and put you up.

Wat Chomtong, in (you guessed it) Chomtong, Thailand

21 day meditation course for new students, then a 10 day top up course. I’ve done the 21 day course twice and the 10 day course before.

https://www.watchomtong.com/meditationcourses their website

https://www.watchomtong.com/reservation All info on booking in with them, although if you look desperate enough to meditate and just turn up, they most likely will put you up (speaking from experience), but definitely do liaise with them and book

I’ve already sent you information on here. This is the course that I most recommend anyone to do when starting with meditation. It’s 21 days, you will keep silence and meditate all day, no chores. You will be taught the technique every day in either 1-1 or in small group meetings with the meditation teacher (not a monk, but a long-practicing lay person who has been inducted on how to teach) to teach you the practice, give you advice and support and answer any of your questions. Cannot recommend enough.

This international students course takes place sort of down a side road from the larger monastery for thai monks, so you eat in the monastery grounds, but meditate in your own little hall for westerners or in your room. There’s a lake at the end of the road and each night there is a night market in the monastery parking lot in which you can buy yourself hot fresh soymilk to get through those evening meditations.

Wat Amphawan

I did a 9 day course here, literally felt like a month.

https://www.v-vitchalai.com/?fbclid=IwAR0InthrzTKiHZlcNBdjxagBdDAwiajxw7Y4qTMC6JqVFQ0jnCeMIqPnnGg use the google function and translate this page into english

Also https://thailandtourismdirectory.go.th/en/attraction/2935 this link will give you a little info on the wat.

If you want to stay at this place let me know and my thai family can call and book for you.

Hardest meditation experience of my life. I would not recommend this unless you speak some thai, and want to really, really practice extremely hard. This is a thai monastery that caters to serious thai practitioners, there is a monk that speaks english that can oversee your stay, but the courses are taught only in thai. I did not speak enough thai at all to know what people were teaching, and so there was a lot of sitting and listening to beautiful thai pearls of meditation wisdom that I couldn’t understand and then serious difficult meditation sessions self-guided essentially. You will meditate 12 hours a day, split into four 3 hour blocks. You’ll be sitting meditation on concrete and with a monk either hitting a stick on the ground next to you or clicking their fingers in yoru ear, if you move at all while meditating (including crying) or if you’re slouching, and walking meditation. It was literally such hard work, I felt like I died a hundred deaths each 3 hour block from the pain, and was so exhausted from the effort I would fall asleep while walking meditation. Not for the faint hearted, but certainly a place to be humbled if you feel you’re ‘getting good’ at meditation, and experience what is notorious for being the hardest lay meditation course in thailand - for thai’s let alone for westerners!

Wat Pah Nanachat, in Bung Wai in the Ubon Ratchathani area of Thailand.

I did 3 months here the first time and then a month later on. I also took George here for a few weeks in recent years, so I have a real soft spot for here.

https://www.watpahnanachat.org/

https://www.watpahnanachat.org/ about the info on them and staying

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5abe566ac3c16a912b110dbe/t/5f50a18a81a1f65464283c7b/1599119757518/WPN+Info-Flyer+English.pdf A nice flyer they make on buddhism, monasticm, their teacher Ajahn Chah and so on. Worth reading just for general info.

If you like the sound of Ajahn Chah or Ajahn Sumedho, then I have many of their books I am happy to lend you 🙂

If you want to live the proper forest monastery life, then this is the place. It doesn’t run meditation courses, and as a woman you’ll have less interaction with monks for guidance on your practice than the male lay people, so you’ll have the majority of the day for silence and your own practice. As such it is a good place to go when you feel established enough in a technique that you will guide yourself through your practice.

Minimum stay is one week, and they say max is 1 month, but if you’re an earnest and respectful practitioner, then you can really stay as long as you like as I did.

You will do chores every day, such as preparing the food (it is literally the best food you’ll ever eat, like a banquet every day, but you’ll only have one meal a day…), sweeping the monastery grounds, cleaning the women's area, cleaning the kitchen (which is huge, like 20m long) etc.

Also every quarter of the lunar calendar you have the opportunity to stay up all night and meditate, and the monks do a dhamma talk and take questions and answers from the lay people in meditation there. They have books for free on meditation and a lovely library of books also in the women's area. Sometimes you’ll go on little monastery day trips with the community and it’s just fab. I love this place, it is always different though as across the year a monastic community is organised differently, so do liaise with the monastery and we can chat as well to make sure you go during a good time when there’s still group chanting and meditation, as opposed to times when you’ll basically be cleaning 12 hours a day (which I have done there, and although I like to practice no expectations when in meditation, I still wouldn’t necessarily recommend you to go during those times).

I find I really face my own lack of discipline and shortcomings when there. As with everywhere, you get out what you put in, and going in with a lot of determination, humor and respect will serve you well.

‘If you would like to visit and stay at Wat Pah Nanachat, please send and email to our guest-monk suggesting possible dates at watpahnanachat20@gmail.com’