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Thai forest
Zania
Explorer
Hi I would like to get some advise about going to stay in a Thai forest monastery. Do they have retreats or do you just go stay there and take part in daily life? How long are you allowed to stay? Is it peaceful there or noisy? Any information you can offer is appreciated. I have done retreats here in Australia but I would like to go and experience one in Thailand.
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Cool.
They probably have a branch in Oz, maybe get a trial run retreat. I have participated in retreats and the itinerary is usually available, just contact the Sangha by email for advice.
Hello and welcome.
To be honest, the only way you would get concrete answers is to approach a Monastery and make enquiries.
Monasteries are not open to the public for retreats, all the time, sometimes there are scheduled retreats you have to book; you can't just turn up or contact them and say "I'm over next week, see you then!" It all has to be arranged. So you can either visit and participate in a Meditation session, with the public from day to day, or book a retreat period according to their schedules... But again, a 'day' visit is usually scheduled to a particular period during that day...
As for length of stay, that varies from place to place. Enquire at the Monastery.
Life is peaceful, but a retreat may be noisy. Particularly at night, if you share a dormitory with others as is more often than not, the case. And of course, during a retreat, you time your activities with those of the monks, so you usually rise very early...So take earplugs if you're a light sleeper, and even an eyemask. Ask your bed-neighbour to wake you....
Contact a monastery and find out what you need. Life in Thailand is very different.
Why do you think you need to go there? I think you'll find that Monasteries in Thailand, may well be run very differently to those in Australia. I'm not sure whether you shouldn't start small....
@ThailandTom or @vinlyn would both be good people to ask, I know vinlyn peeks in now and again but I think ThailandTom is on mostly social media hiatus. I have not seen him around in a long time though I do see him post his business things on instagram, lol. Tom lives in Thailand but is from the UK and vinlyn lived in Thailand for a time and is in the US now.
I agree with @federica, you really just have to contact places you are interested in because they all have different rules about length of visits and how they run those things. Most of them I have looked at (not in Thailand though) prefer visitors start with small commitments to volunteer and visit, say, a week or less. If you are interested in staying longer periods, you have to work up to it. They all have different requirements as to what you are expected to pay, their rules, and so on. Many of them in the western world run websites where that information is easy to find. It may or may not be easy to do so in Thailand.
Having been is Asia quite a few times all I can say is this. When you encounter Asian culture for the first time more particularly is a vihara it can be a challenge to your expectations. You might contact the Buddhist Society of Western Australia for useful info.
I think maybe at the moment Im going through a really difficult place and so I feel like escaping. I was thinking that maybe if I go to a monastery and live simply for a while that it might be helpful. I could be wrong. I might go to one here first. I know of one not far away that I can go.
That reminds me of the saying "If you cannot find, Serenity, Inner Joy and Peace of Mind where you Are right now - where else do you expect to find it?"
The problem with 'escaping' is that - you don't. You can't. What you propose doing (and trust me, I DO get this!) is actually to brush stuff under the carpet, because when you come back, half your fear will be that while you have been in a 'good place' stuff you felt like escaping from, will still be there....
Read Pema Chodron's "When Things Fall Apart", "The Places that Scare You" and "Start where you are". Order them form the library, or purchase them as inexpensively as you can. I think diving into those books will definitely be more economical, and may help you more than a Retreat, at the moment. Stay in touch. Be well.
Much Metta.
You could probably arrange a short visit, it doesn't have to be a formal retreat.
Hey Zania,
There's plenty of monasteries in Thailand, and they vary a lot. It can be a great experience to just go and be in a place for a while that's completely different. If you're up for an adventure, you could just head up to Chieng Mai, hang out for a while, and listen to the buzz. There's a lot of really beautiful, peaceful places in the hills and surrounds. You're more likely to find interesting places if you avoid the ones on the tourist trail. Many places will have somewhere to stay, at least for a short time, but you will probably find the accommodation spartan. And few people will have much English!
On the other hand, if you just want to do a limited formal retreat, there are a number of places that offer these, but I'm not really up on what's good these days.
Thanks for the advise Sujato. Are you Bhante Sujato who recently did a talk at the Buddhist library?
I think he is, yes....
I was looking into this myself. Maybe this will help.
http://www.watpahnanachat.org/stay.php
You might enjoy this, I came across it today... It's a little old, but maybe still relevant.