Actually, I did have this schedule:
4:00 Wake up
5:00-7:00 Meditation practice
7:00-7:20 Cleaning
7:30-8:00 Breakfast
8:00-9:00 Relaxation time
9:00-11:00 Meditation practice
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-1:30 Relaxation time
1:30-3:00 Meditation practice
3:00-3:15 Tea break
3:15-4:30 Meditation practice
4:30-6:00 Breaking time (We did more cleaning here for a half hour)
6:00-7:00 Discussion
7:00-7:15 Tea break
7:15-9:00 Meditation practice
9:00 Bed time
The first meal was lunch and it is laid out here in aluminum plates. We were expected to help with dishing up, serving and washing dishes also.
This meal consisted of rice, cabbage in its cooking water and some type of squash that was cooked with bits of shrimp or something. For dessert we had pieces of papaya.
.
We took our plates into a large room and sat on the floor and ate silently.The flower for today.
This is the hallway outside my room. It was small, only as wide as the door and window that you see. (6ft by 4ft according to the ceiling tiles.)
The room contained a reed mat on the floor. There were two other thin mats which could be placed on top and after using a blanket on top of that I had a reasonable sleeping surface prepared.
This is the outdoor meditation area. They provided foam mats to place on the cement pads for sitting meditation and the row of bricks in front was used for walking meditation. I tried outside once but quickly learned that I preferred inside, away from the sun and the bugs.
The ground was simply sandy soil with piles of leaves around the trees. I later learned that one of our cleaning jobs was raking (actually sweeping with a very heavy broom) the leaves which had fallen since the last sweeping. This job was required to be done twice a day. The monks swept leaves too. It is a repetitive activity which is kind of meditative. I got a blister from the darn broom though.
The ribbons of cloth around the trees are the color of the monks robes at this Wat. We were not told the purpose of tying them on the trees.
This is the outdoor meditation area. They provided foam mats to place on the cement pads for sitting meditation and the row of bricks in front was used for walking meditation. I tried outside once but quickly learned that I preferred inside, away from the sun and the bugs.
The ground was simply sandy soil with piles of leaves around the trees. I later learned that one of our cleaning jobs was raking (actually sweeping with a very heavy broom) the leaves which had fallen since the last sweeping. This job was required to be done twice a day. The monks swept leaves too. It is a repetitive activity which is kind of meditative. I got a blister from the darn broom though.
The ribbons of cloth around the trees are the color of the monks robes at this Wat. We were not told the purpose of tying them on the trees.
There were many buildings on the grounds. This was the oldest and most fascinating. It was built about 1289 and consisted of tunnels and alcoves containing Buddhas at the ends of the tunnels. It is still used by the temple visitors of today.
Here I am with one of the tree signs. This one says; "Cut yourself some slack. Remember, One hundred years from now, All new people." I quite enjoyed the tree signs.
This is Laurent from France. He and I were the only students speaking English so we had a different teacher than the rest. He came the same day I did but was staying for 10 days. We were the only people we had to talk to besides our monk who we saw once a day.
Holstein? Sacred cow? Dunno!
This pagoda was build above the tunnels and at about the same time. (It would have been called a stupa in Myanmar, so I am not positive that pagoda is the correct name.) The ribbon of cloth was put there the previous day in a celebration of the King's birthday.
Here are a group of new monks from another monastery who came to study meditation. They are sitting together chanting on a cement platform beside some Buddhas.
This is Laurent from France. He and I were the only students speaking English so we had a different teacher than the rest. He came the same day I did but was staying for 10 days. We were the only people we had to talk to besides our monk who we saw once a day.
Holstein? Sacred cow? Dunno!
This pagoda was build above the tunnels and at about the same time. (It would have been called a stupa in Myanmar, so I am not positive that pagoda is the correct name.) The ribbon of cloth was put there the previous day in a celebration of the King's birthday.
Here are a group of new monks from another monastery who came to study meditation. They are sitting together chanting on a cement platform beside some Buddhas.
There were parts of these three days which I didn't really enjoy but I did gain from the experience overall and have some new meditation techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment