{"id":1010,"date":"2018-12-12T07:10:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T07:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamiemcclelland.com\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2020-08-14T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-15T05:05:08","slug":"thailand-meditation-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamiemcclelland.com\/?p=1010","title":{"rendered":"Thailand meditation retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

With some trepidation, we entered a ten day silent meditation retreat at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, just outside Chiang Mai. Unfortunately we arrived on a day that the monk was not giving instruction; instead it was his administrative assistant. I didn’t realize until days later that this was a rather important lesson so questions about how to do the meditation exercises lingered until the end. Still, it was a worthwhile retreat and we are glad that we went.<\/p>\n

For me, the primary takeaway point was that my mind wanders *very* frequently; effectively, all the time, and that normally one will notice only a fraction of this wandering. In trying to pay attention to one’s attention, I found (as most everyone does) that it’s wandering much more that I had previously known. For instance, in trying to concentrate on the position of one’s foot during walking meditation, one’s attention can wander right in the middle of foot placement, literally a second or two after one dedicated one’s attention to the foot.<\/p>\n

The main problem here was that instruction is extremely limited and the monk difficult to understand. \u00a0That\u2019s unfortunate because when the monk spoke slowly (as he did for the first sentence or two) he could be understood. \u00a0But after that we could only comprehend a little. \u00a0Later we would compare notes to see if we could piece together some points from the lesson. Some older, more experienced meditations did not attend any of the one hour sessions that began with about a half hour of chants followed by a half hour of lecture.
\nThat you can join at any time (four to ten days) I think is also a limitation – that means that lessons are not given in any particular order, and they tended to be repetitive. \u00a0Some monasteries have programs that begin on the first day of every month; that\u2019s probably a better approach.
\nLike the instruction, the food was a little spartan, and repetitive.<\/div>\n
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Some inmates left the confines to get some fresh fruit (or frangu!)<\/p>\n

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With some trepidation, we entered a ten day silent meditation retreat at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, just outside Chiang Mai. Unfortunately we arrived on a day that the monk was not giving instruction; instead it was his administrative assistant. I didn’t realize until days later that this was a rather important lesson so … <\/p>\n

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