BARBIE MEDITATION

Tuesday June 10^TH I was invited to a Monk Meditation Retreat!! I was super excited to be with the Monks and learn about meditation. I got checked out of school early by Alex and we headed to a Wat in Chiang Mai. There were about 20 people at our retreat from 7 different countries. We listened to a Monk lecture for 2 hours before taking off to the retreat location. I love learning about Buddhism. I was lucky enough to listen to a Monk lecture a few days before after being peer pressured into listening to a horrible LDS Sunday school lesson. I really want to tell the LDS lady that she is the devil for making assumptions about the fate of the Jews! Anywooo, this is about the Monks. I am interested in the 8 Fold Path and the 4 Noble Truths. I enjoy the calming voices of the Monks, the lecture was filled with simple wisdom which invoked deep thinking. The 4 Noble Truths are; suffering, cost of suffering, truth to ending suffering and the path that leads away from suffering. Before becoming completely consumed by my Buddha book, I would have never thought about the effects of suffering. Buddhism is about cause and effect. Monks lectured about being responsible for one’s life. A clear concentrated mind can solve problems and end suffering; this is done by the Law of action. My most memorable moment at the lecture was when the Monk mocked churches that proselytize by going door to door. His voice was priceless and the boys just hung their heads… I was laughing with Ralph!

We took rod-dangs about 20km outside of the city, the retreat is near Chiang Mai University. The land was donated and all of the buildings and details of the program are covered by donations. The payment for the overnight retreat is done by donations. The internship program covered the retreat and the very cool all white pants and shirt. The retreat was interesting for a plethora of reasons. Not the most intriguing aspect of the retreat but an interesting observation was watching people act like lemmings. I like all the other people were out of our element and I think feared offending any Monk thus we took a long time to react to any request. At times it was difficult to understand the Monks even though they have excellent English. The retreat attracted a diverse group of individuals but the bonding was incredible. The bond was done in an interesting form since we were not allowed to talk once we arrived. We were completely SILENT for almost 24 hours. There were two people to a room and the opposite members of sex are not allowed to share rooms, even married couples. I was luckily enough to get my own room. I want to take the retreat as serious as possible so I elected to ditch Sondra and Kimi.

After showering and changing into my new clothes, I started to read a Buddha book. The first meditation / Monk-like activity was dinner. When the gong sounded the lemmings followed each other into the dining hall. We listened to the instructions before serving ourselves stir-fry (which I don’t believe is a meal) and we picked up a chanting card. A Monk led the chant and we repeated the words in English. I cannot remember all of the chants, first the Monks must contemplate their food. They cannot eat for beauty, attraction or in a gluttonous manner. They must only eat to remove hunger pains for a short while. The food is for simplicity and health. The food is for nourishment of the body. There are about 12 ideologies to follow. I had been very sick for the last 4 days so I took a small portion of food and the idea of wasting even one piece of rice was very stressful. I ate all of my food and desperately wanted more but I was afraid of looking greedy.

After Dinner, We headed into the meditation building and I began a new lifestyle. We learned the four positions of meditation; sitting, laying, standing and walking. We began the session with chanting and paying respect to the Buddha, Dharma and the Sutka. This involved bowing and touching our forehead slowly to the ground. Several days ago I was wondering why it is a commandment not to worship statues?? If anyone knows the answer I would like to know… I kinda feel like it is simply to disprove the Buddhist religion. Anywoo, we learned that we are NOT worshipping the Buddha simply paying respect to the great teacher. Buddha is not a God, he was the first MAN to reach enlightment. Anyone can reach enlightment but it is a private manner and the monks do not reveal if they have or have not reached this state of mind. We began by sitting on mats and learning the different floor sits. In general, all of the body positions have the right crossing the left, this is true of all the Buddha statues I have observed. We learned about breathing and counting techniques. The Monk’s calming voice sent my body and mind into a different realm than where my monkey mind usually resides. Monks refer to our minds as monkey minds because our thoughts are constantly jumping to a new thought before we finish the previous thoughts. We learned the importance of exercising our mind. We exercise our body and feed our body but we rarely take the time to do the same for your mind. We meditated on the floor for over an hour before going outside to meditate while walking and standing. I must admit I wanted to laugh at all of us walking. Walking is done by saying these simple words; “right goes thus, left goes thus.” The exercise starts with the words “standing, standing intending to walk” then “right goes thus”… the foot rises on ‘right’, the foot is in air on ‘goes’, and the foot steps down on’ thus’. It is important not to raise the heal of the left foot until the word ‘left’ is spoken. Everyone was having a difficult time moving slowly and balancing on their foot while the word ‘goes’ was being said. After walking, we finished the meditation by practicing laying meditation. Once we were done meditating, we chanted to the Buddha. Before bed, we got cookies and they were so delicious! Side note: I am unsure of how food actually taste because I am usually starving so anything and everything taste good.

I was so ready for bed. I have never felt so relaxed. I immediately went to sleep and like the Monk promised it was the most restful night I can remember. I was confused by the sound of the gong. It was dark and I had not been asleep long enough for morning. When I finally woke up and checked my phone it was 5am… I got up, brushed my teeth and curled my eyelashes. Like I promised Ralph, I will always have time to freshen up with a little bit of make up!! I made it to the meditation room before anyone else. I took the front mat. We chanted to Buddha and began a 30 minutes meditation exercise. It followed with a Monk exercise, they have a 14 step hand movement exercise. Stanley, Sondra, Kimi and Nate all showed up 40 minutes late and it took all of my mind concentration not to let it effect me. I didn’t want to focus my energy on them. A very lovely woman from Hawaii instructed the yoga portion of the meditation. I loved every minute of it but my leg was killing me so I was suffering!! I cannot wait to do more yoga!! I already emailed Chase and he promised that he would go to yoga class with me … you know in a year when he finally comes home!! After yoga and more meditation, we went to breakfast. The Monks’ only possessions are those that they beg for this includes food. We gave the Monks rice to eat. We said our chants and I ATE 4 SLICES OF WHITE BREAD WITH BUTTER!!! I WAS LOVING THE MONKS!! I try to never eat butter at home but after 4 weeks, I needed a lot of butter on my toast!! After Breakfast we had more meditation practice and a discussion. I enjoyed the discussion and enjoy learning from the Monk and other 10 people in my group. We learned how to use the rosemary beads for concentration. I bought some of the beads. We then changed and left for civilization….

I want to make meditation part of my lifestyle and practice yoga. Monks use yoga as a mind exercise to increase learning retention and memory. I LOVE THAILAND!!