Retreat into Buddhism

Tranquility and mindfullness. Shhhhh - silence. Concentrate on your breathing. Concentrate on your food. Concentrate on each step you take across the compound.
I stumbled on a 24-hour Meditation Retreat / Thai Buddhism program (conducted in English) sponsored by a local Wat. It was a little unnerving to go through with signing up. Will we have to sleep on the floor? Get up at 4 in the morning? Go hungry (monks eat one meal a day before noon)?
Why We Wanted To Go
Jess: I needed a respite. There is a certain stress that comes with a self-guided trip. Where is my camera? My passport? What time does the bus come, when do we need to checkout? Also, our interactions with Thai people so far have largely been trans-actions. I wanted to talk with people about something less superficial. 95% of Thais are Buddhists - it's a huge component of the culture.
Shane: Actually I wasn't sure I wanted to go. My adversity to religious participation of any sort is strong. Even as cool as a lightsaber can be I would not want to be a Jedi Knight. Regardless of my trepidation, I knew Jess wanted to go, and I didn't want to be left out of what could be a cool experience. Her track record is quite good on choosing such things.
What It Was Like
Jess: After arriving at the Wat at 2pm, a master monk gave us a Dhamma talk (teaching). He explained why he started the program seven years ago, to help the monks improve their English, and help give teaching to foreigners. Then we were whisked away in samtheuws to a retreat centre 25 minutes outside the city. The grounds and temple were peaceful, spacious and clean, and all donated by a local landowner hoping to make merit (improve his own spiritual standing).
Everything we needed was provided, including a shared room, meals, and clothes. We put on the roomy white outfit provided and silently headed down to dinner (simple fried rice with mixed vegetables). I did not talk to anyone for the next 18 hours.
In the evening we learned different methods of meditating (walking, sitting, standing, concentration) and practiced chanting. The monks offered suggestions for dealing with a wandering mind, feelings of pain, or distratcting sounds. They explained that just as we take care to clean our bodies, we must also clean our minds by clearing out the chaotic parade of thoughts, and just focus on one thing for awhile.
5am - GONG... gong... gong... call to temple and more practice meditating. I did not find focusing on my breathing for extended periods (10-15 minutes) that difficult - I really enjoyed the peace and quiet.
For breakfast and lunch (simple vegetarian dishes), we participated in the Thai custom of first offering food to the monks. During "Monk Chat" we broke into small groups and asked the monks any questions we wanted.
And then at 12:30, we gathered for a group picture and were taken back to the city.
Shane: The white outfits screamed cult to me...I remembered not too long ago Guyana and some poison koolaid. We were out in the middle of nowhere, a perfect dumping ground for our bodies. Even better for our minds.
Whether it's just me or the fact that my artist mind is always at work on top of my human mind, the upstairs in my head gets awfully noisy.
These monks guided us on the "middle path" of focusing on the most basic needs to live and purify ourselves. When we take care of ourselves we can then provide the "loving kindness" that comes from the practice to all living things.
Even the chanting which I thought I'd abhor was quite nice. It felt like the reverberation shook the dust off of every molecule of my person, from the inside out. Besides...what can beat monks chanting?
What We Learned
Jess:
* Take off your shoes before coming into your house.
* Eat to Live, not Live to Eat. If you stop multi-tasking at meals and focus on each bite, you will enjoy more and eat less.
* We worry overy many things we have no control over.
* Buddhism is not really a religion in the western sense, more a practice or method of living. Buddha is considered a great teacher to be respected, but not a god to be worshipped.
* After dedicated time spent focusing, I felt remarkably contented and satisfied. It was a great experience to feel the generosity and exchange of ideas.
Shane:
* I enjoy the physical aspect of taking care of myself, and often wondered what mental approach I could take. Buddhism practice could work for me I think. It doesn't involve group participation necessarily and can be done mostly anywhere.
* This 24 hour retreat was a speck of dust compared to what could be accomplished if continued. The monks themselves started at very young ages, and had been doing this for a decade or more, every day. Their path to enlightenment is probably the happiest one I've heard of yet. Who want wouldn't want to incorporate a little more happiness in their day?
* Will it help me play well with others? It just might. Getting back to a state of mindfulness in what I do everyday I think will smooth out the chaos that comes from working alone day in day out.
* We already live a fairly simple life, and I think a lot of the initial principles of these teachings are in place. Buddhism seems like a natural extension of living lean, avoiding materialism, and investigating the world around us.
* One of the funnier moments for me was when the monk was explaining Buddhism in this way:
"Buddhists have not shed blood in the name of any god in all the 2500 years it's been around. You never hear of a Fundamentalist Buddhist, or a terrorist Buddhist, or Buddhist blowing up an airplane." In the constant state of fear that permeates the West these days, its nice to hear someone believing in something that is unquestionably good.

Meditation Retreat