Spend (some of) your holiday in a buddhist tempel

Spend (some of) your holiday in the Northern Insight Meditation Centre in the northern part of Thailand.

By Per S. Grove-Stephensen (words) and Natalie Bitunjac (photos) Š2006
You do not need to become a lifetime nun or monk to experience life in a Buddhist temple.

You do not need to become a lifetime nun or monk in order to experience the life in a Buddhist temple.

You can simply join a meditation course at the Northern Insight Meditation Centre at the Buddhist temple Wat Rampoeng in the northern part of Thailand.

The meditation courses (10 to 26 days or more) at Wat Rampoeng will provide you with new insight knowledge into yourself and the reality of life, as well as an introduction to living in a Buddhist temple.

Turn up at the main entrance to the temple in the outskirts of the city of Chiang Mai - on your right hand side you have the office of the Foreign Meditation Centre (open daily from 8-17). You can discuss your participation with the monk or nun who is responsible for foreigners on the day you visit the office. You can also discuss your participation beforehand by e-mail or phone.
The meditation centre attracts foreigners from the United States, from Europe, India, Australia and other Asian countries outside Thailand. As such, the capacity sometimes is not enough to accommodate all those who wish to attend. Therefore it is advisable to arrange your booking beforehand.
When you are accepted at the course you also simultaneously accept a set of rules and restrictions during your stay in the temple.

Although the centre states that it invites Christian and Muslim followers along with Buddhist's, Wat Rampoeng is a Buddhist temple and the overall guidelines for the meditation courses are based on respect of Lord Buddha. If this would create a problem for you - don't join. On the other hand, if you join it will give you a rare insight of the life in a Buddhist temple. No Buddhism is taught to meditation students although it is expected that the students go on their knees and prostate three times before Buddha statues.
You do not need to bring paper, pencil, books, radio, i-pod, MP3 players, mobile phones etc. The only electronic gadget allowed in the temple is a timer to measure your different meditation routines.
Walking and sitting meditation
The Meditation Centre offers a basic training in what is called mindful walking and sitting meditation. Close, moment-by-moment attention is paid to the body and mind, in order to gain insight into reality as it is. This training is individual and based on basic exercises that will change daily as advised by the monk or nun who will be your instructor.

The program for a newcomer begins with 15 minutes walking meditation and 15 minutes sitting for a minimum of 6 hours per day. As you progress the intervals of sitting and walking increase, as does the expectation for the number of hours of practice per day. The walking will follow a special pattern designed by the instructor.

Once a day the meditation students report to the Abbot of the temple, Ajahn (Master) Suphan, who is supervises each foreign student.

Wat Ram Poeng is an active temple open to the community. Thus you will have the opportunity to become familiar with ceremonies such as Buddha day, celebration out of respect for the Lord Buddha. This observance occurs on Uposatha days, that is the day of the full and new moon and each half moon, giving four celebrations within each lunar cycle.
Day starts at 4 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m.
As a "yogi" (the title for meditation students) at the temple you are supposed to follow the temple routine, which starts at 4 o' clock in the morning when the morning bell rings. Although most monks and nuns start chanting at this hour, yogis are supposed to get up and start meditation or attend to cleaning of their living quarters.
At 6.30 there is breakfast if you manage to join in - sometimes one can be carried away by the meditation and forget everything about food.
Again at 10.30 lunch is served.
The meals are prepared by the nuns in the temple. The food is Thai style, and cannot be suited to each individual taste as up to 100 yogis need to be fed every day. Breakfast consist normally of savoury rice porridge or noodles, possibly accompanied by some cake.
Lunch is more varied and there is both a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian buffet, where the yogis can help themselves on aluminium pressured menu plates (like those used by US inmates on films, although here they are not used to make noise with).
Men and women eat separately, although the buffet and dishwashing are not gender divided.
One eats alone, which means there should be silence during the meal.
Minfulness and gratitude are encouraged by chanting before both breakfast and lunch.
Yogis must finish eating solid foods at midday. Thereafter they may partacke of drinking water as well as coffee, tea, milk or juice. Sometimes the temple will serve drinks in the late afternoon depending on the donations - it could be juice, a hot chocolate or pumpkin drink.
The temple shop sells some snacks and drinks for the yogis. White clothes and basic items for cleaning and personal care are also available.
Practising in a temple
With very few restrictions yogis are free to choose their favourite walking and sitting positions within the temple compound. There are plenty of areas and buildings to choose from. Doing the walking around the old Stupa* and the meditation in front of a Buddha statue, or in one of the temples or halls (as long as they are not already occupied by monks or nuns chanting of giving Dhamma talks). There are plenty of outside areas to choose from or one can select the solitaire of the cell where you sleep or a combination. Just remember what time to report to the Abbot. If their are any questions the office of foreign meditation will help you. There is no reason to speak to fellow students, and silence is encouraged wherever possible. You are not allowed out of the temple compound at any time during the course, unless you have gained special permission from the Abbot.

You will be surrounded by a permanent community of around 300 monks, nuns, novices and yogis who are each living their own lives. Thus you might experience people bringing donations to the monks in the temple, seeing monks leaving the temple for begging, be attend the ordination ceremonies for monks, novices and nuns.

*Stupa is the central shrine of a Buddhist temple

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