Monday, December 1, 2014
Pa-Auk Forest Monastery and Meditation Center
" You will suffer."
These words of encouragement came from the Abbott after listening to my answers to his few brief questions: ” Do you want to learn to meditate?” (yes) “Do you have any experience with meditation?” (no) “Are you Buddhist?” (no) “Can you sit cross legged on the floor for ninety minutes? (no) At least he me some basic instructions on how to meditate, and a book to read on the subject.
I went to the meditation center, which is located near Moulemein, Myanmar, with my friend Htun Thein, with whom I had known in Thailand ten years before while I was working for MSF (Doctors Without Borders). We had often talked about going to the meditation center, and now he was eager to take me.
The day at the meditation center began at 3:30 AM with the pounding of a wooden drum. At 4:00AM the first of five ninety minute meditation sessions began. I was allowed to sit in a chair, but outside the main meditation hall so that my head was not higher than the heads of the monks who sat on the floor inside.
We ate breakfast at 5:45 AM and had lunch at 10:00 AM. We were not allowed to eat any food after 12:00PM. For each meal I walked through the long food line after the monks were served, holding my tray with a large metal bowl that looked like a dog food bowl. The food was bland but okay and there was plenty of it. Breakfast was noodles and vegetables, lunch was rice and vegetables, plus fresh fruit. Hot sweet coffee was served with both meals. We ate sitting on the floor of the covered walkway leading to the meditation hall. After eating we washed our bowls and returned them.
I found the meditation difficult to say the least. The first and last sessions were in the dark. During the evening session mosquitoes buzzed around my head. The first rule at the meditation center was that you are not allowed to kill any form of life, including mosquitoes. The monks sat under mosquito nets but I did not have one; my repellent kept them from biting me, but not from buzzing me.
The first time I tried to meditate the time seemed to go on and on, never ending. I kept telling myself that soon the gong would ring and I could stop, but it never did. When Htun Thein finally told me to stop meditating I discovered that I had been at it for almost three hours, and that there was no gong to mark the end of each session. Htun Thein is a very good meditator, very self disciplined.
My bed was a wooden platform covered by a thin mat. I did have a mosquito net which helped with the insects but prevented any breeze from reaching me. I slept poorly and in the morning I found that the bedbugs in my blanket had feasted on me, leaving 15 bright red extremely itchy spots on my body. If I could have found a bed bug I certainly would have broken the first cardinal rule. You may wonder why I needed a blanket. Well it actually did get chilly around 2 AM.
People at the meditation center were very friendly and supportive. They seemed genuinely glad to have me there even though I felt like a fish out of water. Would I go there again? Well probably not, but I'm very glad I went this time, if nothing else it makes for great journal fodder. And I am seriously hoping that I can learn to meditate, to control my untamed mind.
These words of encouragement came from the Abbott after listening to my answers to his few brief questions: ” Do you want to learn to meditate?” (yes) “Do you have any experience with meditation?” (no) “Are you Buddhist?” (no) “Can you sit cross legged on the floor for ninety minutes? (no) At least he me some basic instructions on how to meditate, and a book to read on the subject.
I went to the meditation center, which is located near Moulemein, Myanmar, with my friend Htun Thein, with whom I had known in Thailand ten years before while I was working for MSF (Doctors Without Borders). We had often talked about going to the meditation center, and now he was eager to take me.
The day at the meditation center began at 3:30 AM with the pounding of a wooden drum. At 4:00AM the first of five ninety minute meditation sessions began. I was allowed to sit in a chair, but outside the main meditation hall so that my head was not higher than the heads of the monks who sat on the floor inside.
We ate breakfast at 5:45 AM and had lunch at 10:00 AM. We were not allowed to eat any food after 12:00PM. For each meal I walked through the long food line after the monks were served, holding my tray with a large metal bowl that looked like a dog food bowl. The food was bland but okay and there was plenty of it. Breakfast was noodles and vegetables, lunch was rice and vegetables, plus fresh fruit. Hot sweet coffee was served with both meals. We ate sitting on the floor of the covered walkway leading to the meditation hall. After eating we washed our bowls and returned them.
I found the meditation difficult to say the least. The first and last sessions were in the dark. During the evening session mosquitoes buzzed around my head. The first rule at the meditation center was that you are not allowed to kill any form of life, including mosquitoes. The monks sat under mosquito nets but I did not have one; my repellent kept them from biting me, but not from buzzing me.
The first time I tried to meditate the time seemed to go on and on, never ending. I kept telling myself that soon the gong would ring and I could stop, but it never did. When Htun Thein finally told me to stop meditating I discovered that I had been at it for almost three hours, and that there was no gong to mark the end of each session. Htun Thein is a very good meditator, very self disciplined.
My bed was a wooden platform covered by a thin mat. I did have a mosquito net which helped with the insects but prevented any breeze from reaching me. I slept poorly and in the morning I found that the bedbugs in my blanket had feasted on me, leaving 15 bright red extremely itchy spots on my body. If I could have found a bed bug I certainly would have broken the first cardinal rule. You may wonder why I needed a blanket. Well it actually did get chilly around 2 AM.
People at the meditation center were very friendly and supportive. They seemed genuinely glad to have me there even though I felt like a fish out of water. Would I go there again? Well probably not, but I'm very glad I went this time, if nothing else it makes for great journal fodder. And I am seriously hoping that I can learn to meditate, to control my untamed mind.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving!
I just returned from a month in Thailand and Myanmar and will soon start to post again. But for today, let's all give thanks for all that we have and have received.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Southwest Trip
After a month in the Southwest I am back home in Seattle, unpacking, washing clothes, opening my mail, deleting emails, and most importantly, preparing for my next trip.
I flew to Albuquerque on September 20th, picked up a rental car, and drove to Gallup to stay with my friend Terry Sloan overnight, then I drove to Shiprock to start a two week stint. It’s always good to go there, both to work and to see friends. The work’s not hard - I don’t take call - and I (almost) always find it enjoyable. And there’s lots to do - half price hamburgers at Three Rivers Brewery on Monday nights, cookouts on Ten Mile Mesa on Wednesday nights (although we did get rained out), dinners with friends. Over the weekend between my two weeks working I drove to our cabin in Chama for a quick visit. It was great there - peaceful, quiet, beautiful.
After my work was done I drove to Gallup again to visit friends (the Iralus, Milan and Paula, Ed Hui,) then I went back to Shiprock and met Nonnie, Colin, and Oran there, and after eating dinner with the Mohs family we crashed in the apartment overnight. The next morning we drove to our cabin in Chama. The solar electric and water collection systems were working fine, and in the evening we had the luxury of reading by an electric light plus the light from candles and an oil lamp that my grandparents used. Oran seemed to love the cabin life, as did Ono, the three legged dog. Did I mention that she came with Colin, Oran, and Nonnie in the car? A real road trip for all of them, camping out in Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons, and several other campgrounds on the 1,400 mile trip from Seattle to Shiprock.
Next Nonnie and I drove to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and Colin and Oran, after picking up Sarah and dropping Ono off in Albuquerque, drove to the park and met us in the lodge. We spent three days and nights there and had a wonderful time. My favorite evening was eating pizza and drinking red wine on the veranda overlooking the canyon.
After the drive back to Gallup we ate dinner at Jerry’s and stayed with Ed, then we went to Albuquerque and stayed at the uptown Marriott, just a couple of blocks from where we used to live. We had breakfast with Bruce and Isabelle and dinner with Dave and Eve at the home of their friends Erica and John. The next morning Colin picked us up and we drove back to Seattle, stopping in motels in Provo and Baker City along the way. The last morning we had breakfast at one of my all time favorite cafes, the Inland Cafe in Baker City, and then we were home for dinner.
My next trip? I leave for Bangkok, Yangon, and Mandalay next Thursday.
I flew to Albuquerque on September 20th, picked up a rental car, and drove to Gallup to stay with my friend Terry Sloan overnight, then I drove to Shiprock to start a two week stint. It’s always good to go there, both to work and to see friends. The work’s not hard - I don’t take call - and I (almost) always find it enjoyable. And there’s lots to do - half price hamburgers at Three Rivers Brewery on Monday nights, cookouts on Ten Mile Mesa on Wednesday nights (although we did get rained out), dinners with friends. Over the weekend between my two weeks working I drove to our cabin in Chama for a quick visit. It was great there - peaceful, quiet, beautiful.
After my work was done I drove to Gallup again to visit friends (the Iralus, Milan and Paula, Ed Hui,) then I went back to Shiprock and met Nonnie, Colin, and Oran there, and after eating dinner with the Mohs family we crashed in the apartment overnight. The next morning we drove to our cabin in Chama. The solar electric and water collection systems were working fine, and in the evening we had the luxury of reading by an electric light plus the light from candles and an oil lamp that my grandparents used. Oran seemed to love the cabin life, as did Ono, the three legged dog. Did I mention that she came with Colin, Oran, and Nonnie in the car? A real road trip for all of them, camping out in Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons, and several other campgrounds on the 1,400 mile trip from Seattle to Shiprock.
Next Nonnie and I drove to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and Colin and Oran, after picking up Sarah and dropping Ono off in Albuquerque, drove to the park and met us in the lodge. We spent three days and nights there and had a wonderful time. My favorite evening was eating pizza and drinking red wine on the veranda overlooking the canyon.
After the drive back to Gallup we ate dinner at Jerry’s and stayed with Ed, then we went to Albuquerque and stayed at the uptown Marriott, just a couple of blocks from where we used to live. We had breakfast with Bruce and Isabelle and dinner with Dave and Eve at the home of their friends Erica and John. The next morning Colin picked us up and we drove back to Seattle, stopping in motels in Provo and Baker City along the way. The last morning we had breakfast at one of my all time favorite cafes, the Inland Cafe in Baker City, and then we were home for dinner.
My next trip? I leave for Bangkok, Yangon, and Mandalay next Thursday.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
“Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love,” says the ninety year old narrator about his love for a thirteen year old virgin whore. She is the first true love of his life, and he likes her best when she is asleep. Perhaps because when she is asleep he can make her whatever he wants her to be, but when she is awake she is what she is: poor, illiterate, immature.
A common themes in the authors writing is the power of love to make old men young. And the power of unrequited love to make men bitter. “Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” At ninety the narrator gladly exchanges wisdom for emotion, and starts writing his weekly column in the style of love letters to the girl.
I suppose all men want to live forever, and falling in love at ninety proves you are still alive. To love is to live. What do ninety year old men want more of in their lives? "More love," wrote one ninety year old author.
It's a great book - Highly recommended.
A common themes in the authors writing is the power of love to make old men young. And the power of unrequited love to make men bitter. “Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” At ninety the narrator gladly exchanges wisdom for emotion, and starts writing his weekly column in the style of love letters to the girl.
I suppose all men want to live forever, and falling in love at ninety proves you are still alive. To love is to live. What do ninety year old men want more of in their lives? "More love," wrote one ninety year old author.
It's a great book - Highly recommended.
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