Thailand Meditation Retreat News

The Karuna Meditation and Yoga Center is very honored to host the Buddha’s Relics as part of the Maitreya Project’s Heart Shrine Relic Tour from March 5-7, 2010.

A precious collection of sacred relics of the Buddha and many other Buddhist masters is currently touring the world.

This is a rare opportunity to view these relics, which were found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist masters. They resemble beautiful pearl-like crystals.

Buddhists believe the relics embody the master’s spiritual qualities of compassion and wisdom and have been deliberately produced by the master so that all may share in their blessing.

Visitors often report experiences of inspiration and healing when in the presence of the relics. While some are inspired to pray for world peace and to develop their inner wisdom, others are overcome by emotion as the powerful effects of the relics open their hearts to compassion and loving-kindness.

The relics are clearly visible inside display cases that encircle a life-size, golden statue of the Maitreya Buddha. Throughout the events there are opportunities for visitors to participate in Blessing Ceremonies, during which the relics of the Buddha are gently placed on the crown of the visitor’s head as a special blessing.

According to Buddhist scriptures Maitreya will be the next Buddha to teach the path of loving-kindness to the world. At the conclusion of the Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour, the relics will be enshrined in a 500-ft/152-m bronze statue of Maitreya Buddha which is being built in Kushinagar, northern India.

Maitreya Project’s activities include:

• building the 500ft/152m Maitreya Buddha statue – a magnificent monument to loving-kindness intended to awaken global awareness and inspire people

everywhere to think and act with kindness, thereby bringing peace to individuals, communities and the world.

• providing, free of charge, spiritual, education and healthcare facilities in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest areas in northern India.

• providing immediate and long-term employment.

• helping to develop the area’s infrastructure.

• serving as a focus and influence for sustainable, positive development in this emerging part of India. Maitreya Project’s vision combines charitable education and medical facilities along with the enduring spiritual focus of the Maitreya Buddha statue, to directly and indirectly foster whole-community economic and civic development, both now and for generations to come.

For more information, visit Maitreya Project Heart Shrine Relic Tour website, or Contact Us.

Schedule:

Friday: 5pm Opening Ceremony by invitation only
Saturday: 10am to 7pm
Sunday: 10am to 7pm

“I’ve recently returned from a week at Karuna, and if I didn’t have to work, I’d probably still be there.  My purpose in going was to give my practice a booster shot, so to speak.

Coming from a background in Zen, I chose Karuna because they welcome people from all Buddhist traditions.  I found that the Dharma teachings provided melded seamlessly with my “zenny” understanding of such things, and the meditation method taught there, though a little different in focus to what I had been doing, is very user-friendly and will, in fact, be a great companion as I continue my solitary way here in a country where there are no Buddhist centers at all.

The teachers at Karuna know their stuff and present it thoughtfully, clearly and with great passion and dedication.  I also noticed that they went out of their ways to aim personalized teachings at both visitors and residents alike, which I appreciated.  I was truly impressed with how much care and effort everyone put into their various jobs at Karuna - the yoga teacher is great too!

So, all that said, I would recommend a stay at Karuna to anyone at any level of experience and from any background.  Being there is time well spent.

Please tell Laura and Phillip (meditation teachers) that I was sorry I didn’t get to say goodby and thank you in my rush to leave.  Tell them I appreciate them for things they probably are unaware of.  And you too - thanks again,

Cory M”

Prajna is Sanskrit for wisdom.  There are three aspects of wisdom for a Buddhist point of view…

The first is the wisdom of learning. This is the idea of studying the teachings of the Dharma in book form or in listening to the teachings as propounded by an experienced practitioner - a member of Sangha. At Karuna, we offer this in the form of daily meditation teachings, given in English in an easy-to-understand manner. We also have a Dharma library where you can read more about your meditation practice or about Dharma in general. Additionally, we have a library of MP3 teachings given by teachers in the past.

The second Prajna is the wisdom of contemplation. The Buddha admonished all of his students to not take his word on any matter. Rather, he suggested it is better to treat his advice in a manner similar to a goldsmith who is checking the authenticity of a lump of yellow metal. Cut it, polish it, melt it… whatever it takes to prove that the metal is truly gold.

The Buddha’s idea was that we, as practitioners not merely take the teachings as a form of dogma, a set of religious beliefs that are inscrutable or not subject to inquiry or investigation.  Conversely, the teachings should be very practical and easy to understand by any one who earnestly follows the methods of liberation as propounded by the Buddha. This is the idea of contemplation.

A serious practitioner must spend some time analyzing the teachings - breaking them down into their component parts. Looking at the nuts and bolts of what the Buddha taught. Then re-assembling the teaching into a coherent whole and inquiring - “Is this my experience?” and “Does my life experience line up with these ideas?” In short - one must be a ’street smart’ student of Dharma.

You will have ample time, space and tranquility at Karuna to go deeper into the teachings and verify their authenticity - acting in the manner of a goldsmith - and working with the second prajna.

From this point, from this position of contemplation, one can begin the inner journey - the third prajna - that of meditation. People who meditate are known in Tibetan as “nang-was” - translated as “inside people.” Not agoraphobes or hermit-like shut-ins, instead people who find the journey of introspection fascinating and revealing about their position in life and the world - their existence. Those who delight in the introspective life. As Professor Robert Thurman calls them - psychonauts - explorers of the inside space.

At Karuna, you will have ample opportunity to investigate the inner experience. We have multiple meditation sessions scheduled each day and these provide the space and time to look more deeply within. In essence, practicing the third wisdom and harvesting the resultant insight that develops from the total process of wisdom cultivation, invloving all three prajnas.

We welcome you to Karuna and encourage you to discover the path to wisdom and resultant compassion available to us all. Contact us to arrange your meditation retreat.

The primary reason for a visit to Karuna is to meditate. That might seem obvious, so let’s unpack it a little bit.

Our mission is to provide crystal-clear instruction, for both beginners and those with experience, based on the heart of the Buddha’s teachings on liberation and enlightenment. We rely on our personal experience and our teaching comes from our hearts, as weathered and seasoned meditators who have faced much, are frank and honest, and have a realistic approach to Dharma practice as a life’s work.

We do this, in English, through a daily Dharma talk with a guided meditation. We also have an MP3 library which is available to you, and there is also a library of Buddhist books covering a wide range of topics, especially meditation practice.

If you are not yet a meditator, no big deal - we work with beginners every day. If you have been meditating for 100 years and are feeling stuck or like your practice has stalled, no big deal - we have been there , too. If you are intimidated by the perceived level of practice we offer, (”12 hours is a lot for me…”) and worry that we might have a meditation scorecard to rate you like some piece of pop music on a countdown…

We don’t

You’ll find no judgment here. No comparisons. No ranking. No competition…. just friends on the path.

We encourage you to sit frequently, to gently push yourself in the practice, to overcome obstacles, to gain confidence - no matter the level of your practice - all the while becoming familiar with your being and applying the methods of the instructions to your own experience. Just as the Buddha taught.

FOR BEGINNERS:
All of this is to assist you in developing your own meditation practice. We have 7 sessions throughout the day. Only one of these has guided instructions and teaching. This is intentional so as to offer you room to develop your own practice.

Development of a commitment to - and discipline in - your own practice is an absolutely essential skill if you wish to progress further in Dharma. Enlightenment takes some work & effort - but this is not heavy lifting - more like a gradual acceptance of our situation, a gentle development of mindfulness and distanced observation of arisings, an easing towards the cultivation of wisdom and an appreciation of the attendant happiness, peace and joy available to us in each present moment of mindfulness.

Usually, this doesn’t happen in a flash. As with any personal shift, it is the result of a directed, intentional effort towards change using effective techniques applied consistently over time. So learning to practice on your own is indispensable to your longer-term spiritual growth and development - to your own achievement of Buddhahood. Karuna can be seen as training for your continued practice after you leave.

We point out the way once a day, every day, and leave you to your own to sit with the instructions, finding areas for clarification and allowing for experiential confirmation of what is taught. This is directly in line with the teachings of the Buddha. We feel like we are similar to the monks of old, in that we help each other as companions on the path: encouraging, clarifying, supporting and smiling a lot. And we sit., and sit, and sit…. quietly, happily, at times with struggles, but always with a firm intention and understanding of what we are up to.

FOR THOSE WITH EXPERIENCE:

You have some mindfulness, you have concentration - perhaps some tastes of wisdom… You now need space and time to move deeper - to firmly plant the flag of your being on the side of joyful mindfulness, cultivating stability there… Karuna is perfect for you.

Karuna serves as a platform for the recognition of deeply ingrained habitual tendencies and provides the space for you to re-organize your being. The structure of the center provides the foundation for consistency of meeting and overcoming these arisings. As they are met, seen, worked with and transcended, one moves further and further along the path.

Being among serious, long-term practitioners who are in the “trenches” of their own reorganization is invaluable in this endeavor. We share our struggles, tips, techniques and failures with other openly and honestly and always in the spirit of mutual benefit.

If you have never attempted a 30, 60, or 90-day (or longer retreat), it is time to engage in your practice in the best way possible - a longer, deeper, foundation-shifting period of practice.

I encourage you to re-structure your life so that you may join us for some deeply engaged practice time.
As a beginner, you may find that you are a serious practitioner. As a serious practicioner, you may find that you need to reconnect with beginner’s mind. Either way, Karuna is a perfect place to make your own discoveries. You’ll find we are seriously interested in assisting you with profound change and moving towards total Enlightenment.

We don’t take any unnecessary sidetracks or engage in any “timefillers” in practice. This is your life, and it is time to get down to the business at hand.

How much time do you have? Let’s get started.

In Metta - Thomas

We all know there is something missing, that there is a peace and calm that is available in each moment of our existences. People sense that the mind is workable and they can change their lives for the better.

With the best of intentions, we sign up for a meditation course at a retreat center. Maybe this is found from on-line research, maybe from word of mouth, maybe from something we have read. We are excited, nervous, and mostly thirsty for some relief - maybe this will finally be “it.” We travel across the world, arriving at our chosen destination, thankful we made it in one piece with our bags, full of hope and with an open mind. We are eager to work with challenges or obstacles, nothing will stop us from trying our best, and we want to heal.

The first challenge we encounter is language. Understanding the Dharma requires a profound shift in world view. Some teaching is indispensable. We can’t just sit there and hope something magical will happen. We need instruction and guidance from someone who knows the territory and can relate to us. Teachings in Asia are generally given in a foreign language or by a non-native speaker of English. This makes the beautiful and simple teachings of the Buddha, that medicine which we so desperately seek, incomprehensible and foreign. This is an unnecessary barrier to our journey. Life is fleeting and we may or may not be able to master a new language in time to begin to understand the practice of Dharma. This is an unnecessary endeavor when crystal-clear instruction is available in English.

Buddhism is amazing in its ability to adapt to the culture to which it spreads. We find that meditation centers are often steeped in the rich and beautiful ritualistic practices of a culture and these can be enchanting and mystifying.  At the same time, infatuation with external forms is not true Dharma. These forms may be a gateway to Dharma and each of the variety of religious practices can have profound effects on one’s being - if understood and performed with correct intention and a heart-felt understanding.

Without this understanding, these activities become little more than mindless memorization and recitation. We are blessed with powerful abilities and we should make full use of our gifts and intelligence, to do otherwise is to miss our own amazing potential. Your practice should be grounded in the core liberation & wisdom teachings of the Buddha and all else should come from that base, not in blindly following along with the others because “that’s what we do here.”

Another challenge is the external environment. We come from the western world of sanitation, comfortable beds and air conditioning. In Asia, we encounter food which may not be suited to our taste, completely incompatible with our digestive system, or simply unsafe. We find straw mats or lumpy beds - when our backs are already tired from sitting practice. There is no chance to stretch or exercise - only walking meditation is permitted. We meet oppressive heat, sitting in puddles of sweat in the steamy tropics. We instinctively swat mosquitoes and then feel guilty for having harmed life at a Buddhist place of peace.

What could be a beautiful experience of opening up to our being becomes something more akin to a military boot-camp. We stick it out and report to others something like: “it was tough, but I made it through,” forgetting the reason we went in the first place.

Then, there is the sense of militancy that can be prevalent at Dharma Centers or monasteries. Perhaps unintentional, there can be a feeling of “this is the schedule, these are the vows, you should not move or you’re doing it wrong…” of course, as humans, we bring our tendencies of comparison and competition with us. Nothing is checked at the door. This is the path, this is the journey. We know there is something to work on. To allow judgment, a sense of being trapped in rules or hidebound by incomprehensible ritual is contrary to the actualization of Dharma.

Loosening up, relief of tension, relaxing the mind, clarity of thought, freedom from suffering, happiness and even smiling are the hallmarks of meditation done well with understanding and perseverance.

The meditation teachers at Karuna have a wide range of experience in different meditation venues across Asia. We have participated in retreats in Tibet, Sikkim, India, Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. We have lived in monastaries, visited Dharma Centers, slept in meditation caves and done pilgrimage to the remotest places imaginable.  What we continually encounter in our spiritual travels is others like ourselves, who are earnestly interested in learning to meditate, but overwhelmed by the foreignness and challenges of the whole experience.

That is why we created Karuna: spot-on, crystal-clear instruction form the heart of the Buddha’s teaching delivered in a clear and comprehensible manner - practices with immediately tangible benefits - no need for faith in ritual and hope. We want you to have the most enlightening experience possible while you are here and have paved the way for you.

Be assured, the Dharma is freely available to anyone who comes to Karuna, regardless of ability to pay. At the same time, we live in a world that requires maintenance of conventional appearances, so we have a low fee for our rooms. This is inclusive of almost everything: yoga, good beds, air conditioning, delicious & safe food, a swimming pool, the forest, quiet beach, airport pick-up… we have removed the unnecessary obstacles - we want you to get what you came for.

Whatever the cost of your retreat, wherever you go, make your time well-spent. You will sacrifice a lot to be able to pursue the inner journey.

We hope you will reserve your space and join us soon for something beautiful - created with you in mind.

In Metta – Thomas

Meditating in Thailand is a wonderful experience at Karuna Meditation Center in Phuket, Thailand.

We are into the third month of our summer rains retreat. Some 30 different westerners have shared in parts of the experience with about 10 attending the entire 90-day retreat. The teachings have never been more succinct and focused towards the pacification of our own harmful emotions. With these emotional states becoming more pacified, there is a fertile space for concentration and the dawning of our own natural wisdom. The result is a flourishing of happiness, joy and contentment among the retreatants – just as taught by the Buddha.

We feel a little like the monks of the Buddha’s time – shining countenances beaming with joy, happy in contentment, deeply peaceful, magnetized & energized – and dedicated to the investigation of our individual being. It is said that meditation should be the best part of your day – when you are confident in the straightforward, logical path to complete happiness & peace and are actively practicing the path. We all have ups and downs, but the swings seem to be less prominent - less prevalent in the foreground of experience, being subsumed by a deeper sense of peace and relief and the resultant quiet joy.

The energy of the meditation hall seems infectious. We have numerous daily drop-in guests as well as meditators who stay for a few nights. Of this latter group, almost everybody ends up spending an extra day or two with us. “It is so peaceful, here…” was the comment of one of our guests just today. He, too, has elected to extend his stay for a couple of days.

In a sense, our retreat never ends, as we continue focusing on the calming aspects of shamatha/calm abiding or concentration meditation in union with investigation of the four bases of mindfulness: body, feelings, mind and mental objects. We work with only one of these bases each month and this allows for deeper understanding of the base as well as fosters a deeper concentrative ability.

All of this is transpiring under the roof of our new retreat center. We have purchased a house in Nakatani Village, just south of Kamala, at the base of the big Kamala hill. The center is inspiring, as it is modern & spacious yet cozy & tranquil. We offer daily yoga instruction, swimming in the pool, walks on a private beach, meandering through the hilltop forest, all opportunities for becoming centered and still – even while in movement. Plus, KMC center guests enjoy full aircon throughout the facility.

We have extra cushions, space to sit, private and shared options for overnight stays and delicious vegetarian food twice a day with a snack in the evening. Join us for a coffee, some meditation, our teachings, a yoga class, or a stroll in the woods. We offer something for all who are interested in the inner wealth that is available to each of us in every moment.

Join us at your earliest convenience.

Karuna Meditation Center has moved.

We are located in a roomier building in a more serene location in Nakatani Village, about 3 km. south of Kamala, along the main road. Nakatani village is 50 meters from the Naka police checkpoint - at the base of the last hill climb before heading down into Kamala. Once in Nakatani, drive to the first large building on the left, just past the guard hut and community office.

In addition to meditation, yoga, vegetarian meals, and spacious comfort, when you visit Karuna Meditation Center, you have the chance to go swimming in the pool, visit our private, tranquil beach, stroll thorough our forest meditation path, or soak up some sun on one of our numerous outdoor dining patios. The center also has rooms for overnight stays.

Meditation sessions happen all day, and we have a guide for drop-ins, so you are welcome to join us anytime. Teaching about Buddhist philosophy and meditation happens M - F starting about 3pm and generally lasts for two hours. Group yoga classes are held each day at 11 am and last for about 90 minutes.

For more details, email info@meditate-Thailand.com or see the Contact Us page on this site for map and directions. You may also call 082 803 0153.

We welcome you to our new center.

Karuna Meditation Center is happy to be offering two regularly-scheduled events that are open to the local community on a drop-in basis.

Daily Meditation & Talk

Every day except Saturday, at 3:30 p.m. there is a guided meditation followed by a brief talk about a subject relevant to meditation and daily living, followed by open discussion.  The event ends at 5:00 p.m.  There is no fee but donations are welcome.

Yoga & Meditation

Every Monday and Thursday morning, at 10:00-12:30, there is a group yoga session, followed immediately by a one-hour meditation session.  The yoga is taught by an excellent teacher with plenty of experience and a great sense of humor. The meditation session is not a guided meditation, so if you need instruction before the session, contact us (sarah@meditate-thailand.com) ahead of time to arrange a time.  There is no charge for meditation instruction; we ask a donation of 150 baht to help cover the cost of the yoga instructor.

We’re working on getting a map posted.  Meanwhile, email me if you want to come, and I’ll send you a map and directions.

“Staying at Karuna Meditation Center has been such a wonderful experience.  As a beginner to meditation, I have now been blessed with a solid foundation for my practice.  I would normally find it hard to sit still for five minutes.  I have been able to take a step back and observe instead of trying to control, and being in such a beautiful natural setting, how could you not switch off that ‘busy switch’?  Thank you for the resources and advice you have given me!”

– Naomi, Sydney, Australia

Naomi was a visitor at the center from March 5-9, 2009

Concurrently with other activities at Karuna Meditation Center, a three-year retreat is being held for a small group of practitioners who have dedicated this period of their lives to the study and practice of Buddhist meditation.  Special regular teachings are given to this group.  Recently, a teaching was given on “The Four Efforts”.

The Four Efforts were discussed by Geshe Chekawa, a 12th-century Tibetan master, who commented on four things as being of great importance to each meditator in each session.  These are:

1.  Does the intention of the practice align with the motivation for practice?

2.  Understanding and having confidence in the method.

3.  Knowing and recognizing the variety of effects that practice can produce.

4.  Accepting the results of your practice.

The teaching that was given explains these four points in detail and discusses how they relate to meditation and to life.  To download a .pdf file of the transcript of this talk, click Four Efforts (PDF).