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

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.

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).

May 1 through July 31, 2009
Every year, when the summer monsoons made the roads of northern India impassable, the Buddha suspended his traveling teaching routine and took his closest followers to a protected location where he gave them intensive instruction and guided their practice for 90 days.  This event became known as the Summer Rains Retreat.  In the spirit of this original practice as established by the Buddha, we are holding the first Annual Summer Rains Retreat at the Karuna center in Thailand, beginning May 1.
The practices of the retreat are as laid out by the Buddha himself in the Mahasatipatthana Sutra:  The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Mindfulness of Body-first month; Mindfulness of Vedana-second month; Mindfulness of Mind-third month; Mindfulness of Object of Mind-third month), The Seven Factors of Awakening (practiced throughout the retreat), and The Four Noble Truths (practiced as the Four Immeasurables, at the very end of the retreat).  There will be live instruction nearly every day, and frequent opportunities for meditation interviews.

You can attend all or part of this retreat.  Contact info@meditate-Thailand.com for details  .Registration deadline is April 1; payment deadline is April 23.  The retreat is limited to 22 attendees at any one time, so don’t wait; email now.

Updated:  25 February 2009