Thailand Meditation Retreat News

On posture:

When the body posture is well refined, it has a great effect on the mind.  Conversely, when the body is not elevated and not refined, when the body is slouched over, the effect on the mind is great.  We’ve discussed at length what the conditioning effect on the breath is, when the body is in those slumped-over positions.  When the body is slumped over, the breath becomes shallow.  The shallow breath then conditions the mind and the emotions to produce states of agitation, anxiety, it could even be depression.  But mostly, short, shallow breaths are associated with the mental affliction of irritation.

Seven Factors of Awakening:

The Buddha actually gave these instructions about the Seven Factors of Awakening a few months before he died.  He realized he would be dying soon, so he gathered his closest disciples around and this was part of the last instructions that he delivered.  They were based on his own deep experiences.  He said, ‘Let me give you some instructions about what it is that you’re going to need in order to stop suffering.  You’ll need these seven things.’  You notice that these instructions are all about the best way to practice meditation.  He didn’t give a philosophical lecture.  That’s what I want you to hear more than anything else in this narrative, that what the Buddha offered as his most precious advice, given when on the point of his death, was seven experienceable qualities that are most important for realization, not a deep philosophical treatise, as you might expect.  It’s those Seven Factors of Awakening that we’re practicing here.

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

Awareness of breath in Anapanasati:

Now as you progress more and more subtly in this practice of Anapanasati, you become aware of how the breath is conditioning the body, conditioning the feelings.  That’s the first point.  You begin to notice how the different types of breath condition the body and the feelings in different ways.  With the long breath, the body will be very relaxed and at peace.  With the short breath, there will be a lot of emotions – it’s the type of breath that you have when you’re angry or when you have anxiety or depression.  So you learn to take long breaths because this type of breath condition the body, condition the feelings, in a soothing, relaxed manner.

Tonglen:

Tonglen, or taking and sending practice, is done to work on our own minds, our own concepts of suffering, our own concepts of compassion, our own concepts of loving kindness.  It works on our understandings of karmic projections.  It works on our understanding of emptiness.  It works on our pride and other mental afflictions.  Truly, when it is understood, it is a full and complete practice of Buddhism.  Really, it represents everything.

On why to do the contemplations:

“It is a matter of training the mind.  The whole process of these contemplations is a mind training in and of itself.  You’re training the mind to think positively.  And the reason why you do that is because the whole point of Buddhism is to extinguish suffering, to extinguish dukkha.  And that can only be done through the mind.”

On contemplating the precious human birth:

“The practice is what changes your view and your outlook.  It’s very difficult to maintain any kind of negative feeling if you’re doing this practice of the Precious Human Birth, because you’re constantly celebrating the simple fact of your own existence and the existence of others.  This also carries over into your relationships with others, and it becomes very, very difficult to have negative feelings about anything or anyone, no matter what you’ve been through.  It’s a simple practice, but very powerful in its effects.”

While visiting Phuket, there are quite a few wonderfully-Thai Buddhist wats (temples) and sites available to those wanting to get a feel for the country’s religious style and architecture, as well as seeing how Thais relate to their religion and integrate it with their daily lives.

On their days off and national holidays, Buddhist Thais often go to their local wat to make offerings and say prayers. From talking to them, they see this as something they genuinely enjoy doing, rather than seeing it as a cultural responsibility. They also really appreciate foreigners taking an interest in their religion and are very happy to see foreigners curious about and taking care to observe temple etiquette when visiting these sites, such as wearing modest dress (long pants and at least a short-sleeve shirt for men, long pants or skirts and tops that cover the shoulders for women) and removing shoes before entering a holy area (it’s easy to spot where to take them off, just look for where all the shoes are lined up at the entrance to a spot; often there are signs in English as well).

Wat Chalong

By far the most visited Buddhist site on the Island is Wat Chalong , located between Phuket Town and Chalong. The grounds are fairly large with several buildings worth going into.

One building contains statues of the founding monks of the wat , two of whom were well-known healers (one a herbalist, the other a bone-setter) and were key in negotiating a settlement in an 1870’s Chinese miners uprising.

Another building here is a tall tower adorned inside with colorful murals in the Thai style depicting stories of the Buddha. Continue to the top and you will see a enshrinement of what is said to be a bone shard of the Buddha as well as other relics. The view of the island from this point is very nice as well, with a view of Buddha Mountain (more on that later).

It is on the standard tourist route, so it can be fairly busy; the best times to go are before 10 or in the late afternoon, when you can tag on a trip to Phromthep Cape for and unforgettable sunset.

"Phuket’s Big Buddha Statue"

Six years and 60 million Baht (about US$2 million) so far in the making, the Phra Puttamingmongkol Akenakkiri, as it is officially called, will be an impressive monument on the island at about 45m tall sitting atop a hill whose view spans the island.

The project is expected to be completed in 2009, but visitors are welcome now to watch construction on this large undertaking.

Wat Pra Tong

This temple houses the mysterious half-buried Buddha statue that, depending on who is telling the story, either sprung up out of the ground and confounds those who try to dig it up, or was buried in silt as a result of the change of course of a nearby canal.

Wat Phranang Saeng

This is the oldest temple on Phuket, built more than 540 years ago, and home to some historically significant statues.

Other Temples Around the Island

All-in-all, there are 29 wats on Phuket Island, each with its own story and character. I’d encourage you to stop by the local wat wherever you are staying to find out what you might discover. Make an offering, circumambulate a stupa, or just sit and feel Thailand. Meditation can be found anywhere.

This is an excerpt from a talk given by Genla Michael Gregory on some practice points.
“So in every practice session you should begin with refuge, and bodhicitta.  After that, you should ask yourself, “what is the purpose?  Why am I sitting here?”  The chances of you wandering mentally go up dramatically, if you don’t know why you’re sitting down.  That’s the purpose of this step.
“Some people have the attitude that, ‘each session is a mystery and we’re here to discover that mystery.’  What they actually ‘discover’ is only a bunch of story lines.  Every single time, even for 20, 30, 40 years, a bunch of dramas is what’s going to come up.  They might call it meditation, but they’d be better off getting out pen and paper and doing what’s called free association, just writing down thoughts.  That’s what happens without a clear-cut purpose of why you’re sitting.
You can talk to anybody who’s done it 20 or 30 years the wrong way, and they’ll pretty much tell you that that’s exactly right.  They maybe considered it meditation, but it’s not; not any Buddhist form.  There’s no Buddhist practice where you sit there and let thoughts roll around.  No text ever mentions that that’s a good thing to do for the rest of your life, just spending an hour a day letting thoughts roll.  So, know the purpose in each session before you sit.
“Then, what’s the method for the achievement of that purpose?  What method?  What do I do exactly?  That should also be a known quantity before you sit.  This is the purpose, and if you don’t set the method, what can happen?  A lot of confusion, frankly; there’s nuts and bolts to every practice.  You should know what they are before you sit down.  What are the nuts and bolts of all this?  All right?
“Then, intention.  Intention of this practice:  setting the intention before you begin, ‘This is what I’m going to do.  I am most likely going to waver.  I know my mind:  I’m most likely going to waver,’ that seems pretty obvious.  So I set the intention that when I do waver, I’m going to come back rapidly.  I want to check in with myself a few times during the session, [to] make sure I’m still on target in terms of purpose and method.
“If you’re going through lethargy or periods of what’s called dullness, subtle or gross, that finally leads to lethargy, one of the clearest ways to defeat that is to reinstate the purpose and method of the practice, right there in the middle, halfway through.  Reinstate it mentally, a mental recitation to yourself:  what is the purpose and method of this practice.  It’s actually recommended by the Buddha and teachers for the last couple thousand years.  You just go back.  If that doesn’t work, you can recite prayers and aspirations, sutras, the points of certain sutras.  And then try to return back to the method and purpose of the practice.  Re-set the intention.  If you have to re-set it four or five times in a session, it’s okay.
“The point is, it’s a lot better than sitting here in session just wondering about what you have to do tomorrow, or what you’re going to do when the bell rings.
“When sensations arise during the practice, sit still.  Sit perfectly still, and label the sensations:  pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.  Or if the sensation is just pain:  pain, pain, pain.  The point in doing this is that it’s got nothing to do with any sense of “I”, sense of self.  It’s an arising; it’s an experience.  There’s absolutely no self or subject involvement whatsoever.  No involvement.  That is the point of labeling these things.
“These things are typically treated as important because when there’s sensation, there’s attachment, aversion, or indifference, and there’s a sense of self that’s normally built in with these things.  So here, you’re breaking that down.  You’re actually getting down to the experience.  Just the experience.
“The final part of this checking in with yourself is the review at the end, to see if you’ve actually worked with the purpose and the method.  What I mean by, “worked with,” is that you don’t have a sense of grading yourself.  Review doesn’t mean what it might have meant in school to you, that you achieved the result of the practice.  It does not mean that.  It just means that you worked with the purpose, the method, and the intention.  That’s all.  And that if there were problems in there, like lethargy, dullness, agitation, proliferation of thoughts, that you saw that in the practice, during the review.  Or, if there was a misunderstanding, that you actually set the purpose and intention and then when you went to practice, it wasn’t what you thought.  This happens all the time, so in the review, that’s what you’re looking for, these factors.
“And then, ‘what can I do about it?’  You say, ‘Oh, I had dullness but for some reason, it didn’t occur to me to use an antidote.  For some reason, I just thought the story line was so interesting that I just didn’t even bother applying the antidote.  I had proliferation of thoughts, and I know what to do, but I just didn’t even apply the antidote.  I don’t know why, but that’s what happened.  So I need to work on this.’
“But when you say this, it’s not a matter of self-criticism.  It is a critique, of course.  But it’s not a sense of judgment.  The idea behind review is, again, a sense of friendliness about your practice.  You see it like, ‘Hmm, this is actually a habit!  I just sit here all the time and this is what I do.  And I’ve got to stop doing this.  I’m putting all this effort and attention into my practice, but I’m wasting my time here.  I need to stop this.  This is a recurring theme.  You know, I’m actually starting to wonder, when I do this, am I purposeful?  Is there some part of me subconsciously that’s trying to evade this practice?  Is that why I let myself go through this, session after session?  I like it, you know, when we have dharma talks, and we read books and stuff like that.  But I that find that the rest of the time it’s just really a lot of work to sit here and I really don’t like it.  And what’s that about, when I like to intellectualize but I don’t like to actually do the practice?’
“And everyone goes through phases of that.  Everybody.  ‘What’s that about, that I want to keep this compartmentalized in my mind, but I don’t actually want to experience what’s being talked about?  Is there some fear there that I’m going to break into a habit pattern?  A reaction that this is actually uncomfortable?  What’s that about?’
“The review sessions help break through a lot of misconceptions about our own practices.”

Here are some responses from recent retreatants:

“This year’s retreat was so great! Genla’s [Michael's] instructions were developmental so that you could clearly understand each step. The meditation sessions were so valuable with his … instructions. The opportunity to walk on the beach was also a meditation. The neighbors neaby the center were warm and friendly. If you are seeking a place to more thoroughly explore mindfulness, this is the place!” - Shirley

“A life-changing experience for which I am profoundly grateful. I had expected it to be much more difficult…but to my surprise I relished the silence and the practices. Genla’s teachings are so understandable - I get it! But now I have to practice.”

“I had a great rereat experience. The teachings were awesome, the community was supportive, and the chance to quiet down and do some real “looking” into the mind’s nature has been motivational for my continuing dharma practice.”

“[The] environment was very conducive to practice. Not many outer distractions, and [I] felt very safe and welcome in town. It was obvious that a lot of effort and thought was put into the entire retreat in general, and into the teaching in particular. Truly an experience of a lifetime, a gem whose value cannot be measured.”

Some people have asked about good translations for the suttas/sutras we study. Here are some helpful links:

Anapanasati Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 118) Mindfulness of Breathing. Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku.

Satipatthana Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 10) Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Translated by Thanissaro Bhikku.

The Heart Sutra. This is a translation done specifically for the Summit Dharma Center.

We are happy to present to you the Heart Sutra as it is presented in our prayer books.

The Heart Sutra

Thus I have heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak Mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas.

At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called “profound illumination.” And at the same time noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajñaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Sariputra said to noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, “How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajñaparamita?”

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Sariputra, “O Sariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajñaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature.

“Form is empty; emptiness is also form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness.

“In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are empty.

“Thus, Sariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics.

“There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase.

“Therefore, Sariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness;

“No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;

“No appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas;

“No eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu;

“No ignorance and no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death;

“No suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

“Therefore, Sariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajñaparamita. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajñaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment.

“Therefore, the great mantra of prajñaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajñaparamita mantra is said in this way:

“Tadya ta, ga-te ga-te, para ga-te,

para sang ga-te, bodhi so ha.

“Thus, Sariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajñaparamita.”

Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, “Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is.

“One should practice the profound prajñaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice.”

When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Sariputra and noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Here are some photos from the 30-day meditation retreat held in May, 2008. Enjoy!

Rainbow Around the Sun.

This was a wonderful sight to see in the middle of a silent retreat.

In Sesssion

Meditators during one of the daytime sessions.

One of the many flowers outside of the center’s building.

Meditators pose for a group photo after it’s all done.