Thailand Meditation Retreat News

“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.

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 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).

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.”