meditation retreatsIt's the best thing before or after a cleansing fast. After or before your stay at The Spa Resorts, why not allow us to organise your visit to Suan Mokh or Theepapawan Retreat?
We recommend Wat SuanMokkh for those interested in a intense learning experience about Buddhism and Meditation. Suan Mokkh's International Dharma Hermitage offers monthly 10 day retreats beginning the first of every month. http://www.suanmokkh.org
Theepapawan MEDITATION RETREATS
Are you tired of all the hustle and bustle in your holiday and in your mind? Meditation is a way of calming the mind down so tha t we can see things more clearly and create a more wholesome, peaceful life for ourselves and others around us. Here is a chance to learn to meditate and learn something about the cultural heart of Thailand : its Buddhist teachings. The new Theepapawan meditation centre offers 5-day Buddhist retreats for beginners. It is located in an idyllically peaceful and natural setting atop a mountain in the beautiful forests above Hua Thanon, just south of Lamai.
It is a simple life with meditation instruction the way it is practiced in monasteries throughout Thailand ; a meaningful experience that may prove to be one of the most rewarding of your life. Certainly something very different from all the other ‘things' you can do on your holidays. The retreat is free of charge however, donations are welcome.
Suan Mohkk International Hermitage in Chiya has been running under the close guidance of Pra Ajarn Poh (the current Abbot of Wat Suan Mohkk) and now the founder of “Hermitage for the Development of Light ” on Koh Samui
For more information please contact:
Ms. Siriwan (Jim) @ Utopia Resort 081-892-3457
Or go to the following websites http://www.utopiasamui.com or www.dipabhavan.comPlease note that it is a short program. Should any participants wish to further their practice, please go to Suan Mohkk International Hermitage, Chiya District, Suratthani Province. There you could join a similar 10-day program from 1 st – 10 th every month. Every year there are more than a thousand foreigners attending the course. For 19 years, Suan Mohkk produced approximately 20,000 graduates.
Regulations for Participants
There are certain rules during the program that the participants must abide by.
• Participate in every single activity.
• Remain silent. (no talking)
• Dress appropriately.
• Stop doing things that you should stop doing.
• Have vegetarian meals for breakfast & lunch
• Remain in the 5 Precepts.
• Overcome laziness and drowsiness
• Get up early, go to bed early.
• Live self-sufficiently but aim highly to do good things
There is no course fee for this program. The participants can donate as much money as they want upon the completion of the program to help maintain the hermitage for the next groups of participants.
Suan Mohk Meditation Retreat
The modern world is an era of globalization and information, of easy communications and travel. Foreign friends in the millions come here to visit, rest, sample our food and culture and spend their money. We Thais who are Buddhists delight in welcoming you by sharing the best thing in Thailand – the teaching of the Buddha – so that you can learn and try them out. We are certain that you will find the best thing in Thailand this way.
So we invite you to Wat Suan Mohk to learn of both knowledge (teachings) and practice (meditation). Come and learn these wonderful insights – plus learn meditation. Please dress politely! T-shirts and short pants are fine – but please, below the knee.
"May all comrades in birth, aging, illness and death find happiness and health."
Phrakru Bhavanajayakhun
(Ajarn Poh) Abott Wat Suan Mohk
For more information have a look at Meditation Retreats and/or contact......
Buddhism
The best thing in Thailand is Buddhism, which entered this land more than two thousand years ago. More than ninety percent of the Thai people follow Buddhism and we have lived together as brothers and sisters in loving cooperation and mutual aid without any problems of family, society, economics, drugs, AIDS, or environment.
Thailand began o have problems just a few decades ago. Our problems began and increased as we have turned out backs on Buddhism and have fallen for materialism, consumerism and sensualism.
Thailand will get over its problems only when we Thais return to practicing the Lord Buddha’s teaching correctly and seriously.
There are many levels to Buddhism in Thailand. The material level of monasteries, cetiyas and Buddha images and the ceremonial level are not sufficient. We must reach the level of genuinely practicing the Buddha’s teachings. Only when we receive its true benefits can it really be called Buddhism.
Concentration Development Program
Participants will have the opportunity to learn important Lord Buddha's teachings namely, suffering and Ways to end suffering, the Four Noble Truths, and the Chain of Phenomenal Cause and Effect. Participants will also learn how to practice mindfulness of breathing, concentration development for tranquility of mind, mind purification for the supreme wisdom to understand things as they are, and insight development to free our minds from attachment and sufferings. “Mindfulness”.
Lord Buddha praised Mindfulness of Breathing the most. He attained Enlightenment because he practiced mindfulness of breathing.
Successful Mindfulness of Breathing practice will begin to come when participants have learned the 4 Dharma Teachings of Mindfulness, 7 Dharma teachings of the Enlightened One, which will help enlighten their supreme wisdom and emancipation.
Apart from the Mindfulness of Breathing practice, everyday the hermitage also teaches Yoga, Chinese dance, Buddhist Chants and the practice of loving-kindness.
WHY?
The world today is mostly about materialism, consumerism, globalization, advanced sciences and technology. Human beings in most parts of the world are busy with struggling hard to attain these goals. Today, life is very comfortable with many accommodating inventions that our ancestors would have never dreamed of such as airplanes, computers, telephones, facsimiles, and fast food, etc.
The make–up of a human being is the combination of 2 elements namely Corporeality (body) and Mentality (mind). The Body must stay with the mind. If there is only the Body without the mind, it cannot be regarded as a full human being. Similarly, if there is no Body, the Mind/Soul has no place to stay. However, between the Body and the Mind, the latter is more vital. For example, people who are mentally ill, they are physically perfect but their mentality is disabled. Moreover, most people including the parents, or relatives would not want to be around these people. This clearly shows that the mind is more significant than the Body. People may have an extreme physical defect that they can overcome with their mind. Example: Paralyzed actor Steve Reeves (Superman).
In fact, the world today is full of physical comfort but if we look deep into the mentality of the people, we will find that it is overwhelmed with problems especially stress, headache, insomnia and anxiety until mental diseases like mental illness and paranoid schizophrenic take over or the physical body shuts down. This certainly causes problems to society for example, divorces, sexual harassment, suicide, taking advantage, selfishness, conflicts, and wars. Not to mention the effect of this on our Hospitals. It also affects environments, for example, the destruction of land, mountains, rivers and oceans. Pollution is everywhere in the earth, water and air. These problems are all the result of too much development of things. Most people think that only material civilization, which is the Body, is sufficient, ignoring spiritual development, ignoring mentality strengthening. When the morality is low, people are without mindfulness and compassion. Inevitably, people's lives are full of problems and the world is full of problems as anyone can see today.
Samui Island is a small island in Thailand. Inhabitants here are also following the materialism trend. Samui 40-50 years ago was totally different. People lived in harmony and peace like brothers and sisters. They found their happiness by going to temples, listening to sermons, working with the nature, farming, fishing and did religious practices, but these days, people just rarely go to temples. Samui is only materialistically developed therefore many of its people are morally weakened. This could be the reason why Samui has a lot of troubles like other places today. Koh Samui also has a lot of serious problems particularly shortage of water supply.
There are only 30,000 Samui natives on the island from approximately 100,000 population. Counting only foreigners who come to Koh Samui each year, the number could reach to more than 1,000,000 soon. As a whole country, the number of foreigners each year is now 12 million. There are various types of foreign visitors to Thailand; one group of them has the purpose to learn about Thailand culture, which includes Lord Buddha's teachings (Dharma). It is not surprising as these days more and more people are interested in Lord Bhudda's Philosophy which can wash away sorrow, physical and mental sufferings.
The most crucial Lord Buddha's Dharma is “The Middle Way:” the path between extremes. A brief version of The Middle Ways consists of insight development and concentration/tranquility development. As most foreigners often search for places for the practice of concentration development, we put our help and contribution together to build a place for concentration development and named it “the Development of Light Hermitage” for both Thai and foreigners on Koh Samui.
