Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Hello all,

I'm a 30-year old married American (Cambridge, Ma.) ESL teacher living and working in Bangkok, Thailand. I've been a student of Buddhism since age 16 when I started attending a Shambhala meditation center in Newton, Ma. and reading all the books people do when they discover the dhamma. I sat many retreats long and short throughout my early twenties, and after a few false starts getting through school, earned a BA in Comparative Religion from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. Prof. David Barnhill was an inspiration as was a Sri Lankan Prof., Shelini Harris, who encouraged my idea to go to Sri Lanka after graduating. I taught English as a volunteer to child monks in Chilaw and did much Tsunami relief work while there (I was very lucky to be in a safe place that day, just out of reach). After that I moved to Thailand for more ESL opportunities and training courses (did the CELTA and the SIT TESOL here).

Now I'm married (to a Thai) and have lived here for almost 4 years now. I only occasionally visit temples and rarely meditate. Recently I've been feeling the effects of this lack...after this period of a few years it's been extremely difficult to get comfortable with my mind again...

I'm looking forward to reading and posting on this forum. I'm interested in all aspects of the dhamma. What I mostly do nowadays is listen to talks by Thannisaro (a wonderful and clear teacher) and just try to relax into things a bit more - with an emphasis on direct, personal experience of the truth rather than reading more books (I've read enough, lord knows).

Living in Bangkok sometimes does NOT help, with pollution, crowds, consumerism, sex, and the like on all sides. Needless to say, it's quite the arena for practice.

Alright. Thanks.

Greetings Matthew,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!



Metta,
Retro.

Thanks, Retro.

Boy...that didn't take long.

Hello Matthew,

Welcome. Haven't been to Bangkok for a couple of years, but used to go about twice a year. Some of our members live there. Here are a few groups I know about:

World Fellowship of Buddhists
On the First Sunday of every month there is (usually) an open forum with varying speakers and topics from 12:00 - 1:30 pm on the third floor of the W.F.B. building. Also there will be the Abhidhamma (Which the venerable Sariputta heard in brief from the Buddha he preached to his five hundred disciples in a way that was neither brief nor extended.) in English lecture and discussion session, from 14:00 to 16:30 at the small meeting room on the second floor of the WFB headquarters. (free admission)

It can be worth phoning to check first, as it is sometimes cancelled.

The World Fellowship of Buddhist
616 Benjasiri Park, Soi Medhinivet,
Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok 10110,
Thailand.
Tel. (662) 6611284 - 87
Fax. (662) 6610555
http://www.wfb-hq.org/programme.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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LittleBang
April Schedule
Thursday 2nd: Special Event - Talk and discussion with Thai Abhidhamma expert Ajahn Sujin DETAILS
Friday 3rd - 5th : Shambhala Training Level 1; The Art of Being Human. DETAILS (all are welcome to attend the introductory talk on Friday evening, even if not joining the whole weekend)
Sunday 5th: World Buddhist University monthly forum: Jataka Tale : DETAILS
Friday 17th - Sun 19th 3 days with Visiting Tibetan Phakchok Rinpoche DETAILS
Sun 17th Talk with HH Phakchok Rinpoche 12 noon - 1pm at Lumpini Park DETAILS
Monday 20th, Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th April - Ongoing events with HH Phakchok Rinpoche DETAILS
Tuesday 21st Dhamma Talk with Visiting (and popular) Canadian Monk U Vamsa. DETAILS
Weds 22nd April: Start of a month long course in Jainism, free of charge, at Mahidol University DETAILS
Sunday 26th Lunch at the Tai Pan, and afternoon ENGLISH ONLY session with HH Phakchok Rinpoche DETAILS
Tuesday 28th A second Dhamma Talk with Ven. U Vamsa . DETAILS
http://littlebang.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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The Dhamma Study Group meets every Saturday between 2 and 4pm in Thonburi, and is attended by foreigners as well as Thais. They don't practice formal meditation and the main focus of the discussions is the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Dhamma Study & Support Foundation
174/1 Soi Charoen Nakhon 78
Bukkalo, Thonburi, Bangkok 10600
Tel: 0 2468 0239
[email protected]
http://www.dhammahome.com/home_en.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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I.B.M.C. ( International Buddhist Meditation Centre )
This is part of Mahaculalongkorn University and has gone through several incarnations. There are usually meeting there once or twice a month held by English speaking monks or Professors of the MCU University. For visiting schools/universities, and general contact for international affairs the International M.A. degree program has English speakers daily in the office from 1pm - 8pm week days (check for 'Wan Phra' days on a Thai calendar as the university is often closed). Much of the information at the MCU links below is out of date, and you should try and check in advance if you can.

Vipassana Section Room 106, Mahachula Building Wat Mahadhat, close to Sanam Luang.
http://www.mcu.ac.th/IBMC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

International Degree program Office
Room 304, Mahacula Building, Wat Mahadhat Tel : 02 225 8686 ext: 137 [email protected]
http://www.mcu.ac.th/En/major/major_index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris

HI Matthew,

I tend to avoid BKK, but I may become a permanent resident of Chiang Mai within the next couple of years. Welcome to Dhamma Wheel.

hi

Hi Matthew and welcome to Dhamma Wheel. I hope to fly into Bangkok around the 22nd of April if that is possible and be in the city for about a week, after that I am off to see some of the countryside and look into ordination opportunities mostly in the northern and eastern provinces. Feel free to pm me if you have any news or whatever. I hope the current difficulties eventually are resolved in a positive way for the good people of Thailand.

metta & upekkha
nathan

Hi Matthew

Greetings and welcome to Dhamma Wheel!
I wish you well in rediscovering your path and I hope that we can provide you with some company and interesting discussions.
I look forward to reading your contributions.
Metta

Ben