Dhammanando wrote:
1. Dhammayutt/Ajahn Mun-style forest wats where monks spends most of their day alone, communal activities are kept to a bare minimum, and so each monk is fairly free to set his own schedule. For example, at Ajahn Maha Boowa's wat the only required group activities are the morning almsround and meal, the cleaning of the sala, and afternoon sweeping and pumping water at the well. The rest of the time you're by yourself in your kuti or on your walking meditation path. In this kind of monastery there will typically be a handful of highly motivated monks who practise diligently and sleep only when exhaustion forces them to. Some of them may also undertake the sitter's practice (i.e., making an adhiṭṭhāna never to lie down). But most of the monks will be like the sluggard of the Sigalovāda Sutta:
- 'Thinking: “It’s too cold”, he does not work; thinking: “It’s too hot”, he does not work; thinking: “It’s too early”, he does not work; thinking: “It’s too late”, he does not work; thinking: “I’m too hungry”, he does not work; thinking: “I’m too full”, he does not work.' Thus spoke the Blessed One.
In the hot season they'll sleep most of the day because the heat is exhausting; in the cold season, when it's freezing at night and unpleasant to get out from under the blankets, they'll sleep from the evening bathing time (6:00 pm) until the very last moment when they have to get up for the cleaning of the sala (5:00 am). Then they'll have another sleep after their morning meal (8:00 am) until the mid-day teabreak. Then after the teabreak it's back to bed again until the afternoon sweeping (4:00 pm).
Hahaha, this is rather amusing, especially when imagining a monk doing so. You know, you can only sleep so much before sleeping becomes tiring!
I can only sleep 8 or 9 hours before I have to get up and do something, if for no other reason but to make myself tired so I can sleep again, lol. I think if I were in this type of forest wat, I would probably have more motivation than I have now, but would frequently succumb to laziness as well. Maybe the idea of the robes would be enough to motivate me, but I think this next type is a good idea for me...
2. Highly regimented forest monasteries. The chief example would be those of Ajahn Chah. Here the monks will typically have far less time to themselves, for group activities like meditation, chanting, and manual work take up much of the day and are not optional. So, in this sort of monastery the monks won't be able to get away with all the daytime sleeping that the more sluggardly Dhammayutt forest monks indulge in. But how much they can sleep will depend on what sort of daily routine the abbot decides to set, which will vary greatly from one wat to another. One abbot, for example, might insist on a killer routine, resembling a Japanese POW camp: evening meetings that go on late into the night, followed by rising at 3:00 am, manual work most of the day, and compulsory all-night sittings four times a month. Another might set a much gentler schedule, more like that of Ajahn Buddhadasa's wats.
Wow, this seems darn hard, although it might be just what I need to break my habitual tendencies. Maybe not the POW style, haha. But the Buddhadasa style seems balanced enough. I believe I need a style which doesn't allow for extreme laziness but also doesn't leave me sleep-deprived and in shock.
3. Forest meditation centres following an intensive Burmese-style of practice. These places are also highly regimented, but differ from #2 in that there is no manual work, usually no chanting or other rituals, and almost all a monk's waking hours will be spent in formal walking and sitting meditation. The abbot will usually set some maximum number of hours that residents may sleep, with 6 hours being a fairly common standard. But as their practice progresses most meditators will find themselves needing less sleep, typically reducing it to about 4 hours a night. In the case of more accomplished meditators who spend part of each day in jhānic states, the sleep-time may even drop to just an hour or two.
This sounds pretty nice too, although I think I could benefit from manual work and chanting. But the great emphasis on pure meditation seems to foster achieving jhanas more specifically than the others. But I think I need a wat which allows me the freedom to develop discipline and practice on my own, but with periodic support and encouragement as well. Not that I can't develop discipline on my own, but it's nice to get some reminders every once in a while.
Bhikkhu, how did you go about choosing your current residence? What factors were important to you? Why did you rule out the others? Are you comfortable there, or are you considering leaving for another eventually?
Thanks so much for the detailed response. It is tremendously helpful.
Dhammakid