self-retreat in Thailand

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Sekha
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self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

I will maybe spend a few weeks in Thailand in June and I would like to spend some time in a place where I could do a self-retreat, without having to participate too much to rites, rituals and prosternations, and where basically they let me practice my own practice without bothering.
I found such wonderful places in Malaysia, but it seems they are more difficult to find in Thailand.

Could anyone help?

ps: I already have that German pdf, but couldn't find what I'm looking for in it
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effort
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by effort »

did you check this:

http://www.buddhas.ch/user/files/Retrea ... nglish.pdf

sometimes there is monasteries that have no strict practice time.

if you google the title you will find new version of that list also.
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Sekha
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

Thanks effort.

but this is actually the german pdf I mentioned above.

It is interesting to see that Theravada buddhists in Malaysia are more open than Thai buddhists. I believe the reason is that Chinese Malaysian theravada followers used to be mahayanists and shifted to theravada because it was making more sense to them. Thus they are not very dogmatic, they understand what it is like to come to theravada from another tradition, and they speak very good English, which atually makes Malaysia my number one destination outside India for solitary meditation.

I visited Sasana Rakkha in Taiping, and Sitavana Vihara in Penang. Both places are very open and very well organized. The latter is quite high up on a steep hill side, so the atmosphere remains cool almost throughout the day, and there is nearly no one coming up there. Looking forward to get back there in June : D
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effort
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by effort »

i think it is possible to find a monastery in thailand that you like, i think the problem is you have more options in thailand than malaysia!!

i heard about the second monastery you said and i like to visit that.
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gavesako
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by gavesako »

There are Goenka centers in Thailand, they practise this kind of "Buddhism without Buddhism"...
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Sekha
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

Yes, I like Goenka very much. But I am already staying in his centers in India about 6 months a year, and I like to stay in other places to practice on my own. I like to set up my own rules, I don't like to have them imposed. I did a hard job getting rid of my conditionning, and I don't like to be imposed some other conditionning. I read a sutta which I believe to be in the Magga Samyutta where a guy (not sure he was a monk) comes up to the Buddha telling him he can't train with over 200 rules. The Buddha replies that's fine, he can just train with the eightfold noble path.
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Sekha
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

I found this, but they are too expensive for me:

http://www.anveekshana.org/en/retreat.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi Dukkhanirodha,

Actually, my impression is that there are plenty of Wats in Thailand where you could stay and set your own schedule. I did that a couple of years ago in the Bangkok Wat that my local Wat is a "branch" of.

The main problem is language. Outside of tourist areas English just isn't an option in most cases, so it's non-trivial to set up a visit. And, of course, the places that are set up with organised retreats will obviously have organised rules...

:anjali:
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gavesako
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by gavesako »

I can recommend Wat Pa Kanjanabhisek -- http://www.rightview.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -- where some Westerners will also be taking temporary ordination soon with Ajahn Sudhiro.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... dhiro&aq=f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Sekha
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

Thank you for the links and info. I also think there must be some good places but difficult to find without speaking Thai. I started learning Thai for that purpose, but if i can find a place to stay without having to learn Thai, I would rather stay there. I prefer spending my time learning Pali than Thai. It's much more kusala.

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Assaji
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Assaji »

Perhaps Dharma Healing would do:

http://dhamma.ru/sadhu/directory?sobi2T ... obi2Id=677" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Ytrog »

@Dukkhanirodha: just out of curiosity: if you stay in Goenka's centers 6 months a year, what are you doing the other 6 months? Are you in a process to become a monk?

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Sekha
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Re: self-retreat in Thailand

Post by Sekha »

not feeling inspired to become a monk

outside Goenka's center, I stay in other places for meditation the kind of I am looking for in this thread. Ccurrently visiting Angkor with my mom too.
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