Greetings from Bangkok

Introduce yourself to others at Dhamma Wheel.
Post Reply
Matthew
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:57 am

Greetings from Bangkok

Post by Matthew »

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. :bow:
Last edited by Matthew on Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Matthew,

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!

:buddha2:

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Matthew
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:57 am

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by Matthew »

Thanks, Retro.

Boy...that didn't take long. :spy:
User avatar
jcsuperstar
Posts: 1915
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:15 am
Location: alaska
Contact:

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by jcsuperstar »

:hello:
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ

the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
User avatar
cooran
Posts: 8503
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by cooran »

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;
===============================================
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;
===========================================================

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;

===============================================================================

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
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
User avatar
pink_trike
Posts: 1130
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:29 am
Contact:

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by pink_trike »

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. :anjali:
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
User avatar
Cittasanto
Posts: 6646
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:31 pm
Location: Ellan Vannin
Contact:

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by Cittasanto »

hi :hello:
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
nathan
Posts: 692
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:11 am

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by nathan »

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
Last edited by nathan on Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
But whoever walking, standing, sitting, or lying down overcomes thought, delighting in the stilling of thought: he's capable, a monk like this, of touching superlative self-awakening. § 110. {Iti 4.11; Iti 115}
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: Greetings from Bangkok

Post by Ben »

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
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
Post Reply