With some trepidation, we entered a ten day silent meditation retreat at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, just outside Chiang Mai. Unfortunately we arrived on a day that the monk was not giving instruction; instead it was his administrative assistant. I didn’t realize until days later that this was a rather important lesson so questions about how to do the meditation exercises lingered until the end. Still, it was a worthwhile retreat and we are glad that we went.
For me, the primary takeaway point was that my mind wanders *very* frequently; effectively, all the time, and that normally one will notice only a fraction of this wandering. In trying to pay attention to one’s attention, I found (as most everyone does) that it’s wandering much more that I had previously known. For instance, in trying to concentrate on the position of one’s foot during walking meditation, one’s attention can wander right in the middle of foot placement, literally a second or two after one dedicated one’s attention to the foot.
That you can join at any time (four to ten days) I think is also a limitation – that means that lessons are not given in any particular order, and they tended to be repetitive. Some monasteries have programs that begin on the first day of every month; that’s probably a better approach.
Like the instruction, the food was a little spartan, and repetitive.
Some inmates left the confines to get some fresh fruit (or frangu!)
