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9/23/07
Anapanasati at top of Wat Tum Sua and 5?
kids taking my pictures and banging the bells to
see if they could get me to move
and break the meditation...
Mai pen rai krup... (no matter, no mind)
Today was an interesting test of my meditation practice. I climbed
up the stairs again to the top of the mountain at Wat Tum Sua and
after the sweat dried up from my body and clothes and my breathing
calmed quite a bit I sat in my usual spot at the altar that has some
shade and the most wind blowing (usually). The first 10
minutes were almost silent as people came and went and were quiet
for the most part. I could hear talking, but it didn't bother me at
all. I was able to find peace and stillness of body rather quickly
and the mind followed... and then...
5 or so Thai kids arrived
with their father. I could hear them around me and they were talking
about getting me to move... I was in a good state of concentration
at the moment and so I just watched with my mind - with attention at
what they said and let it go as I heard each word or phrase. They
were intent on getting me to react and break the meditation. They
took pictures very close to me (of me) and banged on the bells that
were at another platform close by to see if they could get me to
react or jump or something. It was amusing and yet I couldn't help
some thoughts from surfacing about the impoliteness of Thais when it
comes to others. There really is very little.
Going to this wat in the
south of Thailand over the past couple weeks and months I noticed
that there is little in the way of outward shows of respect not only
among all Thais' but also for the monks at this wat. It is as if
they are laypeople. The Thais that interact with them don't worry
about having their head higher than the monks, following a step
behind... using polite language with krup and ka... they don't dip
their heads when they pass them or go between monks. They don't wai
anyone and very rarely do I see any Thais' interacting with the
monks at all except to treat them as friends like they met in a bar.
This is in marked
contrast with the respect shown to monks by Thais in the Northeast
province of Ubon Ratchathani, Udonthani, Sisaket and others.
There is a reverence... a respect that they don't give to others
that they accord to monks that is nice to see...
At least a little basic
respect of someone's space, privacy, meditative moments would have
been appreciated... but, no matter since the mind reacted very
little to the antics of these kids that were at times within
reaching distance sticking their Nokia cell phone cameras close to
me to get a good photo of the foreign monk (they called me)
meditating at the top of the mountain. The father of some of
the kids joked with them, smoked and egged them on to do some of the
things they were doing to attempt to disturb me... it was kind of
weird that not only was there an utter disregard for my sitting
there in an unobtrusive and out of the way part of the altar, but
there were unabashed attempts at provoking me to see if they could
get me to stop meditating. This went on for over 30 minutes I'm
guessing.
So, such was my sitting
today... after they had gone and I stayed another 15 minutes.
When I opened my eyes I
had a bit of Jhana there - the feeling of lightness of being... of
no feeling in the hands, arms and legs... the good feeling inside...
bliss or some good feeling...
I noticed a young monk
climbing the rocks below coming back toward the platform. Apparently
he had been somewhere. I asked where ("Bpy Ny?"). He said, "anapanasati,
tee non" (meditating over there) and pointed toward the rocks. I
said, "Jing law?" (really) He said "chai" (yes...) I said, "Ow
bpy dooay. Die mai kup?" ( I want to go too, can i?).
I went and got my sport
sandals and came back, he led me over the treacherous rocks in his
bare feet and showed me this 'secret' meditation spot that he found
a while back. He had been at the wat for a year and also liked to
practice anapanasati. This was the spot he liked to go. It was
a small spot of mildly sloping rock that was in an incredibly
beautiful, secluded setting, nestled among the jagged limestone
cliffs that comprised the top of the mountain. It was some effort
getting across the rocks even with shoes, but I made it in a bit
over 5 minutes I think. I took a little video of the
experience and it's posted below. Enjoy...
Oh, tomorrow if we both
make it, we're supposed to meet at 2pm for a trip up a mountain next
to the one we were at today. Supposedly it's a good place for
meditation and there are no other visitors there, just monks.
I'm excited to see if we might be able to coordinate that trip
tomorrow at 2pm. If so, I'll post video and photos.
Ok -
video of top of wat tum sua secret meditation spot 14.7Mb in
size >
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