hi everyone,

Thailand has been my home for thirty five years. The land of smile, but also of “namjai”, which means generosity and non-anger! No one day that passes by without saying to me, what a country, what a people!
I am happy that more and more is mentioned here about the Dhamma which is taught in Thailand.
I wish you all could understand the marvelous sermons of Luang Ta Maha Boowa. The inimitable way he has to explain the Dhamma and to challenge every one of us is indeed a priceless jewel.
Well, four month a year, I stay in a wonderful place for meditation practice, and I have thought of sharing this wonderful opportunity with anyone of you who is or lives in Thailand presently.
  
The place is a huge resort owned by a nice man who is also vice president of Thai tourist authorities, and a Dhamma practitioner. He has given a nice house to me, very secluded to stay and meditate. The place is amazing, with a swimming pool surrounded by mountains to do swimming meditation instead of walking meditation… Very refreshing, the best way to bring your noting practice back on the perfect track ha ha.
Now, one of you, Jose, from Spain is now in Thailand and will come here soon.
So I was thinking of inviting other interested persons to a meeting here. (a four-hour drive from Bangkok, in Uthai Thani province)
May be Peter Havlin would like to come... Anyone else?

In a long run, what I envision here is to allow sincere seekers who come to study the dharma in Thailand to have a place where they can come and make a self retreat to put in practice what they learned with the best conditions at hand, but at the same time to be able to share knowledge with others… a kind of dho face to face!
See the rhythm? Plenty of time for oneself and a bite of time to share because this will force us not be complacent… 

the place is truely beautiful, here are a few photos: http://rainbowmeditation.blogspot.com/p/mon-nord-thailande.html

Hey,

Could you please give a little bit more detail into what you are offering? . 

For example is there a cost to stay? How long would it be appropriate to stay? Also, I apologize for being blunt or if I'm missing something, but why did this man just give this really nice place to you?  Sorry, I'm just trying to understand the context. 

I'm not in Thaliand right now but considering visiting in the summer. I would be interested in having a peaceful place to meditate and a supportive environment.

Hi, 
Thanks for inquiring.
Why am I such a lucky person?
Well, one day I was searching for a place to swim... Swimming meditation is my favorite activity.
I entered the place and ask for permission to jump in the pool.
Now, since I am a novice monk in the chinese mahayana tradition, a Samanera as we are called here, I never stay in thai temples, because theravada rules differ largely from the mahayana ones. Theravada rules are very strict, I can ride a bike or even drive a car while thai monks must walk.

So the owners decided to lent me a house, actually the most remote one of the resort, and it has been three years now that I live here, four to five months a year...
Since I practice chi kong I give freely some guidance whenever it is required. A nice way isn't it to say a big thank you.
Thai generosity is indeed amazing, just need to get out of tourist places to realy appreciate...

Now, this is a tentative. If more people show up, something always nice will come up.
For the first visitors, it is very easy to use the house where I stay for cooking and even for sleeping. I never sleep inside. So much cooler and windy outside!
So the big bedroom is free and if you prefer to sleep outside, I have tents.
And like me, I guess you will enjoy going to the caves to meditate and just spend the whole night there.

As for moving around we use bikes, also available at the resort.

When you leave, if you want to give a donation, it will be used for the only purpose to better welcome dharma visitors in the future..

As for summer time, I may not be in thailand in june and july, not sure yet. August is OK.

What I envision here is to allow sincere seekers who come to study the dharma in Thailand to have a place where they can come and make a self retreat to put in practice what they learned with the best conditions at hand, but at the same time to be able to share knowledge with others… a kind of dho face to face!
See the rhythm? Plenty of time for oneself and a bite of time for sharing with others because this can help us not be complacent… 

And why not one day may be having a huge meeting of all you here, something to remember.
Accomodation for 400 people is child game in this resort !

35 years ago, having come over land from france to india, I decided to go on, took a plane for the first time in my life, calcutta-bangkok, having in mind to stay a mere three days in the "mad city", get a ticket to Indonesia and run away.
35 years have passed and still no plane ticket to jakarta for me...
I met a people I never thought could exist on earth, and here I remain....


 

Hi! I'm coming to Thailand at the end of April. I would be interested in dropping by to say hello. I'm going to start off in the south at Suan Mokkh, but as I head northward I will keep you in mind!

Thank you for your generous offer!

Jeff

hi Jeff                                                                                                                                                                                                                   very good... inform me  when you finish your retreat because I may be in the south too. Not far from you. On a fantastic beach facing the east for morning sun gazing with caves near by for meditation...    

Hi Woop Wap, wish I'd seen this post earlier as I'm in Thailand (Nonthaburi) right now but leaving in a few days. However, I do come most years. The PM doesn't work properly beyond a couple of sentences but if you email me (sent already address) I can tell you more about Burma...
If you are a Mahayana monk, do you normally abide in a Chinese or Korean temple? Or elsewhere?

Okay, So three of us "DhO-ers" met up in Bangkok, Thailand last week on 21st and 22nd March, and had some good conversation. In the attached picture, Thierry (from France originally) is in the middle and Jose (Spain) in the blue shirt, myself (England) in the White shirt.

Thierry (that's Woop Wap) has various ideas as already he has mentioned in this thread. I'm sure he will expand on those should you ask. Many DhO members it seems are naturally drawn to come and practice in both Thailand and Burma and he would like to make some face to face connections with a view to practice together.
Thierry knows both countries and cultures very well and is (I believe) fluent in Thai and can also speak and read some of the Burmese language too.

Thierry is quite the ascetic and has practiced in remote places - caves, mountains, waterfalls etc often fasting too. But don't worry, although he does this for many weeks and months throughout the year, he would be happy if anyone would like to join him to practice and experience this even just for a week or so. Longer too if that's your intent.

Jose has also been practicing for many years and spent the last six months travelling in SE Asia, not just those two countries as he also spent some time in Indonesia and elsewhere I think. He was not only sitting on retreats but did some short retreats here and there. He also likes walking a lot and soaking up nature. I might even meet up with him again in Madrid sometime... For practice... Walks etc

Thierry suggested some brief preliminaries or warm up exercises if you will to sitting which I took up as I think they are a nice start to any session. They are very simple and he may even put some of his ideas for these and other stuff on YouTube someday.
It's easier demonstrating than describing but I'll give it a go in another post later.

 
Thanks Piers for these few lines about what was a very interesting meeting.
I am a bite disappointed that quite a few dho members who apparently do live in Thailand did not try to get in touch.

Jose and myself having practiced with bodily motions and especially hand motions as suggested in three or four different lineage in Thailand, here are some personnal discoveries that I am happy to share with you all as I shared them with Piers and Jose on that beautiful afternoon, March 2015.

http://woopwap.jimdo.com/for-jose/

In fact this is on Jose's request that I tried to put in words a bite of this amazing experience. I am bite shy to... say anything among such an amazing community of highly dedicated practitioners.

You will notice the importance of the detailed developed SENSATION OF PRESSURE AND ITS INCREASING. Amazingly, Jose had made similar discoveries from other different shcools. May be he will share this again for you guys.

Please notice that the other pages of the website are still very incomplete, due to lack of time.