Vipassana Meditation at Wat Ram Poeng

September 15th, 2003 at 12:00am

Well it seems as though I’ve gone straight from Tai Chi boot camp to Vipassana boot camp. It is 9pm and I am writing from my bed inside the study hall at Wat Ram Poeng. I arrived here today to start a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat. I know I said I was undecided between a 5 and 10-day retreat, but apparently the minimum they offer here is 10 days, so I’m in it for the long haul whether I like it or not.

I had a lot of stuff to do earlier today before packing up and getting a tuk-tuk ride across town, so by the time I actually got here it was 5pm. Little did I know that you have to make a reservation to come here, so it’s not even my first day and I’ve already become the rebel ‘yogi.’ In my defense I should explain that I sent this monastery an email last year when I was thinking about coming, and the reply said come any day, anytime because they accept new students every day. Well I guess the demand has changed over the last year, because now they are apparently booked solid. They have 25 rooms for foreigners and they are all full at the moment, and here I arrive at 5pm with all my luggage! I was expecting to get kicked out actually, but they lived up to their Buddhist image, and it was very kind of them to make me a bed in the study hall which is where I’ll stay for the next 3 days until a room becomes available.

They had an American man show me around a bit, and then told me that I would get an orientation tomorrow at 1pm (the time you are supposed to arrive), and I would begin the meditation retreat then. So I basically have ‘free time’ until tomorrow at 1pm and I can think about whatever I want and read and write to my heart’s content! After that though I am supposed to kick-out the thinking and engage in no reading or writing for the next 10 days. I am already planning to cheat and keep up with the journal, otherwise what will I have to look back on?

I’m a little nervous about going to breakfast tomorrow, at 6am, because I will obviously be the ‘new guy,’ and without the orientation I have no idea what to do and I know we have to say prayers and shit, so I’m just going to have to put on the poker face and watch everybody else.

The only other thing to really comment on at this stage is the number of ants and bugs in this study room. I am outnumbered by about 1,000,000 to 1. The whole floor was covered in various insect bodies when I arrived, so my first task was to sweep the piles of them out the door. I know, I did just show up on their doorstep, so be grateful. But what is skeeving me out is that I have to sleep on a mat on the floor and there are ants and knats crawling all over me! This should be interesting.

Wat Ram Poeng

My new home at least for a little while

Entry Filed under: Chiang Mai,North,Thailand