No mo' silence
Days at meditation centre: 2
Attempt number 1 at vow of silence: failed
Reason: continiuous chatting
This should be proof that I didn't turn into a new age hippie. At least it didn't take me more than a full day and a dhamma talk to figure out that the Mahasi Centre is for more advanced yogis than myself.
Day 2, my first full day. The Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Jatila (VSAJ), master yogi of the Mahasi Centre met the Swiss girl and I for our admission interview which wasn't an interview. We sat waiting in the front hall of his home while he was being administered injections and an IV in his room. His assistant played a taped talk on the vipassana meditational method by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw Agga Maha Pandita U Sobhana, the founder of the method and its centre. Twenty minutes into the talk the record player was switched off and VSAJ stood before us. He said a few words and then we followed him to a 'dhamma talk' that turned out to be a reading of one of his published articles.
It is during this 'talk' that it began to dawn on me that I was not ready for the centre. Sandra confirmed my notion later when she told me about another more rigorous centre in Southern Thailand set amongst lush gardens near a beach. Still later, my wandering mind reconfirmed that I had to leave for Thailand. Once my mind was made up I left the meditation hall mid-session to let my warden, Daw Khin Khin, know that I would be leaving the following day.
I truly love Daw Khin Khin. She is one amazing 80 year old woman. During the 36 hours of (supposed) noble silence I learned that her maternal grandfather was a Brit by the name of J.W. Higgs. Her paternal grandfather was a Punjaabi Sikh by the name of Guvinder Singh. Her parents were devout Baptists. She converted to Theravada Buddhism at the age of 35 against the wishes of her family. Three of her siblings passed away. She and her youngest brother are the only ones left. He has six children, all Baptists. They live in Yangon. Daw Khin Khin has lived at the centre for over ten years. She was assigned to take care of the foreign ladies two months ago. After 30 years of working as a bookkeeper her pension is 680 kyats a month (less than 1 dollar). That amount of money doesn't even buy you a meal at a restaurant in Myanmar.
After breakfast on the following day (day 3) Daw Khin Khin showed me around the complex. The 33 acres were donated by a man who's name I forget. There's a statue of him near the entrance encased in a class vestibule. Then she showed me the dining hall for the poor. After that it was off to collect my passport from U Tin Soe. He promptly confused me with the Swiss girl. I now have his son's email address in the States. At his office I met the president of the centre, the secretary and a head monk who enthusiastically showed me the Venerable Mahasi's private meditation room, bedroom, resting room and hallway where he performed his walking meditations. After that it was off to say goodbye to VSAJ who was sprawled out on the floor, face down next to to his bed while a longyi wearing man was walking up and down on his legs. He bid me farewell over his shoulder from this position. I'm sure he didn't see any of Daw Khin Khin's prostations as his backside was facing us. On the way back to my room we met one of the Korean yogis, a woman with an enigmatic smile and "a good heart" as Daw Khin Khin put it. I got a huge hug and a big smile from her. Everyone told me that I was always welcome to come back. At the hostel I had a cup of coffee as I waited for the taxi.
A short visit to an immense reclining Buddha, some hugs and I was off to Bago, 2 hours northeast of Yangon where I befriended this little creature.
So Tin Wa is a 117 year old, 18 foot Boa reputed to be a reincarnation of a Shan state monk. She can predict lottery numbers and every once in a while she will possess the body of a worshipper at a regularly scheduled worship festival (7 out of 10 times). Shi is a nat. Nat worship is a pre-Buddhist practice that is still alive an well in Myanmar. Nats are spirits that can inhabit natural features, trees or even people. Her keepers feed her 5kg of dead chicken weekly because she does not eat live animals. She displayed her jaw's elasticity when she yawned at me.
After this experience I was ripped off by a man with a huge sore on his nose. Consequently, I do not trust men with disfiguring sores on their faces. The damage was only $4 but it still pissed me off. That's one night in a hotel!
Attempt number 1 at vow of silence: failed
Reason: continiuous chatting
This should be proof that I didn't turn into a new age hippie. At least it didn't take me more than a full day and a dhamma talk to figure out that the Mahasi Centre is for more advanced yogis than myself.
Day 2, my first full day. The Venerable Sayadaw Ashin Jatila (VSAJ), master yogi of the Mahasi Centre met the Swiss girl and I for our admission interview which wasn't an interview. We sat waiting in the front hall of his home while he was being administered injections and an IV in his room. His assistant played a taped talk on the vipassana meditational method by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw Agga Maha Pandita U Sobhana, the founder of the method and its centre. Twenty minutes into the talk the record player was switched off and VSAJ stood before us. He said a few words and then we followed him to a 'dhamma talk' that turned out to be a reading of one of his published articles.
It is during this 'talk' that it began to dawn on me that I was not ready for the centre. Sandra confirmed my notion later when she told me about another more rigorous centre in Southern Thailand set amongst lush gardens near a beach. Still later, my wandering mind reconfirmed that I had to leave for Thailand. Once my mind was made up I left the meditation hall mid-session to let my warden, Daw Khin Khin, know that I would be leaving the following day.
I truly love Daw Khin Khin. She is one amazing 80 year old woman. During the 36 hours of (supposed) noble silence I learned that her maternal grandfather was a Brit by the name of J.W. Higgs. Her paternal grandfather was a Punjaabi Sikh by the name of Guvinder Singh. Her parents were devout Baptists. She converted to Theravada Buddhism at the age of 35 against the wishes of her family. Three of her siblings passed away. She and her youngest brother are the only ones left. He has six children, all Baptists. They live in Yangon. Daw Khin Khin has lived at the centre for over ten years. She was assigned to take care of the foreign ladies two months ago. After 30 years of working as a bookkeeper her pension is 680 kyats a month (less than 1 dollar). That amount of money doesn't even buy you a meal at a restaurant in Myanmar.
After breakfast on the following day (day 3) Daw Khin Khin showed me around the complex. The 33 acres were donated by a man who's name I forget. There's a statue of him near the entrance encased in a class vestibule. Then she showed me the dining hall for the poor. After that it was off to collect my passport from U Tin Soe. He promptly confused me with the Swiss girl. I now have his son's email address in the States. At his office I met the president of the centre, the secretary and a head monk who enthusiastically showed me the Venerable Mahasi's private meditation room, bedroom, resting room and hallway where he performed his walking meditations. After that it was off to say goodbye to VSAJ who was sprawled out on the floor, face down next to to his bed while a longyi wearing man was walking up and down on his legs. He bid me farewell over his shoulder from this position. I'm sure he didn't see any of Daw Khin Khin's prostations as his backside was facing us. On the way back to my room we met one of the Korean yogis, a woman with an enigmatic smile and "a good heart" as Daw Khin Khin put it. I got a huge hug and a big smile from her. Everyone told me that I was always welcome to come back. At the hostel I had a cup of coffee as I waited for the taxi.
A short visit to an immense reclining Buddha, some hugs and I was off to Bago, 2 hours northeast of Yangon where I befriended this little creature.
So Tin Wa is a 117 year old, 18 foot Boa reputed to be a reincarnation of a Shan state monk. She can predict lottery numbers and every once in a while she will possess the body of a worshipper at a regularly scheduled worship festival (7 out of 10 times). Shi is a nat. Nat worship is a pre-Buddhist practice that is still alive an well in Myanmar. Nats are spirits that can inhabit natural features, trees or even people. Her keepers feed her 5kg of dead chicken weekly because she does not eat live animals. She displayed her jaw's elasticity when she yawned at me.
After this experience I was ripped off by a man with a huge sore on his nose. Consequently, I do not trust men with disfiguring sores on their faces. The damage was only $4 but it still pissed me off. That's one night in a hotel!
posted by LOTC at 8:00 AM
1 Comments:
i did one day of silence when i took the mbsrp course (lulu said you took it too, true?). i quite liked it. alot of shit stopped bouncing around in my brain. but the long term effects were like, three hours.
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