First week in Ban Sawangjai

It all started very smoothly 2 weeks ago last Friday, taxiride of an hour to Bangkok's North bus terminal, 5 minutes searching for the ticketbooth for Pakchong, which is complicated when almost everything is written using Thai letters. ;)
Luckily the waiting busses were all numbered, so finding the bus was relatively easy.. A 3 hour busride to Pakchong.. That's where I expected the most difficulty in finding my way, I had to get a saengtaew (a pickup truck used as bus) to the temple, but as I was walking around looking for my saengtaew I suddenly spotted Sister Brigitte walking around doing some shopping! It turned out they had just driven into town for some shopping, so I could just get into the minivan and get a ride, perfect! :)

Once there I got my own private room complete with hot shower and toilet, luxery. ;) Well private, I had to share with all the other creatures living there and visiting, mosquitoes, ants, lizards, spiders and anything else which would get in through the cracks in the walls and door.. :)

The first week I was almost alone there, a few monks and nuns, some Thai workers and Ans, a Belgian guy, who had already been there for a month, meditating. I would just try to meditate all day, with breaks for some rest or tea or coffee, quite difficult to find the discipline to go sit and meditate. Around 9:30 there would be a meal up on the mountain where the monks live.
Monks have only 1 meal a day and as a meditator there you also have to follow the rule of not eating anything after 12 noon. That seems difficult to do, but actually you learn to eat as much as you can during your one meal and the food is really very good, so after a day or 2 you get used to it.
On the second day there, before the meal, the abbot of the temple, the head teacher, Phra Acharn Tippakorn came to me and asked me if I would like to join him and the monks the next morning to go on 'pinat baht', that is when the monks go into town early in the morning and make a round across the market and the people have the opportunity to give food to the monks, so it is quite an honour to be able to be there and of course I said yes.
The next morning 5:30 I was picked up by the minivan and we drove into town, there we went barefoot walking across the market, Ans and me both carrying a big basket for the donations, the people give so much that the monks couldn't possibly carry it themselves, in fact usually we took in about 8 baskets full! Of course everybody at the centre, about 30 people, eat from it, so nothing gets wasted. :)
People who want to donate wait on their knees with their donations and when we get there they give it to the monks and then we would smoothly take it from the monks and put it in our baskets. A beautiful thing to see, how the monks get supported by the Thai people.. I think back home you would starve if you tried to survive on gifts. :)

So every morning I would walk with the monks, then do some meditation, then walk up the mountain for the meal and afterwards roll down the mountain again and then meditate for the rest of the day and go to sleep around 20:30.. The first hour after the meal would be very difficult, after such an enormous meal you get very tired, but the rest of the day would be quite ok.
Of course with all the big changes going on in my life at the moment it's always very busy in my head and very hard to get the mind quiet enough for meditating. But in all I had a wonderful time, it was mentally exhausting, but worth the effort.

In fact just being there in that place is very very good and then there is the teacher Acharn Tippakorn, he is probably the most wonderful person I have ever met, he has an enormous presence and a very peaceful atmosphere about him, when he walks into a room everybody looks up, when he speaks everybody pays attention. So to be so close to him for some time is a very good influence...


Ok, enough for now.. more later. :)