Corpses, Pythons, Sleep Deprivation: Meditation Rituals in Thailand Can Be Intense

 

"The abbots who run Thailand’s temples, or wats, have tremendous leeway in adopting innovative approaches to meditation, and certain practices may be limited to a single sanctuary.

 

At one temple in Nong Bua Lamphu Province, a monk meditates in what appears to be hot oil. At another temple, Wat Tham Mangkon Thong, nuns meditate while floating in a pool. At Wat Pai Civilsai, meditation has taken place in a box with pythons. Monks also meditate in caves and coffins, where the absolute darkness enhances concentration.

So-called forest monks who observe strict ascetic practices known as dhutanga are said to meditate while walking for weeks without ever lying down, even to sleep.

 

It is not only monks who meditate in ways that may seem extreme.

Julia Cassaniti, an anthropology professor at Washington State University, was walking in the woods of a Thai monastery when she heard screams coming from a hut. The laypeople inside were using meditation to interact with their past lives, a struggle that adherents describe as painful."

 

Source: New York Times

 

Who knew?

I've been to Wat Tham Mangkon Thong in Kanchanaburi several times but never seen the floating nuns. They are advertised like a tourist attraction. Otherwise  the temple itself is very quiet.

 

Earlier in the article it mentions that  "at some of Thailand’s tens of thousands of Buddhist temples, it is common to find monks reflecting while seated before a rotting corpse." Er, really? All I've ever read about this practice is that some monks go to mortuaries to meditate.

Meditating while floating in a pool, or in a room with lovely, harmless pythons, is okay. No problem.

 

Meditating in a room with decaying corpses might be unpleasant, but there are worse things in life. No big deal.

 

However, meditating for weeks whilst walking, and never lying down to sleep, seems a bit extreme. Is this really possible, or just an exaggeration?

I'd like to hear from anyone who's done it, even for a week.

My guess is it's a misunderstanding. The Forest Tradition is known for  practising mindfulness in everyday activities - perhaps someone thought that meant non-stop meditation.

I read some Thai books (translated of course) about the Forest Tradition and always was mention about Chaya (Surat Thani), where Monks going to caves and keep meditating for a long period, but there was no mention about food or water intake. In old Japan, Monks was used to take a small dosage of lacca(kind of resine if i'm not wrong) every day before death comes, and it help to preserve the body, bodies was found in mountains, all bodies was found inside a hole in meditative position, some of this bodies are in a museum.

But I can not imagine this practices taking place today with the crazy capitalist world we live.

The movie 'Samsara' based upon Tibetan Buddhism starts with them going to 'release' a monk from his 3 years, 3 months, 3 days meditation period, during which presumably he didn't eat or drink. It seems extreme but I have read somewhere that if the breathing and heartrate are virtually stopped it is similar to hibernation.

The 'dutanga' practices by some thai monks are many and varied. They choose the ones they wish to try and practice and make a commitment before their abbot before starting out. Such as, only eating from the alms bowl; only eating food received on alms round and not accepting other offerings; not sleeping in buildings; sleeping only under trees; sleeping only in charnel grounds; to mention a few. The most difficult one being not to lie down upon the back and rest the head, so then one can only sleep in either the meditation posture sitting or in the 'Lion posture' which is the one seen in many lying Buddha images, on the right side with head resting on hand. The Buddha himself used this posture. I have read that the Buddha's son Rahula also practiced this most difficult practice for most of his life.

 

 

Excellent video! Ajahn Brahm is very positive and has a great sense of humour. He does a good job at removing the fear of dying.