Hello all!
Trust you are all well. I'm back to so called 'civilization'
after spending over two months in a remote forest in western
Thailand (where the whole Wat Pah Nanachat community goes for
retreat each year). Its been an awesome experience and I suspect
I've learned & changed (for the better hopefully) a lot.
While I was there I wrote a letter home with some details of my
forest experiences and my brother might be posting that here
sometime.
So for now I'll just give a quick roundup of what I've been up to
the past couple of months and days:
> Overview: Lived in one of the last remaining pristine forests of
Thailand spending time in relative seclusion and with a schedule that
allowed plenty of autonomy (to meditate/read/work/sleep!).
> My home: A bamboo platform to protect from ants/ crawling
creatures; a mosquito net to protect from mosquitos/ spiders and
horseflies; a plastic fly sheet to protect from tropical rain storms;
a blanket for the cold nights and to use as a meditation cushion
during the day!
> Community: About 12 monks; 5 novice monks; 4 pakhows (white robed
laymen; including me)
> Daily challenges: Self discipline to wake up early with no one
there to play policeman; walking down mountain 45min. for daily meal;
eating meal without being too greedy (!); walking back up mountain
with a full stomach and afternoon sun; using rest of day purposefully
(I define that as meditation/ community projects); dealing with
rain/leeches/snakes; learning from ones own ever changing mind states
and being mindfully equanimous with all that life can dish out at you!
> Experiences: Plenty...both external & internal. Everyday was full
of learning as one sees ones own mind/motives/responses very clearly
living in a relatively secluded, undistracted setting. Faced various
fears, obsessions, habits, perceptions and I believe let go of a lot
of unnecessary baggage. I'll leave specifics for another time, but
suffice to say that I find that suffering has reduced.
> Wild encounters: Just one...saw a large (7-8ft) black bear 70 feet
from me...but he was the first to run away! But that was nothing
compared to the frightful wild beast I encountered everyday...my own
mind! I found that the effort to tame it was a highly worthwhile use
of time and a most direct way to real happiness.
> Mishaps: No one in the community had any major injuries etc.; but a
lady who cooked food for us got cerebral malaria and almost died.
She's moderately better now.

So much for my time at Dtao Dum Forest Monastery. I'm in Kota Baru,
Malaysia now to renew my visa for (hopefully) the last time before I
ordain as a novice monk in June '02. Its amazing to be moving around
this Islamic country with a bald head and white robes...but whats
more amazing is my utter lack of self consciousness despite
attracting plenty of stares and the occasional giggle/jibe.
Day before yesterday (11th May'02) we drove out of the forest (got
nicely wet & sore sitting at the back of a pickup truck!) and went to
an ancient Khymer temple ruin where some lay people had arranged to
offer us food. Sitting there as the lay people offered food and monks
chanted, under the blue sky and in that gracefully aged monument it
truly felt like we had all been magically teleported to another time.
From there we were taken to this remarkable monastery which has
been "naturally" attracting wild animals of all kinds to the point
that its almost a zoo! It has 7 tigers (some were HUGE) which are
perfectly friendly with humans. I actually petted and fed one of them
when the abbot brought him out of his enclosure...it was just like
feeding a cat - only a 6 foot long one!
We then visited the hospital where our cook had just recovered from
her long stint in the ICU. Felt wonderful when all of us chanted for
the blessing of health in a room full of sick people.
Took a train to south Thailand with a couple of other Pakhows. Got
just a 3rd class unreserved ticket so it was a pretty uncertain and
adventurous night with plenty of sitting in the ailes/ buying time in
the train pantry car for the price of a coffee! Even had a couple of
gentlemen try to persude me to try Islam instead of Buddhism, but who
were nice enough to let me have their seat for a while. Eventually
and quite miraculously we did get seats to sit thru' the night; but
till that time all my accumulated 'meditative calm' of the last 2
months was put through the most through test (& I think I didn't do
too badly!).
So today after going to the visa ofice and having Indian food after
months I'm here in this netcafe. We'll be returning to Thailand
tomorrow and back to Wat Pah Nanachat in the next 2-3 days if things
go as planned.
I just got the letters that some of you had written over the last 2
months. I'll be responding to them individually once I'm back in Wat
Pah Nanachat. I believe some of you have also emailed me. Thank-you,
however checking/replying to email is not proving easy given my
constraints of time & the state of internet connections I've been
experiencing, so writing to me physically (even if it means printing
the email!) remains the best way to be in touch with me if you need
to.
Thank-you all for your many kindnesses in deed, speech and thought
that have helped me in one way or the other to get to where I am
today. I have thought of you in gratitude over the past 2 months and
will continue to do so in future...wherever I am.

BE where you are!