Meditating in Laos
Buddhist monk in Laos
By a long series of coincidences, I found myself with Nick, a friendly Aussie girl, asking a monk in the Laotian monastery of Nakhoun Noi near Vientiane if we could stay there to learn about meditation. We were brought to Ajhan Phan, who welcomed us warmly then sent a monk to bring Nick to the nunery and agreed to be my teacher. He made a deep impression on me: he was smiling and lighthearted yet firm and authoritative. When we arrived he gave the impression he was waiting for us.
Ajhan Phan told me four meditation techniques:
- Sitting meditation: concentrate on the breathing and counting it ( inhale: one, exhale: two,… until hundred then start again).
- Walking meditation: concentrate on each step (“step right”, “step left”,…).
- Sleeping meditation: same posture as the lying buddha and stay aware without falling asleep ( when you fall asleep you wake up instantly due to the position).
- And some kind of strange yoga exercise.
Then he told me to follow this programme for one week:
- 3am: wake up
- 7am: breakfast alone in my room
- 11am: lunch alone in my room
- 5pm: shower
- 9.30pm: go to sleep
“At all other times practice the four meditation techniques, one hour each in the order you like. When you have a problem come and see me, but talk to nobody else. Meditation is very easy if you have the will.”, Ajhan Phan added. Surprisingly, with his huge smile he did make it sound really easy. It was only later that I realised how difficult it actually was!
I managed to (very approximately I confess) follow these instructions for four days, but unfortunately Ajhan Phan had to leave unexpectantly after the second day. Without a teacher, I decided that four days would be (more than) enough.
These four days have been mentally challenging. But it made me understand some basic things about meditation. Your thoughts can have a profound impact on your mood and character. Having control over them is therefore important. For example, I’m sure you, like me, must have had some sort of “obsession” or habit that you know is ridiculous but that you just can’t get out of your head. By learning how to let some thoughts go and vanish just as they arrived, you can avoid these successions of thoughts you don’t like. Advanced meditators are capable of experiencing the world without added mental constructions. Just try to look around you for 5 minutes without commenting or judging the things you see!
I’m happy to have done this retreat, it was a great experience. That being said you can rest assured: I won’t turn into a buddhist monk either!
For more information on this, I remember enjoying the talk given by the French monk Matthieu Ricard at Google.
Hello my friend. Glad to hear of your progress. Pleased to see you followed my advice. The Buddha’s instructions in awareness also named meditation in the west, have a few steps on top of learning to concentrate. One can ask, “then what attitude should I have towards thoughts, what are they?” Since the world when one examine it is clearly non-dual and at the same time it looks like it is, then at what point do the “thoughts” become my “friend” or integrated into me as a wholeness, so to speak? The aim of the Buddha’s teachings are to set you free.
Your thoughts can have a profound impact on your mood and character. Having control over them is therefore important.
I think you are partially correct. Thoughts and even our unconscious reactions to whatever is happening to us have a profound impact on our mood and performance. More than taking control, I see meditation as cultivating awareness of our conscious and unconscious reactions to whatever is happening to use. This awareness is a filter. Once you are aware of this filter, you can choose whether you want and how much you want this filter to operate on the reactions. I.e. is this reaction productive/unproductive? If it is productive, then ok. If not, temper down the reaction.
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Salut le libanais,
Ides m’avait effectivement envoyee le lien vers ton blog. C’est un chouette blog que nous avons la!
Bon voyage!
Bises
Charlotte
By the way, j’ai une methode de meditation pour toi qui s’appelle la dissociation. Je te l’enverrai si tu veux.
D’ici la , je te souhaite d’etre en harmonie avec le monde.
Bises
Charlotte
the world is what we make of it. it’s what we choose to see. we don’t experience reality, only perception, so all our experiences are subjective. to gain some control over that is one of the strongest skills you can develop. this applies not only to thoughts but also feelings.
in my POV the important aspect of meditation isn’t concentrating (eg. on the stone you mentioned), but letting go.
keep writing
Glad to see some responses to this post, it’s obviously very difficult to put such things in words especially with my little experience.
@Thaths by having control, I meant having the choice you explain and not simply undergo the impact of the thoughts without being aware of them.
@Miguel concentrating is indeed only the method, it’s a method to learn how to let go, when you notice you lost your concentration because of a thought, you simply notice it and gently bring it back on the object.
@Charlotte: merci! oui envoie!!
Its really great you did this!
I am happy you don’t consider me ‘as some sort of modern New age-ish hippie’ any more
Arrête tes conneries, on comprend que dalle, et reviens boire des pintes a Bruxelles vite fait, tu nous manques. Rien de tel que la méditation autour d’un bon whys…
Btw, encore mieux que ta seconde peau la méditation?
Take care dude!
juste avant un bon whys…ou juste apres avec tes tous bons potes bruxellois, voici une methode de meditation/induction (sorte d’auto-hypnose):
“s’installer confortablement dans une position immobile
fixer un point en face de soi,
se réciter mentalement 4 sensations corporelles que l’on ressent, en prenant bien le temps de les ressentir chacune
(je sens le dossier de la chaise contre mon dos, je sens le tapis sous mon pied,…)
puis 4 sensations auditives, en prenant bien le temps pour chacune
(j’entends le bruit de la pluie, le son du ventilateur, les voitures au loin,…)
puis 3 sensations corporelles
puis 3 sensations auditives
…
On est déjà depuis longtemps dans un état dissociatif.
Une fois qu’on se sent partir, on peut si l’on veut se concentrer sur sa respiration, qui devient en général plus ample :
prendre le temps de bien la ressentir, de bien la suivre, de s’installer dedans, comme dans une berceuse…”
bises
cha
Meditating is a really rewarding exercise to get a more relaxed life. I know it helped me and kept me happy no matter what happened.