| A monk's routine in rural Thailand varied little no matter | | | | and impressions that result from deep concentration |
| where he stayed. In the afternoons, I would join the | | | | that can culminate in jhanas can be mind-boggling. I |
| monks at the well near the main hall where we each | | | | soon found myself writing a monk in Australia that I |
| drew a bucket of cold water for our bath. This bathing | | | | had become acquainted with years ago at Wat Pah |
| area also served as a meeting place where the | | | | Nanachat in 1981, and had since moved on to a |
| monks met twice a month to make their brooms for | | | | monastery in Perth, Australia where he currently was |
| sweeping the paths and to wash and dye their | | | | the abbot. He was a monk well known for his |
| donated robes by boiling them with the orange bark | | | | familiarity with jhanas, and his advice was exactly |
| from the jackfruit tree. (We were treated to a hot | | | | what I needed to help me get past some obstacles. |
| bath every two weeks!). | | | | He was an interesting monk, his three-page letter back |
| I would walk back to my hut after the bath and | | | | to me was hand printed and spaced with such |
| practice meditation for the rest of the evening and | | | | precision that I was positive it was done with a fancy |
| usually late into the night. How could I be happier? I had | | | | computer font, but upon close examination (under a |
| two geckos as companions and my meditation was | | | | magnifying glass years later), sure enough, tiny |
| improving, too. I was beginning to feel at ease with this | | | | microscopic dissimilarities could be seen between the |
| practice; the fertile soil my heart was growing in. | | | | characters. |
| I was feeling increasingly at home in nature. The unique | | | | In addition to working on jhanas, there was the |
| aspect of nature is its vastness - I could take in as | | | | everyday routine to follow. A little before sunrise, I |
| much as I wanted and not diminish it. While I was there, | | | | would make my way through the night on a narrow |
| I tried to attain jhanas, deep states of concentration | | | | trail to the hall, being careful of the Russell Vipers that |
| that systematically relinquishes attachments to the eye, | | | | liked to curl up in the middle of the paths looking very |
| ear, nose, tongue, and body sensual sensations, as well | | | | much like little piles of leaves. In the hall, we would all |
| as attachments to directed thought and mental | | | | meet and then start walking to the villages nearby to |
| evaluations; rapture, pleasure, equanimity, form, infinite | | | | collect our alms, a custom that has been unchanged |
| space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither | | | | for twenty-five hundred years. At this wat, we didn't |
| perception nor non-perception. | | | | meditate as a group; everybody was supposed to be |
| Jhanas are complicated. They are experiential, and | | | | advanced enough to be on their own! |
| making one's way through the maze of sensations | | | | |