Thai Culture week

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This week so far it has all been about Buddhism and temples. We learnt a lot about it last week but we saw a lot more of it in practice this week, spending quite a lot of time with monks and in temples, mediatating and chanting with them.

The weekend was a relaxed one, went to the pool and just chilled at the house, but then on Monday some of us got up at 5:30am to go the local temple and feed the monks. It was 'Holy Monk day', a special day where the local people take the food to the monks as opposed to the monks walking around the town to collect the food as they usually do. Monks are not allowed to cook for themselves, they have to live on food which is given to them by people living near the temple and they can only eat one meal a day before 12noon, so they get up early to chant, meditate and eat the food provided in the morning. We took them several trays of food and sat with them whilst they chanted and blessed us, then ate some of the food once the monks had left the temple. The lives of monks is quite amazing and very difficult I would think as they do not do a lot each day and what they do do is the same every day, I think I would last about a week if that in a temple!

Monday afternoon we watched a documemtary about how Buddhism began and who founded it, and then went to visit a temple just 20 minutes away. It was very impresssive with 2 huge Buddha statues and a very ornate temple as it is where a very famous and respected monk is buried there so the temple is filled with flowers sent by the Royal Family.

On Tuesday morning three of the local monks who we took the food too on Monday came to the house to answer any questions we had about Buddhism and there way of life, and then we set off for our temple stay! We all got to spend one night in a temple and spend time with the monks who live there. It was about an hours drive away and quite an experience. We all had to wear white clothes which looked like pyjamas, not flattering but we all looked as ridiculous as each other, and the boys stayed in the main temple and all the girls in a seperate building. It wasn't the best nights sleep I have ever had as we slept on a marble floor all in one room but it was good fun all the same. On Tuesday night we learnt to meditate in 4 ways, sitting, standing, walking and reclining, and chanted with the monks until about 8pm, had something to eat as they didn't expect us to last until morning without food, and headed to bed at just turned 9pm.

We got up at 5am to chant and meditate again, and at just turned 6am we walked with the monks around the local town to collect food. Nearly everyone who lives on the route has rice and a bit of something else to give them, I was so surprised to see so many people had got up to cook for them. Monks are extremely respected here and they got so much food and they get this everyday! I have to say that I am not sure I would eat that much of it but still, I don't think people at home would do this, the culture is very strong here which I like. We then went back to the temple, had our own breakfast, chanted and meditated again at 11am after the monks had eaten their one meal, and left about noon back to the house. It was an amazing experience and one I don't think a lot of people get to do, very memorable!

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