Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
A new journey
On the 2th of November I will leave The Netherlands to start a new journey in Myanmar.
As you might know I am going to spend infinite time in Pa Auk Forest monastery to meditate.
On the 3th I will arrive in Yangon where my friend and monk U Aggawuntha will welcome me. Untill thel 17th of November I will stay in Yangon.... not to party or for shopping ;-)
Because on the 6th of November untill the 16th I will sit a 10 day Vipassana course at the International Meditation Centre.
Afterwards I will meet up with my supporter Thiri and my friend U Agga once again to eat together. And on the 17th of November I will travel for a day to Pa Auk Forest Monastery in the neighbourhood of Mawlamyine.
Vipassana meditation
The meditation I will follow is called Vipassana. Vipassana means seeing as it is and not how you want it to be.
Vipassana meditation is a modern Theravada practice. For more information about this meditation see Vipassana (NL) or Vipassana (EN).
In Pa Auk Forest monastery the teachings are slightly different than the teachings I learned from my teachers S.N. Goenka and U Ba Khin.
In the picture you will find a schedule of my daily details of the day which isevery day the same except for holidays.
As a layperson I first take eight precepts on.
These are:
1) Abstain from killing living beings,
2) Abstain from stealing, or taking what is not mine
3) Abstain from impropriate language (lying included),
4) Abstain from sexual misconduct (celibacy),
5) Abstain from taking drugs, alcohol or other intoxicans,
6) Abstain from taking food after 12:00am,
7) Abstain from dancing, listening to music, singing and all kinds of
bodily adornment,
8) Refraining from sleeping on high luxurious beds.
As soon as I am ordained as a nun I take also the precept to abstain from handling, using or possessing money. Krista, my kappiya in the Netherlands, and three women in Myanmar will support me in maintaining these precepts by supporting me with organizational matters and handling money or save money from people whom like to support me. They can donate to these women so they can buy supplies , tickets or other needed stuff for me.
The address of the monastery:
Meditation in Pa Auk Forest Monastery,
c / - Major U Sain Khan (Rtd)
653 Lower Main Road
Mawlamyine, Mon State,
Myanmar
More information on this monastery see here.
You can send me packages or postcards/letters. Although the post is slow and might not arrive... but I have heard from a German nun that she received packages from her sister in Germany serval times...
NB as soon as I am ordained as a nun I will become a new name. It is wise to refer to this name on any post you migth want to send me. Ofcourse I will let you know my new name!
How will daily life will be in Pa Auk Forest Monastery?
Since I only have nine days of experience as a layperson in this monastery my experience is little how daily life exactly will be. So this information will probably change during the time I spend there ;-)
Everyone can come to this monastery and meditate here. As long as you maintain the 8 precepts and you are serious in meditation with a minimum of three days. You will get a place to stay and the food you will become is donated. You will be following the given time-table. At anytime you can ordain here as monk or nun (with a minimum of at least 7 days).
Things like food, health care and practical utensils for meditation are donated to the monastery.
It is a Buddhistic way of life that if one can not lead a life as a monk or nun or make time to meditate as a layperson, people like to donate money, food or other items to support those who can.
The monastery is divided into three sections:
Lower monastery: here stay nuns / women, middle monastery: here stay monks who have broken certain precepts and come here for reflection, and then upper monastery: here stay monks / men. Each section has its own houses (in Pali: kuti's) and meditation building. There's a big kitchen in lower-monaster, here the food is prepared for all the people in the monastery twice a day.
Here you can find some experiences of a German nun.
And here you can find a video from a retreat in Pa Auk monastery in Mandalay.
Communication
The internet connection in Myanmar is not very good. Often very slow. There is no network in the monastery, but within a 20-minute walk there is a internet cafe. How often I can access the internet I have to find out as soons as I arrive... Phonecalls are also not easy to make, as there is a different network than the western GSM network.
Because of this I will keep for the time being my Facebook, Skype (pino_lives), gmail account (carolinegrijsen@gmail.com) and Viber.
For urgent matters and financial bussiness my supporter Krista (in Pali: kappiya) will be in charge.
She takes care of things I can not or should not do (including my finances). When I will be in need of something like medicine or a ticket (in case I need to return...) she will arrange it for me. Also she will keep me posted of important mail / news when I will be in meditation for a longer time.
Before I will ordain I hope to read my mail on a regular bases... but it can be that I cannot respond within days (or maybe weeks)...
I wish you lots of happiness! <3
On the 2th of November I will leave The Netherlands to start a new journey in Myanmar.
As you might know I am going to spend infinite time in Pa Auk Forest monastery to meditate.
On the 3th I will arrive in Yangon where my friend and monk U Aggawuntha will welcome me. Untill thel 17th of November I will stay in Yangon.... not to party or for shopping ;-)
Because on the 6th of November untill the 16th I will sit a 10 day Vipassana course at the International Meditation Centre.
Afterwards I will meet up with my supporter Thiri and my friend U Agga once again to eat together. And on the 17th of November I will travel for a day to Pa Auk Forest Monastery in the neighbourhood of Mawlamyine.
Vipassana meditation
The meditation I will follow is called Vipassana. Vipassana means seeing as it is and not how you want it to be.
Vipassana meditation is a modern Theravada practice. For more information about this meditation see Vipassana (NL) or Vipassana (EN).
In Pa Auk Forest monastery the teachings are slightly different than the teachings I learned from my teachers S.N. Goenka and U Ba Khin.
In the picture you will find a schedule of my daily details of the day which isevery day the same except for holidays.
As a layperson I first take eight precepts on.
These are:
1) Abstain from killing living beings,
2) Abstain from stealing, or taking what is not mine
3) Abstain from impropriate language (lying included),
4) Abstain from sexual misconduct (celibacy),
5) Abstain from taking drugs, alcohol or other intoxicans,
6) Abstain from taking food after 12:00am,
7) Abstain from dancing, listening to music, singing and all kinds of
bodily adornment,
8) Refraining from sleeping on high luxurious beds.
As soon as I am ordained as a nun I take also the precept to abstain from handling, using or possessing money. Krista, my kappiya in the Netherlands, and three women in Myanmar will support me in maintaining these precepts by supporting me with organizational matters and handling money or save money from people whom like to support me. They can donate to these women so they can buy supplies , tickets or other needed stuff for me.
The address of the monastery:
Meditation in Pa Auk Forest Monastery,
c / - Major U Sain Khan (Rtd)
653 Lower Main Road
Mawlamyine, Mon State,
Myanmar
More information on this monastery see here.
You can send me packages or postcards/letters. Although the post is slow and might not arrive... but I have heard from a German nun that she received packages from her sister in Germany serval times...
NB as soon as I am ordained as a nun I will become a new name. It is wise to refer to this name on any post you migth want to send me. Ofcourse I will let you know my new name!
How will daily life will be in Pa Auk Forest Monastery?
Since I only have nine days of experience as a layperson in this monastery my experience is little how daily life exactly will be. So this information will probably change during the time I spend there ;-)
Everyone can come to this monastery and meditate here. As long as you maintain the 8 precepts and you are serious in meditation with a minimum of three days. You will get a place to stay and the food you will become is donated. You will be following the given time-table. At anytime you can ordain here as monk or nun (with a minimum of at least 7 days).
Things like food, health care and practical utensils for meditation are donated to the monastery.
It is a Buddhistic way of life that if one can not lead a life as a monk or nun or make time to meditate as a layperson, people like to donate money, food or other items to support those who can.
The monastery is divided into three sections:
Lower monastery: here stay nuns / women, middle monastery: here stay monks who have broken certain precepts and come here for reflection, and then upper monastery: here stay monks / men. Each section has its own houses (in Pali: kuti's) and meditation building. There's a big kitchen in lower-monaster, here the food is prepared for all the people in the monastery twice a day.
Here you can find some experiences of a German nun.
And here you can find a video from a retreat in Pa Auk monastery in Mandalay.
Communication
The internet connection in Myanmar is not very good. Often very slow. There is no network in the monastery, but within a 20-minute walk there is a internet cafe. How often I can access the internet I have to find out as soons as I arrive... Phonecalls are also not easy to make, as there is a different network than the western GSM network.
Because of this I will keep for the time being my Facebook, Skype (pino_lives), gmail account (carolinegrijsen@gmail.com) and Viber.
For urgent matters and financial bussiness my supporter Krista (in Pali: kappiya) will be in charge.
She takes care of things I can not or should not do (including my finances). When I will be in need of something like medicine or a ticket (in case I need to return...) she will arrange it for me. Also she will keep me posted of important mail / news when I will be in meditation for a longer time.
Before I will ordain I hope to read my mail on a regular bases... but it can be that I cannot respond within days (or maybe weeks)...
I wish you lots of happiness! <3
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