Buddhism and Meditation
Phra Amara, monk, Wat Chedi Luang, Chiangmai Thailand

December 2002

In January of 2002, Dr. Donald Swearer, now retired professor of religion at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania--a distinquished scholar of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia and my mentor for my sabbatical project on Thai Buddhism-- gave me the name of Phra Amara and indicated that this monk would be a good contact for my students, as he is the monk who is responsible for introducing Buddhist belief and practice to farangs who visit Wat Chedi Luang, one of the oldest temples in Chiangmai. I found a tuk tuk driver to take me to the Wat and there, for the first time, I ventured out on my own as a woman researcher, chatting with a male monk about the nature of Thai Buddhism.

On the day I visited the temple, the monks were preparing for a large gathering of people from all over Thailand who were coming to experience a visiting forest meditation monk, Phra Bua who would bring with him the relics of one of Thailand's most famous meditation masters, Achan Mun, who used to be the abbott of Wat Chedi Luang. The large stereo speakers placed next to the main hall of the temple compound were playing music loudly as young monks swept and laughed while they cleaned. I sat in the room just next to one of the speakers, seated in a chair a good distance from the monk and began to ask him questions about Buddhism and to discern his willingness to meet with our students upon our return. I was nervous, sure that my hand would automatically reach out to shake his hand, thus violating the teaching that monks do not touch women. I felt awkward with the large distance between us and the way I had to speak loudly to be heard above the loud speaker.

We spoke very briefly about the ways that particular temple was reaching out to the community, primarily through its role as an educational monastery, complete with a branch of a major Buddhist University and as the home to an HIV/AIDS project, Sangha Metta, that you can learn about on this website (click here for link to Sanga Metta project). He invited me to return the next morning to experience his lecture for tourists and he informed me of the upcoming event that would feature Phra Bua and the bringing of the molars (relics) of Achan Mun to the temple.

The next day, I returned to the temple. It was Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S. As Phra Amara addressed a group of largely American tourists who knew little at all about basics of Buddhism, a young monk would come in at intervals to report the score for the Super Bowl. Phra Amara would continue, talking about the basics of Buddhism and some simple instruction for meditation. His kindness, his humor, and his clear presentation about Buddhist basics, particularly meditation, would make him a good teacher for our WorldWide group. I returned once more to the Wat in January 2002 to experience Phra Bua and then, in December 2002, my students had a brief opportunity to meet with Phra Amara and tour Wat Chedi Luang.

The group left Phra Amara and spent some time exploring the grounds of the temple, with the large ruin of its giant pagoda and, as usual, the hordes of temple dogs, in various stages of dis-ease, lounging at the temple. Some of us returned the following morning at 8 a.m. for morning prayers. About 20 monks, ranging in age from eight years old to eighty, spent about 30 minutes in chanting of Buddhist scriptures in the Pali language. As I walked around the temple, an old man carrying a plastic bag beckoned me with hand gestures to follow him. He indicated to me the best places from which to take photographs of the temple and then pointed to my purse in a request for money. His suggestions provided me with some of the nicest temple photos I took during my stay in Thailand.

Phra Amara indicated that Wat Chedi Luang, which literally means "Big Pagoda" is home to the Lanna Campus of Mahamakut Buddhist University. The university is part of the Dhammayut order of monks, which is the smaller and younger of the two orders of monks in the country. Seven Hundred monks study at the temple. Phra Amara himself has a Masters degree from Delhi University in India in Buddhist philosophy and he has lived in Virginia, Texas, and San Francisco in the United States. He asked each of us to go around the circle and identify our home state. With each state he named, without flaw, the professional football team for that state. Memories of last year's meeting at Super Bowl Sunday came flooding back to me. He went on to give us some basic information about Buddhism. He gave the typical threefold aim: doing good, avoiding evil, and cleaning or purifying the mind.

He indicated that to give loving kindness and compassion to others has a boomerang effect as it comes back to you. Buddhism also has the good effect for us of reducing anger or ill will and it provides good mental exercise. The Mind, he said, is the most important aspect because all other parts of our lives, our Body and our Speech, depend upon the Mind. Buddhism, he said, is the Middle Way between self pleasure and self torture. He likened the Middle Way to a guitar. In order to play the guitar effectively, the strings must be tuned just right, neither too tight, nor too lax. So it is with the spiritual practice of Buddhism. The 311 precepts that the Buddhist monks follow are their ways to stay in spiritual tune. He pointed out to us that Buddhism teaches equality among women, that all we are is determined by our karma, that there is no creator, and that Buddhism is about self development. He concluded with some brief examples of how we can meditate effectively, thus clearing the mind to be more effective agents of metta (compassion) and karuna (loving kindness).

When we left, Carolyn Wallace presented him with a gift. Because of our gender, we are required to place any object handed to the monk on another surface. The monk then takes the object from that surface instead of from our hand. Carolyn and Phra Amara posed for a picture as they demonstrated this transaction. Time was not available to hear the monk's explanation of what it means to have gender equality within Buddhism. This would be a question that would haunt many of us throughout the excursion. Below are the two meditation exercises he offered us. Try them out:

Breathing Meditation: Focus on the breath by counting. With each breath you inhale count and with each exhalation count the same number. Begin with one, go back to one. Move upwards to two, but return to one. Repeat this until you get to five and then start over again. For example:

Breathe in/One
Breathe out/One
.....
Breathe in/Two
Breathe out/Two
.....
Breathe in/One
Breathe out/One
.....
Breathe in/Two
Breathe out/Two
.....
Breathe in/Three
Breathe out/Three
.....
Breathe in/One
Breathe out/One......continue to five and return again.....

Meditation with Flame:
Light a small candle and place it on the desk in front of you. Sit quietly and face the flame with your eyes open. Then close your eyes and imagine the flame in front of you. Then manipulate the flame with your mind: closer, farther away, make it bigger, smaller, etc.