Friday night: Sacred and Profane

Friday evening was an evening of experiencing two extremes of Bangkok life. The first part involved visiting a Buddhist Wat for vipassana meditation practice. This was followed by a trip to the go go dancing and ping pong centre of the city, Patpong.

One of my main objectives in traveling to Thailand is to establish a firm and steady meditation practice as a means of calming and centering my mind. I had previously practiced and studied meditation in the US, however my practice is weak and relatively non-existent. It has been about 10 yrs since I had taken meditation instruction while living in Pennsylvania. Here I had learned mindfulness based meditation with an emphasis and focus on the breath. I had always found a greater sense of calm, peace, and clarity of mind following practice, particularly when I was with a group practicing together. However, while meditating solo, practice is less easy as I am more prone to get off track, lose discipline, and stop.

One of the main styles of meditation that has always interested me is vipassana, or insight meditation. While it is essentially a Buddhist style of meditation, one need not be Buddhist as it is essentially non-sectarian in character and practice. This meaning that the practice can be learned and practiced by anyone regardless of their religious affiliation. Vipassana is a self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. Ultimately, through practice and direct experience, one comes to learn and transcend the causes of suffering and achieve greater levels of awareness, peacefulness, open-heartedness, non-delusion, and self-control, amongst other benefits.


In surfing the internet I was able to discover that there is a Buddhist Wat, or temple, not too far south of me that offers meditation classes to the public. It was located slightly north of the Grand Palace which houses the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, about a 20 min walk or so. Along the way there are many sidewalk vendors selling lucky amulets and buddha figures, manyof which are meant to be worn around the neck. I have bought a bunch but none so far that I have worn. The temple, called Wat Mahasat, is a large temple area and it took me a while to find someone in the temple that could speak enough english to direct me to the meditation classes, held at sector 5. As I arrived at the meditation area I spoke with a beautiful Indian woman who was working the front desk at the moment. She offered me a pamphlet to read over explaining the practice of vipassana. She told me to come back in 30 mins. and that there would be no english instruction that evening , although i was welcome to join in. Fortunately I had enough background in this style of meditation that while instruction and guidance would be beneficial, it was not absolutely necessary.

In the meditation area there was monk leading instruction in thai for about 20 lay Buddhist female nuns? dressed in all white. The male monks dress in all orange and can be seem throughout the city. They are held in the highest esteem and not to be disrespected. Practically every male during the course of his life lives the life of a monk for an extended period or 2.
Anyway, the meditation started off which 30 mins of walking meditation which essentially involves very slowly and mindfully totally focused on each step and the various phases of each step. It can be a bit tedious at first but eventually your mind starts to calm down and you gain a greater sense of calm. With increasing levels of practice greater and greater levels of awarness and insight or supposed to naturally evolve.

After the 30 mins of walking meditation, we sat for 30 more mins. This I found more difficult as there were not western style meditation mats or cushions available and everyone sat indian style. My lower back muscles are not conditioned for this type and duration of sitting so it was difficult for me. Nevertheless, the slow and deep diaphramatic breathing was soothing and I could feel myself relax and slowdown. U are not supposed to change positions when it becomes uncomfortable and painful. Rather u are to stay in the position and observe what comes up without clinging to the sensations and feelings as they occur. The attitude of non-attachment and non-judgment is also to be observed with thoughts and feelings as they occur.

Finally to my relief the 30 mins was over. I definetely felt calmer and relaxed in my stomach, heart, and mind. It is a difficult practice to start but with continous practice the benefits are invaluable. I went back Sat night for more and expect to make it Sun night.

Next blog will detail Patpong experience....