I’ve been getting a lot of requests about nun camp details, so I will do my best to give you a glimpse of a day at nun camp, through pictures and short blurbs. But first an introduction is necessary:
When you hear “meditation camp” a certain image comes to mind. For some it’s the serene scenes of young, athletic couples in yoga pants, sitting in the mountains, in the sun shine, chanting some ancient script, while finding inner peace, for others we have Julia Roberts to thank, at her Indian ashram get-away in Eat Pray Love. I will be the first to admit that these notions danced through my mind when a week at meditation camp was first suggested. While aspects of it held true, like the back drop of the Thai countryside, yoga pants and quiet time did not make the list. Living with 16 teenage girls in one room with one toilet for seven days was perhaps the most challenging part of the week, not the 3am alarm for prayer or the rule about fasting after 12 noon.
This retreat was supposed to teach the girls about the eight rules to being a nun, which can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhikkhuni#The_Eight_Precepts
Besides the fact that we obviously had to respect the monks, these are the rules and rituals I gathered, perhaps a little different from the ones being taught in Thai each day.
1. Go to bed REALLY early because you’ll be getting up at 3am to pray, followed by a few kilometer walk to the village before sunrise.
2. You have to sleep on the floor.
3. Monks and nuns ARE allowed to have their cell phones on them at all times. (is this a rule?)
4. The monks collect the food; the nuns cook and prepare the meals.
5. Nuns can’t eat after lunch (12pm).
6. Breakfast is at 7am and lunch is at 11am: heavy mornings, light afternoons.
7. There is a blessing we did every day, before mid-day: the water ritual. Everyone in the room has to touch someone else, like a big chain of energy and one person pours the water from an ancient brass bottle into a brass goblet. I was asked to pour the water one day, which means I can send blessings to others and pass on my good karma to my next life and share it with loved ones. (Hence, you better be nice to me!)
8. We prayed while the sun was coming up and while it was going down everyday, with a lesson from the head monk every afternoon following lunch. While the girls copied poems in Thai during our lessons, I sketched the monk in my notebook. He asked to see it later!
The girls were resistant to go, knowing they were about to be cut off from their friends and all forms of technology, even though some MP3 players and cell phones made secret guest appearances. When I asked them what their favorite part of camp is, they all, in unison, replied: CHASING AND CATCHING THE CHICKENS!
There is really only one way to describe this trip and that is through pictures, so here it goes:
Walking to the temple to pray at 3:45AM, before sunrise.
Morning walks to the village (maybe 5-10 homes) to collect food. The people wait outside for the monks, the monks collect the food and bless the people. This happens every day, leaving just before sunrise, in order to be back in time to prepare breakfast before 7am.
The monks collect the rice and bless the neighbor.
Walking home.
Some mornings we were in charge of cleaning the shrines and temple...
...other mornings it was cooking.
Chasing the chickens and catching them, all for the sport of it.
Some mornings we went to collect the papaya...
Lunch would be on the floor in front of the monks, which always began with a prayer.
And the water ceremony. You take the brass upsidedown rattle and pour the water from it, into the brass bowl underneath.
Afternoon lessons and great lateday shadows.
Followed by free nights, ,
sunsets, and ...
getting these two out of my sleep space!
My favorite moments were when I could hear Nancy's high pictched laugh reverberate through the zen rock garden and carry on into the countryside, the morning we apologised to Buddha (the girls had to because the nun caught them singing pop songs) by each lighting 9 inscence sticks, and watching the monk boil and de-feather the chicken the dog had killed. My days were punctuated with the rich color of the merrigold robes against the vibrant green of the banana trees and the unexpected cool mountain air. While there were many points in time when I had no idea what was happening, I tried to lean into my discomfort, as an SITer would say, knowing that looking back, this would be one of my most memorable experiences in Thailand. The trip highlighted how amazing my international students are, because Nancy, Ann and Kwan, were the only people at the camp that could translate for me and they were supportive in a way most 15 year old girls cannot understand. Being at such a retreat taught me to try and let go of my obsessive need for understanding and order, to continually practice trying to clear my mind, and to always practice jai yen, a cool heart.
In our whites, the sign of purity... at least for the week.
We received matching nun bracelets for promising to abide by the rules of the nuns.
One of the girls told me that the orange fabric (the color of the monks robes) wrapped around a tree means that a spirit lives there and it is to be protected.
Meals were community style on the floor.
Dirty feet, a sign of a successful week at nun camp.
As we packed our bags on our final day, the head monk said his goodbyes. I caught a few words, like I will miss you, you have all been good nuns and then he said something and everyone looked at me. Ann translated: "Alex, you are truly a Thai person. You were just born in the wrong place." I was honored. As I boarded the bus, the "momma" nun told me, "You will return here in the future," as if it were a simple matter of fact.
And with that, the rains have come. Only tomorrow will tell what is in store for jep-sip-lai. Lets just hope we have earned enough good karma...
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