At the Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage you can find out what is truly amazing about "Amazing Thailand" and have an all-around brain-clean while meditating there. You might become a fully enlightened being as well.
Inside this home page you'll find find from the hermitage, often called "the International Center" and from the forest temple, officially known as "Suan Mokkh Phalaram." Meditators attending the ten-day meditation courses that the hermitage offers are given an Introduction to the , and an introduction to meditation called . Anyone interested in visiting Suan Mokkh and attending the monthly ten-day meditation course should carefully read the above two documents as well as the easy-to-follow.If you are curious to learn something about Buddhist chants, have a look at the Suan Mokkh book. You can also study the the Suan Mokkh home page, www.suanmokkh-idh.org. (copy the link and paste it into your browser)
Across the road from the international center is Suan Mokkh, the forest wat. Founded in 1932 by the savant Buddhist monk, Buddhadasa, it is a center of Thai Buddhism. When I first visited Suan Mokkh in 1983 the area was much less developed than it is today. In those days the International Meditation Center had not been built, the tourist buses (filled with Thai tourists/pilgrims) didn't stop there, and the six-lane divided Asia Highway outside the main entrance was a country road. These days Suan Mokkh is, for better or worse, much more popular with a row of restaurants and snack shops outside; inside is a bookstore and information center.
In 1983 I had the good fortune of on my first day in Thailand.
Recommended Reading (unofficial) list
Sharon Salzerg's Loving-Kindness will teach you Metta or Loving-kindness meditation, which is taught at Suan Mokkh. This book changed my life.
Breath by Breath explains the kind of meditation that is taught at Suan Mokkh by a man who studied with Buddhadasa. I found this much easier to understand than the books by Buddhadasa.
The Noble Eightfold Path by Bikkhu Bodhi. In this little book you can learn the essence of Buddhism.
This was a quiet country road when I first visited Suan Mokkh. The entrance to Suan Mok Forest Wat is on the left. The International Dhamma Hermitage, often called "Suan Mok International" is a 20-minute walk down a road on the right.
Now the noise of the highway penetrates the thick forest of Suan Mokkh. The beauty of the place and simplicity of the life of the monks there, however, remains untouched. There are more in the Suan Mokkh section.
This page was made as danna (a gift to the Buddhist community). May all beings find peace and liberation. May all beings become fully enlightened.
