Our Little Bangkok Sangha will take advantage of the visit of Abbot and meditation teacher Ajahn Pannyavaro to arrange a weekend meditation retreat in the beautiful Hua Hin Blue Mountain resort.
There will be three Western monks – Ven. Pannyavaro leading, Ven. Pandit and Ven. Appicchato.
While we’re lucky to have a beautiful and comfortable location for this weekend – although the focus will be on meditation rather than a luxury spa weekend. We’ll have space, comfort and privacy to maintain a consistent schedule of sitting and walking meditation. We could have picked a centre closer to town, that is free, but it gets pretty hot and steamy in this season – so we opted for comfort and convenience so that we can have as little distraction from the meditation and the teacher as possible.
Weekend is open to all, but limited to maximum 28 people.
‘The Method of Meditation’
Weekend Vipassana Retreat
Blue Mountain Resort, Hua Hin
Friday 7th May – Sunday 9th May
with
Visiting meditation teacher Ajahn Pannyavaro
and Phra Cittasamvaro supporting!
conducted in English only
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Schedule (will be subject to some tweaking later)
| Friday 7th | Big lunch at Annapurna (optional) |
| 1 pm Depart from Wat Yannawa | |
| 4 pm Arrive at Blue Mountain | |
| 6 pm Dhamma talk and orientation | |
| Saturday 8th | 5 am Rise, Puja, morning meditation |
| 6:30 am breakfast | |
| 8-11 am Sitting/Walking/Instructions | |
| 12 noon Full Lunch | |
| 1 – 6 pm Sitting/Walking/Instructions | |
| 6 pm Fruit/yoghurt/snack for those who need it | |
| 7:30 Evening Puja, Meditation/Talk | |
| Sunday 9th | 5 am Rise, Puja, morning meditation |
| 6:30 Breakfast | |
| 8-11 am Sitting/ feedback/ closing puja | |
| 11 am Lunch | |
| 12:30 Leave resort for Bangkok |
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Location
Blue Mountain Resort, Hua Hin. Following the great reviews from Ajahn Tiradhammo’s retreat there earlier this year, we will be retreating in the very beautiful and luxurious Blue Mountain resort. Thanks to a generous discount in support of Dhamma we can do this at a very affordable price.
We will be sharing rooms; but the rooms are very spacious and there is a dividing door between the bedroom part and the lounge part – which means that even though we are sharing, everyone will get their own space. One person will take the bedroom part, and the other the lounge part. Bathroom is attached to the bedroom.
While we could have booked a basic-facility retreat centre, this location will enable more individual space, and much more comfort for this hot season. Vegetarian food will be served on a monastic feeding schedule (that means eating before midday). For those who really need to, there will be some light food served in the evening also.
See below for some more shots of the resort.
Teacher
Ajahn Pannyavaro is an Australian monk, ordained 30 years ago in Thailand. He practised for a long while in Thai and Burmese forest temples, especially spending a lot of time with Sayadaw U Janaka (some of you will know our previous dhamma speakers Ven. U Vamsa and Jeff Oliver also studied with this Burmese master). Ajahn Pannyavaro is perhaps best known for setting up www.buddhanet.net which is probably the most comprehensive and best maintained Buddhist resource on the internet. For the last 5 years he has been senior incumbant of Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery.
This monastery and retreat centre is still in its early stages of construction, and during A. Pannyavaro’s visit to Thailand we will be contributing all donations to this fund.
Phra Pandit Cittasamvaro, will also be assisting during the retreat
Meditation Style
Meditation will be regular Vipassana style mindfulness meditation developed in sitting and walking postures. Supporting this practise will be Metta (loving kindness) meditation.
Beginners are welcome – you might find the beautiful location and facilities helpful. This should be an easy-going introduction to meditation – unlike some of the tougher meditation retreats with basic facilities. Ajahn Pannyavaro will spend much time assisting people, and helping meditators of all levels work through and understand any difficulties they might be experiencing during practise.
Also we are a friendly and nice group – so it is sure to be a nice experience.
All teaching will be conducted in English language only, and will involve both instruction, feedback, and dhamma talks.
Cost/Deposit
Cost will work out to 2600 baht per person.
This includes minibus to the resort from Wat Yannawa, accommodation, food, and transport back to Bangkok.
As the rooms are spacious and dividing, if any family or close friends wish to use a twin room + lounge to reduce cost it can be arranged (eg for children).
If anyone prefers to drive down by themselves, then the cost will be 2000 baht for food/accomm.
Actually this is very much a discounted rate already – it would cost much more than this to stay in a quality resort anywhere in Thailand.
If anyone really really must have total privacy, there is an extra 1200 baht cost for single occupancy – bringing the food/accomm cost to 3200 baht (+minivan cost). Basically the room hire is 1200/day split between two people – so for a totally private room this must still be covered. As mentioned though, the rooms split into two, so each person gets a good degree of personal space even with a shared room.
Since numbers are limited, and since we still have to pay for cancellations, please deposit 1000 baht/person before Monday May 3rd. Deposits can be made at the Monday Ariyasom meditation meeting or other group event (such as lunch on Thursday 22nd). If you can’t make the Monday meeting please use the contact page of littlebang to make alternative arrangement for the deposit.
Voluntary donations to Ajahn Pannyavaro’s temple can be made at the end of the retreat.
Your place is confirmed and booked after making the deposit.
To put your name down please enter below your
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name
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email
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phone number
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basic meditation experience level
Note: All the information below is private, and will not appear on this webiste. After you hit enter it goes via email to the organiser, and a reply will be made within a day or two.
Some more pictures of the facility:
