Practicing meditation in India?

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Practicing meditation in India?

Postby standingguy on Tue May 26, 2015 5:22 pm

Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster, unabashedly trying to take advantage of you all for advice:)

I created this account because I’m planning on moving to Asia soon- most likely India- and I’m having a hard time finding information about a place to do my training. Now, you might be wondering, “Why is an kungfu guy going to India? Why not China?” To that, I say that India has long been a welcoming home to spiritual seekers, and hosts a huge variety of ashrams that provide room, board, and a quiet place to practice meditation in exchange for some manual labor or a very small fee (sometimes none at all). Basically, I’m saving up a bunch of money and plan on living somewhere for a few years that meets the following requirements:
1. Is very inexpensive (where dollars go a long way),
2. Is bare bones kind of living (no AC, somewhat rural, squat toilets, etc.),
3. Has a roof over my head and easy access to a couple of meals per day,
4. And will allow me to practice standing meditation (zhan zhuang).


I come from a taichi/bagua background. Life has been hectic lately and I just want to simplify. My dream is to go on retreat for a few years to practice mostly standing meditation, with a little bit of movement as well to supplement. Think Rocky 4, but with zhan zhuang instead of boxing. I have a wonderful teacher already, and I’m not looking to be taught new material; I just want a space where I can devote myself to work on what I already have. But my search for such a place is coming up empty handed.

Apparently in the past 20 years or so, spiritual tourism from the west has just exploded, and 90% of all the ashrams I’m finding online are just like yoga resorts that cost more than I can afford. These places offer tennis courts, massage, and western style yoga, nice views of the Ganges, etc. The other few places that I’m finding are specific to one particular religious affiliation or another, i.e., Swami So-and-So’s Ashram that only caters to his devotees, where people go if they want to do a whole lot of chanting or worship or volunteer work. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with any of the ashrams I’m finding online. Different paths just cater to different needs.

I’ve read here and there that these quiet, non-advertising little rural ashrams and meditation centers exist, but none of the people that find them want to give away the information, and for good reason. I would be reluctant to as well, since these places wouldn’t even be equipped to handle the flood of backpackers and tourists that would then swarm in demanding free food and beds. Since they’re not out to make money, they simply have no need to create websites and market themselves. So unless you have a connection, they might as well be invisible from where I am in America.

As a possible option, I’m looking into working and training in the ten-day vipassana retreat centers that are all over India, the one’s started by S. N. Goenka. The ten-day retreats operate on a donation basis, and for people who volunteer with them to work, they may stay there and continue to use the facilities between courses. But the only person that’s written back to me so far has explicitly stated that even a simple standing posture with the feet together and the hands hanging by the sides would “not be acceptable,” as it might distract all the seated meditators.

So, any ideas of where I might be able to look? Perhaps you know a guy, who knows a guy who has lived for a while in a meditation retreat, ashram, monastery, or some other such place that’s inexpensive, simple, provides food, and will allow its members to practice meditation in a standing posture? If you don’t want to post this information publicly, feel free to write me privately. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Danny
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby gerard on Mon Jun 08, 2015 10:14 pm

standingguy wrote:As a possible option, I’m looking into working and training in the ten-day vipassana retreat centers that are all over India, the one’s started by S. N. Goenka. The ten-day retreats operate on a donation basis, and for people who volunteer with them to work, they may stay there and continue to use the facilities between courses. But the only person that’s written back to me so far has explicitly stated that even a simple standing posture with the feet together and the hands hanging by the sides would “not be acceptable,” as it might distract all the seated meditators.


I would not recommend Goenka just for that comment. Aside from that they only sit, when actually moving is what really delivers the goods. One example:

Walking meditation in the Thai Forest Tradition

Have you considered Tibetan Buddhism and Dharamshala?

Here's one place:

http://tushita.info/

Best of luck. :)
Last edited by gerard on Mon Jun 08, 2015 10:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby lineofintent on Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:16 am

Hi

A great option would be the retreat center run by Kru Pedro of Muay Thai Sangka in the mountains of Chiangmai Thailand .

He has practiced deeply meditation and internal work from Wudanshan....the remote temple not commercial one.

Goenka method is ok for intro but Thai forest tradition have a much deeper and comprehensive way.

Thailand is much nicer and saner than India.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby Peacedog on Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:24 pm

+1 on Pedro he is a great guy.

My friends in Thailand say you can stay for an extended time here: http://www.althaiman.ru/thai%20htm/Prov ... tamwua.htm

You are expected to take part in all of the temple practices, but the schedule leaves plenty of time for solo work.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby I-mon on Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:41 pm

Several good places in Ladakh where you can retreat and pretty much do your own thing. Very remote, very quiet, intensely beautiful, extremely cheap. You'd pretty much have to follow the local diet. Look up Lamayuru (one of the remote meditation retreat centres, for monks, where visitors can stay), you can probably find some photos and info.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby Syena on Sat Jun 13, 2015 10:39 pm

Been living the last months in Auroville, in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Check it out if you are interested. www.auroville.org
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby lazyboxer on Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:15 am

India's probably the last place in the world I'd pick for what you're looking for, unless you already have good connections there. It's a mess in every way right now. I have many friends who have lived there, some for years, who will probably agree.

If you still want to go, I know of a big hole in the ground (a kind of subterranean cavern) where a good friend lived for a year. It's in a safe location, and someone comes daily with a bucketful of food on a rope. Access is by ladder, which you can remove if you want to be left alone. PM me if you'd like an introduction.

Alternatively, there are several secret mountain caves where you can hide for ever, if necessary. Thieves and dacoits often use them to escape military and police detection. One of my best friends spent two years in one until things got too hot for him and he came to live in my house in London.
Last edited by lazyboxer on Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby onebir on Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:43 am

1) On Goenka Vipassana Centres:
- I've done several 10 day courses, observed what's possible for students & talked to volunteers:
-- For students:
--- about 5-6 of 11 meditation hours daily have to be done in the hall. No standing
--- It might be ok to do standing in your room particularly if you get a single room or room with old students - best confirm this in advance (ideally by email & bring printout; course managers are volunteers & there's no specific guidance on this afaik.)
-- For volunteers:
--- 4 meditation hours daily have to be done in the hall. No standing
--- Work (mainly cooking) takes up about 3 hours
--- As long as you observe the precepts - notably don't 'disturb others'' - you can do what you like in free time. Doing standing/taiji in sight of students would probably be counted as 'disturbing others' but the center may be set up with suitable spaces away from the students where this is ok. Again best to check by email (same provisos as above).
-- I suspect most centres are short of long-term volunteers, and keen to accomodate their quirks as far as possible. And it seems possible to switch between student mode (possibly with some added leeway) and volunteer mode.

In short: volunteering at a Goenka Vipassanna centre could allow someone to do what the OP planned, but some negotiation (possibly with several centres) might be required to be sure of this.

2) For $~5000/year (inc tuition + accommodation), a few commercial kungfu schools in China might fit the bill (although most clearly don't). After lengthy chats with existing students & the boss, I'm planning to go to this one, near Yantai in Shandong: http://klskungfu.com/

I can explain why it appears to 'fit my bill'' - somewhat similar to the OP's - if anyone's interested. The school is also happy to put folks in touch with existing students.
Insanity is repeating a nonsensical definition of insanity, and expecting it to eventually make sense.
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Re: Practicing meditation in India?

Postby mrtoes on Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:33 pm

I did meditation retreats in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand (only 10 days mind you) - I'd definitely take the recommendation for Chiang Mai especially as it comes from Alex who is pretty serious about his meditation. If you're set on India then there is indeed tons of centres around Dharamsala.

One thing I'll say for India, if you can manage to hold your shit together there then you're pretty set for dealing with any environment thereafter - it really stretches you :)

I'd give it a miss though if you need to sort things out. Thailand.

Matthew
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