Meditation Retreat for Mongolians

The meditation retreat was held on 18.30-20.30 on Tuesday and Thursday, for 8 times, at Wat Bharvana Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia. The retreat was organized by Wat Bharvana Mongolia and the teaching monk was Phra Wancharoem Samawongso.

The retreat started with greeting and welcoming activities to bring all participants together in a familiar atmosphere. The speaker performed his/her duty on the activities from the start to the end. The Mongolian staff, helped taking care of the new participants closely. There were stretching exercises before the meditation session. After the meditation session, each group of participants held discussions together and shared their meditation experiences then meditation questions were asked and answered.

The practice of meditation started with a simple method. The two important elements of practicing meditation were mindfulness and relaxation. Mindfulness was practiced by focusing on something bright at the centre of the body and saying ‘Samma Arahang’ consistently. Videos of meditation helped to keep the atmosphere interesting and facilitate easy understanding of the method. After this meditation session, the teaching monk enquired about experiences from each participant. Most participants said they could feel, relaxation, lightness of body, and disappearing of his/her body. Some saw something bright at the centre of his/her body in which the brightness could extendable.

In addition to a study of the meditation technique, the teaching monk also elaborated Buddhist Dhamma or principles such as Dana (giving) and the keeping of the five precepts. The teaching monk explained about the 5 Universal Principles of Goodness in an easy way for every participant to understand. This included daily home works to be done until the end of the project. The home works, were to practice meditation for 15 minutes each day, to smile daily, to share something to others, to invite people to do good deeds, and etc. These home works were designed so that each participant could bring the Dhamma into their daily lives.