This tiny, under-development monastery is only two years old. At present, there appears to be only a small outdoor Dhamma hall, a single kuti, some restrooms, and a screened-in reception area with a charming large framed photo of the famous forest master Luang Por Chah. This simple monastery does not yet even have a sign at its entrance.
We spent a short but pleasant period having tea with the monastery’s only monk—Ajahn Somkiet, a very likable, mid-60-year-old man who happened to speak surprisingly good English.
He shared an inspiring story. Some of the details are unclear to me, but this is the spirit of it:
He first ordained as a monk some 30 years ago but disrobed shortly thereafter. Some time later, after surviving a major heart attack possibly stemming from a stressful career and the pitfalls that often accompany one, he decided to again ordain as a monk. This time, he learned to practice vipassana meditation in the forest.
One day while practicing walking meditation in an isolated area, he started to feel intense pain in his chest. He figured that he was having another heart attack, but realizing that he was far from a hospital he decided that his only hope of surviving would be to use “Dhamma medicine”—that is, to stay with his meditation and concentrate his mind on his present moment experience. As he did so, he had a curious vision in which the pain completely disappeared. It has never returned.
Ajahn Somkiet has since dedicated himself to teaching others. He now offers Sunday school to 30 area students, during which he teaches them vipassana meditation, math and English. The kids’ parents are so appreciative of him that he receives so much alms food that what he doesn’t eat he donates to a local school for novice monks. And he’s so well-liked that out of concern for his welfare, community teenagers will often stay overnight at the temple because they don’t want him to be alone.
Hearing that we had been teaching English in Doi Saket, Ajahn Somkiet encouraged us to return to his temple, to stay, and to help him teach his students. As a way of enticing us, he enthusiastically encouraged us to visit the monastery’s most recent addition—the restrooms. And it was worth it: I have probably not encountered cleaner or more inviting restrooms at a temple in Thailand. Simple but welcoming—just like the rest of the monastery.
