More possibilities in Thai Buddhism
During August 13th to 20th, I took part in Thai Buddhism Impression project in Chiang Mai and tried to help local community improve Buddhism communication, which benefits me a lot in knowledge about Thai Buddhism.
Challenges
August is very hot in Chiang Mai and it always rains for a short time. So to stay quiet to do some meditation can be difficult for me. Besides, chanting in Buddhism use Bali language, which is very hard to understand.
Successes
Do meditation in Wat RamPoeng, listen to chanting and follow chanting, walk the path with the Buddha.
Highlights
Meditation is a good way for us to improve our mind and stay peaceful. Through several times meditation, I get knowledge about how to do the meditation correctly and help some people finish their meditation and Buddhism manners impression. For example, the manner to show empathy to the dead relatives, the manner to show respect to the Buddha.
Chat with different monks in English for 6 hours, that let me know more about Buddhism. There are many foreign monks studying in Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Chiang Mai Campus, for example, come from Lao and Myanmar. All of monks have different majors in the university, have to learn many things, such as English, to communicate with foreign visitors frequently. Some little monks are very shy to speak English but have been Buddhist for more than 10 years. Even monks can be confused sometime, because some of them will be back to the normal life in the future.
Learn to make Thai cuisine Tom Yam Gong. With the help of coordinators, I know how to pick up herbs and vegetables into soup. Soup is very important for Thai people.
