Associating with a Good Friend

The coolest place and the best supported community is worth nothing, if there is not a Good Friend present too. Kalyana Mitta is the term in Pali which the Buddha used to designate what "teacher" means. Who does not want to have a really good friend?!

Here at the Dhamma Garden the main emphasis is on practice. As questions arise you are free to discuss them with Achan  Maha Bunchu. He feels that too much theoretical knowledge is a hindrance in seeing the immediate present moment. Understanding follows practice.

A typical stay at Dhamma Garden would look like this: At the beginning you stay in the main area, that is around the main house above the pond, and observe or  assist in whatever small chores need to be done; the preparation of food, offering items to the monk(s) at meal times, prepare your own meals, eat and drink, do some cleaning, taking care of your own room, going shopping with Rodrigo in his car, getting to know the area and the people there a little bit. By associating with Rodrigo, who has more than ten  years of experience in this practice, you get to know more and more what this place, the Dhamma unwinding Garden, is about, what it stands for and what it offers you.

When you feel ready, you can stay in seclusion for a period of time (a minimum of about a week at a time), and just see in a relaxed way how the change of postures occurs to you. That's learning by doing.  The doing is happening all the time, but the learning happens rarely in our everyday life. That is what the Dhamma Garden is for: a supported opportunity to learn and see that which you are doing all the time.

When you are ready to come out of seclusion back to the community at the main house, you will naturally integrate your newly developed strength of awareness into your everyday life. You are then invited to participate in the support-team for other retreatants (monks, nuns and lay-people), if you have time to stay on. If you stay for a longer period, you can go back into seclusion in a kuti later on to get more of  formal practice by keeping silence and more opportunity to train awareness. So you would move in a cycle of more intense and more relaxed practice, at your own pace.