Buddhism is the major dominating population in Thailand. About 95% of the people residing in Thailand believe and practice Buddhism. This belief was introduced to Thailand from Sri Lanka. Theravada is the most dominant and the other one which is also known but is confined to Thais with Chinese ancestry is Mahayana Buddhism. Since the 60s, a lot of foreigners have visited Thailand to train in their monasteries. Some of them have stayed for a short period of time and then there are some who have stayed and received monastic ordination.
Thais are flexible in nature so they make adjustments for those foreigners who are not used to their traditions and customs. But no matter how accommodating the Thai people are, there are still rules that you should strictly follow when you visit a monastery. And these are some of them:
- Never sit if the soles of the feet is facing an image of Buddha or facing Buddhist monk. The feet of a person is considered dirty which is why it is disrespectful if you sit making your feet face an object that they respect.
- Women are not allowed to touch a monk. If she were to make an offering, she should place it on the table and let the monk retrieve it from the table.
- It is not proper to climb on sacred objects.
- Taking photographs of monks who are meditating will cause disturbance to their practice which is why it is forbidden to take pictures of them meditating.
Here are some of the list of temples that you can train in if you want to. These are just some of the of the monasteries who offer meditation courses to those who are non-Thai speakers:
Here are some of the temples that offer meditation courses for people who opt to stay outside the confines of the monasteries:
Whichever temple or monastery you will choose, make sure that you would be informing the monastery of your plans in training there. It would also be best if you would obtain the day to day schedule of the monastery since they require that those who stay in their premises participate in their daily activities.