Second hand religion


Recently I spent a little over 6 weeks in a hermitage attached to a large monastery in the south of Thailand. Set on about 20 hectares of forest it’s home to hundreds of squirrels, frogs, and spiders, several varieties of birds and snakes, some wild chickens, a few mouse deer a couple of anteaters a feral cat and of course a multitude of mosquitoes. Originally the hermitage was intended as a training ground for monks but has gradually become an escape for laymen looking to further their meditation practice. (There are currently only 2 monks residing there). Accommodation for laymen consist of small concrete huts (kutis) measuring about 10 by 6 feet and raised approximately 3 feet off the ground. There is no electricity and just enough room for a wooden bed, a tiny desk and a small balcony where clothes can be dried out of the rain.

The day starts at 3:30 a.m when the bell is rung. You have 30 minutes to get yourself to the main meditation hall (sala). Chanting starts just after 4 a.m and lasts about 20 –25 minutes followed by sitting meditation for an hour. The monks usually set off on alms round about 6:00 a.m. The laymen are free to do as they please - I practiced a little yoga from 5:30 – 6:30 a.m. and then slowly strolled the three quarters of a kilometre to get food from the monastery, occasionally stopping on the way back to dip my feet into the hot springs. A little sweeping or washing clothes is done before everyone takes breakfast together at 8:00 a.m.

The food served at the monastery is strictly vegetarian. I’m not a vegetarian but after sampling the Thai version for 45 days I could quite happily eat nothing else for the rest of my life. After breakfast we wash our dishes and throw the left over food to the squirrels and chickens keeping a small amount of fruit for a small snack at lunchtime. The rest of the day is free time until another group meditation session from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. everyone is usually asleep by 9:00 p.m.

Talking is also discouraged to add to the solitude and limit distractions. In addition, whilst one of the resident monks has much experience, he is not there to teach or answer questions. Individuals are left to get on with their own particular practice in peace and quiet. This isn’t the type of place for bright-eyed beginners full of questions and theories and is made abundantly clear to anyone who enquires about staying. Devoid of the usual trappings of modern life such an environment is extremely conducive to meditation practice.

Why meditate? Quite simply meditation is the heart of Buddhism. Without the practice of meditation an intellectual understanding of Buddhism is at best a superficial one. No amount of instruction, reading, discussion or theorizing can confer the level of understanding derived from meditation practice. The solitary nature of meditation practice implies a very personal experience. An experience which cannot be transmitted from one person to another via the usual modes of communication most of us are familiar with. It is this personal nature that I believe to be the essence of any religious or spiritual pursuit. But where does that leave the institutions of religion that so many believe in and subscribe to?

Anyone with a basic grasp of history would be aware of the destruction and violence wrought on civilizations in the name of organised religion. But then organised religion has never been about an individual’s pursuit of a higher level of understanding. Rather it has been used as a device to control the masses via a combination of coercion, intimidation and quite often torture and murder - the idea of religion as a personal process of discovery deformed into an ideology whose sole purpose is to maintain the continuity of power in the hands of a self-interested few.

Since the decline of the church as the source of legitimacy in western society organised religion has retreated into a shell of its former self. However it still provides a refuge to those with a desperate need to believe in something that relieves them from the responsibility of taking control of their own lives. This weakness for ideology explains why the same people can so easily accept the inevitable truths of globalisation and free markets. These new versions of religion are rammed down the collective throat of society by big business with the same gusto as a scholastic inquisitor - the rhetoric obscuring the intentions of those doing the preaching.

Organised religion in the words of the late American Philosopher William James is essentially “second-hand religion” - that is an apt description as long as it fosters the fatalistic view of its participants - as long as people surrender themselves to unescapable truths rather than take an honest, objective view of their lives and attempt serious self-examination.