Spiritual enlightenment for dummies

There’s an enduring myth in Western culture about the transformative potential of Asia. Maybe, we secretly think, if I meditate with a guru on a beach somewhere exotic, I will suddenly evolve in a way that I can’t back in boring Western Suburbia. It’s hopelessly naïve, of course, but there I was…

There I was, at Pop House Retreat Centre, a couple of hours north of Bangkok, on a three-day meditation course. Surrounded by lush green gardens, it resembles a Spanish-style villa, with curving entranceways and multiple levels all accessed by exterior stairs and balconies. It’s not what one expects in Thailand, but it is undeniably beautiful.

On arrival by taxi, I found the place deserted except for an elderly Canadian academic called Ralph, a lonely man with an urgent desire to learn about inner peace. Eventually staff from the Pop House Retreat Centre turned up, having been out for supplies. Meals at Pop House happen twice a day: at breakfast, and lunch. From early afternoon until bedtime, there are no more meals though coffee, tea and biscuits are readily available.

Only one other guest arrived, a young woman from India. Neither she nor Ralph were big talkers, which was fine with me, my head still full of stresses and worries imported from back home. Are we enlightened yet?

The days at Pop House start early. By 5.30am, you’re in the main hall for your first meditation of the day. There are two more two-hour meditation sessions during the day, and by 4pm you’re done.

The meditation is led by Buddhist monks trucked in from a local temple. They speak gently, mostly in broken English, often in aphorisms that loop around on themselves. They smile when they speak, and at all other times also.

There is a profound amount of free time. I’d walk the gardens, watch the catfish fight each other in the river, take one of the bicycles to ride around the village, or snooze.

The bedrooms are four to a room, but with only three guests, we each ended up having our own. I would often lie on my bed in the afternoon and marvel at how quiet everything was; only the humming of the fan and Ralph’s occasional snores from next-door accenting the silence.

Of course, by the end of the three days, no major spiritual epiphanies had erupted. The myth of the sudden spiritual transformation remained unfounded, but this remains true: a little time spent in a beautiful place, among beautiful people, thinking about beautiful things, is beautiful.