Emma has a question.
I don't have a Buddhist center in my hometown, so I cannot meditate in a group or have a local sangha.
What can I do?
Would it be useful for me to go in a retreat in a faraway center, or would it be too much for a new practitioner?
Hello Emma.
Well, I can only recommend to go to a center if possible.
More important though is to find a good teacher.
Someone you can have faith in.
This is a bit difficult to find someone if you don't know anybody, if you don't have a group or can't find out.
But I'm sure that Bantu here,
Some people you may know over internet may give you some good advice, but having a good teacher, going to a good retreat is very beneficial.
Of course, more support you will have if you go to weekly meeting or monthly meeting.
You can start your own group.
I mean, this is also possible.
If you can't go away, maybe you have other people interested or friends and just do a meditation.
But to start off, it's good to go to a retreat.
Sure.
I mean, we find that even here, I find that even here that we have these group meetings and group meditations.
It forces us to stay on track very much.
And another thing you can do is, what's an idea, I mean, just throwing it out there, that some people, that the Sri Lankan people have been really encouraging and doing, because the Sri Lankan people abroad have just contacted me and said, hey, could you lead a course over Skype?
We're going to get a group of people together.
Could you give us a talk and lead us through meditation, guided meditation?
So I was doing it sometimes once a week or so on.
and next week I'm doing one with a group in Houston, Texas, in America.
So that's an option to have, and not just for myself, it's an option to get teachings from monks around the world.
I think depending on what part of the world you're in and what sort of a group you have, there are teachers who you can contact and do internet-based teachings.
It's quite easy.
So that's an option.
As far as going to a faraway center, which is what your question is,
I certainly think it's not too much for a new meditator.
I mean, you consider in Thailand.
Thailand has many more tourists than Sri Lanka, and I don't think we've had any Sri Lankan tourists who just said, oh, I'm in Sri Lanka already, and could I come for a meditation?
We don't really get that here.
But in Thailand, it was all the time.
They'd take a cooking course one week, a meditation course the next week.
They were on the Thai tour.
They wanted to get everything Thai, including Thai meditation.
Massage one week, cooking next week, insight meditation, enlightenment the next week.
This was the spiritual tourist.
So that's really what we've always expected, is to have newbies, newcomers, people who have no instruction.
And sometimes that's actually the best, because they don't have preconceived notions.
We sometimes have people who have sat meditation courses in other traditions
and have more trouble than a new meditator because they have attachments and ideas and expectations based on their other traditions and their other practices, which when we're talking about this, it becomes a habit.
You don't have those habits, so you're a clean slate and that makes it a lot easier.
On top of that,
What I found in our case is that what we get now are not beginner meditators anymore.
Because you have our booklet, this booklet I put together on how to meditate.
You have videos explaining the theory behind the meditation.
You have our question and answer forum where people are asking questions about their meditation or reading other people's questions.
So what we've been getting now is people who are fully prepared with theory and even practice, and who have been practicing daily on their own, working up to the course.
And you may not have that yet, but if, for example, you were thinking of coming here, you have all the resources necessary to get started and to get a huge head start, which has really made it incredibly easy for most of our meditators to get through the course, to live in the jungle, to
put up with any sort of harsh environment or harsh conditions, because they've already prepared themselves.
They've already got this great head start.
So with one exception, I think, everyone who's come here has had no trouble finishing the course, because they've already
And they've already become quite prepared before arriving.
So I wouldn't be afraid of that in either sense.
First of all, that we are perfectly equipped to deal with totally new meditators.
And secondly, you don't have to be a new meditator.
Start meditating now while you don't have a group, while you don't have a meditation center.
And the other thing is that once you do go to a faraway meditation center, wherever it is, and do a course, then how easy will it be if you've done a substantial course in an authentic environment, how easy will it be for you to start your own meditation group?
I mean, not perfectly easy, but much easier than if you hadn't done it.
And you'll find that you're actually able to bring people together and maybe over Skype, you know, contact someone like me who does these kind of crazy things.
And, you know, get support even in your hometown.
So many options.
One should not despair in this day and age of being in a place without local resources.
We're now the global village.
And I think there is some aspect of that that we have to take into Buddhism or get left behind and overwhelmed by it all.
because the world is not static and if Buddhism is not prepared to become a part of that change then it will just come back and overwhelm us and in the end Buddhism will be wiped out by people who have no clue about the benefits and the importance of the Buddhist teaching on the other hand if the Buddhist teaching is out there for the whole world then we'll ride the wave we'll be supported by the vast numbers of people who
involved.
I mean, if you look, now there's like 1.5 million people have watched the videos that we've been putting out.
There's 7,000 people subscribed to our channel, my channel now, and so on.
And on our own website, it's just daily people are adding their names or signing up for our website, joining in and taking part in the conversation.
So
There is a real potential, regardless of where you live, to get involved.
But simply put, yeah, I'd say go for it.
Don't be afraid of being a newbie.
Either take the time to, both take the time to develop yourself, but even if you haven't had the time and you're ready to come to a meditation course, don't worry.
We'll do all the work in preparing you and developing you in the practice.
Of course, the longer you can stay, the better, and if you're prepared enough, we'll probably invite you to ordain, and you'll just never leave.
Something to add?
No?