Thomas Hammon

My visit to Wat Pah Nanachat
Date of Arrival: 8 July 2023
Date of Leaving: 24 July 2023

My experience:
Before I went to Wat Pah Nanachat I had to send them an email which can be found on the website. The request has to be 2 to 3 weeks before arrival, but I sent an email about a week and a half before the date of arrival I requested so I was unsure of them accepting me. But they did!
The arrival is preferably in the morning and has to be before 4 pm.I arrived in Ubon a day before, spent a night in a hotel and went there at 10 am. The taxi was unsure if he can enter the temple so he dropped me outside the gate, but you can surely get in the temple with a car if you want to. When I got in I asked a lay guest I saw there about the guest monk because for anyone who wants to stay he has to ask the guest monk. So I followed him to the guest monk Ajahn Akaliko and I found that there is already someone who is going to join on the same day as me. We introduced ourselves and the guest monk saw no problem of taking us as lay guests so he got a copy of our passports id and we were welcome to stay! Staying in Wat Pah Nanachat has some rules, for example there is no use of any electronics so the day you join you have to give your phone (and my kindle too) or any electronic for safe keeping. You get them back when you?re leaving. I stayed the first three days or so without shaving. Usually the first days are to see yourself if you really want to stay for longer and I think also for the monks to see if you are ready for that. After that period, they would ask you to shave your head beard and eyebrows, usually on the weekly holy day (half moons, full moon and black moon)
About my stay there:
The day I joined it was me and James from the US who came also on the same day. While he was staying for 6 months I was staying for 2 weeks. We soon became friends and started to discover the place together. While staying we have to wear white clothes, if you didn?t bring some there are white clothes at the temple that you can borrow, then we went to the place where we sleep, there are kutis and some rooms, I stayed at the ?dorm? it?s an open area, I found it really nice, so I set up my place there.
The daily routine: we wake up at 3 AM and go for the morning chanting and meditation in the sala at 3:30. The chanting is sometimes in Pali and English and sometimes only English. There is a book there we follow for the chant, I find it helpful to understand the meanings of what we?re saying. After chanting we do meditation. We are free to practice our own meditation method whether sitting or walking or standing meditation. After we finish at 5am we do sweeping the leaves until 6am. We have some free time until 6:45 when we come to help with putting the food we receive in its places, then we help with offering the food to monks, then we go to the sala where we see Thai people also join there and sometimes there is a short talk in Thai. Usually on Sunday it gets crowded as many people come and they take the precepts at the temple. After that finishes the monks leave the sala first then the pah kaws then we the lay guests leave and go to a room for lay guest?s meals. We sit in the order of joining. The guest monk comes everyday at that time to tell us the daily schedule and inform us if there is any unusual event. After we wait for the monks and the pah kaws to get their meals we go to fill our bowls, and after us the Thai lay people. In Wat Pah Nanachat we get only 1 meal a day. So it is the only meal for the day. The food is plenty thanks to the generosity of the Thai people. After the meal we clean the toilets. And then we have free time. I usually take a nap, then go practice on my own. At 3pm we have sweeping until 4pm. And at 4:30 we have drinks: some juice/pepsi/ hot chocolate/tea. Then at 6 pm there is the bell and the evening chanting and meditation at 6:15.
On special occasions of Uposatha days we have a group Q&A with senior monks at night and we can join the Thai people who come to the temple for night chant which is in Pali and in Thai. We also have a special drinks time around midnight with the monks where we can have discussions and ask questions.

What I liked:
The environment is clean, peaceful and harmonious. The place is in the forest, and everybody monks lay guests and Thai people love it and respect it and they?re all taking care of it. In Wat Pah Nanachat you get to meet new people from all over the world, each with a different background. But everyone is there for the Dhamma. You get to know good people but make sure you are a genuine person yourself. In Wat Pah Nanachat it is the Dhamma 24h, but everybody is doing that willingfully. Only people interested in the Dhamma want to stay there. And you will find many guys among the lay guests interested in ordaining and becoming monks, maybe not at their current stay but some time in the future. The chores we do, everybody does it because they want to, there is no one who is watching to tell us we did something wrong but everybody follows the schedule. I personally enjoyed the afternoon sweeping, I felt I was doing something wholesome and it helped me clear my mind.
The focus is on meditation. And we have contact with the monks and we can ask them questions when we want which I find it very helpful. Ajahn Siripannyo the acting abbot was a very warm and inspiring monk. The way he answers our questions is satisfying.
The 1 meal a day can be hard at first but you can adjust and I find it really good because it gives us a lot more free time for practice, and it disciplines the mind: that there?s going to be only 1 meal each day at the same time. At first I took too much food because I was so hungry but I learnt by the end of my stay how much food I really need.
The day before last I asked to go to alms round with the monks and they said yes. I didn?t do any work but I liked following the monks and see people offer them food. After alms round I saw many people line up in front of the temple gates to offer food. I helped collect the food from the monks and bring it inside the monastery. It was so wholesome and reminds me of the generosity of Thai people and their intentness to protect the practice and keep the Buddha?s teachings alive. Not just by words but by their devoted actions.

During my stay there I was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Ajahn Jayasaro, who is a famous monk, who lives in a quite secluded hermitage in Thailand. I used to watch his Dhamma talks on youtube so I was very delighted to see him and talk with him! He came with 1 day prior notice. We met him after the meal and had the chance to ask him questions.

There are books for free distribution there that we can get and usually the guest monk gives us some more when we are ready to leave. I found some very interesting books there. There is also a library in the dorm with a variety of books but only for borrowing.

The day I was leaving, I felt sad. It was very wholesome and I was happy being there. I do recommend it for people who are genuinely interested in the practice, people who want to learn and not to impose their views about Buddhism. It is peaceful, relaxed place for practice where the rules are being followed which makes the practice more genuine.

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