Slowly going to catch up :)

You've missed so much!
I'll let you in on a little secret...I'm in a new country! Say hello to learning about Vietnam :)
I'm learning Vietnamese language, society, and culture while here, and overall just having cool adventures. Our last week in Chiang Mai, Thailand was bittersweet, but lovely. Emily Cameron and I went on a meditation retreat Tuesday and Wednesday. We showed up to Wat Suan Dok around 2 in the afternoon, and forked over 400 baht each (12 dollars), and they bussed us to a meditation retreat center about 40 minutes from the heart of the city. It was a really nice facility, and I had no idea what to expect, except we had to wear all white.
Well they rang the gong and we got our first introduction to meditation with a seasoned monk who was in his late 20s. He had us chant in Thai, and taught us to bow down to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. I think that was my biggest learning experience. I read the sheet we had that told us in parenthesis, the time when we were supposed to bow down to pay respect to the three gems. I was so nervous, because stupidly, I had chosen to be in the first row, right in front of the monk.
I wasn't sure how to not offend him, and I didn't want to create any problems within the first hour of arriving. The problem was simple; there was no way I was going to bow down when everyone else did. It wasn't even something I debated. God's kind of clear on that, he's a jealous God, and I'm not supposed to be bowing before any others. There were plenty reasons, justifications, and rationalities I could have tried to make it ok...but in my mind, it wasn't, and I was not going to. As the head monk said in a super smooth, soft voice "and now, bow down, touch your head to the floor, and pay respect to the Buddha" I stayed still, and kept my eyes forward while everyone around me touched their heads to the floor.
Let’s go back to the reason I was even at this retreat. I think Buddhism is FASCINATING. It’s not nearly as easy as any of the books make it, the people who practice it follow so many traditions that aren’t specifically Buddhist, strange things that to Westerners are pointless. I love learning new things about it. When Emily and I were talking to the monks about the meditation retreats they had, I figured hey, it’s like yoga, a way to clear your mind. I had no intention of actually becoming Buddhist or anything, so I thought it wouldn’t conflict with my religion. I was sort of wrong. The rest of the time we were at the retreat center, we said the same chants and were supposed to bow down to the triple gems at least 4 times. After the first time, I decided to hang out in the back row so that I didn’t appear to be blatantly disrespecting the practice. The monk said that some people didn’t bow down to the Buddha because they were too egotistical or unfriendly. That sucked, because I don’t see it that way at all. I’d been living in Thailand for two months, taking off my shoes in temples, and being polite and respectful of this whole other culture that was deeply infused with Buddhism. I kind of wished that the monk had tried to understand other people’s reasons for not bowing down (by the way, in our group of 15, I was the only one who didn’t), instead of just classifying it as unfriendly. It was a meeting of cultures, and a situation that was misunderstood, but it taught me a lot about myself. I realized that as much as I love learning about other religions, there isn’t any way I’ll be able to shirk my own long enough to partake in others and understand them on another level. Huston Smith was apparently criticized for joining other religions and studying them for extended amounts of time, while all the while considering himself…Christian I think. I realized last week I’ll never be able to do that, and I’m kind of glad. As interesting as it would have been to be able to fully partake in the meditation retreat on its fullest level, as a person studying other religions, I will be drawing my line at actually partaking of things that compromise my relationship with my God.