Thailand forum

I stayed at Wat Sanghathan in Nonthaburi (just north of Bangkok) for about 2 weeks. This is a large temple in the forest tradition situated on an overgrown durian plantation. It's not geared towards westerners per se, but a handful of westerners do stay and are most welcome, females included. There were two western female meditators there at the same time as me. Phra Frank, a monk from the US, and Mae Chee Maria, a nun from Germany, are both associated with the temple and provide westerners with outstanding meditation instruction in English or German. Wat Sanghathan has 3 branch monasteries that are also available to westerners, assuming there's a western monk or nun in residence at the time (or the westerner speaks some Thai). Wat Sanghathan and its branches are good options for a westerner looking to mainly be around Thai Buddhists. All the chanting books are translated into English though and the abbot works toward a very open international-minded atmosphere so I certainly didn't feel like an "outsider" at all. Wat Sanghathan's website is www.vimokkha.com.

Other popular options that are more specifically geared towards westerners (including females) are the international Buddhism center at Wat Doi Sutthep in Chiang Mai (www.fivethousandyears.org), Wat Ram Poeng also in Chiang Mai, although I think they prefer for people to stay 26 days with a minimum of 10 (www.palikanon.com/vipassana/tapotaram/tapotaram.htm), Wat Suan Mokkh near Surat Thani in the south (www.suanmokkh.com), Wat Kow Tahm on Koh Phangan (www.kowtahm.org), and Thailand Vipassana Center near Phitsanulok (www.dhamma.org).
If you want to do more research check out www.buddhistravel.com.

Hope this helps,

DL

oops again! www.watkowtahm.org. That's it, promise :)

I don't think it's accurate that Doi Sutthep only takes meditators for 1 night... When I went there last April and inquired about staying I was told they encourage people to stay at least 10 days but will accommodate shorter stays and will take people for as long as 21 days. Of course this all depends on what accommodation they have available and they do seem to be booked up a good month or two in advance. It's very unusual for a temple to only allow a one night stay - what's the point? Their website: www.fivethousandyears.com.

Dluek, u r right, they do encourage minimum stays of 10 days, but some people r only curious, so they can do just an overnight stay. I didn't have the 10 days available, but didn't want to stay only for a night. I found out that at the end of each month you can do a 4-day stay, which worked pretty well for me!