My 10-day Vippasanna Meditation "Retreat" at Dhamma Vikāsa, Lyu-Guei (六龜), Kaohsiung (高雄), Taiwan

And so, a couple of weeks ago, I concluded my 5th 10-day Vippasanna retreat, or in mandarin, it is referred to as 内观, roughly translated to - looking within. Maybe in another entry, I can talk about what goes on during the ten days, the schedule, so that for those who have never been, you would know what to expect.

So, intead of talking about the benefits of meditation, which I shall leave for another day, it's too long a dialogue and frankly, as it really differs from person to person, it's a topic that will really take another entry (or more!) and that would just be a quick dip in the vast ocean that it is, this shall be a Vipassanna Centre Show and Tell session!

So, the aim that I have set for mself is to at least try and attempt a 10-day course every one/two years. And thus far... the centres I have been to:

1. St John's Island, Singapore
2. Dhamma Pokhara Vipassana Meditation Centre, Nepal
3. Dhamma Malaya Vipassana Meditation Centre, Kuantan, Malaysia
4. Dhamma Sīmanta, Lamphun, Chiang Mai, Thailand
5. Dhamma Malaya Vipassana Meditation Centre, Kuantan, Malaysia (as a Server)
6. Dhamma Vikāsa, Lyu-Guei (六龜),  Kaohsiung (高雄), Taiwan

Instead, this shall be an entry to share about the facilities for Lyu-Guei, my most recent meditation. :) So for those who have never been there, what you see and know, then you can pack better and know what to expect.

While the centre is still a work in progress, it is located amongst mountains and when it is completed, I would imagine the place would be a lot bigger, with more routes for slow walks between meditation sessions. 

This a view of the rooms. It's two to a room, and old students (aka, students who have completed a ten-day course once) tend to be given priority to have a room to themselves (if there are enough space), while new students if there aren't enough rooms, would have to share two to a room. 

There are pebbled pathways so the sound of gravel crunching amidst the silence is a giveaway, especially if you are out gallivanting (when you should be meditating hahaha). 

As with most of the centres, the room is a simple affair, typically consisting of a shelf, windows, and a bed frame. In this case, as you can see in the photo below, one bed frame is higher, and the other lower. You can't quite see the instructions, but if you are asked to share, the old student is asked to take the lower bed. I can't quite remember why, but it has to do with doing with as minimal fuss and comfort, so that you can fully focus on meditation instead of creature comforts. 

Since I had the room to myself, I slept on the higher bunk HAHAHAH... Anyhow, compared to other centres, the biggest difference for the room would be that their mattresses, instead of the typical ones you can buy from the market (in Asia at least), you can see that it is a folded and standing up, is their mattress is sort of like a combination of bamboo on one side and mattress on the other. Now I wasn't quite sure which side I was supposed to sleep on, but as I went during Summer (so hot!!), I slept on the bamboo side, in the vain hope that it would be cooler. I never did flip it around to sleep on the other side so I can't comment whether that line of thinking actually worked. But I assume it did. 

It also came with one small pillow, a duvet and a thick blanket (which I assume would come in handy during autumn/winter). In this case, a packet of tissue, a torchlight (which wasn't working hahah) and hangers with clips, as well as slippers (from previous meditators I am sure, but it was all still in pretty good shape, not the gross leftover type.)

So bedsheets, pillow cases (and a small towel to put inside the pillow, again, I assume it's to catch any random liquid like SALIVA! wahahaha... if you drool when sleeping), small towel and a blanket casing are provided separately. You can get it when you first report on Day 0. 

Next up, and something I am sure females are perennially interested in... the toilet! Basic and clean (well, I cleaned it up real well before I left!), the flush works decently well, and yes ladies, there is hot water! Woo hoo!! but frankly, since it was summer, I showered with cold water... ermmm.. at a ridiculous rate of about 4 times a day. I was meeelllltttiiinnng. I know, really bad for the skin, but I really couldn't take it.

The facilities here also includes, garbage bags, toilet and tissues are provided (awesome!!) and also, laundry detergent powder and a simple cake of soap. I have really sensitive skin, so I had my own laundry liquid and toiletries. But for those who travel light, it's provided for. I am sure they can throw in a shampoo if you didn't bring that along as well. Bathroom slippers are thrown in, and two rags, which you can use for cleaning of the room or bathroom.

Moving on to meal times... which is the most look foward to moment (especially since you only get two meals a day hahahha). The instructions for Lyu-Guei were to bring along your own meal cutlery. Now, I brought along a mug, a pair chopsticks, chinese soup spoon and a bowl. Insufficient, I had to borrow more cutleries from the Course Manager.

So really bring these along.
1. Pair of chopsticks and soup spoon (or fork and spoon if you prefer that)
2. Plate (enough to put rice and 2-3 other food options) - abit like those when you buy economical rice.
3. Bowl, for soup. They always have soup. :)
4. If you really want to add this in, it would be to bring along another small plate for the fruit. But you can just squeeze that in on the side (or just hold it if it's an apple or banana) of the main plate. So it's not a deal breaker.
5. Mug - for coffee/tea. They don't have much in the form of coffee.. just instant granules, and no creamer. Somehow, I survived... bad coffee is still better than no coffee. They don't have red tea, but they did have pu-er (chinese tea). so ... tea drinkers...

And finally, they have another separate building where you can do laundry, powder and laundry boards. (Well, I don't know how to use those, so I just washed my clothes in my toilet and that was it)
Within the same area, there are also 6-7 hair dryers, so for those who have long hair, it beats lugging along your own hair dryer or air drying it, which takes a long time!

Finally, they have this very very cool machine, which was the first time I had ever seen anything like it, called a dehydrator. At least that's what is says on the machine. Now, I can't seem to find a photo (darn I should have taken a pic!) but it looks like a very small and slim washing machine, but all it does is, you put your wet clothes in and instead of having wring them dry, which really takes a lot of energy, it will will then spin dry your washed clothes for you. Voila! Just like that... it's a maching that only has the spin dry function! It was awesome as I had injured my right wrist just before meditation and I was really considering just drip drying my clothes as my wrist wasn't really up to wringing dry the clothes. Washing them was stressful enough on the wrist.

So hahaha.. for now, that's what I think is useful for sharing... I will add more if I think of anymore! :) Or leave me a comment (or just ask me la, if you know me) if you have more questions! :) I would be glad to answer them.