Monks’ Mindfulness

Monks in Thailand define mindfulness as raluk dai, or 'recollecting the mind,' and apply it in everyday monastic life. The chapter contrasts a rural wandering thudong monk at a remote monastery in Mae Jaeng with an urban monk at Wat Suan Dok in Chiang Mai to illustrate common definitions, affective uses, and meditative practices for cultivating mindfulness. It also presents well-known textual renderings of mindfulness drawn from Thai versions of Pali-language texts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter examines the ways that monks in Thailand make sense of and make use of mindfulness in the course of their everyday lives at Thai monasteries. It focuses on two monks in particular as representative case studies: a rural wandering thudong monk in a remote monastery in “Mae Jaeng” outside of Chiang Mai, and an urban monk at the busy university monastery of Wat Suan Dok in the city. In relating the experiences of these two monks it explains some of the most common definitions of mindfulness in Thailand, as raluk dai (‘recollecting the mind’), along with some of the most common affective uses and some of the most common meditative practices to cultivate mindfulness. It also introduces some of the most well-known textual renderings of mindfulness in the region, as drawing from Thai iterations of Pali-language texts.