Still for Five Hours
It was so cool to hear Mon Rivera talking about his personal pilgrimage through a half dozen different meditation traditions in Burma. I think one of the things I enjoyed so much about it was it really brings out the inspiration and learning you get from Myanmar specifically, the kinds of things you simply can’t learn at meditation centers in your home country. Take this example, in which he shares his awe at seeing a young monk sitting without movement for five hours every day in the Mogok monastery.
“So I was just assuming that this monk is not moving for five hours! And it’s so inspiring to see monks like that.”
“In Mogok, we did mostly sitting meditation. Now I'm reminded about a young monk I saw. And by tradition, [monks] sit in front, so we can always see them in front of us when we meditate. And in the Mogok tradition we have one hour of sitting, and then we have a break, and then the walking meditation is supposed to be done on your own. So you can go to the rooftop and walk around, and then come back for another one hour of sitting.
So I saw this young monk. I didn't pay much attention to him at first, because I was focusing on my own practice. But after a few days, I noticed when I entered the room, he's already sitting there. When I leave for a break, or for the one hour walking meditation, come back, he's still sitting there. And then when we do another break, and come back, he's still sitting there! So he's been sitting there for more than about five hours.
And then one time I decided I won't go out first with the others, I'll see what this monk is going to do. I stayed in the meditation hall for a bit, observing if he's taking a break or not, and he was just sitting there. So I was just assuming that this monk is not moving for five hours!
And it's so inspiring to see monks like that. So unfortunately, I was not able to talk to him because he was not from that center. I don't know if he was ordained under the Mogok tradition. I wanted to find out where he learned this technique. But he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Burmese, and we had limited contact. So that was etched in my memory, that young monk sitting for five hours in the meditation hall.”
