In monasteries throughout Thailand ... - Dhamma by Ajahn Jayasāro
In monasteries throughout Thailand, today marks the beginning of the annual three-month Rains Retreat. During this period, forest monks put special emphasis on meditation practice. In order to investigate the four noble truths more deeply many take on ascetic practices that go against the grain, deliberately bringing up craving in order to investigate how it creates suffering. They may, for example, eat only the food offered to them on almsround, refusing food offered in the monastery or cooked in the monastery kitchen. Some monks make a determination to refrain from lying down for a week or a month or perhaps the whole retreat. It is a time for monastics to make a special effort to push against old habits and limitations.
Lay Buddhists also take on special practices to mark the Rains Retreat. Many try to keep the five precepts unbroken throughout the three months. Some vow to refrain from eating in the evening. Others make a determination to practice meditation every day for a particular length of time.
Giving things up during this period is a good way to test how healthy our relationship to them is. Attachments creep up on us little by little. The practice of renunciation reveals the truths we often do not want to acknowledge. It is a good practice for monastics and lay Buddhists.
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