A Simple Life

One of the more unique places we have come across in all of our travels (and that’s really saying something, we’ve been around a lot!) is the Asoke communities in Thailand.  They are Buddhist communities where we were lucky enough to spend a week and a half, part at Santi Asoke and part at Sisa Asoke.  We only wish we had more time at each and to be able to visit the rest since each sounded so wonderful and different it its own way.  They are so pure in their thoughts and practice- hard work and simple living, and the practice what they preach.  The food here is vegetarian, both out of respect for all sentient beings and to tread more lightly on the Earth, and they grow almost all of it themselves.  They pride themselves on hard, self-less work, and it is in their work that they do their meditation and grow as a community, by working together.  No words can describe the wonderful hospitality they showed to the two of us during our time there- we feel we have made life-long friends in some of the people that helped us along our path for knowledge and understanding.  We only wish we could thank them more adequately, but they certainly do not do it for the thanks- when we left it was with hugs and the open invitation to return, plus a bundle of food for our journey- they would not even take a donation from us if we tried.  True generosity of giving without the hope of anything in return, just to be good human beings and maybe get some good karma in return.

To see our album on life at the Asokes, go to picasaweb.google.com/GROWinitiative/AsokeLife