Thamkrabok Monastery Article (Comments second post)
- From: Tsong <plum_village@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:15:55 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.13d33a191587de8d62270d95e984c2ce.f1&show_article=1
" Drug addicts journey to vomit and vow at Thai temple
Aug 13 05:03 AM US/Eastern
Fifteen-year-old Wanchai Nuantasiri is one of more than a dozen drug
addicts kneeling in a row, vomiting violently into the gutter.
Monks in dark brown robes stand behind the sick, rubbing their backs
encouragingly, while onlookers dance and clap cheerfully to an
incessant drum beat.
This bizarre scene, set amid spectacular golden Buddhas and rocky
mountains in the heart of Thailand, has been a daily ritual at
Thamkrabok Monastery since 1959, when its monks and nuns first helped
opium users beat their addictions.
Fifty years on, growing numbers of desperate drug and alcohol abusers
-- from Thailand and around the world -- are visiting the extreme
detox and rehab centre after failing to find effective conventional
treatments.
British musician Pete Doherty helped raise the temple's profile when
he became a patient in 2004, despite the fact that he could not handle
the challenging detox programme and escaped after just three days.
Wanchai said he travelled from his home in Bangkok, about 140 km (87
miles) south of Thamkrabok, to try and halt his dependency on
marijuana and amphetamines.
"I want to stop all drugs for life," he told AFP at the end of his
first day of treatment. "It's not easy to vomit and I felt really bad
while I was being sick."
The vomiting, compulsory for the first five days of the programme, is
induced by a thick herbal potion made from an ancient secret recipe,
known only to the abbot and the head pharmacist at the temple.
It is said to remove the drugs from the body and alleviate withdrawal
symptoms, but it is only a small part of the treatment.
As well as being physically cleansed, patients are taught to use
spiritual means to try and cure their addictions for good.
"We have to ask each person that comes whether he wants to stop
(taking drugs). If he wants to stop the first thing he has to do is to
take a sacred vow, which we call 'sajja', for life," said the abbot
Ajahn Boonsong Tanajaro.
By taking the vow, addicts commit themselves to a future free from any
drugs.
"Sajja will stay with them after the 15 days they spend with us," the
abbot said. "Sajja will heal them in the outside world. When they want
to take drugs they will think of the vow and it will act as a medicine
for them."
Medics may harbour doubts about such a religious approach to rehab,
but patients at Thamkrabok embraced the fact that the temple, where
the treatment is free of charge, did not just offer physical therapy.
"There's something about a Buddhist monastery that also treats you
spiritually," said Nicky Anderson, who came to the temple from County
Tipperary in Ireland to tackle her addiction to prescription
medicines.
"They're giving you some kind of strong belief in yourself as well and
your ability to go out there and to function again without taking any
drugs," the 57-year-old said.
In addition to the holy vows and vomiting, patients are encouraged to
take daily herbal steam baths and meditation classes, which are run by
one of the monks, a French former businessman and alcoholic known as
Phra (monk) Erik.
He said he sought help at Thamkrabok because "for me it was my last
chance". Shortly after his treatment he was ordained a monk and has
never drunk since.
"I try to keep in touch with the patients when they go back home and
yes, I can see a good result," he said.
"Of course in the detox you cannot have 100 percent positive results
but I think the results we have here are superior to the results in a
centre in the Western countries."
Phra Silatechoh, another monk from East Holland and a former heroin
and methadone addict, said the patients' tough routine included rising
at 4.30am to sweep leaves. But he explained that they were also given
"a lot of free time".
If you just keep on going there's no time to think about your life --
where are you, where are you coming from, where are you going -- which
is important when you come here. You're kind of at a crossroads," he
said.
In 2006 the monastery saw 427 patients pass through its doors and
numbers were up to 580 and 653 over the next two years. The first half
of 2009 has already seen 482 addicts sign up.
In October, word of the monastery is set to spread further when a
former Thamkrabok monk from Britain, Vince Cullen, will talk about the
temple at the inaugural conference of the Buddhist Recovery Network in
Los Angeles.
The network supports the use of Buddhist teachings and practices to
help those suffering from addictions, and Cullen wants to raise
awareness that "there is an alternative and Thamkrabok provides one of
these alternatives.
"It's not just a Western approach and certainly not just about
replacing one drug with another," he told AFP.
Gerard Slevin, a 41-year-old recovering heroin addict, said the
monastery's treatment was better than any approach he had tried back
home in Ireland, although he was finding it "pretty tough".
"This is the last place. It's either do or die here, you know what I
mean? And I value life a lot more. I don't want to die, so I want to
try and get it right this time," he said.
Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published,
broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed
directly or indirectly in any medium
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Prev by Date: Re: Hmong Family Tree studies
- Next by Date: Re: Thamkrabok Monastery Article (Comments second post)
- Previous by thread: Yog uag es ib leeg pheej hlav muv nkaug ib leeg le
- Next by thread: Re: Thamkrabok Monastery Article (Comments second post)
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
