Originally posted by Isis:
Anyone had been in a long-term meditation retreat in Tibet or Burma or Malaysia and in any other places ?
What is the cost and expense..
I know for Burma, you just need pay airfare which is about $300.
Food and lodging will be taken care of.
Looking for one in the coming summer..
Hmm how long is your long term?
BTW you sure you going Burma at this period? A bit unstable don't you think and furthermore the monks and Buddhists are also involved in the political situation...
Well things might get better next summer.
By Dharma Dan (note that the prices here do not apply for us because Dharma Dan lives in America and therefore his air ticket costs much more):
http://web.mac.com/danielmingram/iWeb/Daniel%20Ingram%27s%20Dharma%20Blog/The%20Blook/DAA4B1E6-928C-46F1-AB7D-D6B637600C2C.html...Some of my favorite places to go on retreat are: The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, Bhavana Society in Highview, West Virginia, The Malaysian Buddhist Meditation Centre (MBMC) in Penang, Malaysia, and Gaia House near Totnes, England. Also worth mentioning are the Mahasi centers in Burma (Myanmar), such as Panditarama in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon). All of these are easy to find on the Internet. For those who are really into Mahasi Sayadaw style practice as I am, the Three Month Retreat at IMS (about $3000), or a few weeks to months at MBMC (about $1000 to fly there and then a few bucks a day to stay) are highly recommended. Both have excellent food and are very conducive to great practice. It is amazing the things we spend our time and money doing. As a good friend once said, “If you had to flip burgers for 13 years to get up the money to do the three month at IMS, it would be well worth it.” I prefer MBMC for cultural reasons, but both are great. Burma is a great place to go for the real deal, but there are some issues around dealing with the government, the oily food, the water, the parasites, and the malaria-carrying mosquitoes that need to be considered....