A meditator's diary: A western woman's unique experiences in Thailand temples

by Jane Hamilton-Merritt

First Edition. Fine.

Genres: Buddhism

157 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Mihai Paulet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all.
A personal account of a `newbie` entering the Theravada world of meditation. Barely any meditation theory, which is great, seeing how she is a beginner and this is not the purpose of the book. There are some meditation advices at the end, some `letting goes`, but I guess it is hard to hold back the urge to share such source of peace with everyone else, even though it can end in failure and sometimes setbacks for those who `try` to follow the advice.
At one point, after she experienced vipasanna meditation, you can see a change in her way of writing in her diary. I really liked that bit.

[Josh Clement · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kind of scrappy travel writing you’d find and enjoy reading while backpacking. Interesting to learn a little about how monks fit into thai culture.

Jai Yen - “cool heart”

[Christine Christman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated that her description of her experience at a Tibetan monastery was without any spiritual pretense or religiosity. She appeared to enter without expectations and allow the experience to shape her understanding of herself and experiences. I think it should be included in any study of women's spirituality.

[Egor Azanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and useful description of the way from knowing nothing about meditation to experiencing it deeply via some time of intensive vipassana training in Thai monastery.