Retreat Center
Sawasdee!
(Welcome!)
General Information
Established in 1997, Stream Garden is located about 30 miles from Hadyai (also spelled "Hat Yai"), the commercial center of Southern Thailand. The climate in the southern region does not vary more than 15°C in temperature throughout the year. The summer temperature never exceeds 37°C and in the rainy season, November to January, the temperature rarely drops below 22°C.
Stream Garden was inspired by the teachings of J. Krishnmurti. It is the sincere intention of the founders that the center reflect this inspiration, now and in the future. The 'religious' atmosphere whose creation is being attempted here can be best intuited from the following exquisite passage by Krishnamurti.
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"And I think it is essential sometimes to go into retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or don’t believe. You would let fresh air into your minds. Wouldn’t you? That means you must be insecure, must you not? If you can do so, you would be open to the mysteries of nature and to things that are whispering about us, which you would not otherwise reach; you would reach the god that is waiting to come, the truth that cannot be invited but comes itself.
But we are not open to love, and other finer processes that are taking place within us, because we are all too enclosed by our own desires. Surely, it is good to retreat from all that. Stop being a member of some society. Stop being a Brahmin, a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim. Stop your worship, rituals, take a complete retreat from all those and see what happens. In a retreat, do not plunge into something else, do not take some book and be absorbed in new knowledge and new acquisitions. Have a complete break with the past and see what happens. Sirs, do it, and you will see delight. You will see vast expanses.
When your heart is open, then reality can come. Then the whisperings of your own prejudices, your own noises are not heard. That is why it is good to take a retreat, to go away and to stop the routine – not only the routine of outward existence but the routine which the mind establishes for its own safety and convenience. Try it sirs, those who have the opportunity."
J. Krishnamurti
p. 252, The
Collected Works, Vol. VI
Madras Public Talk
Jan. 5th, 1952,
Copyright KFA
