Khao Suan Luang Dhamma Community, Ratchaburi

Khao Suan Luang (“Royal Park Mountain”) is a forested hill outside Ratchaburi. The practice community on it began on 26 June 1945, when Upasika Kee Nanayon and her aunt and uncle moved into an old meeting hall there. As the Prologue to An Unentangled Knowing, Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s prose paraphrase of a poem she wrote in 1965, puts it, they cleared the forest, repaired the buildings and found a cave under a cliff face for sitting. In those first years there were no visitors, and the place was very quiet.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes what followed. The small retreat grew into a women’s practice centre. Groups of friends and relatives came to hear her talks, and more women joined. By 1995 the community had about 60 members. The life was kept frugal on purpose, which he says helps to subdue greed and pride. The women were vegetarian and avoided tobacco, coffee, tea and betel nut, and met every day for chanting, group meditation and discussion of the practice. After Upasika Kee died in 1978, her younger sister Upasika Wan led the community until her own death in 1993, and by 1995 a committee ran it.

Upasika Kee’s talks were printed for free distribution from 1956, and by the mid-1960s the community was sending out a stream of free Dhamma literature. Her talks in English, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, are the easiest way to meet the place. Read An Unentangled Knowing free at dhammatalks.org.

Visiting is not straightforward. The sources describe it as a community for women who live and practise there. DharmaBase found no website or published programme for visitors, and the most recent description of daily life it could verify is Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s from 1995. Treat this page as background to Upasika Kee’s teaching, and contact the community before planning a visit.