Pai International Meditation Centre

Pai International Meditation Centre is in Mae Hi subdistrict, Pai district, in the mountains of Mae Hong Son province. It is run by Buddhist monks, and its own site says it was founded to share Thai Buddhist meditation with people from other countries. Its monk founder, Channarong, is named on the About page; the site reports guests from more than 68 countries.

The centre teaches Thai Theravada meditation in the Dhammakaya tradition, which it describes as balancing ease and awareness. The site names Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (Luang Por Sodh, abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen) as the figure who popularised that tradition in the twentieth century. It does not say he taught here, and this page links to him for the lineage only.

The centre’s own site names no parent temple or organisation. A booking site that lists its retreats, Tripaneer, describes the organiser as part of “the Dhammakaya temple in Thailand” without naming the temple; the centre itself does not say so.

There are two ways to practise here. The main offering is a seven-day retreat, open to beginners and to people with experience. The daily outline alternates sitting meditation with short talks on the Dhamma, includes a small-group reflection session in the afternoon, and ends with a late sitting. Dinner is not served. Retreatants wear the white clothing the centre provides and stay on site throughout. No alcohol or other intoxicants are allowed.

When no retreat is running, the centre holds free drop-in meditation sessions of about an hour, morning and afternoon. The schedule is on the centre’s drop-in page.

The centre is plain about its limits. It says the retreat cannot support people with psychological symptoms or a diagnosed mental illness, and that effects of meditation vary from person to person. Read those lines on the retreats page before booking.

If you want a wider sense of the tradition, see Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in Bangkok. The centre also points Thai speakers to partner programmes in Thai; this page covers only the English-facing retreat.