Bhaddekaratta Hermitage

In Pali, 'Bhaddekaratta' means a 'single excellent night' based on the Bhaddekaratta Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya in which the Lord Buddha expounds on the futility of dwelling on the past and thinking about the future. Bhaddekaratta Hermitage was established in 1998 with the aim of providing yogis (meditators) practising Samantha (one-pointedness) or Vipassana (insight) meditation a suitable place to practise. There is a resident bhante (venerable sir) to give advice and instructions to the yogis.

The hermitage is located off Batu Pahat, a town in the state of Johor, Malaysia, 3 hours ride from Singapore. It is strategically placed in the midst of natural forest reserve and journey by car is necessary to traverse the dense oil palm plantations and gravel roads in order to reach it. Despite its inaccessibility and rural locale, the hermitage itself is well-furnished and equipped. There are two meditation halls (one for each sex), 24 kutis (huts), a dining hall and a kitchen. The kutis are segregated according to sex and is about the size of a HDB room. The bed is a wooden plank with straw mattress, a mosquito net and a blanket. Other furniture includes a writing table, two chairs and a small cupboard to place one's belongings. There are two toilets (with shower and a modern flush facility) for the male and female compounds. Washing powder, hangers and buckets are available to do one's laundry. 

Daily living is simple, relaxing and free from hassle. Two meals are provided each day, breakfast at 6.30am and lunch at 11.30am after which no eating is allowed. The food is brought from outside by devotees and there's little else for the yogis to do other than cutting up fruits, cleaning the dining hall and sweeping the meditation hall. The day begins at 4.30am with meditation followed by doing the household chores and meditation again for the rest of the day until 10pm. However, there are no hard and fast rules to restrain one's activities and it's perfectly correct to take a break in between and enjoy the surrounding flora and fauna of the pristine Malayan rainforests. There's a small hill at the back of the hermitage of about 50 metre elevation where one can have a breathtaking view of sunrise and sunset over the vast expanse of greenery.

There is a wide diurnal range of temperature. Temperature during the day can reach as high as 35 degrees celsius below plunging to below 10 degrees at night. The weather is cold and wet after a heavy downpour which is frequent in the early hours of the day and late afternoon. Fogs and mists sometimes appear in the morning enshrouding the entire area and reducing visibility to less than a hundred metres. A sweater is recommended in the early morning and night. Wild animals are kept out of bounds of the hermitage though one can see monkeys and gibbons on the trees. At night, the forest came alive with all kinds of noises made by insects, birds and wild boars. Fireflies with their green luminous light roaming the bushes is a treat to watch.