Vipassana, which means ‘to see things as they really are’, is the original meditation technique taught by Gotama the Buddha over 2500 years ago and one of India’s most ancient forms of self-observation and purification. Based on moral conduct, concentration of mind, and the wisdom of insight, Vipassana is a silent ten-day meditation course that allows one to clear the mind, observe bodily sensations and develop inner peace.
Vipassana has been handed down over the centuries by a chain of dedicated teachers. The current teacher is Mr. S.N. Goenka, who received fourteen years of training from his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, before beginning to teach Vipassana in 1969. In 1982 he began training and appointing assistant teachers to help meet the needs of those who desired meditation instruction.
Assistant teachers, not S.N. Goenka, are the current teachers of Vipassana meditation in the West.
Vipassana mediation is offered all over the world in ten-day residential courses. From India and Europe, to Africa, Australia and the United States, people are benefiting from the donation-only meditation centers. In the US, you can find centers in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington and Texas, with many non-center courses taking place all over the country.
Students are asked to bring clothes, bedding, toiletries, and a few other miscellaneous items such as flashlights and umbrellas, but the simple, dorm-style accommodations, healthy, vegetarian meals and the course instruction, are free. All Vipassana courses are run by donations from previous students who have enjoyed their Vipassana experience and have made donations to allow the courses to continue. All assistant meditation teachers are involved as a part of selfless service to the Vipassana community and do not receive any monetary gain.
While Vipassana originated with the Buddha, it is not Buddhist or religious in nature. Those from many religions and no religion at all have been able to receive the benefits of Vipassana meditation and noble silence. It is taught that Vipassana is an ‘Art of Living’ and a way of life.
What To Expect
Vipassana meditation retreat is not a ten-day ‘holiday’. Those attending are asked to leave all musical instruments, reading and writing materials, cell phones, tape recorders and cameras at home. They are also asked to leave all forms of prayer, worship and religious ceremony at the door – including burning incense, mantras, crystals and yoga. Students are strongly advised not to mix spiritual or religious techniques with Vipassana, in order to receive full benefits of the non-sectarian meditation. Distractions from the internal work are not allowed. All students are also asked to agree to five precepts of abstinence: stealing, sexual activity, intoxicants, telling lies and killing any living creature.
During the ten days of a Vipassana meditation course, students are asked to observe Noble Silence. Noble silence is a silence of body, speech, and mind.
While it is permissible to ask questions of your meditation teachers, or to approach a manager with health, food or accommodation issues, it is not permissible to communicate to fellow students, whether by speech, gestures, sign language, written notes, or eye contact.
Vipassana meditations the world over are filled with a wide variety of people from all age groups, races and lifestyles. One is likely to meet doctors, lawyers, architects, housewives, waitresses, grandmothers and college students. Vipassana is offered to anyone over the age of 18 (under
18 with guardian permission) who would like to experience the benefits of meditation.
The women and the men are separated, no doubt to help with the abstinence of sexual activity. Each group has their own entrance into the meditation hall and a large curtain separates the dining hall. The meditation hall is also broken up into men and women, with one teacher existing for each group. The males are appointed a male teacher, while a female teacher instructs the females.
The Schedule
Upon arrival, normal activity can be found everywhere. People are happy to discuss their lives, where they come from, who they are, and how they found the meditation. Everyone is fed, assigned a bed, and has plenty of time to unpack their belongings to prepare for the journey ahead.
On the second day and everyday thereafter, the morning bell sounds at 4am.
Students have half an hour to themselves before slipping silently into the meditation hall. Regular breaks and rest periods, along with breakfast, lunch, and a fruit and tea break for dinner, are allowed throughout the day.
At 7pm every evening, students watch a videotaped lecture from the teacher, S.N. Goenka. The lectures discuss the meditation and provide insight into the technique. Each lecture is full of compassion and wisdom, interspersed with wit and jovial storytelling. After another hour of meditation, the evening is over at 9pm and lights are out at 9:30pm. With breaks, there is ten hours of meditation daily.
Technique
Vipassana meditation has simple instructions. Sit on your pillow, observe natural breath and observe the sensations in the body. The instruction and focus of the meditation changes everyday, building upon itself as students learn to ‘sweep’ their entire bodies with their consciousness, while noticing any and all sensations, separately and simultaneously. Yet as simple as the instructions are, Vipassana is hard and tedious work. An itch appears, a limb goes numb, a pain surfaces out of nowhere, and the mind protests incessantly. A great deal of determination, dedication and self discipline are required to sit silently and observe the inner workings of the self.
When not speaking, it is easy to hear the banging and clanging of the mind.
When not moving, it is easy to feel the agitation of the body. Vipassana teaches that almost everything we do in life is out of a need or desire
(craving) to somehow resist these thoughts and bodily sensations (aversion), and we are simply not aware that we are reacting to our human experience (ignorance). Every day, hundreds of times a day, students are reminded not to resist any experience, feeling, emotion or thought. Likewise, they are also asked not to cling to and crave any experience, but simply to observe their inner experience without reacting, positively or negatively.
Students may experience a wide range of encounters during one single hour of meditation. One might experience a chaotic mind transitioning to a tranquil pool of stillness and back again, all within ten minutes. A persistent pain suddenly vanishes, only to reappear at a different location on the body.
Within moments, sorrow and heaviness can turn to weightlessness, peace and joy, while feelings of forgiveness may be replaced by turbulent feelings of anger without reason.
Watching the nature of the body and mind in constant flux while not under the pressures of daily life allows students to understand what is happening within their own experience everyday. Not reacting to the sensations by grabbing the phone, food, intoxicants, television, sex, or even blaming their environment for their feelings, allows the experiences to arise and pass away, naturally.
While many have heard the adage “This too shall pass”, Vipassana offers a direct experience of the changing nature of personal reality.
Noble Chatting
On the last day, after the morning meditation, students are teased that Noble Chatting is observed. While the meditation continues and new meditations are given on the last day, outside of the meditation hall, students are allowed to talk again. There is a reverberation of laughter and joy; everyone becomes animated once again; men and women are allowed to speak to one another; reunions and new friendships are high-spirited.
My Experience
Vipassana may not be for everyone. I have friends who can not fathom the thought of not speaking for ten days. Some people believe there is too much emphasis on the teacher, S.N. Goenka, and others feel that sitting all day long in meditation is a waste of time.
I, on the other hand, while not practicing everyday or dedicating myself to any one path, have definitely received benefits from the two courses I have taken. While the experience itself is challenging, enlightening, profound and intense, I have found the best benefits of Vipassana show up in my daily life.
The best benefit being this:
When I am experiencing sorrow, joy, love or fear, I am quicker to find my center, feel the sensations of the moment, and remember that nothing is permanent. Not this moment, not this feeling, and not even this self that I call ‘I’, is immune to the ever changing nature of reality, and I remind myself that: ‘This Too Shall Pass’.
It always does.
For more information about Vipassana mediation courses, there are no charges for the courses – not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from people who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits of Vipassana, wish to give others the opportunity to also benefit. visit:
www.dhamma.org
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