Ten long years have passed and its time we all forgot those horrible days of September and where we were when this or that happened.
It’s time to forget, forgive, move on and heal.
Time to regain peace and let anger lapse.
Because we have no more space in our head to carry these ghastly images replayed everywhere ad infinitum.
We need to seek and find our original state of being that is Peace.
And there is no better way for this than sitting still.
Sitting still and not contemplating anything.
Sitting and maybe practicing a simple meditation.
Or even a more complex/simple Vipassana Meditation
The Ancient Tech of Buddha
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The technique of Vipassana is a simple, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and to lead a happy, useful life. Vipassana means “to see things as they really are”; it is a logical process of mental purification through self-observation.
From time to time, we all experience agitation, frustration and disharmony. When we suffer, we do not keep our misery limited to ourselves; instead, we keep distributing it to others. Certainly this is not a proper way to live. We all want to live at peace within ourselves, and with those around us. After all, human beings are social beings: we have to live and interact with others. How, then, can we live peacefully? How can we remain harmonious ourselves, and maintain peace and harmony around us?
Vipassana enables us to experience peace and harmony: it purifies the mind, freeing it from suffering and the deep-seated causes of suffering. The practice leads step-by-step to the highest spiritual goal of full liberation from all mental defilements.
Historical Background
Vipassana is the world’s and India’s most ancient meditation techniques. It was rediscovered 2500 years ago by Gautama Buddha, and is the essence of what he practiced and taught during his forty-five year ministry. During Buddha’s time, large numbers of people in northern India were freed from the bonds of suffering by practising Vipassana, allowing them to attain high levels of achievement in all spheres of life. Over time, the technique spread to the neighbouring countries of Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand and others, where it had the same ennobling effect.
Five centuries after Buddha, the noble heritage of Vipassana had disappeared from India. The purity of the teaching was lost elsewhere as well. In the country of Myanmar, however, it was preserved by a chain of devoted teachers. From generation to generation, over two thousand years, this dedicated lineage transmitted the technique in its pristine purity.
In our time, Vipassana has been reintroduced to India, as well as to citizens from more than eighty other countries, by S.N. Goenka. He was empowered to teach Vipassana by the renowned Burmese Vipassana teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Before he died in 1971, Sayagyi was able to see one of his most cherished dreams realized. He had the strong wish that Vipassana should return to India, the land of its origin, to help it come out of its manifold problems. From India, he felt sure it would then spread throughout the world for the benefit of all mankind.
S.N. Goenka began conducting Vipassana courses in India in 1969; and after ten years, he began to teach in foreign countries as well. In the thirty-five years since he started teaching, S.N. Goenka has conducted many ten-day Vipassana courses, and trained over 800 assistant teachers who have conducted many courses worldwide. In addition, many Centres have been established in India for the exclusive practice of Vipassana. Centres for exclusive practice have been established across the world as well. The invaluable gem of Vipassana, long preserved in the small country of Myanmar, can now be practiced in many places throughout the world. Today ever-increasing numbers of people have the opportunity to learn this art of living which brings contentment, lasting peace and happiness.
The Practice
To learn Vipassana it is necessary to take a ten-day residential course under the guidance of a qualified teacher. The courses are conducted at established Vipassana Centres and many other places.For the duration of the retreat, students remain within the course site, having no contact with the outside world. They refrain from reading and writing, and suspend any religious practices or other disciplines. They follow a demanding daily schedule which includes about ten hours of sitting meditation. They also observe silence, not communicating with fellow students; however, they are free to discuss meditation questions with the teacher and material problems with the management.
There are three steps to the training. First, the students practice abstinence from actions which cause harm. They undertake five moral precepts, practicing abstention from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and the use of intoxicants. The observation of these precepts allows the mind to calm down sufficiently to proceed with the task at hand. Second, for the first three-and-a-half days, students practice Anapana meditation, focusing attention on the breath. This practice helps to develop control over the unruly mind.
These first two steps of living a wholesome life and developing control of the mind are necessary and beneficial, but are incomplete unless the third step is taken: purifying the mind of underlying negativities. The third step, undertaken for the last six-and-a-half days, is the practice of Vipassana: one penetrates one’s entire physical and mental structure with the clarity of insight.
Students receive systematic meditation instructions several times a day, and each day’s progress is explained during a taped evening discourse by S.N. Goenka. Complete silence is observed for the first nine days. On the tenth day, students resume speaking, making the transition back to a more extroverted way of life. The course concludes on the morning of the eleventh day. The retreat closes with the practice of metta-bhavana (loving-kindness or good will towards all), a meditation technique in which the purity developed during the course is shared with all beings. Pictorial representation of a 10 day retreat at Dhammagiri
The Courses
Vipassana courses are held regularly at permanent centres and rented sites in different countries. In addition to frequent ten-day courses, special courses and long courses of 20, 30, 45 and 60 days are offered for advanced students at long course centres like Dhamma Tapovan established for this purpose.
Short, courses in Anapana, the introductory part of the Vipassana technique, are courses offered for children in India and in other countries. The courses last for one to three days and serve children in two age groups: eight to eleven, and twelve to fifteen years.
All courses throughout the world are run solely on the basis of freely-offered donations. No fee charged: the courses are financed totally by donations from students who have completed a prior course and wish to share the benefits they themselves received by giving donation for the students who come after them. Neither the Teacher nor the assistant teachers receive remuneration; they and those who serve the courses volunteer their time. This practice is consistent with the pure tradition, whereby the teaching is to be offered freely, free from any taint of commercialism, and supported solely by donations stemming from the wholesome volitions of gratitude and generosity.
A Non-Sectarian Technique
Although Vipassana is a part of Buddha’s teaching, it contains nothing of a sectarian nature, and can be accepted and applied by people of any creed, ideology, philosophical, national and/or religious background. The Buddha himself taught Dhamma (the way, the truth, the path). He did not call his followers “Buddhists”; he referred to them as “Dhammists” (those who follow the truth). The technique works on the basis that all human beings share the same problems, and a pragmatic method which can eradicate these problems can be universally practiced.
Vipassana courses are open to anyone sincerely wishing to learn the technique, irrespective of race, caste, faith or nationality. Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jews as well as members of other religions have all successfully practiced Vipassana. The malady is universal; therefore, the remedy has to be universal. For example, when we experience anger, this anger is not Hindu anger or Christian anger, Chinese anger or American anger. christian anger or islamic anger….
Similarly, love and compassion are not the strict province of any community or creed: they are universal human qualities resulting from purity of mind. People from all backgrounds who practice Vipassana find that they become better human beings.
Vipassana has the capacity to transform the human mind and character. It is an opportunity awaiting all who sincerely wish to make the effort to find PEACE.
Yours,
Pano
PS:
Just let the web help you find a course near you and give it a go.
Meditation is like learning to ride a bike. It cannot be explained, yet it can easily be shown and learned.
Same like bicycling the physics of it are unknown yet the fun of doing it is just great.
Only this time you are riding your unruly mind.
A bit like a unicycle yet not as hard.
Much like every year between Christmas and New Year, I organize a Vipassana circle up in the wild moors of Scotland in an old ruined pile of a castle and you are welcome to join me for a week to ten days of Vipassana…
