Vipassana

[subroto]

Has anyone doen this program, I have heard nothing but good things about this type of meditation.

 

If Any one is interested go to

 

http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml

 

 

 

Vipassana Meditation

 

<HR class=www-thinrule>The Technique

 

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art Of Living.

This non-sectarian technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation. Healing, not merely the curing of diseases, but the essential healing of human suffering, is its purpose.

Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

The scientific laws that operate one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience, the nature of how one grows or regresses, how one produces suffering or frees oneself from suffering is understood. Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace.

<HR class=www-thinrule>The Tradition

 

Since the time of Buddha, Vipassana has been handed down, to the present day, by an unbroken chain of teachers. Although Indian by descent, the current teacher in this chain, Mr. S.N. Goenka, was born and raised in Burma (Myanmar). While living there he had the good fortune to learn Vipassana from his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin who was at the time a high Government official. After receiving training from his teacher for fourteen years, Mr. Goenka settled in India and began teaching Vipassana in 1969. Since then he has taught tens of thousands of people of all races and all religions in both the East and West. In 1982 he began to appoint assistant teachers to help him meet the growing demand for Vipassana courses.

<HR class=www-thinrule>The Courses

 

The technique is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants follow a prescribed Code of Discipline, learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results.

The course requires hard, serious work. There are three steps to the training. The first step is, for the period of the course, to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, speaking falsely, and intoxicants. This simple code of moral conduct serves to calm the mind, which otherwise would be too agitated to perform the task of self-observation.

The next step is to develop some mastery over the mind by learning to fix one's attention on the natural reality of the ever changing flow of breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils.

By the fourth day the mind is calmer and more focused, better able to undertake the practice of Vipassana itself: observing sensations throughout the body, understanding their nature, and developing equanimity by learning not to react to them.

Finally, on the last full day participants learn the meditation of loving kindness or goodwill towards all, in which the purity developed during the course is shared with all beings.

A short video (5.7 MB) about the observation of breath and bodily sensations in this technique can be viewed with the free QuickTime movie player.

The entire practice is actually a mental training. Just as we use physical exercises to improve our bodily health, Vipassana can be used to develop a healthy mind.

Because it has been found to be genuinely helpful, great emphasis is put on preserving the technique in its original, authentic form. It is not taught commercially, but instead is offered freely. No person involved in its teaching receives any material remuneration.

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 benefit from it also.

Of course, the results come gradually through continued practice. It is unrealistic to expect all problems to be solved in ten days. Within that time, however, the essentials of Vipassana can be learned so that it can be applied in daily life. The more the technique is practiced, the greater the freedom from misery, and the closer the approach to the ultimate goal of full liberation. Even ten days can provide results which are vivid and obviously beneficial in everyday life.

All sincere people are welcome to join a Vipassana course to see for themselves how the technique works and to measure the benefits. Vipassana Courses are even being conducted in prisons, with great success and wonderful benefits for the inmates who participate. All those who try it will find Vipassana to be an invaluable tool with which to achieve and share real happiness with others.

You may apply for a Vipassana meditation course by completing and submitting an application

[Inedible]

Gautama Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu.

 

I've also heard nothing but good things about vipassana. The trouble is, though, that it takes a certain amount of concentration in order to keep the things you gain through vipassana. I'd suggest that the ability to maintain your focus on the object of your meditation for ten minutes would be sufficient as a prerequisite.

[suchandra]

 

Gautama Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu.

 

I've also heard nothing but good things about vipassana. The trouble is, though, that it takes a certain amount of concentration in order to keep the things you gain through vipassana. I'd suggest that the ability to maintain your focus on the object of your meditation for ten minutes would be sufficient as a prerequisite.

There was recently an impressive feature story about Buddhist monasteries in Japan, really old temple complexes which were founded around 700 and 800 A.D. The Buddhist monks were so austere and disciplined that I wondered if they are actually a lot more sincere, dedicated, well-versed and surrendered than Vaishnavas? Pujaris carrying the offering tray on the head, wearing a cone mask when bringing the bhoga to the altar. They said, Lord Buddha teaches if you do something , do it wholeheartedly. The standards of cleanliness, cooking and offering for Lord Buddha by far higher standards than what I have seen in Vaishnava temples like Vrindavan, Mayapur, Mumbai, London. Every temple is mastering a different discipline, like Saijo Inari Shrine, where the monks perform rituals for cleansing the temple 16 hours every day. Their goal: to actually see Lord Buddha.

Very, very rare having seen such determined Vaishnavas.

 

"Perhaps one of the best-known training rules of the bhikkhu concerns his not eating between midday and dawn: it is an offense for him even to touch food — let alone eat it — during this period, which is called the "wrong-time."

 

Adam's Sri Pada Peak, Sri Lanka, holy site of Buddhists

A bhikkhu cannot go to a restaurant or shop and buy or order food (or anything else for that matter). Nor can he personally store food overnight. Once food has been formally offered to him, it must be consumed by him before noon, or else left for lay-people to finish. Again, a bhikkhu cannot cook for himself (although he is allowed to reheat food cooked already). Storing or cooking may, however, be done by a samanera or by a lay-disciple in the vihara.

 

In the Mahāsi meditation centres in Burma, the meditators must practise sitting and walking meditation alternately throughout the whole day. Only four to six hours are allowed for sleep."

 

source: The Buddhist Monk's Discipline

 

Offering the Lord to relax in His temple.

[theist]

Good thing such austerities are not required to receive the Lord's grace. I can't even regulate the hours in which I get my eight hours of sleep.

[shvu]

Religion much like astrology gives us what we want.

 

For the high maintenance, meticulous types there are elaborate and rigorous procedures for Yoga, chanting, fasting, locate a real Guru and perform service, etc combined with a million dos and donts. Deviation from rules is frowned upon and is likely to have an adverse impact on progress.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, the same religious books will also give a free-for-all liberated alternative where one can just by a simple mantra or prayer or surrender, gain all the benefits available to the afore mentioned paths of rigor. The Gita is one of many examples of laying out multiple paths in detail and then undermining their importance by saying they are not really necessary as there are simpler ways to get there. Either the author was confused or he was clever to know this kind of writing would reach out to a wider audience. The book is written loosely enough that we can read of it almost anything we desire.

 

This is how astrology works too. The individual - more than seeking specific answers is more interested in eliminating the suspense of what lies in future. Astrology exploits this intrinsic need and will make predictions loose enough to meet the expectations of such people and have them go back again and again.

 

In the end we are unknowingly picking what we like and discarding the rest. Religion or astrology is just like a sounding board cleverly bouncing back our own thoughts and desires.

 

Cheers

[suchandra]

 

Religion much like astrology gives us what we want.

 

For the high maintenance, meticulous types there are elaborate and rigorous procedures for Yoga, chanting, fasting, locate a real Guru and perform service, etc combined with a million dos and donts. Deviation from rules is frowned upon and is likely to have an adverse impact on progress.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, the same religious books will also give a free-for-all liberated alternative where one can just by a simple mantra or prayer or surrender, gain all the benefits available to the afore mentioned paths of rigor. The Gita is one of many examples of laying out multiple paths in detail and then undermining their importance by saying they are not really necessary as there are simpler ways to get there. Either the author was confused or he was clever to know this kind of writing would reach out to a wider audience. The book is written loosely enough that we can read of it almost anything we desire.

 

This is how astrology works too. The individual - more than seeking specific answers is more interested in eliminating the suspense of what lies in future. Astrology exploits this intrinsic need and will make predictions loose enough to meet the expectations of such people and have them go back again and again.

 

In the end we are unknowingly picking what we like and discarding the rest. Religion or astrology is just like a sounding board cleverly bouncing back our own thoughts and desires.

 

Cheers

Doesn't religion want us to be at one point spontaneously attracted to the wonderful qualities of the Supreme Lord?

 

"Just like in the motor car, before starting, you round the key, and it becomes, “Gut, gut, gut, gut.” Now your current is there. The energy is there. So there are symptoms. By symptoms we can understand there is God. Where is the difficulty? And Kṛṣṇa is explaining, “Here, just see the symptom. The taste in the water I am.” Then why do you say that you have not seen God? You are liar. You create that taste? Now take sea water and make that taste. Why do you take water from here and there? Sea water is there. Now you take it, and by chemical you create the taste. Why don’t you? Therefore, unless God is there, you cannot do that, or God’s sanction, you cannot do that. This is reasonable understanding of God, apart from seeing God. And because the taste is there—Kṛṣṇa says—therefore God is there."

 

Morning Walk Conversation

with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

April 20, 1974, Hyderabad

 

 

Made with love and devotion for the pleasure of the 9. incarnation of Lord Vishnu