VIPASSANA MEDITTATION-TEN DAY MEDITATION DISCOURSE SUMMARIES

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Vipassana Meditation

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, judgments 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.

This is the International organizations which offer courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

Ten-day Meditation Discourse Summaries

"Liberation can be gain only by practice, never by mere discussion," S.N Geonka has said. A course in Vipassana mediation is an opportunity to take concrete steps towards liberation. In such a course the participation learns how to free the mind of the tensions and prejudices that disturb the flow of daily life. By doing so one begins to discover how to live each moment peacefully, productively, happily. At the same time one starts progressing towards the highest goal to which mankind can aspire: purity of mind, freedom from all suffering, full enlightenment.
None of this can be attain just by thinking about it or wishing for it. One must take steps to reach the goal. For this reason, in a Vipassana course the emphasis is always on actual practice. No philosophical debates are permitted, no theoretical arguments, no questions that are unrelated to one's own experiences. As far as possible, mediators are encouraged to find the answers to their questions within themselves. The teacher provides whatever guidance is needed in the practice, but it is up to each person to implement these guidelines: one has to fight one's own battle, work out one's own salvation.
The approach, however, is not scholarly or analytical. Instead the teaching is presented in a way that it unfold to a mediator: as dynamic, coherent whole. All its different facets are seen to reveal an underlying unity: the experience of mediation. This experience is the inner fire that gives true life and brilliance to the jewel of the Dhamma.

Without the experience one cannot grasp the full significance of what is said in the discourses, or indeed of the teaching of the Buddha. But this does not mean that there is no place for an intellectual appreciation of the teaching. Intellectual understanding is valuable as a support to meditative practice, even though meditation itself is a process that goes beyond the limits of the intellect.
 

For this reason these summaries have been prepared, giving in brief the essential points of each discourse. They are intended mainly to offer inspiration and guidance to those who practice Vipassana mediation as taught by S.N Goenka. To others who happen to read them, it is hoped they will provide encouragement to participate in a Vipassana course and to experience what is here described.

The summaries should not be treated as do-it yourself manual for learning Vipassana, a substitution for the ten-days course. Meditation is a serious matter, especially the Vipassana technique, which deals with the depth of the minds. It should never be approached lightly or casually. The proper way to learn Vipassana is only by joining a formal course, where there is a suitable environment to support the mediator, and a trained guide. If someone chooses to support the warning and tries to teach himself/herself the technique only from reading about it, he/she proceeds entirely at his/her own risk.

~☬ DAY ONE MEDITATION DISCOURSE ☬~

Initial difficulties- the purpose of this mediation- why respiration is chosen as the starting point- the nature of the mind- the reason for the difficulties, and how to deal with them- dangers to be avoided.

The first day is full of great difficulties and discomforts, partly because one is not accustomed to sit all day long and try to meditate, but mostly because of the type of meditation that you have started practicing: awareness of respiration, nothing but respiration.
It would of been easier and faster to concentrate the mind without all these discomforts if, along with awareness of respiration, one had started repeating a word, a mantra, a god's name, or if one had started imagining the shape or form of a deity. But you are required to observe bare respiration, as it naturally is, without regulating it; no word or imagined form may be added.
They are not permitted because the final aim of this meditation is not concentration of mind. Concentration is only a help, a step leading to a higher goal: purification of mind, eradicating all the mental defilements, the negativities within, and thus attaining liberation from all misery, attaining full enlightenment.
Every time an impurity arises in the mind, such as anger, hatred, passion, fear etc., one becomes miserable. Whenever something unwanted happens, one becomes tense and starts tying knots inside. Whenever something wanted does not happen, again one generates tension within. Throughout life one repeats this process until the entire mental and physical structure is a bundle of Gordian knots. And one does not keep this tension limited to oneself, but instead distributes it to all with whom one comes into contact. Certainly this is not the right way to live.
You have come to this meditation course to learn the art of living: how to live peacefully and harmoniously within oneself, and to generate peace and harmony for all others; how to live happily from day to day while progressing towards the highest happiness of a totally pure mind, a mind filled with disinterest love, with compassion, with joy at the success of others, with equanimity.
To learn the art of living harmoniously, first one must find the cause of disharmony. The cause always lie within, and for this reason you have to explore the reality of yourself. This technique helps you to do so, to examine your own mental and physical structure, towards which there is so much attachment, resulting only in tension, in misery. At the experiential level one must understand one's own nature, mental and physical; only then can one experience whatever there might be beyond mind and matter.
This is therefore a technique of truth-realization, self-realization, investigating the reality of what one calls 'oneself'. It might also be called a technique of God-realization, since after all God is nothing but truth, but love, but purity.
Direct experience of reality is essential. "Knowing thyself", from superficial, apparent, gross reality, to subtler realities, to the subtlest reality of mind and matter. Having experienced all these, one can then go further to experience the ultimate reality which is beyond mind and matter.

Respiration is a proper point from which to begin this journey. Using a self-created, imaginary object of attention- a word or form- will lead only in the direction of greater imaginings, greater illusions; it will not help one to discover the subtler truths about oneself. To penetrate to subtler truth, one must begin with truth, with an apparent, gross reality such as respiration.
Further, if a word is used, or the form of a deity, then the technique becomes sectarian. A word or form will be identified with one culture, one religion or another, and those of a different background may find it unacceptable. Misery is a universal malady. The remedy for this malady cannot be sectarian; it also must be universal. Awareness of respiration meets this requirement. Breathing is common to all: observing it will be acceptable to all. Every step on the path must be totally free from sectarianism.
Breath is a tool with which to explore the truth about oneself. Actually, at the experiential level, you know very little about your body. You know only it external appearance, the parts and functions of it that you can consciously control. You know nothing of the internal organs which operate beyond your control, nothing of the cells of which the entire body is composed, and which are changing every moment. Innumerable biochemical and electromagnetic reactions are occurring constantly throughout the body, but you have no knowledge of them.

On this path, whatever is unknown about yourself must become known to you. For this purpose respiration will help. It acts as a bridge from the known to the unknown, because respiration is one function of the body that can be either conscious or unconscious, intentional or automatic. One starts with conscious, intentional breathing, and proceeds to awareness of natural, normal breath. And from there you will advance to still subtler truths about yourself. Every step is a step with reality; every day you will penetrate further to discover subtler realities about yourself, about your body and mind.

Today you are ask to observe only the physical function of respiration, but at the same time, each one of you was observing the mind, because the nature of the breath is strongly connected to one's mental state. As soon as any impurity, any defilement arises in the mind the breath becomes abnormal- one starts breathing a little rapidly, a little heavily. When the defilement passes away, the breath again becomes soft. Thus breath can help to explore the reality not only of the body, but also of the mind.
One reality of mind, which you began to experience today, is its habit of always wandering from one object to another. It does not want to stay on the breath, or on any single object of attention: instead it runs wild. And when it wanders, where does the mind go? By your practice, you have seen that it wanders either in the past or in the future. This is the habit pattern of the mind; it does not want to stay in the present moment. One has to live in the present. Whatever is past is gone beyond recall; whatever in the future remains beyond reach, until it becomes present.
Remembering the past and giving thought to the future are important, but only to the extent that they help one to deal with the present. Yet because of it ingrained habit, the mind constantly tries to escape from present reality into a past or future that is unattainable, and therefore this wild mind remain agitated, miserable. The technique that you are learning here is called the art of living, and life can really be lived only in the present.
Therefore the first is to learn how to live in the present moment, by keeping the mind on a present reality: the breath that is now entering or leaving the nostrils. This is a reality of this moment, although a superficial one. When the mind wander away , smilingly, without any tension, one accepts the fact that, because of it old habit pattern, it has wandered. As soon as one realizes that the mind has wandered, naturally, automatically, it will return to the awareness of respiration.

You easily recognized the tendency of the mind to roll in thoughts either of the past or of the future. Now of what type are these thoughts? Today you have seen for yourselves that at times thoughts arise without any sequence, any head or tail. Such mental behavior is commonly regarded as a sign of madness. Now, however, you have all discovered that you are equally mad, lost in ignorance, illusions, delusions- 'moha'.
Even when there is a sequence to the thoughts, they have as their object something that is either pleasant or unpleasant. If it is pleasant, one starts reacting with liking, which develops into craving, clinging- 'Raga'. If it is unpleasant, one start reacting with dislike, which develop into aversion, hatred- 'Dosa'. the mind is constantly filled with ignorance, craving, and aversion. All other impurities stem from these basic ones, and every impurity makes one miserable.

The goal of this technique is to purity the mind, to free it from misery by gradually eradicating the negativities within. It is an operation deep into one's own unconscious, performed in order to uncover and remove the complexes hidden there. Even the first step of the technique must purify the mind, and this is the case: by observing respiration, you have started not only to concentrate the mind, but also to purify it. Perhaps during today there were only a few moments when your mind was fully concentrated on your breathing, but such moment, you are aware of the present reality, the breath entering or leaving the nostrils, without any illusion. And you cannot crave for more breath, or feel aversion towards your breathing: you simply observe, without reacting to it.
In such moment, the mind free from the three basic defilements, that is, it is pure. This moment of purity at the conscious level has strong impact on the old impurities accumulate in the unconscious. The contact of these positive and negative force produces an explosion. Some of the impurities hidden in the unconscious rise to the conscious level, and manifest as various mental or physical discomfort.

When one face such situation, there is the danger of becoming agitated, and multiplying the difficulties. However, it would be wise to understand that what seem to be a problem is actually a sign of success in the meditation, an indication that in fact the technique has started to work. The operation into the unconscious has begun, and some of the pus hidden there has started to come out of the wound. Although the process is unpleasant, this is the only way to get rid of the pus, to remove the impurities. If one continues working in the proper way, all these difficulties will gradually diminish. Tomorrow will be a little easier, next day more so. Little by little, all the problems will pass away, if you work.
Nobody else can do the job for you; you have to work yourself. You have to explore reality within yourself. You have to liberate yourself. May all of you be successful in taking the first steps on the path of liberation
*Advice: During meditation hours, always mediate indoors. If you try to meditate outside in direct contact with the light and wind, you will not be able to penetrate to the depths of your mind. During breaks you may go outside.

~✡ Glossary ✡~

☬ Dhamma- Phenomenon; object of mind; nature; natural law; law of liberation, i.e teaching of an enlightened person, observation of the contents of the mind.

☬ Moha- Ignorance, delusion; together Raga & Dosa one of the three principle mental defilements.

☬ Raga- Craving; together Moha & Dosa one of the three principle mental defilements.

☬ Dosa- Aversion; together Raga & Mosa one of the three principle mental defilements.

“May all being be happy.”

~Condensed by William Hart~

Vipassana Meditation-Taught by S.N. Goenka

In the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

http://www.dhamma.org/

Vipassana Meditation as given through Their Anointed Representatives.

The technique of Vipassana Meditation is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results.
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. May this work help many in their practices of Dhamma.

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On Planet Earth sacred land there are endless temples that house countless sentient beings of devotion including the human specie; these Heavenly shrines or spiritual plans are not create by any species that live, shelter, nurture, nourish and protected here. These holy place are nature living rivers, towering mountains, echoing valleys, mystic forest, deep hollow caves, cascading water falls, flowers covered plains and so onwards. Beyond this realm Planet Earth is her selves a Divine being magical sphere; a portal to our galaxy churches and universe mosques rippling expanding onward to cosmos cathedrals. Humanity has a connection to all these sacrament through prayers within each being loving hearts center.

Anointed Representatives Galactic Free Press- File Archival Vipassana Meditation

Ashvatha-Tao-Buddha

"You are the Enlightenment of GOD."