What Is Vipassana?

The technique of Vipassana Meditation is a simple, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and lead a happy, useful life. Vipassana means "to see things as they really, are" and 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 long 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 peace-fully? 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 one of India's most ancient meditation techniques. it was rediscovered 2500 years ago by Gotama the Buddha, and is the essence of what he practiced and taught during his forty-five years of teaching. During the Buddha's time, large numbers of people in India were freed from the bonds of suffering by practicing Vipassana, allowing them to attain high levels of achievement in all spheres of life. Over time, the technique spread to the neighboring countries of Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand and others, where it had the same ennobling effect.

Five centuries after the Buddha, the noble heritage of Vipassana had disappeared from India. The original teaching was lost elsewhere as well. in the country of Burma, however, it was preserved by a chain of devoted teachers. From generation to generation, for over two thousand years, this dedicated lineage transmitted the technique in its pure form.

In our time, Vipassana has been reintroduced to India, as well as to people from more than eighty other countries, by Mr. S.N. Goenka. He was authorized to teach Vipassana by the renowned Burmese Vipassana teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Before he died in 1971, U Ba Khin 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 the country come out of its many problems. From India, he felt sure it would then spread throughout the world for the benefit of all man- kind.

Mr. Goenka began conducting Vipassana courses in India in 1969; after ten years, he began to teach in foreign countries as well. in, the quarter century since he started teaching, he has conducted hundreds of ten-day Vipassana courses, and trained many assistant teachers who have conducted thousands of courses worldwide. As of 1996, more than forty centers dedicated to the practice of Vipassana have been established, four in North America. The invaluable gem of Vipassana, long preserved in Burma, is now being practiced throughout the world. Today ever- increasing numbers of people have the opportunity to learn this art of living which brings lasting peace and happiness.

The Practice

To learn Vipassana meditation it is necessary to take a ten- 'day residential course under the guidance of a qualified teacher. 'Ten days of sustained practice have been found to be the minimum amount of time in which the essentials of the technique can be learned so that Vipassana -can be applied in daily life. 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, with many breaks interspersed throughout the day. They also observe silence, not communicating with fellow students; they may speak, however, with the teachers whenever necessary and they may contact the staff with needs related to accommodation, health, etc. There are three steps to the training. First, students agree to abstain from actions which cause harm. They undertake five moral precepts for the duration of the course: to abstain from killing living beings, stealing, speaking falsely, abstaining from all sexual activity and the use of intoxicants. This simple code of moral conduct, along with maintaining silence, serves to calm the mind which otherwise would be too agitated to perform the task of self observation.

The second step is to develop a more stable and concentrated mind by learning to fix one's attention on the natural reality of the ever-changing flow of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. By the fourth day the mind is calmer and more focused, better able to undertake the next step, the practice of Vipassana itself. the observation of sensations throughout the body, the experiential understanding of their changing nature and the development of a balanced mind by learning not to react to them. one experiences the universal truths of impermanence, suffering and ego lessness. This truth realization by direct experience is the process of purification.

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

Students receive systematic meditation instructions several times a day, and each day's progress in explained during a taped evening discourse by Mr. Goenka. 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.

Course Finances

All courses are run, solely on a donations basis. There are no charges for the courses, not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from those who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits of Vipassana, wish to give others the same opportunity. Neither the Teacher nor the assistant teachers receive remuneration; they and those who serve the courses volunteer their time. Thus Vipassana is offered free from commercialization.

A Non-Sectarian Technique

Although Vipassana has been preserved in the Buddhist tradition, it contains nothing of a sectarian nature, and can be accepted and applied by people of any back- ground. The Buddha himself taught Dhamma (the way, the truth, the path). The technique works on the basis that all human beings share the same problems, and that a pragmatic method which can eradicate these problems can be universally practiced. Moreover, it involves no dependence on a teacher. Vipassana teaches those who practice it to be self-dependent. Vipassana courses are open to anyone sincerely wishing to learn the technique, irrespective of race, faith or nationality. Christians, Jews, Hindus and Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and members of other religions-monks, priests and nuns as well as householders-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 Christian anger or Jewish anger, Chinese, anger or American anger, Similarly, love and com- passion 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 and Current World Conditions

Developments in the fields of science and technology, in transportation, communications, agriculture and medicine, have revolutionized human life at the material level. But this progress is only superficial; underneath, modern men and women are living in'c6nditions of great mental and emotional. stress.

The problems and conflicts arising from racial, ethnic, sectarian and class prejudices affect the citizens of every country. Poverty, warfare, weapons of mass destruction, disease, drug addiction, the threat of terrorism, epidemic environmental devastation and the general decline of moral values--all cast a dark shadow on the future of civilization. One need only glance at the front page of a daily newspaper to be reminded of the acute suffering and deep despair which afflict the inhabitants, of our planet. Is there a way out of these seemingly insolvable problems?

The, answer is unequivocally, yes. People everywhere are eager to find a way to achieve peace and harmony, one that can restore confidence in the efficacy of whole- some human qualities and create an environment of freedom and security from all types of exploitation - social, religious and economic. Vipassana meditation is such a way.

Vipassana and Social Change

The technique of Vipassana is a path leading to freedom from all suffering; it eradicates the craving, aversion and ignorance which are responsible for our miseries. Those who practice it remove, little by little, the root causes of their suffering and steadily emerge from their former tensions to lead happier, more productive lives.

Striking examples include the program of ongoing ten- day courses in, Vipassana established in the largest prison in India-Tihar Prison, in New Delhi. A permanent center for Vipassana opened there in 1994, at the conclusion of an historic course for over 1,000 inmates. The center holds two ten-day courses a month.

The unique development of a center for Vipassana inside a prison resulted from experiments Doing- Time Doing Vipassanastarted in, 1975, when Mr. Goenka conducted a course for 120 inmates inside the Central jail in Jaipur-- the first such experiment in Indian penal history. In 1976 and 1977, a course was held for senior police officers at the Police Academy in Jaipur and second course for inmates of the Central jail. Sociological studies conducted by the University of Rajasthan and the Indian Institute of Technology indicate that Vipassana is a positive reform measure enabling- criminals to become wholesome members of society. Prison courses have also been held in Taiwan and the U.S.

The civil service career of Mr. Goenka's teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, is another noteworthy example of the transformative effect of Vipassana on a government administration. U Ba Khin was the head of several government departments of the Union of Burma. He succeeded -in instilling , a heightened sense of duty, discipline and morality in his staff by teaching them Vipassana meditation. Efficiency dramatically increased, and corruption was eliminated.

The Home Department of the Government of Rajasthan was similarly transformed after several key officials at- tended Vipassana courses. And in 1996, India's most industrialized state, Maharashtra, announced that officials, ma take an expenses-paid two-week leave every three years to practice Vipassana, in order to help them deal with job-related stress.

Tens of thousands of school children in India have been taught the breath meditation that is the introduction to Vipassana. Both parents and teachers report improved concentration and decreased discipline problems among the children who participate. The Vipassana Research Institute has documented other examples of the positive effect of Vipassana meditation in such fields as health, drug rehabilitation and, business management.

These experiments underscore the point that societal change must start with the individual. Social change cannot be accomplished, by lectures and sermons; discipline and virtuous conduct cannot be instilled in students simply through textbooks. Criminals do not become good citizens out of fear of punishment; neither can ethnic and sectarian discord be eliminated by punitive measures. History is replete with the failures of such attempts.

The individual is the key. Each person must be treated with love and compassion. Each must be trained to improve -- not by exhortations to follow moral precepts, but by being instilled with the authentic desire to change. Human beings must be taught to investigate their true natures, to initiate a process which can bring about transformation and lead to purification of mind. This is the only change which will endure.

Vipassana has the capacity to transform the human mind and character. The opportunity is awaiting all who sincerely wish to make the effort.