One of the clearest accounts of Vipassana meditation as taught by Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin that I’ve read

First of all, I should mention that there are said to be three kinds of knowledge: blind faith, intellectual understanding, and experiential understanding. Vipassana is all about the third kind. They talk about the theory so you can know why you’re doing what you’re doing, but the truly important part is the practice. If you practice correctly you should see benefits in your life, regardless of whether you understand why (though of course that intellectual part does help the learning and the practice).

Therefore, I’m not going to describe the technique in detail. Part of this is because I know that if I saw the instructions written out, I would just jump to the end, say “that looks easy,” give it a try for 15 minutes, and then give it up as no good. The technique is simple, but that’s not the same as easy. It’s a completely different experience if you spend a 10 hour day meditating on each incremental step in thoroughly learning the technique. (This is why it makes so much sense to have what seems like an intimidatingly long 10-day course for beginners.) However, I do want to share some of the ideas behind the technique.

Most of what they taught at the intellectual level wasn’t anything new to me, and probably many of you have heard a lot of it before as well. Things like “suffering is caused by attachments to cravings and aversions,” “everything is constantly changing and impermanent,” “the only thing you can really control is how you think and react,” and “only you can truly make yourself happy or unhappy.” The problem is that just knowing this intellectually doesn’t help much because it’s so hard to do anything about it. And for a long time before the life of Gautama Buddha, this theoretical level was all there was, until he came along and created (or rediscovered) a technique for putting the theories into practice. That technique is Vipassana.

The theory says that there are four levels of the mind. The first two are perception and recognition—pretty straightforward utilities that we don’t need to worry about too much. Any sensory input (including thoughts and emotions) passes through these first. The third level is called vedan? in P?li. This is the direct, physical sensation we feel as a result of this input. There are sensations created throughout our body for everything we experience. When we have a reaction to something “out there” in the world, what we are actually responding to is the physical sensation in our body generated by our perception of that object, not the object itself. That response comes from the final level, called sa?kh?ra. It decides whether it likes or dislikes the sensations, then develops cravings or aversions to them, or trots out our old, established, habitual reactions. This is the problematic part, because the world is never conforming perfectly to our wishes, and we’re therefore constantly feeling cravings and aversions that we can’t satisfy, and that’s what makes us unhappy.

The idea behind Vipassana is to learn to set up a filter of sorts between the vedana and sankhara parts of your mind. From a direct experience of the vedana we can choose how best to react, without being slaves to our old habits of behavioral patterns or emotional reactions. The first part of doing this consists in developing your awareness. You learn to be aware of and focus on all the myriad sensations constantly going on in your entire body, from the most obvious to the most subtle. The second part requires developing your equanimity. Whatever sensations you observe, you do so objectively, dispassionately, taking them as neither good nor bad. If the sankhara comes in and tries to make you react, you don’t give in to it. The more you practice this awareness and equanimity together, the more you also come to realize (experientially) how much everything really is constantly changing. These things we form attachments to are coming and going, arising and passing away, all the time. Which makes it easier, of course, to just take things as they come and not form cravings or aversions for them.

Daryl Wong, my vipassana meditation brother, Financial Consultant cum Coach has kindly contributed the following article on Vipassana Meditation vs. Qigong. He’s standing next to me, third guy from the left, on the top row. He’s wearing glasses.

Vipassana Meditation vs. Qigong by Daryl Wong

I started my first contact with Buddhism since 1994. Thereafter, my interest in searching the truths of Buddha’s teachings on universal dhamma has continually inspired me to read many sutras, alongside with attendances to many talks in Singapore monasteries. In 1998, I adopted Pureland practice mainly due to the influence of Master Rev. “Shi Chinkong”. His unlimited wisdom and immeasurable compassion has set forth a great milestone for many followers, including me, to pursue in this simple teachings among all others imparted by Lord Buddha.

As a Buddhist, It was only natural for me to think then that meditation was essential part of practicing Buddhism. As a layman, I thought it would be great to sit down for hours and cultivate the calmness like those masters depicted in movies or comics. Hence, I picked up practicing a Qigong meditation which originates from Zen Buddhism.

This meditation technique that I used to learn is about adopting a correct posture with regulated breathing, thus developing and circulating the vital energy called “Chi” throughout your body. Frankly, it has been very beneficial for health as well as mind training. After practicing it, I started to “disown” my anger and became less stressful in my personal life. Of course, to accomplish this improvement, I had also put in lots of effort to read, understand and practice the value of a faithful Buddhist.

Personally, Buddhism has changed my life and my personal behavior since many years ago. Though life has many ups and downs, the cultivated wisdom, equanimity and patience have helped me a lot to resolve many differences that rose from the circles of work, business, friends and family. Somehow, I have always thought the qigong meditation played an important part in my personal transformation. Indeed, after 10 years of practice, it was only recently that I discovered I could have done it better if I had adopted the Vipassana meditation!

Today, most of the Qigong meditations originate from Taoist and Buddhist teachings. The Buddhist style is usually derived from Zen practice. As Qigong has been scientifically proven and recognized as a health-oriented exercise (both in sitting or moving styles), many people are pursuing them on very superficial goal just like what I did!

From my personal knowledge, Qigong meditation basically teaches practitioners how to develop the awareness of “Chi” or “Qi” (known as vital energy flow in our bodies) and use it to self-cleanse our inner-system. The smooth flow of the inner energy, after practicing for few months, will naturally emit the elation and calmness in oneself when it is guided all over the body. Definitely, the results are multi-beneficial to improving health through consistent practice. Nevertheless, such methods simply target to health improvements and learners are taught to pursue and enjoy the blissful feelings while during practice! In fact, the teacher (a non-bikkhu) who taught me Zen-style meditation told me to avoid the physical pain whenever it came about (while during practice), by rubbing it or focus on other part of the body that emitted elated sensation!

Personally, I have been very grateful all this while that such Qigong meditation has given me great health. Simultaneously, it has also become an addiction to many people, including myself, since every completion of such Qigong practice (or exercise) always gives you more energetic and feel happier!

The word “Vipassana” was first known to me in 2001 through a friend. Even though as a Buddhist, I took it for granted that it might be just one of the same techniques that I already knew. In fact, it has always puzzled me on why “Vipassana” course needs 10-days duration. Truthfully speaking, it will be very difficult for anyone to take 10-days leave from the conventional job for such a meager reason. Hence, I gave myself excuses all these years not to go for this retreat. However, I have always visited the websites in India and Singapore regularly even though the unknown fear has always successfully stopped me from making the advance!

The problem with educated and civilized people is they like to plan everything about their lives. Everything they do must justify with a reason and every measure of an action must constitute a reward!

Do not let this hindrance stop you! This destructive mentality has deterred me from pursuing Vipassana meditation course for years. It will do likewise to you if you do not finish reading this article!

In June 2007, I met a new friend from Kuching (Malaysia) who has completed a Vipassana course. I started to be curious and asked him the uniqueness of this meditation technique. He did not reply directly but only said the truth lied in my own hands if I had wanted searched for it sincerely.

Shortly after I came back to Singapore, I met an old friend who practiced Yoga for more than a decade. Since a year ago, he has devoted his time into practicing Vipassana meditation. Upon my persistence query, he mentioned practicing Yoga is just a form of regular exercise for him now in order to maintain physical flexibility and anti-aging. However, he has found the truths of what he wants from Vipassana meditation!

After hearing that, I could not take the “pressure” anymore. I started searching the website and was so fortunate to have registered for the following immediate 10-days course in St. John Island from 15-26 August.

Upon completion, I was so relieved and felt so many burdens of my present life have been released. I also came to realize all other Qigong methods in whatever styles are actually part of Vipassana method only. While Vipassana technique teaches learners to observe their feeling with equanimious mind, we were also taught to face both pains and all other sensations instead of exercising favorism!

This article was written with pure intention to share with those who are still oblivious or some who might think Vipassana is just like any other meditation techniques. From personal experience, the most valuable teachings that I learned from this 10-days retreat is the understanding of indiscrimination and compassion that need to be cultivated from oneself, before you can emit to others!

The values of Vipassana meditation course involve 4 progressive stages:

1)seek refuge in triple gems
2)observing the 5 precepts for beginners / 8 precepts for old students
3)cultivation of wisdom (from within yourself)
4)cultivation of compassion (from within yourself)

Despite the similarity of developing and guiding energy flow throughout your body (which is a form of self-cleansing), the greatest difference of Vipassana technique to all other “Qigong” methods is the inclusion of 4 magnificent values stated above.

The development of wisdom and insight of your personal life will never be the same again after going through this retreat. The initial thought of “10-days sufferings” actually was transformed into “10-day of happiness and liberation” soon after you have understood the truth of universal dhamma.

At the end of the course, the final stage of cultivating compassion is such a precious act that no other meditation will emphasize on the importance of this practice through mental thought and transference of merit. Believe me, this part of the whole practice is most important and it will begin to transform your life to better phase through continual practice!

Do not let your faith or whatever doctrines tie you down. That is precisely why noble silence is observed until the final day. Vipassana does not convey in words nor it try to convert any religious dogma. Even a Buddhist is not allowed to chant or read sutra during this retreat! This solid 10-days journey is a unique experience of self-transformation and understanding of inner-self relatively to the universal environment. Only you can benefit from it after going through yourself!

I had only wished that I should have come to this course earlier instead of many evasive delays. People who are always busy with family, work and making money, will never find a time to commit these 10 days until they breathe their last!

Wisdom and Compassion are two essentials that generate true happiness from within yourself. Prajna wisdom is not the knowledge that one could obtain from academic achievements nor great compassion involve in feelings that one develops from feeling pessimism. In fact, these important core values, when practiced with great equanimity, enable one to be free from all sufferings and also liberate all sentient beings from samsara!

If you are truly searching for the purpose of your life, do not ask what you will get after this retreat. Do not expect any rewards when you could not even surrender 10 days for your own benefits. To make it simple, all you need is just 10 days of your life to recover what you have unknowingly lost for aeons. I am glad I have found mine!

To find our more details on Vipassana meditation, you may visit website http://www.sg.dhamma.org

Wu Chan

4 September 2007

Back to my experience at Dhamma Malaya.

First some pictures.

This is a picture of me and my teacher from the 10-day course I did at St. John’s Island. We had a different teacher for the 3-day course.

The room I stayed.

The meditation hall.

The reception and office.

When I reached Dhamma Malaya, I remember feeling honoured and privileged to be among the students to attend the very first course at Dhamma Malaya. The 3-day course at Dhamma Malaya was significant to me in several ways even though at times I did consider myself insane to go through the meditation routine again, which I still found tough despite completing a 10-day course in August.

First, it deepened my theory, understanding and practice of Vipassana. People like me don’t really get it the first time round. I struggled with the Vipassana technique during my first 10-day course. And I realised that I had missed one key instruction when I practised at home, that is, instead of lingering on, I should have moved my attention to another area once I feel sensation in an area. Second, I understood the importance of sitting still for Vipassana to work effectively.

Second, I managed to stay awake during all the 430 to 630 am sittings. I stayed in the hall throughout the two hours and was able to do Anapana meditation even though my mind was not alert enough to do Vipassana.

Third, I managed to sit through all the Adhitthanas, which required a meditator, to sit one hour without opening their eyes, hands or legs for three times a day. See another blogger’s account of Adhitthana here. She also has a series of posts on Vipassana.

Back to the purpose of this post – my experience. On the second evening or night, during Adhitthana if I don’t recall wrongly, I experienced something that was very unusual. By that day or the day before, I had taken the cushion away while meditating because there were no more small cushions and the large cushion, I found too saggy and uncomfortable. So, I sat only on a thin piece of cloth that covered the floor I sat. It was a cold night. I was working hard to remain equanimous and extremely still in my posture. Suddenly, I felt a grip like a brace on the two sides of my lower back, at the same level as my hip. This was an area that I normally have no sensations. And then lo and behold, something extremely unbelievable happened. My left lower back started to emit out an intense amount of heat. The heat emitted was so intense it felt supernatural! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that in my life before.

You may have seen kung fu shows of fighters sitting to meditate or heal/channel energy to someone, there would have been a classic scene where immense heat is emitted from the fighter’s body and the heat was shown as steam. It felt something like that. (Has recordmymind lost his mind? Is he losing his mind?) I was thinking to myself, the poor guy at the back, if he’s sitting too closely, he must be feeling the effects of the heat. But I did not manage to check with him after the course.

It could have been an extremely powerful delusion brought on by the rigorous conditions of the meditation course. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me after I sat still for an hour. But I swear, it felt real, that supernatural heat that came out. Maybe I’m going insane. So be it, I suppose. But that was what I experienced. Like I said, it was a cold night, but my shirt was wet and the sweat soaked through my underwear, my pants and the cloth I was sitting on. But I don’t discount any other more scientific, natural and less mystical explanations of what happened.

The next day, I described my experience to the teacher, who told me that I was shedding some sankhara of anger or passion. When I mentioned that I normally don’t have much sensation in my lower back, he told me that we never know which part of the body the sankharas come out.

I’ve extracted from here one explanation of sankhara, which sounds just about similar to what I understand (although the term should be properly understood as part of a four-fold Buddhist theory of consciousness. For more details, see article by Goenka here.):

The traces of suffering from earlier lives are present in each individual as sankhara (Sanskrit: samskara). The presence of sankhara is the result of various painful events and experiences which have befallen one in this life and in previous lives. They manifest themselves as subconscious traces in the mind and are present as impurities. They will bring pain in the future. They must be eliminated completely lest they go on provoking reactions in the mind. These reactions are the reason why the wheel of samsara keeps turning.

The goal of Vipassana, therefore, is to learn how to act instead of react. Sankhara is the manifestation of karma, the energy of karma. Each individual is a victim of the karma created in earlier lives, but Goenka claims the manifestation of karma in the form of sankhara can be erased. Contrary to one’s karma the things you do now will determine the type of life you will get next time. “The moment that all sankhara are eliminated a sensation of no-death will arise because no sankhara will emerge to pollute the mind, and this is the ultimate state of nirvana which no word can describe.”

Digression: see also another interesting article by S. N. Goenka called “What Happens At Death?“.

I attribute this unusual experience to the fact that I had been working hard, meditating seriously, to the best of my ability, once the course started at Dhamma Malaya. I think meditating is like cooking potatoes or eating. The first minute, the potato is not cooked. The first mouthful of rice you swallow, you are still hungry. But you keep going and eventually, results show.

The next significant experience worth reporting happened on the last day of the course, during the metta session, the sharing of merit and loving kindness with all beings. For some reason (maybe from working too hard at meditation), when I heard the sentence “All of you have acquired great merit”, my body started shaking (slightly similar to yoga postures that challenge your tummy) and tears started flowing from my eyes. I wasn’t sobbing dramatically but the tears just flowed while my body shook and shook. (Those of you who’ve had religious experiences might understand what I’m talking about.)

And while all this was happening, the guy sitting just behind me on a chair farts. Loudly.

A religious experience indeed.

As promised earlier, part 2 of the video.

A Simple Path – Part 2

Since it is the freshest in my mind, I will first record down my experiences at the 3 day course in Dhamma Malaya. Before that, here is what happened en route to Dhamma Malaya.

Arrived in Kuantan’s Makmur bus station at 4:30 am after leaving Singapore’s Lavendar Street at 10 pm the night before. I eventually joined a group of 2 Malays and 1 Chinese guy in a taxi to look for boarding. We alighted at Jalan Taman along Jalan Besar. This is where I eventually stayed the night.

In this room I slept from 530 am to 830 am

Check out the toilet below. See if you can guess where the “shower head” is in the first picture. Notice in the second picture, the pipe doesn’t connect to the floor, it is truncated halfway. That’s right, you feel the water from the pipe dripping to the floor! Hahaha.

I paid 37 Ringgit for a room in the hotel above after having a cup of Horlicks and deciding not to wait another 2 hours to get a room at a cheaper rate of 20 ringgit at the hotel opposite, which has no air-conditioned rooms. By the way, the indian food stall here is not bad. I backtracked and had a plain roti prata here as my first meal the next morning after failing to find food for a couple of hours due to the fasting month. In Singapore, plain roti pratas aren’t tasty. But the one here was. So check it out if you ever have the chance.

I left the budget hotel at about 830 am and walked for more than an hour trying to find the tourist office. The people in Kuantan were all very friendly but they either didn’t understand where I was going, gave me wrong directions or I just couldn’t understand/follow their instructions. Actually, I think what happened was this I gave them the wrong address for the Tourist Office based on something I read here.

Despite not finding my way, I managed to take this picture of the Kuantan State Mosque.

Well, I eventually met “Boy”, this friendly Malay guy who gave me directions to the tourist office. While I was still making my way to the tourist centre according to Boy’s instructions, he drove up in a car, horned at me and asked me to get into his car as he was going in the same direction. He was very friendly, with family in Singapore. It turned out that the tourist office was just behind my hotel, maybe less than a 10 minute walk! He suggested that I visit the beach Teluk Cempedak Beach and then go to Megamall.

Before he dropped me off, he asked why I was in Kuantan and whether I was alone, I told him I was going to Gambang, Dhamma Malaya for meditation. “Meditation?”, he asked and questioned whether I was going to some organization, whose name I didn’t recognize. I shook my head and just mentioned “Vipassana” and “Dhamma Malaya”. I wasn’t sure whether he knew what I was talking (his understanding of English was spot on) or just found my reply plain strange and bizzarre. I suppose not many Malays in Pahang come across a lone Chinese male visiting Kuantan for the express purpose of “meditation”.

But this was a great and friendly guy. Cool guy. I wished I had gotten his contact so that I could show him the same kindness when he visits his family in Singapore (“Orchard”, “Jurong”).

I eventually got a map from the Tourist Office, hunted for food with no success and got back to the Indian coffeeshop opposite my budget hotel. I took a taxi to Teluk Cempedak. Walked along the beach, took some pictures (see below), had a coke at Macs before hailing a taxi to Megamall and then to Terembung Mall. About the malls I have nothing to write about, except for this: very hard to find food!

I walked back exhausted to my budget hotel at about 1 pm. Showered. Slept two hours or so and then left at 3 plus pm to Dhamma Malaya. The taxi ride to Dhamma Malaya cost me 34 ringgit (I was one ringgit short of 35), which was 9 ringgit more than the negotiated rate of 25 ringgit but I didn’t mind at all due to the rough dirt road the taxi had to travel. The taxi driver asked me what’s this place and why was I here. I said “meditation” and struck a pose to show what I meant. But he didn’t understand what I was saying. He just took my money and drove off after I alighted.

Oh well…at least I know why I went there.

Some of you may have been very patiently waiting for updates on my Vipassana meditation experience. And on my part, I need to write about it to get it out of my system, before I can move on to something else or other posts on the blog. Whatever I write here, I hope it is of benefit to some reader who would be encouraged to take a 10-day Vipassana Course as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of U Ba Khin.

It’s been more than one month since I returned from my first 10-day course and almost two months since my last post. Since that first course, I did two more courses. A 1-day course in Singapore on 30 Sep and a 3-day course from 4th to 7th Oct in Dhamma Malaya in Kuantan.

Doing Vipassana Meditation has been a life changing experience for me. I’ve always searched very hard for a path. This may be because I have a religious gene. I’ve always wanted to work towards self-mastery and self improvement but did not know how. “How?” was always the big question in everything I wanted to work towards, be it overcoming my weaknesses (having some awareness of the great store of faults within me that my loved ones were kind enough to warn me about) or practising the morality and purity of mind that all great religions teach. And now, through Vipassana meditation, I feel I’ve discovered my path and the “How” to answer my questions. Wonderful, indeed is this technique, so simple, so deep and so effective.

I feel it from very deep within that I’ve changed, that I’ve benefited greatly. Some of the benefits (even from attending the 10-day course, a first baby step on this path) include:

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[protect]That said, my wife has not mentioned that she has seen any change in me though she did mention I have become more patient and has encouraged me to continue to go for the 3-day course in Kuantan even though she fell very ill during my first 10-day course. Her silence and encouragement for me to go on the 3-day course could mean any or none of the following, I can’t say for sure which: She wants to see how lasting the changes in me are before she says anything (you know how speaking too soon can sometimes destroy the magic of something or cause deeper disappointment); she thinks I thinks it helps me so she encourages me to continue in my practice, she genuinely sees me changing for the better because of the meditation and hence she wants me to continue to benefit from it through continued courses, she saw my emotional reaction and repentant attitude and recognition of all the wrongs I’ve done to her after the first course and hopes that such feelings in me will continue to surface if I keep going for the meditation courses. Any of the above, none of the above. It doesn’t matter. In me, very clearly, like someone who has drank water and knows that the water is cold, I know that I have taken the first step on the path of change. [/protect]

I leave you with a video on Vipassana Meditation by S.N. Goenka. In my next post I will talk about my experience at the courses and post the next video in the series below.

Dhamma Podcasts: A Simple Path – Part 1