I underwent the 10 day Vipassana course a few months ago (at Dhamma Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai). This was at the back of my mind since many years, but could do it only now, and it is perhaps very good that I did it only now, after some practice of Hatha yoga. That helped both at the gross level of the body (to sit for long hours without any discomfort), and also at a deeper level to be sensitive to subtler realities.
Shunyagara/Pagoda – Meditation cells
What Gautama Buddha taught was not just philosophical framework and contemplation. Based on his dazzling clarity of the human condition, he discovered a very specific, simple and effective method which he imparted to people – a meditative process that uses keen observation to arrest and dissolve the very root-cause of our misery.
It was not about repeating a certain thought (a word or a sentence), positive thinking, imagining a form or some such psychological thing to merely suppress or solace the mental turbulence. It was not about thinking how you would like things to be, but about seeing things as they are (Vipassana, or Vipashyana in Samskrita, means “to see distinctly and thoroughly”). Such a well-defined and well-grounded technique is what differentiated him from many other spiritual schools. You could say that it was like a yoga kriya, but different in some aspects. It is because of the practicality and the efficacy of this technique that 'Dhamma' spread like wild fire across northern India in his lifetime. It is said that he had around a lakh monks and nuns, millions of householder followers, and several thousand Arhants (one who has eradicated all the inner enemies – an enlightened one).
Today many people are disregarding the practice of Vipassana (or they are not even aware that this practice exists), and therefore have converted Buddha’s teachings into mere philosophy. They ignore the fact that whatever talks Buddha used to give—about impermanence, non-self, equanimity etc.—were actually meant for the practitioners of Vipassana, and not philosophical debates. As he himself declared, it was meant to guide one’s meditation, and not for converting into a conclusion. Therefore, what many people are doing today – studying it as a philosophy, comparing other philosophies with Buddha’s teachings, is a thorough waste of time.
The basic principle of this technique is that it allows the unconscious to unwind and dissolve itself simply by using keenness of awareness. So, you may call this as the path of Awareness. I have discussed some details of this method in this video.
It is wonderful to see that a spiritual movement started 25 centuries ago is still on – not as a tradition or a placebo ritual or a belief system, but as a live process that transforms anyone who takes to it seriously. In the last few centuries, although Vipassana flourished in other far eastern countries, unfortunately it was lost to India. Sri SN Goenka ji brought it back to India from Burma in the 70s, and today hundreds of centers are functioning around the world. The courses are run on Daana model. Actually it was this technique that Kiran Bedi used in the 90s in her much lauded reformative efforts of the infamous Tihar jail.
I am really grateful that Buddha’s teachings can still be experienced today (and not just read and discussed and debated), and that it is possible to get a taste of how it would have been to be present in his time.
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