Vipassana retreats

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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

I'm not sure what the big deal about celibacy is... Either you have a girlfriend and think about sex all day, or you don't have a girlfriend and think about sex all day. What's the difference?? It's all about equanimity! ;)
andyville
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Post by andyville »

Oscar:

Well, the goal of Vipassana meditation is to gain mindfulness - an ability to observe whatever sensations arise in your body in different situations. The reason I think celibacy might help is that sex can be a very addicting behavior that you engage in out of habit, to relieve stress, to get some stimulation and so on. In such situations a meditator would rather observe the stressful sensations and the craving for stimulation, to develop his insight.

Had I written this kind of stuff to myself a couple of months ago, I had probably forced myself to be locked up in a mental institution somewhere. However, these things are very slowly beginning to make sense to me now.
andyville
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Post by andyville »

"In meditation you withdraw from others and focus your attention inside to gain purity of mind and Dhamma energy. Then you must become extroverted and use this energy. When you take a long jump, you must first take some steps backward. Then you run, and make the jump. Like this, you first withdraw, observe yourself inside and get the energy. Then you make a long jump into society, to serve society. These two steps cannot be separated."

(S.N. Goenka)



"Now I know that this is the way
For the nonbeliever who wants to believe
For the chronic faithless who secretly seeks faith
This is the way for those who can never feel at ease
With partial human solutions like God, psychology, money
It is for those who appreciate science
But cannot be comforted by it
It's for the one who owns a thing because it works
Not because it has a brand name
It's for those who will always cherish
A breath more than a word"

(Ayelet Menahemi)
andyville
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Post by andyville »

Dear friends,

In a couple of hours I am going to my first Vipassana retreat, and I will be back on the 6:th of August. Some of you seem to share my interest in Vipassana, and I would love to share my experiences with you as soon as I get back. Until then, take care!
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

Have an interesting experience! :)
andyville
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Post by andyville »

The. Best. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Done.

If anyone is interested in going, I recommend to first read Hart's "The art of living" thoroughly, and then just go. The retreat certainly requires a lot of effort on the student's part, but in my own experience all the mental and physical pain I went through during those 11 days can not be compared to the benefits of the technique.

Now I stand before yet another great task - to implement Vipassana into my everyday life. I think a lot of students fail when it comes to thiis. I feel like I have really given the technique my best so far, and with tough work I hope that it will prove beneficial in my day to day life. Only time will tell...

Bottom line - if you want to go, get as deep an understanding as you can from books, and then go. There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of - the food is g-r-e-a-t, the students are g-r-e-a-t, the teachers are g-r-e-a-t, the facilities are not g-r-e-a-t but definitely OK, and so on.

Oh, one more thing - you have to try to understand why this works. In S.N. Goenka's words, "Vipassana is not an intellectual game".

If you have more questions, please PM me. Hope that helps!
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

Guess you liked it a little bit huh? ;)

Well, good luck with the implementing. :)
Chin-Chin
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Dear Andyville,

I just came back from a Vipassana retreat in France, and it was really 10 days well-spent. Trying to establish practice at home - already sleeping less and feeling much more focussed as well as spontaneous.

What was the most useful to me was the discipline of the mind and the knowledge that with strong determination, we can conquer our mind. I finally found the space of infinite peace that I first found when I practiced meditation at 8, can't believe that I've forgotten about it for that long...

As to the theoretical part, I come from the Vedantic + taoist + zen buddist tradition, so I find some of Goenka's explanations about impermanence a bit lacking in insight (I suppose he meant it for the general public), and I would suggest further investigation if you are interested in the philosophical underpinnings. Goenka is not the best philosopher, but his accomplishments are nonetheless enormous judging from how well the centers functioned.

My schedule is looking really tight, but if I have the opportunity, I'd like to go back ASAP with the goal of going deeper with my meditation.

Peace and progress on the path,
Chin-Chin
andyville
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Post by andyville »

Dear Chin-Chin,

I'm very happy you enjoyed the experience! If you need some support as you are trying to make Vipassana a part of your everyday life - which is the big challenge after the retreat - I recommend you to join us over at the MSN Vipassana forum:

http://groups.msn.com/Vipassana

Another thing which I have found very helpful, is to attend a weekly one hour group sitting for old Vipassana students. I'm not sure you can find one where you're at, but it's worth a check I guess. The group aspect of the meditation is very encouraging, in my opinion - something Goenka seems to agree on.

All the best my friend,
The Andyvillain.
Chin-Chin
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Thanks Andyville, I will take a look.

I'm planning to attend the sittings in Paris every Sunday afternoon, for 2 hours. I also find it useful to do it on the metro, waiting in line, or whenever I have a moment.

Take care,
Chin-Chin
andyville
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Post by andyville »

What are the benefits of Vipassana you have experienced so far, Chin-Chin?
Chin-Chin
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Hi,

The link that you sent didn't work, and I guess if I'm diminishing posts in this forum, it's not to immediately join another forum, hihi... Internet addictions!

I actually felt quite good right before the Vipassan retreat, so I was saying in my mind that I didn't need this retreat. The center called me up to confirm my stay, and I told them that I still hadn't made my decision. The guy said that it was totally normal that the mind rebels, but most people are quite happy once they arrive. This guy sounded really nice and reasonable and I thought well what the hell, I've been putting off doing this for 2 years for various excuses. Now that I don't really have an excuse, I should go.

I did it really as an experiment on the mind as I've already done various meditation and yogic techniques and am familiar with sensations that can arise with this kind of work. But I never really worked from the viewpoint of equanimously and systematically examining my sensations, and this made a lot of my previous experiences come together. By the end of 10 days, I was able to feel warm currents and uniform subtle sensations throughout the body, without putting all the effort and frustration that I was exerting previously. There were really hard moments, mostly of frustration from staying so long at a point where sensation couldn't traverse, and I also had a nonstop 6-day-long giggling attack that just wore me out. The flip side was that the only way to stop the giggling was to meditate and I meditated for extra time.

Until the 9th day, I was like, no way I can do this 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening, nor do I want to. But somehow, on the 10th day, Goenka's discourse made so much sense, and I have been continuing the practice at home, with minor adaptations. I feel much more focussed, aware, awake, and have greater ease and trust following my intuitions. I also learned a lot about discipline and perseverance. I tell myself that if I managed to sit through for 10 hours, I can tackle this task with patience and see it through...

What about you, Andyville?
andyville
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Post by andyville »

Ummm, the link works for me...?

Basically I feel like Vipassana was just what I needed in my life right now. I used to have very strange relationships to a lot of people around me (friends and girlfriends) and also to myself, which basically made it impossible for me to obtain any peace of mind whatsoever. In the beginning of this year I contaced a psychotherapist to see if he could help me with my troubles, and I remember exactly what I asked him on the first day: "can you help me to live my life based on reason alone?" Although the sessions with him were good and made me feel a bit better, I knew I needed something a bit more hardcore. At this time I had been reading about Vipassana for a long time - in fact, I had cancelled my first retreat the day before going, right in the beginning of this year. A friend of mine encouraged me to finally go, and when I asked him why he said "Vipassana helps me to live my life based on reason alone", and that very line clicked with me, considering what I had previously asked my psychotherapist.

I used to have absolutely no peace of mind - read maybe 5-10 books a week, had endless discussions with friends about what the meaning of everything is, was very skeptical in general towards everybody and everything, thought very destructive thoughts and so on. I used to be very cynical. Goenka has shown me a way out of all this negativity, and I think I have started to walk on a path out of my inner darkness. I do not have to be a slave under my negative thoughts and my automatical reactions; I do not have to torture myself by thinking about that very pretty girl I used to know, or that test score that could have been a bit higher, or that time that I really made a fool out of myself at that party. All I have to focus on is this instant, and trying to make the best of it. What might be even more important in my case is that I don't have to worry that much about the future anymore - as long as I have good intentions for myself and all other creatures, I can not go wrong.

I remember you wrote something about Goenka not being the best philosopher. Remember that neither was The Buddha; in fact, The Buddha dismissed philosophy and all kinds of intellectual games. He refused to talk about anything that was not relevant to finding a way out of suffering. In that way I think Goenka stays very true to the original intentions of The Buddha, who was the founder of the technique.
Chin-Chin
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Hi Andyville,

It's so great to hear that you've realized so much change in yourself over the course of 10 days!

I used to have panic attacks when I was a kid and be paranoid about everything. This is how I started meditating when I was 8. It changed my life.

I wouldn't qualify it as a life based on "reasons" alone, because reasons are based on the mind, and I think there's something beyond the mind at work. But terminologies are terminologies. About the Buddha, we can never know exactly what he thought since he's never written anything down and it's even harder to verify if Vipassana was really the technique that the Buddha practiced (it's like the Tao, anything that can be named or verbalized is not the Tao). The importance is that there's such outpouring of wonderful knowledge and insight because of him. In that way, he was a great teacher, and one of the most important wisemen that history has ever produced.

The link works now. There must have been a momentary malfunction.

May all beings be happy!
andyville
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Post by andyville »

Chin-Chin:

Yeah, that's the bottom line I guess - may all beings be happy! :)

Again, please join us over at the Vipassana group. I'd love to continue the discussion there.

All the best
A.
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