October 2006 Newsletter

Vipassana Fellowship Newsletter

October 2006 Edition

"Two things, O monks, partake of true knowledge. What two? Serenity and insight. When serenity is developed, what benefit does one experience? The mind is developed. When the mind is developed, what benefit does one experience? All craving is abandoned. When insight is developed, what benefit does one experience? Wisdom is developed. When wisdom is developed, what benefit does one experience? All ignorance is abandoned. A mind defiled by craving is not liberated; and wisdom defiled by ignorance is not developed. Thus, monks, through the fading away of craving there is liberation of mind; and through the fading away of ignorance there is liberation by wisdom." - The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya

2007: Celebrating Ten Years of Online Meditation Courses

Vipassana Fellowship's online meditation courses have been offered since 1997 and have proven helpful to meditators in many countries around the world. The main text is based on a tried and tested format and serves as a practical introduction to samatha (tranquillity or serenity) and vipassana (insight) techniques from the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. Intended primarily for beginners, the 90 day course is also suitable for experienced meditators who wish to explore different aspects of the tradition. The emphasis is on building a sustainable and balanced meditation practice that is compatible with lay life.

The course is suitable for users of any major operating system (Windows, Apple Mac, Linux) provided they have a recent web browser that can display Flash files. The course uses our Online Course Campus which adds additional flexibility and permits greater interactivity. Participants also receive an audio supplement on CD-Rom containing guided meditations and chants to support the online material.

We shall be offering courses beginning in January, May and September 2007. The courses are led by Andrew Quernmore, an experienced meditation teacher based in England, and the first begins on Monday, January 22nd, 2007.

Registration for the January course - an excellent way to begin the New Year - is available at:

http://www.vipassana.com/course/

Applications will be accepted until the start of the course. Please note that the Audio Supplement is despatched from the UK by Airmail but late applicants will be able to work with online versions of the main audio files until the CD-Rom arrives.

Parisa Programme

If you have taken one or more of our online courses you are eligible to subscribe to our Parisa support and encouragement programme for former participants. Parisa provides ongoing access to the latest edition of the 90 day course (there are 3 of these each year), new material to aid your practice and understanding of the Dhamma in the form of monthly themed "parisa packs" and a similar level of access to personal support from Andrew as available to regular course members. This is a flexible scheme that can be joined throughout the year for as long or as short a period as you wish. It is hoped that regular contact during the three courses we run each year and added inspiration from the parisa packs will help to provide a support network for those who do not have access to a local group or who would like to further explore our tradition. Recent Parisa themes have included how to make use of traditional Observance Day practices, alternative approaches to Anapanasati Meditation, Ethical Living, Buddhanussati, Four Element Practice, the Dhamma teachings to be found in our own cultures, Meditation on the Thirty-Two Parts, Kasina Practice, the Perfection of Generosity, and Movement Meditation.

If you have already taken one of our courses, Parisa details can be found here:

http;//www.vipassana.com/parisa/

Andrew writes: The late Godwin Samararatne was the resident teacher at Nilambe Meditation Centre in Sri Lanka for many years and his teachings touched many meditators around the World. He was an unconventional teacher but a great example of wisdom and compassion in action. On my visits to Nilambe he was always encouraging and perceptive and his influence is still greatly felt. This transcript from one of his overseas retreats is used by permission. Further readings can be found at http://www.godwin-home-page.net which was set up as a memorial to his work. Friends of Godwin are currently raising funds to publish some of the transcripts of his talks in book form for wider distribution. If you would like to help, please contact Jeanne Mynett via the address given on the Godwin web site.

The Advantages of Meditation Practice

by Godwin Samararatne

Excerpts from a Retreat Talk given in Hong Kong, October 1998

I will talk about a few things we have been trying to do today, what are the benefits, what are the advantages we gather from our practice and in what way it will help us in everyday life.

One thing is that we are so used to doing things, manipulating things, controlling things. So this strong conditioning comes up when we are meditating where even in relation to our breathing, without allowing the body to breathe naturally, we try to control it, we try to breathe differently and so on. Even in walking meditation sometimes this conditioning can come up. So what we tried to do today was, which is not very easy, just being, learning non-doing in relation to meditation. So this is one of the things we were trying to do.

Another is that when we are meditating we like some experiences, we dislike other experiences. We like the pleasant experiences to continue and we like the unpleasant experiences not to be there. So our meditation becomes a big battle. Wanting things, not wanting things, accepting things, rejecting things. So what we tried to do today was to learn to have a completely open mind to whatever arises. So when we have pleasant states of mind, we just know that there are pleasant states of mind. We learn not to hold on to them. If it is there, it is there. If it goes away, we allow it to go away. And if some unpleasant experiences arise, here again it is a very strong conditioning we have to hate them, to dislike them, to get rid of them. So in the practice we did today, as I said, we are learning to be open to pleasant experiences, and to be open to unpleasant experiences, and learning, which is not very easy, actually to see no difference between these two states of mind by just knowing, by just being aware.

And then what we were doing today was to be aware in relation to what is happening, what is arising internally in us. So it can be unpleasant emotions, it can be unpleasant sensations, it can be what you consider as negative thoughts. We learn just to allow them, we learn just to let them be by using awareness. Now in everyday life we might have two sorts of problems. One is, of course, what is happening internally, but the problem is mostly in relation to what is happening externally. Here we are fortunate that nothing difficult arises externally but in everyday life that is not so. So if you can learn how these problems arise, what happens inside yourself, then you learn to watch and to work with what is happening inside in everyday life.

This is a very important tool, a very important skill to develop because then whatever is happening externally, we learn to look inside ourselves and to work with what is happening inside us in relation to what is happening outside. What we normally try to do in everyday life is to modify, to change, to try to control what is happening externally to suit us, but as we all know we are unable to do this because we have little control over external events. So the practice, interestingly enough, is not to try to do that. Of course, if you can do it in certain situations it is good, but what is more important is learning to bring about a change within us, inside us. So ideally, whatever happens externally, when a transformation has taken place inside you, then you are able to relate to it, not to be surprised by what is happening but as we are practising here, learning not to react to it.

It is interesting that in certain cultures what is happening externally can be more unpredictable, because unexpected things can happen. Maybe here, it's not so bad because you get the impression that everything is under control, and to a great extent you can predict what might happen. But in a country like Sri Lanka it is entirely different. You never know what's going to happen. Always the unexpected can happen. I will give just one or two examples.

Now here I have been travelling on the railway system, there is no problem, there is always a train. You can time a visit and you'll be able to catch a particular train and you'll be there. In Sri Lanka this doesn't happen. You may not even know whether there is a next train. So you go to the train station and they say today the train is two hours late or there is some problem with the rail track and today there is no train. So this is very good for the practice because you learn to be open to uncertainty.

This is a very deep but very profound aspect of the Buddha's teaching, to be open to uncertainty, to be open to the unexpected, because this is the real nature of life. So realising that this is the real nature of life we cease trying to control the environment in particular ways. Of course it can give a sense of security when you think that everything is under control and there is no problem, but this kind of security is a very fragile, false kind of security.

According to the Buddha's teaching, real security comes when we can be open to insecurity. When we are open to insecurity, then whatever happens, to a great extent you'll not be surprised and then you can see that as an object of meditation, you can make an effort to learn from that. So in a way what we are doing, what we have been doing today, is a kind of preparation for that. Internally we are allowing anything to arise, any unexpected things arise, such as an emotion, a sensation, or a thought. So whatever arises we learn to see them, as the Buddha said, just as they are.

Another aspect of what we tried to do today is that by trying to continue to have awareness in all postures, in all situations, we are learning to see meditation as a way of living. Otherwise what happens is that we associate meditation only with a particular posture, or with a particular time that we are meditating. The danger of what happens when we practise in that way is that when the person is sitting there is one kind of individual, but when the same person is interacting with society another kind of individual arises. So there is a big gap between the meditator sitting and the person functioning in everyday life. So what we have been trying to do today is to make this gap smaller and smaller so that meditation becomes, as I said, a way of living. Then any situation in life can be a meditation, can become an object of meditation. So if we are really serious about the practice we have to slowly, slowly make an effort so that meditation becomes a way of living.

Beginner's Mind

Another aspect of what we have been trying to do today is that we have no model, no prior idea or expectation of what should happen or what should not happen. It is interesting that if we have such an idea, a model, an image in everyday life, and if what happens does not correspond to that model, then suffering arises. And this is exactly how suffering is created when we are meditating. So if we meditate with an idea, a model of what should happen and what should not happen, and if the meditation does not correspond with this idea, this model, this can also create suffering. It's not only that, but we might even start hating ourselves because we cannot achieve what we think we should achieve. I know some persons who have given up meditation because they tell me that they cannot succeed in meditation, they say they cannot concentrate when they're meditating or whatever.

So here we meditate with what can be described as a beginner's mind, a don't-know mind, and whatever arises - it can be pleasant, it can be unpleasant - that becomes the object of meditation. And this continues whether you are sitting, standing, walking, lying down - in all the postures. We are learning, we are finding out, we are having this awareness in all situations.

In a way, we have to have a kind of expectation of what we are going to achieve eventually in meditation, but while practising I would suggest just to forget that, and then whatever happens becomes the practice. The simile I have thought of is like someone who is climbing a mountain. The idea is, one day, to reach the top of the mountain but if we are so much concerned, pre-occupied with what we are going to see when we reach the top, then what is happening while climbing we don't see clearly. But in this process of climbing, the adventures we have, the falls we have, the wounds we might sustain, all this we can really learn from them, this can be the practice. So, in the same way, we can have some idea of what we will eventually achieve in meditation but I would consider, I would suggest that what is more important is to learn about, to discover, to explore, to be open to what is happening from moment to moment.

Maybe another point related to this is that when we practise in this way, we are always trying to achieve results in the future. So that we are practising in order to become free or whatever in the future. But in the way that I am describing the practice, the way that I am suggesting, the results are not in the future but the results are right now, right in front of us.

So these are some aspects of what we were trying to do today. Maybe the important insights we can develop about impermanence, about change and especially about the most important aspect in the Buddha's teaching, to experience emptiness or no-self, are also related to the way we are practising. So I will touch on these aspects during the days that we will be exploring and emphasising them.

Maybe another point related to what we have been trying to do is to make discoveries, to learn, to find out. In this way, you become very self-reliant, you develop lots of self-confidence. Sometimes there is a nice phrase that is used: you become a spiritual warrior.

There are two types of warriors. One is the person who worries all the time, or most of the time. But in the practice what is encouraged is to be a spiritual warrior, to have trust, to have confidence in yourself, to have courage. So here in this practice that we have been trying to do, we develop these qualities and therefore we are open like a spiritual warrior to any situation, to any experience because we know that we can handle it, we know what to do, so that we don't have to push things away, we don't have to deny things, there is no need to refuse to look at things. So with this courage, with this trust, with this confidence, we are prepared, we are being open to whatever arises because we know, whatever arises we can handle it, we can use the Buddha's teachings in any situation.

The Vipassana Fellowship Newsletter is published about 10 times each year and is sent only on request and to previous participants of our courses. Vipassana Fellowship is an organisation dedicated to the dissemination of accurate and useful information on Buddhist meditation practices as found in the Theravada tradition. Our next mailing will be in November. Our site can be accessed via the vipassana.com and vipassana.org domains.