January 2008 Newsletter

Vipassana Fellowship Newsletter

January 2008

"One who has developed his mind by meditation lives in peace with himself and with the world. From him no harm or violence will issue. The peace and purity which he radiates will have an inspiring, uplifting power and will be a blessing to the world. He will be a positive factor in society, even if he lives in seclusion and silence. "
- Nyanaponika Thera.

Happy NewYear

Vipassana Fellowship's online meditation courses have been offered for 10 years and have proven helpful to meditators in many countries around the world. Our first course of 2008 begins on January 26th and is an excellent way to begin the New Year. It 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. Our course is led by Andrew Quernmore, an experienced meditation teacher based in England. Andrew wrote our first course over ten years ago and he has personally led each course since then.

Registration for the January course is available at:

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

We will continue to consider applications until the course begins. The audio supplement CD-Rom is sent by Airmail from the UK but identical downloadable files will also be available for late applicants to enable them to start on time.

Parisa

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 our courses and new monthly material to provide inspiration for your practice.

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

Live Now

by Ananda Pereira

Look to this day.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities of existence—
Action, love, transience.
Yesterday is but a dream,
and tomorrow veiled.
Live now!

(Adapted from a poem by Kalidasa)

Kassapa Thera

The secret of happy, successful living lies in doing what needs to be done now, and not worrying about the past and the future. We cannot go back into the past and reshape it; nor can we anticipate everything that may happen in the future. There is but one moment of time over which we have some conscious control—the present.

This truth has been recognized not only by the Buddha but by all the great thinkers of the world. They saw that it is futile to live in memories of the past and in dreams of the future, neglecting the present moment and its opportunities. Time moves on. Let us not stand idly by and see our hopes for success turn into memories of failure. It lies in our power to build today something that will endure through many tomorrows, something more solid than castles in the air. The Buddha has shown us the way. The time is now and the choice is ours.

Action

For good or ill, three doors of action open
To lead the actor up, or down to woe.
Speech-door is lowest, body-door comes next,
Mind is most potent of the fateful three.
Low is all action that the wise will scorn,
Vain are fine words that lag unbacked by deeds,
Ill are the deeds unguided by wise mind,
Baneful are thoughts of foolish hate and lust.
Noble is action that the wise will prize.
Grand are fine words that leap to life in deeds.
High are the deeds directed by wise mind,
Lofty are thoughts of selfless sympathy.

Kassapa Thera

“Having slain mother (craving), father (conceit), two warrior kings (views of Eternalism and Nihilism), and having destroyed a country (senses and sense objects) together with its treasure (clinging), ungrieving goes the Arahat.”

Dhammapada 294

The Buddha Dhamma is a virile teaching. It has no use for sickly sentimentality. It appeals to the practical minded, those who face facts and are prepared to exert themselves. The facts are greed, hatred and ignorance. Everywhere we see them, in the palaces of the rich and the hovels of the poor, in hospitals, at holiday resorts and in the courts of law. Wherever we see them, we must recognize them, because one cannot fight an enemy that one does not recognize.

Greed, hatred and ignorance—the ugly trio—these are our true enemies, and have always been so from the beginning of time. Against each of these enemies there is a weapon, sure and deadly, in the hand of him who is strong enough to wield it.

The weapon that destroys greed is liberality (dana). That is simple enough to think about, and beautiful enough to admire. But it is a heavy weapon and only the strong can wield it. Let us be strong in giving, as the Bodhisatta was strong, giving wealth, giving limbs, eyes, blood, life itself. There was no limit to His giving, as there is no limit to the courage of a hero.

The weapon that destroys hatred is love (metta). This is not the selfish, clinging love that novelists and film producers exploit to such advantage. Such love is a puny thing compared with the Buddha's metta, because metta has nothing of self in it and nothing of clinging. It is limitless, extending to all beings as friends, making no distinction between this person and that. It is not easy to love in this way, but it is worth trying, and the time is now. It may yet save humanity from self-destruction.

The weapon that destroys ignorance is meditation (bhavana). Buddhist meditation is not day dreaming, musing, or the building of castles in the air. It is the systematic training of the mind in concentrated thought and the focussing of that trained mind on the nature of life itself. Seen clearly, it is seen as impermanent, unsatisfactory and devoid of any core of reality. This weapon, meditation, is the most difficult of all to wield and master. It calls for training in self-discipline, a training that we all need. The beginning of this training lies in the strict observance of the five precepts. These precepts strictly observed, build a character strong enough to wield the weapon of bhavana. Let us strengthen ourselves, arm ourselves, arm ourselves with these three mighty weapons and attack the three enemies, like happy warriors.

(Source: excerpt from Wheel No.24/25, BPS, Kandy. For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and translations and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such.)

Buddhist Mindfulness

by V.F. Gunaratana

I propose to speak to you today on Buddhist mindfulness. We all know in a general way what mindfulness is. We all know that the practice of mindfulness makes us more and more alert, more and more precise and more and more careful in whatever we say or do. We also know that the absence of mindfulness results in the occurrence of these unfortunate lapses and slips, these accidental errors and emissions which form a fairly frequent disturbing feature in life. Is there no cure for this? Has no one prescribed a remedy for this? No doubt, in the recorded sayings of sages and philosophers of old, as well as in the books of modern psychologists, mindfulness is emphasized, mindfulness is eulogized, mindfulness is strongly recommended as a quality of mind which makes for efficiency in everything, but there is no special technique prescribed by them for the practice and development of this very desirable quality of mind.

It is just here that the difference is seen between mindfulness in general and mindfulness in the Buddhist sense. Nowhere in the whole wide field of the world’s literature, do we find mindfulness treated as a special subject of mental exercise, treated as a profound process of mental culture, enriched with a special technique and loaded with a wealth of detailed instructions as in Buddhism. All this could be found in the Buddha’s discourse entitled “Satipatthana Sutta.” Satipatthana means “establishment of mindfulness.” This is Buddhist mindfulness and let us now learn something about this type of mindfulness.

There are numerous things about which one can be mindful. In other words, the objects of mindfulness are numerous, but in this discourse the objects of mindfulness are brought within four categories:-

1. mindfulness of body and bodily movement.

2. mindfulness of sensations.

3. mindfulness of thoughts.

4. mindfulness of Dhamma.

There are many sub-divisions within this first category of mindfulness. For lack of time, we shall confine ourselves to one particular sub-division only, namely, mindfulness of Breath. It is called Anapanasati which literally means “mindfulness of breathing in and breathing out.” The trainee in mindfulness begins this practice by adopting the prescribed posture and then taking in a breath slowly and calmly. As he thus breathes in slowly and calmly, he must train himself to be aware that breath is coming in. Then he slowly and calmly breathes out, and as he thus breathes out, he must train himself to be aware that breath is going out. Then gradually he becomes fully concentrated on the breath, its rise and its fall and nothing else. The first effect of the continued practice of awareness of the rise and fall of breath, will be that the trainee develops a wonderful tranquillity and calm within himself, at first experienced during the moments of practice only, but later it is present right through the day. The practice of this type of mindfulness is specially beneficial to all of us in this hectic modern age with its countless factors which combine to create an atmosphere of rush and tension attended by a continual din and disturbance which robs us of that calm and quiet so necessary for our mental well-being.

The second type of mindfulness is mindfulness of sensations. Sensations can be pleasant, unpleasant and indifferent, and they arise through the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Here the trainee should not identify himself with his sensations but must regard them objectively and not subjectively. He must concentrate on the sensation and the sensation only and not on the effect on himself. Continued mindfulness on sensations as they arise and as they pass off will make him realize that sensations come and sooner or later they go. He will vividly realize the rise and fall of sensations in him. The continued realization of the rise and fall of sensations combined with the objective way of considering them without identifying himself with them, will have the wonderful effect of making the trainee less sensitive to sensations of pain and pleasure while he is engaged in such practice. This is especially useful to those suffering from chronic aches and pains of a serious nature, for such persons can by this method reduce these painful effects, instead of resorting to sedatives, tranquilizers and other pain-killing drugs which often have their after-effects.

The third type of mindfulness is mindfulness of thoughts. Here too, the trainee in mindfulness must not identify himself with his thoughts. He must consider them objectively and not subjectively. He must stand outside himself as it were, and calmly, dispassionately and impartially watch the play of thoughts on his mind. He should watch the play of thoughts as if the play is on something external to him and not on his own mind. Then only can he see more of this play of thoughts just as a spectator sees more of a game than a player who is engaged and involved in the game itself. This is what is meant by saying that the trainee should look at his thoughts objectively. If he looks at them subjectively and identifies himself with his thoughts, then a link is established between himself and the thoughts. In view of this affinity the trainee loses the power to view his thoughts impartially. His view is coloured by the colour of these thoughts. The continued practice of this type of mindfulness increases the trainee’s power of self-control, and as a result he will not rashly rush headlong into action under the influence of an incoming thought however powerful it may be. He is able to assess the desirability or undesirability of a thought that enters his mind. No thought can enter his mind without his being keenly aware of it, but if somehow there happens to be a sly entry of an undesirable thought, sooner or later the watch-dog of mindfulness will bark at the unwelcome visitor and arouse the attention of the trainee. Gradually there will arise to the trainee a vivid awareness of the rise and fall of thoughts.

We now come to the last type of mindfulness, mindfulness of dhammas. Dhamma here does not mean the doctrine itself but the many and various items of the Dhamma. Several examples of these items are given in the sermon itself such as the five mental hindrances and the Four Noble Truths. The trainee must learn to recognize and be mindful of these items whenever they become relevant to his life. Whenever a situation occurs in respect of which one or other of these items of the Dhamma appear to be applicable, the trainee must be mindful of such an item and its applicability to the situation in question. In this way so many items of the Dhamma can each day be brought into contact with his life at many points. Then the patterns of the Dhamma gradually get absorbed into the thought-world of the trainee. The important result is that there will arise an awareness or mindfulness of the Dhamma growing within him as distinguished from an intellectual knowledge of the Dhamma. This is of immeasurable help to him to lead the Dhamma-life.

In respect of each of the four practices of mindfulness with which we have dealt, we have also referred to the advantages that accrue to the trainee. But, friends, these are not the advantages the Buddha had in view when he preached the Sermon on mindfulness. The advantages so far referred to are just by-products of the system, the main purpose of which according to the Buddha is to help the trainee to attain to Nibbana.

Thus, in the case of the practice of mindfulness of breath, as the awareness of the rise and fall of the breath becomes more and more vivid, the trainee with equal vividness will develop the awareness of the rise and fall of all beings and all things. This is a deep spiritual experience in a higher plane of consciousness. To him Nibbana is near. In the case of the practice of mindfulness of Sensations the same deep spiritual experience comes since the awareness of the rise and fall of sensations leads to the awareness of the rise and fall of all beings and all things. In the case of the practice of mindfulness of thoughts the same deep spiritual experience comes, since the awareness of the rise and fall of thoughts leads to the awareness of the rise and fall of all beings and all things. Lastly in the case of the practice of mindfulness of Dhamma, here too the same deep spiritual experience comes with the continued awareness of the vitality of the Dhamma growing within the mind of the trainee.

In a moving peroration the Buddha concludes his sermon on mindfulness with the assurance that if a trainee practises fully the four types of mindfulness the state of Anagami or Arahat can be reached in seven years. In the very next sentence he says, “No, O bhikkhus, leave aside seven years. Six years will suffice.” The successive sentences one by one bring down the period to six years—five years—four years etc. and the last sentence brings it down to seven days. It will thus be seen that what matters is not so much the length of time as the intensity of the practice. Let us also commence this great and powerful practice if we have not already done so.

(Source: excerpt from Wheel No.197, BPS, Kandy. For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and translations and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such.)

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 January. Our site can be accessed via the vipassana.com and vipassana.org domains.