Vipassana meditation is the art of living consciously. This is silence. This is a certain immersion in the space of silence within oneself. Buddha argued that all the causes of our suffering are that we do not see or unconsciously shun our true nature, and our happiness and satisfaction with ourselves and life depends on external factors. Vipassana practice is a very strong and rewarding experience. It originates in antiquity, and it is based on the Sattipathana Sutta - the most studied treatise of Buddhism.
The essence of vipassana
Vipassana meditation is the art of concentrating on one’s ordinary breath to purify one’s consciousness. The purpose of the practice is to clear the channels of perception, grow an internal observer and look at your mental flows from the side. All this subsequently allows you to review your life, see stereotypes of behavior, analyze things that can lead a person out of oneself, and understand why this happens. Silence only enhances the effect. It helps to preserve and accumulate energy, because through conversations it leaves a lot. Gossip, empty chatter on the phone, discussion of negative events are especially sucked out. The technique of performing vipassana does not impose an appeal to God, spirits or other external sources, but is based only on one’s own feelings when observing breathing.
Why be prepared?
Judging by the description of vipassana, the execution technique does not constitute any complex system: you sit down, breathe, become aware. However, after listening to the feedback from the participants, you begin to understand that everything is far from as simple as it seems. The mere fact that 10% of the participants do not reach the end is already alarming.
Vipassana meditation implies a 10-day course during which participants adhere to the prescribed disciplinary code, learn the basics of the methodology and almost always experience unexpected results. The main actions that need to be abandoned for these 10 days:
- killing of living creatures (a nailed mosquito is also considered);
- theft;
- sexual affinity;
- False;
- drinking / smoking.
The most important thing for the mood is to understand that meditation is not a vacation or a vacation. Rather, it is more like a young fighter's course. Before starting vipassana you will have to give up:
- smartphone and laptop;
- prayers;
- reading books and correspondence with anyone;
- any contact with people, including visual and physical;
- listening to music and watching TV;
- habitual diet (light vegetarian food throughout the course);
- the usual daily routine.
So that all these victims do not come as a surprise, it is better to study the process of meditation in advance. If you’re used to checking your phone every second for messages in instant messengers, conducting business correspondence by e-mail, watching videos on YouTube and not living a day without meat, then giving up all of the above can be a serious test.
Meditating for 11 hours a day is a powerful work with the most secret corners of your psyche. Many begin to cry, laugh, cough, fall into a stupor. One must also be prepared for such metamorphoses and treat them with understanding: serious changes are taking place with a person, all complexes, old grievances and injuries will come out.
Sample action plan
At 4 a.m. the gong will be all students for the first meditation (from 4:30 a.m. until breakfast at 6:30 a.m.). Conditionally meditation can be divided into 3 types:
- in the hall under the guidance of a teacher (mandatory);
- independent in their room;
- arbitrary (the student can decide where he will meditate). By the way, it will not work out, because from time to time the rooms are checked and politely asked to wake up / rise.
It is very important that during meditation it is comfortable. This becomes clear in the first minutes, so usually in the halls there are all kinds of devices (such as pillows, benches) to allow the student to concentrate as much as possible. In special cases, you can even lean against the wall.
On the first day you need to monitor your breathing. This turns out to be far from as simple a task as it might seem initially: thoughts run up in different directions, students continue to mentally iron their underwear, sort out the engine of their car, cut straws into carrots and worry about the cat, which the neighbor will feed for two weeks.
Sitting cross-legged with a habit is very tiring. 20 minutes after the start of the practice, it begins to seem that the legs will simply fall off soon. This does not mean that you are doing something wrong; teachers explain that pain is part of the process. You need to learn to abstract from unpleasant sensations. Some participants note that within a few days they were able to identify with the pain, although its awareness remained.
By the middle of the second day it is already easier to ignore the aches in the body and restrain the flight of imagination. The task is a little complicated, and now you need to follow the sensations in the nose.
Every day a little new tasks are added (students try to focus on different parts of the body (and even internal organs) in turn).
clothing
Clothing is also of paramount importance: soft, loose, breathable, covering shoulders and legs - this is ideal. If you suddenly forgot something or realized that your swimsuit and shorts do not suit you at all, then in the center you can ask the teacher about other clothes. By the way, in a whisper, infrequently and on business with a teacher, talking is allowed.
Why breath?
Why is breathing the main object of meditation? This is because an object suitable for meditation should be:
- always with you;
- easily accessible;
- cheap;
- Do not cause a person to feel angry, greedy, or mislead him.
Breathing is perfect in all respects. This is a process in which we are always, from birth to death, and which we do not need to think about - it happens on its own. Breathing is cyclical (inhalation-exhalation), and at the same time under the influence of circumstances can easily change. A phenomenon observed in all living things. Breathing is life in miniature!
Nutrition
Depending on the courses you have chosen, the meal regimen may vary significantly. In some centers there are only two meals: at 7 and 11 in the morning. But you can take food with you and have a snack later. It happens that they feed more often, but food cannot be taken out of the hall. One thing in common - all vegetarian food. By the way, they usually praise food! The menu is quite diverse: fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, soups, rice, cereals. You can and even need to drink a lot, so coolers are everywhere. Everyone has their own place for eating (places are numbered to avoid unforeseen situations).
What to do during breaks?
Again, pastimes at different Vipassana centers may vary. On some courses it is allowed to practice yoga, to run (sometimes hatha yoga is even included in the program of the course itself and is taught by certified instructors). In other courses, additional loads are not recommended. In between meditations, you are allowed to walk, perform household duties, and sleep.
Course fees
By tradition, vipassana courses exist on donations. The gift is accepted only from those participants who have completed at least one course to the end, that is, from people who have benefited from the practice, and they have found something for themselves in it. In the midst of a flash of insight, people usually want to share knowledge or advice with others, which is why they donate a certain amount in support of such events. This is the only way of gratitude accepted for teaching vipassana. Both teachers and organizers work completely free of charge.
Vipassana: home execution technique
First you need to prepare yourself for meditation. Noise, dirt, external pseudo-problems, swearing are unacceptable, and you need to get rid of them. It's time to take a bath or shower, put on clean, free clothes, turn off the phone, and cancel all guests.
Next, prepare a place. It should be a small space where nothing will distract (perhaps it will be your own bedroom or loggia). It is very important to minimize all potential irritants: dim the light, remove all pungent odors and eliminate extraneous noise.
The next step is to sit comfortably with your legs crossed (as far as possible, of course). You can try to identify with the Buddha statue, imagine how it looks, and copy the pose. During meditation, you need to rebuild yourself from time to time, because, as a rule, the position changes as soon as you are distracted from it, and there is no teacher nearby.
And the last preparatory stage is to calm your mind and concentrate, to renounce. Vipassans consider the advantages to be the opportunity in practice to disconnect from your body and look at yourself from the side. That is why the two things that you need to feel during meditation are the creation of the flows of love and creation in yourself and the observation of every part of your body.
What can be obtained as a result?
Some participants in diving courses in Vipassana speak very restrained about it: a useful experience, perhaps, would have traveled more. Others argue that life literally split into two parts: before and after. The latter, as a rule, come after any shocks, so their meditation hurts more than the first.
Sometimes people are shocked to realize that they have migraine, pain in the knee and chronic sinusitis. And others write a story on their blog about how they attended a vipassana course, the implementation technique of which is complicated, and did not feel anything at all. Therefore, no one can say how this practice will take place with you, but you will get your positive experience!
Where can I study?
In Russia, vipassana courses can be found, but not in any city. With us, they exist only in the tradition of S. N. Goenka, although there are other Goenka schools around the world. He is a Burmese businessman, at one time so impressed with the results of vipassana after his own immersion that he became a teacher and founded the international network of Vipassana centers "Dhamma Dullabha".
Dhamma is the most important concept in Buddhism, and it is difficult for him to find a synonym. This is something like a set of rules for the equilibrium of the universe, something that people are trying to achieve with vipassana. Dullabha in Sanskrit means "elusive." The name of the center itself means that they will not have to rest, and meditation must be approached with all responsibility.
Vipassana centers "Dhamma Dullabha" are located in the suburbs, in the Leningrad region and in Yekaterinburg. The time for the courses is published in January, and the opportunity to sign up appears a couple of months before they start.