Twenty-six centuries ago Gautama the Buddha developed a meditation technique, that has come down to us as Vipassana.
This meditation helped people not only train their minds but also effectively ensure liberation from Samsara, that is, the cycle of death and rebirth.
Gautama the Buddha – a founder of Vipassana
Gautama used to say that there were Buddhas*, there are Buddhas, and there will be Buddhas after him.
However, he pointed out that his own role is to provide human beings with an efficient meditation technique that could help get rid of reincarnation (samsara) and achieve liberation, that is, moksha or nirvana. This achievement will allow people never to come back to physical reality and therefore never to experience suffering again.
* Buddhas = enlightened ones
Episodes from the life of Gautama Buddha. Photo © FRG Worldwide Oy
Before the invention of this meditation technique, Gautama had tried different meditation methods designed by others but never was satisfied by the quality and deepness of them.
As a result of his patient search, he got the chance to get his own technique, which became known as Vipassana meditation.
What the Vipassana technique is about?
In short, the Vipassana meditation technique is about getting rid of addictions that we have accumulated during innumerable materialistic existences, i.e. lives. These addictions (filth and/or imperfections) are hidden in the deeper mind — our subconscious.
At the beginning of the 10-day Vipassana meditation course, the goal of the student is to calm his mind by focusing on the breath and catching the sensations under the nostrils.
Self-healing via Vipassana meditation
Later, students perform meditation practices to activate the subconscious mind. Access to the subconscious and exercises will enable self-healing, first of all of the physical body, and later of the soul.
This leads to an enlargement of the aura and increased immunity. If possible, ask an experienced meditation teacher to measure your aura before and after your meditation course.
Our subconscious is like a dark room, and concentrating on breathing shall light it, making the previously hidden addictions and imperfections “visible”. During the Vipassana meditation course, we experience those flaws through the sensations in our bodies.
The goal of Vipassana meditation is to keep us indifferent to those sensations.
Why Vipassana?
The wheel in the picture has a symbolic meaning. The circle, the round shape of the wheel, represents the perfection of the dharma, the G. Buddha’s teaching. The rim of the wheel represents meditative concentration and mindfulness, which hold practice together.
Karma
To understand how Vipassana works imagine yourself as a traveler who came to this world with luggage full of karma.
The project named “Your New Life” is already designed for you, and everything that you need can be found in the “Your Destiny” script. Your Project “Life” project is interactive because you have the Free Will to influence your destiny.
So, your main task is to correct your sins and imperfections committed by you in previous existences. This will lighten your karmic baggage and reduce the number of incarnations in the physical world or worlds.
You can succeed at work and return to Home Base* with a lighter bag, or you can fail, creating additional negative karma and returning Home with even heavier luggage than before.
The smallest group of travelers will return Home without any karma. This group of people is the most fortunate — burning away all negative karma, they do not create a reason for rebirth.
One such way that helps people get to this state is Vipassana meditation.
*Home Base = Heaven
Benefits of Vipassana
The students who follow the Code of Discipline and precisely heed the teacher’s instructions are getting a chance to get great benefits from the Vipassana meditation.
Students who strictly follow the Code of Discipline and the instructions of the teacher stand a chance to get the most benefit from Vipassana meditation.
Satya N. Goenka – Teacher of Vipassana
So let’s make a list of the benefits of Vipassana
1. Mind training to stay balanced in everyday life
2. To increase the energy level of the physical body
3. To study the philosophy of Gautama Buddha as interpreted by his faithful follower S.N. Goenka
4. Connect with your subconscious
5. Heal
6. Get relief from old or new emotional pain
7. Gain the ability to transform negativity into positivity
8. Have a supernatural experience (since vipassana can activate some paranormal abilities)
9. Communicate with the same people
10. Achieve the ultimate goal of man – to receive redemption from Samsara – reincarnation chain
*Note:
- This is an edited version of the article, published in the Spiritual Awareness Blog on Jan 21, 2017
- This article is based on my personal experience and thoughts after my first 10-day meditation course of Vipassana and is not presented to be an absolute truth – Jacklyn A. Lo.
- Find more about the reincarnation chain and liberation from it in the novel Redemption by Jacklyn A.Lo
- The next article will tell about possible side effects of the Vipassana, the organization of the training, and accommodations in the retreat territory