Vipassana Meditation, also
known as the
'Art of living', is one of India's most ancient techniques of
self-observation. This non-sectarian technique aims for the total
eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of
full liberation.
With a goal like this, one
might think this meditation is
only limited to the serious spiritual seeker. However it is not just
for those dissatisfied with what the world has to offer.
Vipassana
has become one of the more widely known techniques due to its ability
to be understood and practiced by people from all walks of
life.
While
many believe it to be a technique of meditation taught by the Buddha,
it is not just Buddhists who practice, for it supposedly gives benefits
regardless of colour, caste or creed.
Vipassana works on the idea
that positive mental states
such as kindness and compassion and negative states such as anger and
worry are all universal and not limited to one particular religion. If
these mental states are universal, then the way to increase the
desirable states and decrease undesirable states should be universal
too.
While it sounds easy, the
actual practice of Vipassana is
not. It is most commonly taught in residential 10-day courses and
involves continuous disciplined practice of up to 10 hours of
meditation per day. Participants must refrain from reading, writing,
music and even communicating with each other and devote the time to
understanding the mind-body connection.
There are three steps to the
training :
1.
The first step is to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity,
speaking falsely and taking intoxicants for the duration of the course.
2.
The second step is to develop mastery over the mind by focusing ones
attention on the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils.
Sounds easy? For most people
this is unbelievably difficult. It is the
habit pattern of the mind to wander in the past and the future and it
can be a humbling experience to discover how hard it is to live in the
present
By the fourth day the mind
is calmer and more focused,
better able to undertake the practice of Vipassana itself: observing
sensations throughout the body, understanding their nature, and
developing equanimity by learning not to react to them.
3.
Finally, on the last full day participants learn the meditation of
loving kindness or goodwill towards all, in which the purity developed
during the course is shared with all beings.
The biggest testimonial for
the benefits of Vipassana is
the widespread use of this technique in prisons around the world. One
such course was conducted for 1000 prisoners in Tihar jail –
India's largest and most notorious. Besides India, courses have been
conducted in prisons in the US, UK, Taiwan, Mongolia, and New Zealand
and it has become a vital tool in the armoury of compassionate
rehabilitation.
We are of course not
suggesting you commit a crime so you
can go to jail and practice Vipassana as there are plenty of Vipassana
centres in Australia and around the world.
