Submission Procedures
Articles, Book Reviews, Poetry and Art
- An Individual Uses Words for Expression. A Civilization Expresses Itself in Architecture.
- My Garden in Spring
- Bodhi Touch
- The Importance of Friendship, Harmony and Right Speech, Part 1 of 2
- Uncovering Realities: An Interview with Yuval Noah Harari
- Such As It Is
- The First Year: Reflections of a Getting-Older-Every-Day Student
- Yatra Monks
- Inner Purification Leads to Outer Alignment
- The Life of a Nun in Myanmar
An Ode to Vipassana Centres
By | 1/22/2022
At Vipassana centers, anyone can take as many courses as they want as long as they're willing to abide by very simple rules: stay quiet, disturb no one, and sit in the meditation hall during mandatory daily sessions.
If you think that a virus is a great equalizer, you should visit a Vipassana center. There is no cost. No one is excluded. There is no way to pay for better accommodations, better teachers, or better treatment. There is no class system. A billionaire stays in the same type of room, sleeps in the same kind of bed, and eats the same offerings of food as you and I do.
There is no way to fast track into a course and no shortcut to finish. No hacks. No competition. No winner. No loser.
Everyone is equally welcome regardless of race, religion, gender, age, physical appearance, bank account, and connections. I can't claim that I always follow the teachings perfectly, but we are taught to be non-judgmental, loving and compassionate to everyone. And it's up to us to practice well. There aren't any "karma police."
The teachers are not paid even though they've trained for years. They rarely speak and when they do, it's not about themselves. The buildings are not named for donors or teachers or anyone, including the founder.
The servers volunteer their time and energy. They are former students helping to provide the same peaceful setting that they received on their courses. In between courses, former students give more time and energy to work on projects at the centers.
We don't find this way of life in the rest of the "real world" yet Vipassana centers continue to flourish without sponsorship or marketing of any kind. There are more than 200 centers located in almost 100 countries.
This is not a call to action. I do not wish to proselytize. I just feel slightly better about our world when I remember that Vipassana centers are not fairy tales. They do exist.