By Paul R Fleischman | 9/3/2022
Noble Truths: We are always in danger but usually we
find ways to keep this unsettling truth at bay. In the legend of the
Buddha, he ran away from home to seek wisdom when he understood the
pervasive reality of illness, old age, and death, the very factors that
compound to make our coronavirus pandemic so powerful. We are current
members of all the generations who have had to come to grips with the
recognition that illness is intrinsic to existence, and can be perceived
either grimly, or can be taken as a provocation to promote the kind of
insightful living that life actually demands of us.
By Paul R Fleischman | 8/20/2022
We are all feeling the pressure bearing down on us due to the war in
Europe. A Vipassana talk on any other topic might seem as if he were
ignoring the elephant in the room. Because of its relevancy, the
presentation below is a revision of my 2017 lecture “Meditating in
Troubled Times”.
By Jeppe Strandskov | 8/20/2022
There are two days in my life that have left a bigger impact on me
than any other days: the day I learned Vipassana and the day my son was
born.
When asked when one should first sit a course, Goenka
answered in the mother’s womb, before birth. My son was fortunate to
experience this. The course was quite late in the pregnancy, and he was
already a little wild. Placing my hand on his mother’s belly, I would
often feel him moving about, kicking his little legs. But during the
course he calmed down completely, and it continued like that until he
was born. Even after he was born, he seemed calmly aware of his surroundings,
always looking around with curiosity.
By Luz Donis | 8/10/2022
Perfectly present,
In sync with a metronome—
it’s time to let go.
Cause and effect rules:
All actions are subject to
concentric circles.
A spawn of nature
thrusted into existence,
hence the momentum.
By Thomas M. Luckett | 8/10/2022
Consider
one of the more obscure disciples of the Buddha described in the Pāli
canon and its commentaries. Her name may have been Therikā, but it is
impossible to be sure. A poet, she left only a single four-line verse
that has survived to modern times. Yet by following several different
threads in the ancient sources it may be possible to understand
something of her life and accomplishments, both literary and spiritual.
By Wayne Briscoe | 7/18/2022
10 days at sea,
adrift I float,
Secure and serene in my
Dhamma boat.
Though the waves tower high,
Though the wind does whip,
Nothing can disturb me
In my unsinkable ship.
By Ke Ton | 7/18/2022
"Before
I had studied the Dharma for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and
rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to
the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are
not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For
it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once
again as rivers."
― Qingyuan Weixin, 9th Century
By Patrick Given-Wilson | 7/18/2022
Right understanding has to illuminate every single part of the practice of Vipassana.
The Buddha called it sammā-diṭṭhi. In Pāli, diṭṭhi literally meant a view, or a philosophy. Then as now, there were many different kinds of philosophies in currency. But sammā-diṭṭhi,
right understanding, has nothing to do any philosophy or intellectual
position. Even with great devotion, an absolute and total conviction in
every single word of the Buddha, will not liberate anybody. It merely
becomes a belief-system like any other, and so it becomes a trap. The
Buddha carefully used the word sammā meaning “right”, and sammā-diṭṭhi only becomes sammā when it is practiced. This is the critical difference, and this is what purifies the individual: the practice.
By Andrée François | 6/22/2022
By Shelley S | 6/22/2022
Day Zero. My hand shoots up ‘enthusiastically and emphatically’ (the
centre manager’s words) when the request for an old student to sound the
first gong is asked for. In the lead up, I have tried not to let
thoughts roll around in my head of ’do I really want to’, or ‘will
anyone else want to’. I am happy to give way — especially if another
student has never gonged before. This time I am the only female
volunteer. I request an additional alarm clock.
By David Cohen | 6/22/2022
During a recent committee meeting at my local Dhamma center, we
discussed alternative ways to encourage service because our meditation
center, like many other Dhamma centers, is working through server
shortages. This essay is my attempt to dive deeper into mettā and
service and how they are essential for a complete practice.
By Andrée François | 6/4/2022
By RSM | 6/4/2022
This mind
waits to enlight,
to befriend.
Simply remains still
holding close,
for a moment of awareness from within.
By Pierre Robert | 6/4/2022
Elaborating
on the assertion that all beings seek happiness, the Buddha declared it
impossible for anyone to be truly happy if he or she does not refrain
from whatever harms the peace and harmony of others.
Since his
teaching entered my life, I have recognized in my quest for personal
happiness a social responsibility: my duty to be happy for the welfare
of others. After all, no-one is interested in the hurtful things
that I sometimes say about them, in enduring my blame and annoyance, in
witnessing my worries and anxiety attacks, or in my insistence that
things go my way.
By Ke Ton | 5/23/2022
The title is “Nirodha”. The seal in the upper right says: “Buddhist doctrine teaches: take all things as Impermanent and Imaginary”
By Luke Matthews | 5/23/2022
In 1980, after the hot season from April to June, few Westerners remained at Dhamma Giri. And during the rainy season that followed there were fewer still. Most of the Indian servers too had departed. Goenkaji himself had gone to conduct courses in Europe and North America.
During the monsoon Dhamma Giri is a magical place enswirled by leaden clouds and buffeted by pounding rain that abruptly gives way to dazzling sunlight. The parched hills turn emerald green with fresh grass and newborn waterfalls cascade off the surrounding mesas. How to dry your clothes and keep them from becoming mouldy, however, was an enduring problem.
By Bruce Stewart | 5/23/2022
The final installment of the essay on the Noble Eightfold path
concerns the cluster of factors that address the cultivation of wisdom,
or paññā. In the Buddha’s teaching, with a strong base of sīla, one is
well-grounded to more easily tamp down the hindrances, which leads one
to more easily develop strong samādhi. And with the sharpened mind, one
can penetrate into the laws that govern existence, and uproot the
tendency towards experiencing dukkha at the deepest level of the mind.
Paññā is also called “insight.”
By Mosami (11 years old) | 5/9/2022
By Manish Chopra | 5/9/2022
I handed the instructions for the
location over to the chosen driver and we started making our way to the
destination. I closed my eyes for a few minutes in the back of the taxi
and the meditation process started spontaneously despite all the sounds
outside and the bright sunlight. I was delighted to note that I was able
to meditate in an unusual setting like a car ride. Taxis and flights
were a big part of my work week so it was comforting to know that I
could meditate in such environments.
By Bhikkhu Anālayo | 5/9/2022
From
the viewpoint of cultivating liberating insight, a central distinction
to be made is that between avoiding the types of joy that lead to
attachment while at the same time recognizing that there are commendable
forms of joy. These are in particular the wholesome types of joy that
come from deepening insight and learning to let go of clinging and
attachments. Finding joy in such letting go can provide an important
inspiration for dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to the continuity of
practice and for this reason should not be underestimated.
By Patrick Given-Wilson | 5/9/2022
For centuries Ashoka and his reign were forgotten in the mists of time and history, his name hardly known, his monuments broken, burnt and buried. It was only in the 19th Century, as India opened up to the West that a series of scholars, epigraphers, and archaeologists began to reassemble and understand his achievements and his message.
By Varsha Patel | 4/24/2022
On the mind's screen
Faces unknown are seen
Strangers from the past nameless to my conscious mind
Strangers from the future whom I might meet sometime
Or just random images in meditation time.
By Manish Chopra | 4/24/2022
The New Year’s Eve party across from our campsite continued well into
the early hours of the morning and the sounds of the live band and the
revelers were intermingled with the chants in the courtyard. This was
probably the first New Year celebration I had spent alone and in a quiet
manner. I reflected on the relevance of “the party’s over when the
music stops” to my condition coming into the camp having lived for all
these years in ignorance, reveling in the party of my unaware and
indulgent consciousness.
