Establishing Daily Vipassana Practice In the basket of resources, available to Vipassana meditators to develop their practice, a recent addition, the book by Dr Paul R. Fleischman and Susan Fleischman is unique. It is short and dense and has the feel of a talisman. It arrests you, at once, with its format. The PDF which consists of 79 pages with carefully crafted one or two sentences, in simple English on every page has audio and video accompaniments. It is very uplifting to be able to simultaneously read, see, and hear the distinguished Vipassana teachers, at one’s own pace. Dr Fleischman was especially requested by Goenkaji to communicate the Dhamma by using the language and concepts of modern scientific disciplines. It is not only profound academic knowledge but deep compassionate understanding as well of the challenge involved in maintaining a meditation practice in an environment, with as they say, “little social and cultural support," which animates the formulations. The unequivocal recommendation, however, of the authors to meditators who have maintained some continuity in their practice is to prepare to practice for two hours, daily in “your best time of the day, twice a day, everyday.” About themselves they say, “sitting one hour twice a day is our backbone, our refuge our way of life.” “Don’t you think,” they ask, “that the last, best refuge is equanimity with awareness that body sensations are all transient”? (Page 19). By meditating regularly for longer periods and maintaining the discipline required by sila and samādhi, palpable benefits are bound to be there, they say. There could be a greater sense of peace, and effortless friendliness (“Meditation also permits the upwelling of Metta, goodness of heart”), more “skilful life choices” and also sudden clarity in difficult situations, due to the bubbling up of “Dhamma wisdom”. But to advance in the direction of the way out of suffering which the Buddha showed, hard choices will have to be made about one’s routine, life style, social media usage, “consumer attachments” and even geographical location (pages 24, 29). For new sources of emotional support and constructive and satisfying social engagement—and this point is elaborated at length—the meditator should look towards fellow travellers on the path. As per his aptitude and volition, he or she can help in the organising and management of group sittings, courses and Dhamma promotion activities. The authors remind us that human beings are, in present times, the most advanced outcomes of a process of evolution that has gone on for the last 14 billion years. Our planet and all living and non-living beings upon it are made of the same material as other entities in the universe. Our own internal state of constant flux and the basic instability of human groupings and arrangements has a parallel in that all formations in the cosmos are “impermanent and changing and will disappear” (pages 41, 39, 38, 40). Vipassana meditators are a privileged group (page 42), in as much as many have actually experienced, even if it was fleetingly, that there is “no place for them to stand upon” and there is “nothing to for them to hold on to." This is nothing but the dynamic of the all-encompassing universal law, which the Buddha talked about. Those who meditate have a choice about how they can align themselves more fully with this Law and use their limited time on earth and the opportunities life presents them in a more optimal way.

Thank you so much for encouraging all the meditators across the world, practice twice a day with acceptance, importance of serving and Metta. Thanks again 🙏🙏🙏 Much Metta 🙏