Vipassana
"Seeing and Accepting The Reality as it is"
Introduction
Defining Vipassana
Vipassana is a technique that teaches one to observe reality as is.
To observe Reality without distortions can be difficult for a mind that is constantly thinking and imagining.
How easy it is for one to judge a person before getting to know them?
How easy it is to believe the worst about the future that has not yet happened?
How easy it is to believe that people are judging us when we have a sensitive mind?
Through Vipassana, one is taught the ways to Still the Mind so that one can simply observe Reality as is. Through observing the Reality that is happening inside, one can ultimately realize their entire being.
The word Vipassana (Pāli) means insight, which states the purpose of the practice—to develop Inner Knowing.
In terms of meditation techniques, Vipassana is the most effective technique to develop Self-Knowing because one is taught to learn the Truth about themselves through through direct experience rather than engaging with their intellectual mind.
Why would one want to develop The Knowing of their Inner Reality?
As one develops Self-Knowing, Self-Transformation will naturally happen.
Through Vipassana, one can learn more about the nature of one's mind and the cause of their suffering. Developing Self-Knowing this way can help one to uncover the solutions to their Suffering at the deepest level of the mind.
In terms of history, Vipassana was a self-transformative technique created and taught by Gautama Buddha. From Buddha's perspective, the cause of suffering comes from one's attachments. And Vipassana was a technique created for one to release their attachments at the root level of the mind. And of course, it's a technique that was and is not affiliated with any religion. Buddha would not have wanted to create a Religion because it would go against his teachings of attachment.
After creating the Vipassana technique, Buddha knew that if it was written down, the essence of his teachings would eventually become lost in translation. Thus, the technique was transmitted orally from one generation to another by those who understood the practice. As a result, the technique was not widely known until the 20th century (2500 years later!) when S. N. Goenka began dedicating his life to making Vipassana known to the world. With his help, many Vipassana meditation centres emerged worldwide.
People now can learn Vipassana in more than 90 countries.
These days, to formally learn the meditation technique will require one to take a 10-day course in one of the Vipassana Meditation Centers (link here).
Each day involves around 10 hours of meditation with video discourses at the end of each day.
The course is named Vipassana as taught by S. N. Goenka. It's named thus not because Goenka created the technique nor that Goenka wants to take credit for it. But rather, one can simply understand it as Vipassana as interpreted by S. N. Goenka. The original teacher (Gautama Buddha) has long passed away.
This article will look at some key points of Vipassana and the ways one can Vipassana a catalyst for Self-Transformation. Self-Transformation means the process of transforming one's mind, of liberating oneself from their sufferings—i.e. their fears, impatience, anger, any states of the mind that cause the experience of Unhappiness.
More information about Vipassana can be found on the Vipassana Website.
Note: the Vipassana course is free and runs on the donation of its assistant teachers and students.
However, if you wish for an online Vipassana Course, I think you will be able to discover them somewhere online but I do suggest trying a course in person because doing it can be quite enlightening.
Personally, I have created a 22 day online Vipassana course called The Creator's Meditation. This is Vipassana as taught "interpreted" by me.
On my journey of transforming my mind, I've realized the ways to use Vipassana to transform every kind of suffering state of the mind. That is why I have created this website with various articles for you to understand how to apply Vipassana into your everyday life. To me, life experiences will always be the bigger practice, Vipassana is simply a catalyst for you to learn how to use your life experiences to transform your mind.
So, in this article, you will also learn the ways to use Vipassana efficiently and see the differences between my approach to Vipassana and the Vipassana Course as taught by S. N. Goenka.
Vipassana In Depth
In this section, we will look at how effective Vipassana is in transforming one's suffering states of the mind. This is written from my own perspective.
The Teaching
Before learning Vipassana, one can understand a bit about the background of the practice.
Vipassana is a practice that was created more than 2000 years ago. So, much time has changed, but the technique hasn't. This is not to say that the technique should change with time; the technique is in itself perfect from my own opinion. But, it's more about the delivery. The idea of meditating 10 hours a day for 10 days straight can frighten the minds of this era that is always plugged into some sort of mental stimulation every moment. So, the harsh traditions of throwing one into the ocean so that one can learn how to swim can be a bit too much for some minds to take. As a result, not many people may dare to try the course. And even if they did, the sudden plunge can make the mind react too much, which can affect one's potential to learn from the 10 days of Vipassana.
That is why I would suggest one to prepare their minds first before taking a deep dive into a 10-day course. Much like learning to swim, if one is thrown into the deep end without learning the basics, one would end up spending most of their time struggling rather than learning.
So, if one really wishes to get the most out of a 10 day Vipassana course, one can learn to ground their mind. This can be done by practising yoga and meditation for a few months or even years before undertaking an intensive Vipassana course. I've created many free meditation practices on the courses page to help you ground your mind in various ways. There are also various other online resources that you can find on the course page to help you ground your mind.
Realize that to transform the mind, one must learn to approach their life experiences differently. Thus, if one carries a reactive mind to a Vipassana course, one can end up reacting in the same way as before and thus nothing new is learnt. That is why it's best to ground one's mind first before going to a Vipassana Course so they can use their 10 days to really transform their habit patterns of reacting.
From my experience, a lot of people come out of the Vipassana Course happy so the 10 days is well worth it. But most always come out a bit clueless as to what they've experienced and learnt because they reacted too much.
So, it's important to ground oneself before taking the Vipassana Course especially if you have a sensitive and busy mind to reap the most benefits. However, if one has the time and courage, one can simply take the plunge and try the 10-day Vipassana course as there will be no doubt that one will be able to realize something more about themselves in those 10 days spent with their minds.
Personally, I believe Vipassana is a powerful and life-transforming practice. I have done about 6 Vipassana sittings already and each time I have come out more enlightened than before. And I'm thankful that someone had advised me to ground my mind before my first Vipassana practice. I spent around 1-2 years practising Ashtanga Yoga and Meditation before I learnt Vipassana.
Importance
Important Tips
The best way to learn Vipassana technique is to just surrender everything one knows about meditation and try one's best.
So see the advice here as simply as tips that one can try rather than follow.
Tips: During The Vipassana Course
Intention To Just Observe
To the busy mind, the practice of sitting Still can seem boring, especially when one has to repeat the practice 10 hours a day.
So, there will be times when you will find the mind eager to escape the present reality into the thoughts and imagination of things more exciting and important.
To reap the most out of the practice, one will have to overcome this desire of the mind because whenever we escape into the thinking and imagining state, we are going against the practice of observing reality as is.
So before each sitting, one can first make clear the intention behind one's sitting—which is to observe reality as is! Although the importance of carrying this intention is implied in the instructions, one can immediately forget as they close their eyes because so many things can be happening in the mind.
So, it's a good idea to remind oneself of the intention before each sitting. One can even declare to oneself: "I'm here to just observe, not to be happy, not to be sad, but to just observe whatever comes".
High Energy
To get the most out of Vipassana will require one to have a high level of energy.
Realize that the more you can stay in the moments of observing reality as is, the more you will be able to get deeper into the practice.
Imagine sitting in a lecture room. You are feeling tired because you've been partying the night before and only managed to get 3 hours of sleep. How well do you think you'll be able to concentrate in class? How much do you think you will be able to learn when you are low in energy? How motivated would you feel to be in class?
Likewise, the less energy you have in the Vipassana course, the less you will be able to get out of the course.
So, it's important to sleep well. If you don't sleep well in your 10 day Vipassana course, you will end up spending much time struggling to stay awake during the practice rather than actually meditating.
That is why it's important also to not overeat during the course because if you do so,, it will affect your energy levels and your sleep quality.
Also, it's important to not exercise too much and rest plenty during the course so you don't end up sitting in a fatigued state.
Use the break time to take a light walk around the meditation centre, get some sunshine, and get some rest on the bed.
Tips: After The Vipassana Course
Completing The Practice With Life
From the video discourses in the course, you will get an idea that the goal of the Vipassana course is to liberate oneself from one's suffering states of the mind. And over the course of 10 days, you will find yourself spending most of the time learning how to "not react" and observe reality as is.
Because of this, people can usually leave the course with the impression that the only way to liberate oneself from one's suffering state of the mind is to learn how not to react to it. As a result, one can end up practising Vipassana with the Goal to not react to their life experiences.
Learning to react less in life can indeed help one to alleviate their suffering state of mind, however, to really reach the root of one's mind, one has to carry the intention to Know The Self. Remember, this is the purpose of Vipassana: to develop insight.
When this intention is carried, The Self will gradually understand the cause as to why they are even reacting in the first place. Once the cause of one's suffering is discovered, then one can let go of what is causing one's suffering reactions.
So, it's important to realize the difference between trimming the grass and transforming the seed.
Without Knowing the deeper cause of one's misery, one will only be able to alleviate them by learning to react less. So, carry the intention to Know yourself as you meditate. This is not about changing any of the techniques of Vipassana, but rather, in changing the attitude and mentality you carry when practising it. Your intentions will always determine what you get out of the practice.
Path Of Creator
Vipassana In Relation To The Path Of Creator
Will Vipassana really liberate me from my suffering states of the mind?
Indeed, after the 10 days course, you will feel as if you've released a lot of your suffering states of mind because in these 10 days you would've learnt to react less to your life experiences.
Without learning Vipassana, we can exaggerate the suffering states of the mind by subconsciously overreacting. So, after you learn to react less, you will gain back a lot of happiness through the Vipassana practice.
But will these inner pains disappear completely so that you don't experience them again?
This will depend on how one approaches the Vipassana technique. If one approaches Vipassana with the intention to Know the seed cause of their suffering states of the mind, then one will be able to reach the deepest part of their mind to transform their sufferings. However, if one is only aiming to react less, then one will only be able to achieve alleviation at that level of the mind.
So, although Vipassana is a perfect technique, the effects will always be determined by how one approaches the practice.
It's also important to realize that Vipassana is not the only tool in life one can use to liberate themselves from their suffering states of mind. One can actually use their life experiences as well. The life experiences that we go through every day are full of transformative potential that can be tapped into if one knows how to use them.
If you look hard enough, you'll be able to discover people who have grown from their life experiences, for instance, people who have overcome addiction, their anger, their greed, their pessimism, and so forth through going certain life experiences. And I am sure that you will be able to relate. Perhaps there are some life experiences that you've been through that has made you release some suffering states of mind.
So, the process of liberating oneself from their suffering states of mind is not much a process of learning to react less but more of a journey of Self-Realization—when we realize something more about ourselves. Although learning to react less can help us to go deeper in the mind to achieve Self-Realization, Self-Transformation is not achieved by simply learning to react less.
Thus, all spiritual practices and life experiences can be used to liberate oneself from their suffering state of mind if one can use it to realize more about themselves.
As life experiences are happening every moment, life will always be the Bigger Practice. When you combine Vipassana with Life Experiences, this is when you can really accelerate on the journey towards greater happiness.
On my journey of transforming the mind, I've learnt ways to use life experiences to transform different kinds of suffering states of mind. I have created this website so that people can know the ways as well.
My approach to Vipassana is different from the Vipassana that is taught by Goenka, and I'm sure Buddha will also approach it differently as we are all different minds.
Let me share with you the differences in the way I approach Vipassana when compared to Goenka's. I share with you these differences not to judge the practice but to give you an additional perspective that you can see the Vipassana Course from.
Difference between the Creator's Meditation and Vipassana
The Creator's Meditation Course is a 22-day course I've created to teach the Vipassana technique from my own perspective. This entire website is also part of the course because in each article you find here, there will be a section on how the Creator's Meditation can be applied in life, which is something I consider quite important to know if one wishes to utilize the Vipassana technique to the fullest extent.
So, how different is the Creator's Meditation from the Vipassana course as taught by Goenka?
They are both compatible with each other because they are of the same technique with the end goal of liberating oneself from their suffering states of mind.
In my teaching, the state of Self-Rejection is the seed cause of the Suffering state of the mind. Thus, to liberate one from their sufferings whether it be fear, anger, impatience, and so forth, one needs to transform the state of Self-Rejection towards Self-Acceptance. And to do so, one must explore and transform the beliefs that have promote one to Self-Reject.
In Vipassana by Goenka, the cause of suffering is due to one's "Sankhara" or "Karma" or "Habit patterns of one's lifetimes." To liberate one from their sufferings is to practice maintaining equanimity towards the cravings and aversions in life so that one can stop generating the same habit patterns.
The main difference is that Goenka's teaching focuses on addressing the habit patterns through learning to be equanimous and not react whilst I believe that an extra step is needed, which is to know the cause of why one was even reacting in the first place so that one can address their suffering at the deepest level of the mind.
As stated previously, it's important to carry the right intentions if one wishes to go address their suffering states of mind at the seed level.
If one aims for equanimity with the intention to escape aversion or craving, or just to follow instructions, or with the hopes of achieving a higher state of mind, or with the belief that by doing so that things will eventually change, i.e. anitya—these intentions can block one from going further into their mind.
To go deeper is to have the intention to Know the Reality of Oneself. And this is done not through thinking, but simply observing Reality as is—Vipassana.
However, this is not to say that learning to be equanimous with intentions other than Knowing Oneself is bad. One can still yield great results such as calming the mind, reacting less, mastering the mind and overcoming one's addictions to a degree.
The point here is that if one wishes to yield the greatest results in liberating themselves from their suffering states of mind, one can aim for equanimity with the simple intention to just know and accept reality as is.
Practising Vipassana with this pure intention will allow one to realize why one cannot simply accept the reality that is happening within during all moments in the Practice, and also, during the moments outside the practice as well.
Through developing Self-Knowing, one will gradually realize the answers to the following questions:
"Why can I accept myself for the mistakes I've made in the past?"
"Why can't people for lying?"
"Why can't I accept experiences for what it is?"
"Why can't I accept my colleagues at work?"
"Why can't I accept myself when I fail?"
And so forth
With time, as one realizes how suffering it is to not accept reality for what it is, one will naturally develop the intention to Accept it, which will naturally transform one's inner beliefs and habit patterns of always choosing to reject certain realities.
Thus, when one practices Vipassana, one can question their intention.
What is my intention behind aiming for equanimity?
Without realizing the importance of carrying the intention of Accepting reality as is, one can miss the opportunities to practice it even further in their life, to see the importance of learning to people for who they are, to accept undesirable situations as it is, to accept oneself in moments of failure, and so forth.
Most Vipassana students I have encountered often dwell too much on Goenka's talk about Sankhara and past karmas when practising Vipassana. Some use Vipassana as a way to clear their "past sins." Some believe that the more one practices Vipassana, the more their soul will be purified. Maybe these are true. But little do people know that results are determined more by how one practices Vipassana rather than by the quantity of practice.
From my perspective, it is by developing Self-Acceptance that the Negative Distortions / Negative Ideas or can be transformed and released. Perhaps these are the Sankharas that Goenka is talking about.
Anitya
In the Vipassana as taught by Goenka, a lot of emphases has been placed on using the wisdom of Aniya as guide for one to liberate themselves from the Suffering states of mind.
Anitya is the wisdom of knowing that nothing is permanent: that everything changes.
To help the students gain equanimity, Goenka would often use the word Aniya to remind the students to not react so much to the pain because everything will change.
However, I've noticed students using Anitya as a way to convince the mind to not react. Although this can be effective, it can block one from going deeper into one's mind because to use Anitya as a reason for equanimity is much like declaring "I will accept this because it will eventually change."
However, to transform the deepest level of the mind, one must learn to "Accept all things even if they do not change."
This is how one can develop Self-Acceptance at the deeper level of the mind and liberate oneself from one's Sufferings.
Conclusion
Vipassana is a perfect technique developed by Buddha that one can use to develop great Self-Realization and Self-Transformation.
My approach to Vipassana is different from Goenka's not in technique but more in the way one approaches the practice.
I would strongly recommend one to take a 10-day Vipassana course. It's completely free, and the link can be found on the Vipassana website. My only advice really is to practice grounding the mind for some time so that you can get the most out of the practice when you attend. When you go to the practice with a highly reactive mind, you can end up suffering without gaining much wisdom.
One more piece of advice: to give the Vipassana technique a fair trial, put away everything you've learnt about meditation, even the things you've learnt here, so that you can give the technique a fair try. But whilst keeping an open mind as you learn the practice, also keep an open heart so that you can allow your inner wisdom to guide you as well. You will always be the best teacher you can have.
If you want to try my approach to Vipassana, you can try the Self-Transformation Course, where you will be taught the Creator's Meditation. Instead of meditating 10 hours a day, I've shortened it to 30minutes to an hour a day and lengthened it to 22 days so that you can gradually ease into yourself. At the end of each day, there will also be a short talk about how to apply what one has learnt in life so that one can apply what they have learnt in their life.
But whatever online Vipassana courses you take, always try to go for a 10 Day Vipassana Course in person because it's the high intensity of meditating non-stop for 10 hours a day that really makes the experience unique and enlightening. After the 10 days, one would have reached a state of Stillness that one has never reached before, allowing them to become aware of the Unstillness that creeps in as they go back into their daily lives and gradually realize the deeper causes of one's Sufferings—This is when the journey of Self-Transformation truly begins!
