Overlooked No More: S.N. Goenka, Who Brought Mindfulness to the West

He gave up life as a successful Burmese businessman to teach meditation in India, and played a significant role in the explosion of interest in meditation as we know it today.

Complete article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/obituaries/sn-goenka-overlooked.html 

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tried the meditation craze that requires no sex, drugs, or talking for 10 days

Over the holidays, dual-CEO Jack Dorsey took a break from running Twitter and Square to try a silent meditation known as Vipassana for 10 days.

Vipassana — an ancient Buddhist meditation technique that frequently involves 10 days of silence — is gathering fans in Silicon Valley. The practice aims to calm and focus the mind through a strict code of silence and promises increased awareness, self-control, and peace. In a tweet, Dorsey revealed that he carried out the practice over Christmas and New Year's.

jack dorsey tweet vipassana meditation

Twitter/@jack

"Just finished a 10 day silent meditation. Wow, what a reset! Fortunate & grateful I was able to take the time," Dorsey wrote on Twitter.

Silicon Valley goes all in

The Bay Area Vipassana Trust organizes the largest annual retreat in the US with over 240 participants, and is working to establish a center in Silicon Valley. Karen Donovan and her husband, Tim, have been teaching classes in Goenka's tradition for more than 20 years and oversee the non-profit group.

"Most people come to our courses because they're seeking some kind of peace of mind, some perspective on the things that are making them unhappy in their lives," Donovan told Business Insider. She added, "people who just want to learn to meditate" can find instruction elsewhere.

Full article: http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-does-vipassana-meditation-2018-1

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

California centers:

1. California Vipassana Center, North Fork, CA
   http://www.mahavana.dhamma.org
   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DhammaMahavana
2. Northern California Vipassana Center, Kelseyville, CA
   http://www.manda.dhamma.org/
   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DhammaManda
3. Southern California Vipassana Center
   http://www.vaddhana.dhamma.org/
4. The Bay Area Vipassana Trust
   http://www.sfbayarea.us.dhamma.org/
   

Finding Magic: 105 Hours of Meditation in 10 Days

The majestic pagoda at the center of Dhamma Giri Vipassana Center

Many people have asked me about the Vipassana course I recently completed in India and why I would subject myself to 10 days of silent meditation. I’m a big believer in learning something intensely for a fixed timeframe and then integrating it into a daily practice. It’s what I did when I learned to code and it’s how I’ve picked up most of my other skills. By doing nothing but meditate for 10 days, I believed I’d get to a state that would otherwise take years of daily practice. Once I entered that zone, I’d experience magic and have insights into the way my mind worked. I was right.

Complete article: https://medium.com/@dliebeskind/finding-magic-105-hours-of-meditation-in-10-days-bf51bd99c983

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

How Silent Meditation Helped Me Succeed at Work

In this opinion piece, Payal Sheth, a global marketing manager at the Boston Consulting Group, explains how an ancient meditation technique helped change the way she thinks and engages with people.

Complete article: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/silent-meditation-helped-succeed-work/ 

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

I Didn’t Say a Single Word For 10 Days—Here’s What I Learned

As the days turned I felt as if I was slowly sinking down through the depths of the ocean like a scuba diver. No movement, just observation, until eventually all my thoughts gave way to total darkness and boom, my feet landed on the bottom of the ocean.

Whoa, I remember thinking. I’ve never been here before. What is this place? It was there, at the bottom of the ocean, where I’d spend the next several days running a mental and spiritual marathon. Here's what I learned.

I STARTED LISTENING TO MYSELF
Looking back I realize now that this was the beginning of a new relationship, and it's this internal voice that I turn to today when I'm in need of guidance. I call it my "internal navigation system," and the good news is that we all came equipped with it.

I HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE HOW I REACT TO THINGS
One insight that hit me like a ton of bricks on Day 4 was the realization that every single moment of mental and/or emotional pain that I’d ever felt was the result of how I was responding to something or to someone.

EVERYTHING IS TEMPORARY

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN
When I’m driving 50km/h and I look out the window, the view is a bit blurry. When I’m driving 100km/h, the view is extremely blurry. But when I stop at a red light and look out the window, things are clear.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN
When I’m driving 50km/h and I look out the window, the view is a bit blurry. When I’m driving 100km/h, the view is extremely blurry. But when I stop at a red light and look out the window, things are clear.

My time with silence allows me to reflect, gain insight, and check-in with my internal guidance system. Silence is my secret weapon.

Complete article: https://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/what-i-learned-after-ten-days-of-meditation

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

Yuval Harari, author of Sapiens, on how meditation made him a better historian

Yuval Noah Harari’s first book, Sapiens, was an international sensation. The Israeli historian’s mind-bending tour through the trump of Homo sapiens is a favorite of, among others, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama. His new book, Homo Deus: a Brief History of Tomorrow, is about what comes next for humanity — and the threat our own intelligence and creative capacity poses to our future. And it, too, is fantastically interesting.
.....

Virtually everything Harari says in our conversation is fascinating. But what I didn’t expect was how central his consistent practice of Vipassana meditation — which includes a 60-day silent retreat each year — is to understanding the works of both history and futurism he produces. In this excerpt from our discussion, which is edited for length and clarity, we dig deep into Harari’s meditative practice and how it helps him see the stories humanity tells itself.

More information: https://www.vox.com/2017/2/28/14745596/yuval-harari-sapiens-interview-meditation-ezra-klein

I Meditated For 105 Hours Over 10 Days. Here's What It Taught Me

Going into the Vipassana, I had very strong opinions about relationships, about routine and contentedness, about personal freedoms and morality. Driving away on day 10, I felt completely detached from so many of these perspectives I’d built my identity upon but it didn’t feel like a loss. It felt like the beginning of a new education.

I had uncovered some deep patterns that begged for my breaking. I wanted, for the first time ever, to confront my aversion with routine and address my insatiable craving for newness and amplification of experience. I had clarity and perspective to challenge my opinions on modern relationships. And I felt inspired by the subtleties that live within that same cup of coffee we taste every morning, the familiarity and comfort of the touch that connects us to those we care about, the frigid winter air we dread confronting, the smile we share from neighboring porches, the frustrations and grudges we nurture, and the range experiences, however mundane they may feel, that make us human.

Complete article: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-26886/i-meditated-for-105-hours-over-10-days-heres-what-it-taught-me.html

Northwest Vipassana Center: http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

My exhausting meditation retreat: 10 days of Vipassana, silence and spiders

I went to New Zealand to break my brain and put it back together, without ever having meditated before. I had no idea what I was in for.

I signed up for a Vipassana course in a moment of quiet desperation. I was coming up on close to a year of insomnia. I found myself exhausted by the anxiety of not sleeping, yet unable to find any meaningful rest. For the first time in my life I was having panic attacks. Nightly, they were triggered by the dawning realization that sleep would elude me yet again.

I was also dealing with chronic pain. A bad accident as a kid followed by a series of rib fractures and back injuries over the years generated a state of permanent hurt made worse with the lack of sleep and an excess of cortisol.

I chose this specific course, which took place in New Zealand, because despite the trendiness of meditation classes and apps, Vipassana seemed to be about equanimity, discipline and hard work – right up my alley. I am not the most woo woo of humans, and the idea of a giant drum circle of positive thinkers made me want to run away screaming.

One year later

The Vipassana did not cure me of insomnia or anxiety permanently. Instead, it provided me with a valuable tool: it showed me that I could manage my mind more than I realized. By doing so, I felt more in control of the catastrophizing, despite the fact that it is always there.

A full 10 days of constant meditation created a barrier between the worrying and me. It allowed me to observe the anxiety more objectively. The whole process calmed me at a deep and inexplicable level; I am still the same neurotic person I always was, but it imbued me with a sense of perspective I now maintain and am deeply grateful for.

Complete article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/31/meditation-retreat-vipassana-new-zealand-exhausting-silence-spiders

A longer version: https://www.legalnomads.com/vipassana-meditation

More info on the center: http://medini.dhamma.org/

Cross-border meditation

The Pakistani delegation at the Gateway of India—Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

“Members of the group hail from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi,” says Narayan. He has been facilitating cross-border exchanges between artists, musicians, youth groups and intellectuals from India and Pakistan for several years in collaboration with Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (Spicmacay) and Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy.


Complete Article: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/news/Cross-border-meditation/article14004081.ece

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/

A slow dance with silence

Reji Varghese shares his experience at a ten-day-long Vipassana meditation boot camp

If I knew how tough it was going to be, I would have chickened out, but my friend said, “Think of it as a slow dance with silence.” With that thought in mind, I checked into the meditation center in a rural area about six km from Pallavaramon a sultry Wednesday evening and surrendered my phone, my wallet and myself for ten days.

..................

For ten days, I see-sawed between silence and pain, the pleasant and unpleasant, and I did what I was asked to do — observe. The last morning, we were getting ready to go back to the real world; a world of noise, phones, emails, texts, arguments and the constant struggle of just trying to get by. My mind felt as if it had been put through a washing machine and all the muck had been cleaned out.

I looked around to say goodbye to silence, my elusive dance partner, and I couldn't find her. It took a while to realize that she was with me. At the end of ten days, I realized that the dance and dancers had become one.


Complete Article: https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/vipassana-meditation-is-a-boot-camp-for-the-mind/article7645474.ece

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

My 10-Day Marathon of Total Silence

My 10-Day Marathon of Total Silence

Two months ago, I went for my latest vipassana course in a beautiful small village in Chengannur, Kerala. I was hesitant, not fully ready to undertake rigorous 14 hours of being seated in meditation in a closed cell or a humid hall, or just one meal a day, the voluntary work of cleaning dishes, toilets, and laundry. But then I needed mental strength, clarity of purpose and the skill to be emotionally unaffected while carrying on with whatever life required of me. So I pushed myself and was pushed by my husband, who has observed the difference vipassana brought about in me in the last year.

My apprehensions melted away as I made my way through the beautiful backwaters of Alleppy district and as I finally reached the centre, I was ready. I made my one last phone call home, handed over my mobile, books, pens and writing material to fully be with myself and my surroundings for the next ten days. I was quite happy as I came out of the dhamma mediation hall on the first night, having taken my vows to live a monk's life during my stay there. It's easy to do it under noble silence in those beautiful surroundings and moreover, they are simple and rational vows - I will not kill, steal, lie, imbibe intoxicants, and engage in sexual misconduct.

I sat at the doorsteps of the hall, looking onto the paddy fields and coconut trees which provided the backdrop for the love dance of the fireflies, feeling content. I followed this with a cold shower in the common bath area and went to my dorm and was asleep by 10 pm. I was to wake up at 4.30 am to start my journey within.

More Info: https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/my-10-day-marathon-of-total-silence-748213

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

Kerala Center : http://www.ketana.dhamma.org/index.html

15 Crazy Things People Ask You When You're Going For Vipassana

15 Crazy Things People Ask You When You're Going For Vipassana

Vipassana meditation is a secular meditation technique based on the principles of Gautam Buddha. Vipassana courses are taught all over the world at various meditation centres at 10-day camps. The camps are pretty intense, and the meditators have to observe noble silence for 10 days (which means no form of communication at all) and continue meditation from 4:30 AM to 9:00 PM, following a strict schedule of sattvik diet and no food post 5:00 PM. Being a Vipassana meditator is difficult enough but sometimes, answering people's ridiculous questions when they realize where you're going, is tougher!

1. And you got leave?!

2. But what problems can you have in life?

3. Can you stay alone that long?

4. How will you survive without your phone or the internet?

5. Aren't you too young for such things?

... and more.

More Info: https://www.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/self/15-crazy-things-people-ask-you-when-youre-going-for-vipassana-230825.html

Clearing the garbage in my head at a 10-day silent retreat

Light-hearted description of a 10-day course at Dhamma Java, by a well-known Singapore journalist.


......................
I plan to go back in a few years. To have every hour of your day scheduled, from waking to bedtime, is liberating, not confining, I've found. I cannot say for sure if I am meditating correctly, but I can say that sitting for hours lets me clear out a lot of garbage in my head. I plan to sit still for at least a few minutes a day. I will, however, do it with back support.


Complete Article: https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/clearing-the-garbage-in-my-head-at-a-10-day-silent-retreat

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

Christmas in Java: Meditation in Klaten

Nothing could be further from the hubbub of western festive excess than a silent Vipassana retreat in Java

I’m in Klaten, an unexceptional town in central Java, the unlikely backdrop for my first Vipassana (“insight”) meditation retreat. Buddha brought this ancient Indian technique back into vogue 2,500 years ago. From the mid-1970s, Satya Goenka, an Indian-Burmese businessman-turned-meditation master, sparked another renaissance, establishing 120 retreat centres in 80 countries, all run entirely by donation.

The idea of Vipassana is to lead a monastic life for 10 days, observing silence and directing one’s attention inward. There are about 30 of us, but with not a word passing between us, Christmas cheer isn’t on the agenda.

I leave Klaten with a sense of lightness and clarity. Two months on and the feeling faded. But I determined to meditate daily – that feels like a new year’s resolution worth keeping.


More info: http://www.java.dhamma.org/indexeng.htm

What is Vipassana Meditation? - Benefits of Vipassana Meditation

You have the power of experiencing yourself subjectively – you have the power of healing and destroying. Using your power for healing will backfire and bring you only happiness.

And what is so perfect about this, is that meditation is not based on any dogma or religion. You can practice meditation without interfering with any of your other habits. You can do it anywhere, at any time, for how much you like. In fact, I can guarantee that you will feel so good, that you will not want to stop.

The healing of the mind is accessible and universal. Think of it like medication. You see? They even sound almost the same – medication helps you heal your physical body, and meditation helps you heal your spiritual body – your mind, your soul. They are both scientifically proven, only on different levels.  Also, the only side effects of Vipassana meditation may include: peace, harmony, compassion, joy and happiness.

Full article: https://www.curejoy.com/content/what-is-vipassana-meditation-benefits-of-vipassana-meditation/

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

Know thyself

Vipassana is a method of introspection that is more about doing and experiencing than talking or telling. When I try to write about it, I become acutely aware of the shallowness of my words.

................

The obvious result is the readiness for acceptance. The moment to moment acceptance of reality through introspection results in improved relationships, increased efficiency, positive thinking, positive living, and a better ability to deal with everyday stress. It makes us the master of our emotions, our deeds, and of our lives as a whole.

Complete Article:

https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/archive/88405/Know-thyself%0D%0A 

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/  

Remembering S.N. Goenka

We join our palms and say goodbye to a teacher who had an immense impact on the world. S.N. Goenka was a pioneer in making  Vipassana meditation widely available to a secular audience. Over 170 meditation centers have been established around the globe under his auspices. His legacy will resound indefinitely. 

By learning to remain balanced in the face of everything experienced inside, one develops detachment towards all that one encounters in external situations as well. However, this detachment is not escapism or indifference to the problems of the world. Those who regularly practice Vipassana become more sensitive to the sufferings of others and do their utmost to relieve suffering in whatever way they can not with any agitation, but with a mind full of love, compassion, and equanimity. They learn holy indifference-how to be fully committed, fully involved in helping others, while at the same time maintaining the balance of mind. In this way, they remain peaceful and happy while working for the peace and happiness of others.
........

Complete article: https://www.shambhala.com/remembering-s-n-goenka/

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

An accidental journey into insight meditation

The first time I learned about SN Goenka and Vipassana meditation, I was a clueless backpacker staying in a hippie retreat on the Thai-Myanmar border. A woman arrived at the retreat a few days after I did. During a conversation with her I noticed her eyes looked so peaceful, so happy, that I could not stop staring. Partly it was admiration, but I was also more than slightly jealous.

Why didn’t I have that? I did yoga. I was nice to people (most of the time). I wanted that calm, that joy. What was it? Where could I get it?

So, I asked: “Why are you so happy?”

She explained that she had just finished a 10-day course of silent meditation. At that time I had no idea about meditation. I also doubted that I could be silent, even for an hour. But still, she tore off a small section from a nearby piece of paper and wrote down a website – www.dhamma.org. “When you are interested,” she said, “check it out.”
......
......
Which is probably why when I first heard the news of his death this week I was not at all sad, just curious as to what he experienced before passing on, and what all that meditation and merit will mean for those of us left behind. His passing made me reflect on my own journey through Vipassana, on how much further I have to go and how little it is that I know. Some of my happiest and most hopeful moments have occurred while sitting silently in some of the many meditation centers Goenka has left behind, listening to his deep, kind voice encourage me, and all the other meditators, to “just remain aware, just remain aware” – to never get discouraged or depressed if the meditation is not going well, and most of all to never give up.

Rather, as Goenkagyi would say, simply “start again”.

Complete article: https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/8470-an-accidental-journey-into-insight-meditation.html

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/ 

Annica, Goenkaji

Goenka was a worldly man and taught a straight-ahead Dhamma, perfect for Westerners, using science and common sense and lots of good humor. He used to say, “I’m not teaching Buddhism. I’m teaching the art of living.”

He had an interest in theater and happened to have a lovely baritone voice. I will never forget listening to Goenka singing Buddhist chants to us in the early morning and evening, many of the melodies composed by Goenka himself. I can hear his voice mixing with the tinkle of rickshaw bells and the cries of street vendors just outside the Vihara.

Goenkaji’s love of the Dhamma was palpable, and we trusted him, and practiced hard with him, and under his kind gaze we also fell in love with the Dhamma. Although like many of us who attended those first retreats with Goenka, I went on to study with other teachers, I will always remember scanning my awareness through my body, focusing on the ever-changing physical sensations as Goenkaji chanted to us “Annica! Annica!” (Impermanent! Impermanent!) I will also remember his sincerity, his wonderful laugh, and his admonishment to us at the close of every sitting: “Be happy! Be happy!”

Goenkaji was a true master of the Dhamma, and his presence will be missed in the world.

Full article: http://www.wesnisker.com/annica-goenkaji/

More info: http://www.dhamma.org/

Who was Vipassana guru S N Goenka

The late Vipassana guru S N Goenka

In 1955, Satyanarayan Goenka was a successful businessman based in Burma. In his own words, fortune had sided with him and by the age of 31, he had already been the president of the Burmese Chamber of Commerce. It was at this time that he started contemplating what he could do to rid himself of the painful migraine attacks from which he had been suffering for 20 years.

........

Goenka never charged a dime for the course, a policy, he reasoned, aimed at spreading knowledge and its benefits to all not making it a commodity that could be paid for and afforded only by those who have the money. He also remained certain that his path was but one of many to the truth, and therefore, worked to eradicate sectarian divisions based on fragile ideological differences.


Complete article: http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/who-was-vipassana-guru-s-n-goenka/1177878/0 

More Info: http://www.dhamma.org/