rivers in the stream

“My goal was to purge myself of all weakness so that I could write ‘perfect’ songs as reliably as a machine."

...... His relationship with his mother, Beverly Shoenberger, was strained. “He was in a difficult situation, and we had gotten to the point where we couldn’t even really talk,” she says. “I loved him, but I didn’t understand him or how to reach him.” When he started Vipassana, she was concerned. “Rivers had been going through a lot of problems in the prior few years, and I was concerned that it might be harmful for him,” she says.

  But then one day, after going months without speaking, Cuomo sent his mom an email after returning from a ten-day course. He apologized for anything he had done that might have hurt her and said he now understood that he was 100 percent responsible for his own life. This simple sentence, Shoenberger says, was the turning point. The changes she then began to see in Cuomo were dramatic. “I don’t even have words for it. It was huge. I felt like I had my son back. He was becoming more deeply himself, like this was the grown-up Rivers of the boy that I knew.”

Read more: http://web.mac.com/karafin/iWeb/amykarafin.com/Articles_files/karafin161.pdf

Asia's spectacular monument of gratitude

Which two persons are rare in the world? One who serves others selflessly without expecting anything in return; and one who is grateful toward anyone who does one a kindness. These two persons are rare in the world. - Gotama the Buddha


The Global Pagoda symbolizes the resurgence and quiet but rapid worldwide spread of Vipassana, the practical quintessence of the Buddha's non-sectarian, universal teachings. Residential Vipassana courses, from beginners' 10-days to advanced 60-days, are being offered without charge from more than 130 established Vipassana centers and innumerable non-center venues. Courses are run on voluntary donations and services of grateful previous students who wish to share the benefits with others.

An instance of Vipassana as a catalyst for peace is its growing popularity in both Israel and Iran, where demand for courses outruns supply. "Peace in the world is not possible without peace within the individual," Goenkaji said. For millennia, Vipassana has proved to be a powerful mind-purification tool to inner peace, by leading the practitioner to "egolessness"


Read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HJ25Df03.html

Sitting still: Boot camp of quiet self-discovery

This season some regional business people will elect to spend 10 days of their annual vacation time this way: in silence, eating just two meals a day, sleeping in a dorm, and meditating for most of their waking hours from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

They won't have anything to read or access to the Internet or television. They won't be able to snack between meals.

And while they're usually busy business people, they won't be able to answer e-mails or go to meetings or write memos or make phone calls.

In one sense, nothing will happen during those 10 days. In another sense, the people will emerge transformed.

..........When cut off from constant entertainment and input, and required to do something that seems as simple as watching the breath, the mind can suddenly start to look like a upended cauldron of memories, desires, frustration and anticipation. The center's boot-camp environment is structured to support people as they wade through the deluge, and out the other side.

"It's facing those internal reactive habit patterns that we carry around with us day in and day out, learning to face our own reactions with a balanced mind, that's what's a challenge," Crutcher said. "This is an intensive practice where a lot of deep turbulent stuff comes welling up, and sometimes it's more than a person can face at the moment."

Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/07/03/focus2.html

Info regarding center: http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/

Victories in India's war on corruption

In addition, recognizing that the corruption problem is as much a moral as a governance issue, Indians have tapped the country's spiritual traditions to beat corruption. For example, business leaders ranging from Fortune 500 company managers to business students have studied an ancient system of mind purification called Vipassana; research suggests that Vipassana is effective in helping to understand the self-destructive nature of corruption.

A senior Indian government official, D R Parihar, in his research study "The Impact of Vipassana on Government", concluded that Vipassana has a direct role to play in improving public administration. Leading Indian corporates such as ONGC, Indian Railways, auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra, and nuclear facilities such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Center regularly send employees to attend Vipassana courses.

Read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HF29Df03.html

GOD'S DOMINION (excerpt)

Since the retreats offer almost no opportunity to break the vows, keeping them is seldom a problem. But, once outside again, the world presents more than enough opportunities; it presents encouragement and even pressure to break them. When I spoke to Goenka about how difficult it was to stop drinking altogether for personal and social reasons, he advised me not to force it, since force would only increase the craving which was at the core of drinking. Be aware, be moderate, keep meditating — he said — and when that particular habit was ready to surface, as a sensation, it would be erased naturally. And, despite my scepticism, that is what happened. I came out of a twenty-day retreat in 1982 and found, in the weeks and months and years that followed, I had not the least desire for a glass of beer or a sip of champagne.

"I’m worried I’m being brainwashed," I said to Goenka in a state of panic midway through my second retreat.

"You are being brainwashed," he answered. "Your brain is being washed!"

It was a matter of faith again, I suppose, but faith tested rigorously, suspiciously, against what it promised and what it delivers. "Do not simply believe whatever you are told, or whatever had been handed down from past generations, or what is common opinion, or whatever the scriptures say," Buddha — is reputed to have — said. "Do not accept something as true merely by deduction or inference, or by considering outward appearances, or by partiality for a certain view, or because of its plausibility, or because your teacher tells you it is so. But when you yourselves directly know that these principles are unwholesome, blameworthy, condemned by the wise — when adopted and carried out they lead to harm and suffering — then you should abandon them. And when you yourselves know that these principles are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise — when adopted and carried out they lead to welfare and happiness — then you should accept and practise them."

Read more: http://web.archive.org/web/20061015235040/http://rongrahamcanada.com/books/gods.html

Vipassana: Notes from Spiritual Boot Camp

I recently returned from a ten day meditation "retreat" at one of S.N. Goenka's Vipassana Centres. This was no relaxing vacation. At Vipassana, I delved into the dark depths of my psyche and came out with a profound attitude adjustment that helped me to find the root cause of a mysterious illness and improved my ability to stay calm. Making the choice to attend Vipassana was one of the most important things I have ever done. This essay is my attempt to encourage readers to consider giving it a try. Courses are offered all over the world for free on a donation-only basis (including room and board!)

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.margonaut.com/vipassana.htm

Where management meets Vipassana : SCMHRD Director’s interview

According to Director Prof KS Subramanian, SCMHRD differs from other b-schools of its league in that it looks upon students as individuals who are giving a last shot at professional education in their life.

“It is not going to happen that these students will go back to organized learning on a two year basis again in their lives. Having said that, we want to build as many competencies as possible in them and contribute talented individuals to the society and industry,” says Prof Subramanian.

Perhaps the most talked about dimension of SCMHRD is its stress on spiritual learning and yoga, Vipassana sessions and a strict code of conduct on campus. Mobile phones are banned on campus and there are strict restrictions on public display of affection. Prof Subramanian strongly advocates these rules.

“You have come here to learn in a personal teaching environment. Why carry a mobile phone and let yourself and others be disturbed? It frustrates the teachers also disturbs others.”

Read more: http://www.pagalguy.com/?p=396

Alt Rocker Finds Inner Peace

Take Weezer's frontman, send him to Harvard, and have him meditate for two hours a day. What do you get? One calm Rivers.

Meet Rivers Cuomo, the famously self-tortured lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Grammy-nominated band Weezer. They're the alternative-rock band who sing "Beverly Hills" and who made that great Spike Jonze-directed video "Buddy Holly." In the last few years Cuomo has been practicing Vipassana meditation , whose goal is, according to the Vipassana Mediation website, "the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation.

Read More: http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/06/Alt-Rocker-Finds-Inner-Peace.aspx

On a mind trip

To be still. That is in your mind. Is it possible? In the rapids of life, who has the time for it? A relative went in for Vipassana meditation and dropped subtle to obvious hints about its effectiveness.

Bah, I said using the same route. First subtle and then obvious. A crisis in life pushed me in various directions. I did everything I could grasp — reiki, past life regression, nadi astrology, tarot, and even books by authors who are experts on ‘how to get rid of’ anything from migraine to bad habits.

None helped. And I surprised myself by wanting to enrol for a Vipassana meditation course. On seeing my relative’s jaw drop, I said, ‘Please do it before I change my mind’.

Read more: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/on-a-mind-trip/94210/0

How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time

At 4:30, when most of Wall Street is winding down, Walter Zimmermann begins a high-stakes, high-wire act conducted live before a paying audience. About 200 institutional investors—including airlines and oil companies—shell out up to $3,000 a month to catch his daily webcast on the volatile energy markets, a performance that can move hundreds of millions of dollars. "I'm not paid to be wrong—I can tell you that," Zimmermann says. But as he clicks through dozens of screens and graphics on three computers, he's the picture of focused calm. Zimmermann, 54, watched most of his peers in energy futures burn out long ago. He attributes his brain's enduring sharpness not to an intravenous espresso drip but to 40 minutes of meditation each morning and evening. The practice, he says, helps him maintain the clarity he needs for quick, insightful analysis—even approaching happy hour. "Meditation," he says, "is my secret weapon."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1147167,00.html