10 Days Vipassana Course – Part 1

I have recently completed 10 days of vipassana course in the UAE and it has been such an amazing journey that I wish many people get to experience. This article will summarize my current understanding and experience of Vipassana meditation in two parts.

You can read more about Vipassana directly from the website www.dhamma.org or www.vridhamma.org where you can also access the discourses.

What is Vipassana

Vipassana means to see things as they really are and not what you would like them to be. In other words, to know your truth! It has been taught over 2500 years ago by Gautama the Buddha.

The technique is very grounded, logical and scientific. It is based on awareness of the sensations as a bio-chemical response to external environment. It is therefore, a technique that is universal and not limited to any religion or culture. I will explain more later.

In order to purify the mind, the teachings explain three steps:

1. Morality (Sila)

To purify the mind, first we have to commit not to hurt any being by body or speech. For this, during the course, we agree to 5 precepts: Abstention from killing, stealing, sexual activities, telling lies and from taking any intoxicant.

Noble silence is observed during the course. This is mainly to avoid telling lies!

The atmosphere is as such that we minimize creating any new impurities of the mind to enable the purification of the old negative patterns.

2. Mastery of the mind (Samadhi)

We basically work with 4 types of mind: cognitive, recognizing, feeling and reactive. The cognitive mind is perceiving input via our 5 senses. The data is then analyzed and reasoned through our recognizing mind which then leads to generating sensations via the feeling mind. Finally, we react to those sensations using the reactive mind.

The sensations are always there across the physical body and we experience them all the time. However, we may not be aware of those. In order to become aware of the sensations we need to access a deeper level of the mind or what is commonly known as the sub-conscious mind.

At this level of the mind resides our impurities or negative patterns. Those are the belief systems that we have learnt over time and are now an automated unconscious response pattern.

So, in order to master the mind, we need to bring those patterns to our consciousness so they lose their power over us and dissolve.

3. Wisdom (Pañña)

With Vipassana, wisdom is attained through one’s own experience of their own truth. It is great to read or hear words of wisdom from others, it can be encouraging, it might resonate and help to a certain degree. However, the only truth that pertains to one’s self has to be experienced by the person on their own.

Wisdom is developed when we do not judge our sensations by observing the ever-changing nature of the sensations. Just like the universe that is always changing.

Sensations can be either pleasant, neutral or unpleasant. When we crave pleasant sensations, we create attachment leading to misery. When we dislike the unpleasant sensations, we also create misery. Therefore, when we keep the mind in a balanced equanimous state we find salvation and happiness through purity of the mind.

The teachings explain that equanimity is purity.

The process

During the 10 days course we have sat for approximately 10 hours of meditation a day. We have learnt three types of meditation: Anapana, Vipassana and Metta Bhavana.

Anapana is to observe the breath: only observe and not control. To observe where the breath is touching on the nostrils or the skin around the nose then sharpening the mind to feel the sensations around this area. And finally observing the sensations in a smaller area above the upper lip and under the nostrils.

Vipassana meditation is to observe the sensations across all the physical body maintaining equanimity in complete balance of the mind with no judgement of the sensations. During this meditation, we learn to stop reacting to the sensations and allow for the impurities of the mind to arise and pass away just like the sensations that arise and pass away. Both being impermanent!

Metta Bhavana is a meditation to share love, compassion and kindness with all beings.

Please continue to read Part 2 if you wish to read about my experience of the 10 days course.