My 30-day walk in the path of Vipassana as Monk

Disclaimer: Everybody gives disclaimer at the end, but I am giving it at the beginning of this blog to make it clear from the mind of the readers that this is not a self-help guide for learning  Vipassana without going to a  Vipassana center.  It is only to make people aware about such a wonderful scientific technique available that can make us free from all our “Dukha” (=”suffering”, “unhappiness”, “pain”, “unsatisfactoriness” or “stress”),  if practice in all sincerity. 

Let’s understand what is Vipassana

Vipassana may be a new vocabulary to some and has no idea about what it means.  Vipassana means “special viewing” and   in the ancient Pāli language  it means   “insight”.  It is the essence of the Buddha’s teaching about how to make actual experience of the ultimate truth. Even truth (Satya) is of various kinds: “Sabhda-satya”(=sounds that seems true), “Anuman-satya (=imagination that seems true)”, “Prakat-satya (=that appears as true)”,  Saṃvṛti-satya (=empirical that common people understands which may be far away from the ultimate truth) and  Paramartha-satya (=means ultimate truth). Vipassana guides  us to see the ultimate truth  that will liberate us from “Dukha”.

The Buddha himself   experienced the ultimate truth by the practice of meditation, and therefore meditation is what he primarily taught. Not the religion that people believe. He of course talked about “Dhamma” which is not religion but the characteristic or quality of human being as all Indian literature writes “Dharama of water” or Dharama of physical matter”.   He did not establish any organized religion (Buddhaism). His words are records of his personal experience in meditation, as well as like detailed SOP of modern science in the form of instructions on how to practice in order to reach the goal he had attained in experiencing the ultimate truth.

The Buddha in his whole life targeted to remove “Dukha” from the life of human being since it is a kind of disease which is again universal and distributed irrespective of cast, creed, colour, country, rich or poor.

Let’s understand what is “Dukha”

I think this does not need much explanation or elaboration. Every human being has experience of “suffering”, “unhappiness”, “pain”, “unsatisfactoriness” or “stress” in life. It is a part and parcel of our life as well as modern life style has added more such elements in our life.  Stress related diseases are in increasing trend. What modern medical science called Psychosomatic (Psycho=mind; soma=body) diseases that was investigated and thoroughly understood by Gautama the Buddha about 2500 years ago.  He worked through his whole life to liberate people from it by distributing his wisdom gained by walking in the path of liberation. He identified presence of it in all stages of life: “Jati vi Dukha”; “Vyadhi vi Dukha”; “Jara vi Dukha” and “Maranam vi Dukha”. We all want happiness but happiness also turns to “Dukha” because of our “Avijja or Avidhya (=lack of understanding and awareness)”. Rabindranath Tagor nicely expressed this conversion from happiness to sorrow in his poem:

“সখী, ভালোবাসা কারে কয়! সে কি কেবলই যাতনাময় ।

সে কি কেবলই চোখের জল? সে কি কেবলই দুখের শ্বাস?

লোকে তবে করে কী সুখেরই তরে এমন দুখের আশ ।”

The Buddha walked like a doctor scientist the entire path that causes “Dukha” and  investigated the aetiology of “Dukha” disease, its ins and out, length and breadth from surface to core through his own bodily experience and  then discovered the method of its control ie. “Dukha Nivaran”.   He discovered

first two Noble Truths: “Dukkha-sacca” (=Suffering), and “Samudaya-sacca”(= Its origination and multiplication) which is  “Law of Dependent Origination” as given below:

Avijja (ignorance) ARISES >  Sankhara (volitional activities) ARISES

Sankhara (volitional activities) ARISES >  Vinnana (consciousness)

Vinnana (consciousness) ARISES >  Nama- rupa (mind and matter)

Nama- rupa (mind and matter) ARISES >   Salayatana (six sense doors)

Salayatana (six sense doors) ARISES > Phassa (contact)

Phassa (contact) ARISES >  Vedana (sensation)

Vedana (sensation) ARISES > Tanha (craving)

Tanha (craving) ARISES > Upadana (clinging)

Upadana (clinging) ARISES > Bhava (becoming)

Bhava (becoming) ARISES > Jati (birth)

Jati (birth) ARISES > Jara-marana (decay and death)

Thus this vicious circle of “Dukha” rolls on. In other words, the origin of each link depends upon the preceding one. As long as this chain of twelve causal relations operates, the wheel of becoming (bhava-cakka) keeps rolling, bringing nothing but  “Dukha”.

This process of cause and effect is called “Anuloma-paticcasamuppada” (Direct Law of Dependent Origination).

Every link of “Anuloma” results in “Dukkha”, suffering, as a result of avijja (=ignorance), which is at the base of every link. Thus the process of “anuloma” clarifies the first two Noble Truths: “Dukkha-sacca” (=Suffering) and “Samudaya-sacca” (= its origination and multiplication).

How to Get rid of “Dukha” or Control “Dukha” in our life

The Buddha discovered the first two novel truths and then when saw that it is a chain link of depended origination, naturally he found that  it can be stopped if we can break the chain. But like a scientist he found that all links cannot be destroyed. For example, mind and matter cannot be destroyed; similarly, six sense doors cannot be destroyed; birth cannot be destroyed.  He discovered next two laws:

“Patiloma-paticcasamuppada” (=the Law of Dependent Origination in reverse order) which clarifies the third and fourth Noble Truths, “Nirodha-sacca” (= the cessation of suffering) and “Nirodha-gamini-patipada-sacca” (= the path that leads to the cessation of suffering).

“Vedana” is the cause of “Tanha”, which gives rise to “Dukkha” and therefore, he discovered a method to convert ignorance into wisdom and with that “Vedana-nirodha, tanha-nirodho”which means complete cessation of suffering. This process of cessation is called Vipassana meditation which he was teaching in rest of his life to the people with great compassion and love.

Let us understand what “Vedana” means and how it looks like in little details:

In Sanskrit, “Vedana” means anguish. But in Pali it means  either “feeling” or “sensation.” In general, “vedanā” refers to the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations that occur when our internal sense organs come into contact with external sense objects and  associate with the consciousness.  Our primary senses are considered to be sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. All senses require one of four fundamental sensory capacities: chemoreception, photoreception, mechanoreception, or thermoreception.

In Vipassana, we start observing  “Vedana” only on the surface level of the body and gradually one can fell inside.  Whatever you feel on the surface is called sensation.  It can be felt as itching, pain, heat, cold, numbness, trickling, pressure, heaviness, throbbing, etc., even some sensation, you cannot even name. Therefore, never search for anything different as sensation.  When we practise awareness to sensation and equanimity together, that leads to liberation from suffering.

Understanding of our own nature and understanding achieve by direct experience of truth deep within ourselves, that is what the Buddha called “yathā-bhūta-ñāna- dassana”, the wisdom that arises on observing reality as it is not as we like it be. With this wisdom we can emerge from suffering and every sensation that occurs will give rise only to the understanding of impermanence.

Process of Vipassana Meditation:

It has three segments such as “Seella” (=Foundation); Samadhi (=Concentration) and Panna (=Wisdom).

My journey as Monk:

Vipassana is taught in India in various Vipassana centers established by the S. N. Goenka who brought this technique from Burma where it was preserved in “Guru-Shishya” tradition in pristine purity. It is taught first as 10-day course and thereafter  one is eligible for other advanced courses such as Satipatthana Sutta Courses, long courses of 20-day; 30-day; 45-day and 60-day.  One can ask me, how it can be called as Monk. Genuine question deserves genuine answer. It is so because Monk’s life style is being followed as long as you are in the course. A Monk gets his food from others donation; they don’t interact with society; they devote entire day for their practice and they follow Shilla-Samadhi-Panna with all seriousness. I joined a 30-day Vippasana course as Monk in Dhamma Khetta Vipassana International Meditation Centre  (Address:Bus Stop, Ibrahim-patnam Road, Nagarjuna Sagar Rd, Gurram Guda, Hyderabad, Telangana 500070).

The centre came into existence in 1976- the first centre to conduct a course in this tradition during 4-15 September, 1976. Goenkaji named it Dhamma Khetta and he used to take two courses in a year in initial years until assistant teachers were appointed. The center was started on two acres land but gradually many people came forward and donated land to the center. It is now on about seven acres of land. A spacious Dhamma Hall for about 150 students and a Pagoda having  125 cells  were built.  It has a mini hall for about 50 students, another hall for 30 students and another one for 75 students were built.  About 77 rooms for male and 60 rooms for female accommodation are available. The kitchen having modern gadgets and dining halls in both the sides are available.  There are residences available for 2 female Assistant Teachers (ATs)  and 4 male ATs.

The centre is 1-km away from the main road (which leads to Nagarjuna Sagar).  The airport is about 34 kms away and the various train stations in Hyderabad are between 20 to 22 kms away. One interesting point that I could note about the center after we broke Nobel Silence is that all the staff engaged in the service of the center  have attended at least one 10-day course. I found that some have also attended long course, Satipatthana Sutta Courses, etc and therefore, service has a different perspective of  kindness and love.

14-December-2021:

I reached Hyderabad airport at about 2:00 pm from Anand-Vadodara. My friend, Mr Udayan Ganguly kindly provided me a car in the airport to facilitate my timely arrival in the meditation center for registration. I reached the center by 3:30 pm. The Assistant Teacher of the course, Dr Satya Naryan Saha came in the counter and facilitated my process of registration and thereafter dropped me in my room. A small room with a bed and attached toilet and bathroom. A little Varandha in the front. The landscape is of forest having lot of trees but predominantly,  coconut in male residential side and bamboo in the female residential side.  At 5:00 pm there was a   bell ring for light snacks. At 6:00 pm we were introduced to two Dhamma Sevaks  and were shown to   various facilities that we were going to use time to time during our stay. By 7:00 pm we started the programme by taking our oath for observing strict silence by shutting down our mouth (no communication by any form, verbal or body gesture) and strict follow of 5-precepts (no killing, no stealing, no lying, no sexual misconduct and no intoxicants). We were given various instructions for practicing  Anapan (=Samadhi =concentration) and programme ended by 9:00 pm.

15-December-2021: Our day started at 4:00 am by a bell. We all sat in meditation either in cell allotted to individuals or in the meditation hall at 4:30 am and continued till 6:30 am. The schedule for the day was as follows till 12-January-2022. Work Schedule of each day

We continued our Anapana (Samadhi) for ten days and there after we were given Vipassana for practice with insight of its various aspects through discourse in the evening.  Some of my experiences are as given below:

1. More and more I was going dip into the process, I was experiencing truthfulness of some of the Buddha’s words through my body.  For example dhamma of the universe-nothing is permanent. Our body is not permanent, our mind is not permanent and whatever are the products of our body and mind are also not permanent. Therefore, our reactions to all these are also not permanent and we do because of our old habit pattern of mind which is due to our unawareness about the nature of these products.
2. Modern genetics revealed the  hereditary pattern of the body but mind is an important segment of life that remained untouched. And according to the Buddha, mind has the ability to create wheel of life and death. The mind is governed by defilement (Bikar) that is accumulated in life after life.
3. The Buddha has talked only two things “Dhukha” which is an universal truth  and how to eliminate “Dukha”.
4. His prescription is “Sabbe Sampojano”.  “Sampajanna” means  the Constant Thorough Understanding of Impermanence.
5. He explained it to others according to the understanding of the receiver. In the above statement, it becomes clear that one is “sampajana” only when one realizes the characteristic of impermanence, and that too on the basis of experience of sensation (vidita vedana). If it is not realized through vedana, then it is merely an intellectualisation, because our fundamental contact with the world is based on sensation. It is directly through sensation that experience occurs. The statement further indicates that sampajana lies in experiencing the impermanence of vedana, vitakkavedana, vitakka (the initial application of the mind on an object) and sanna (perception).
6. Here we should note that impermanence of vedana is to be realized first because according to the Buddha-Vedana-samosarana sabbe dhamma. -Everything that arises in the mind is accompanied by sensation.
7. I experienced painful sensation coming from nowhere and passing way after some duration and again coming and again going. It gave me an insight of  Vedana-samosarana sabbe dhamma.
8. Eight-fold path in life is important and to be followed such as right view, right aspiration, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Eight-fold path is simple yet powerful guide for all individuals including people in high places, political and business leaders, scientist, bureaucrats and professionals.
9. The Buddha talked about the  middle path which is wrongly interpreted by many ignorant. Middle path does not mean to compromise with Shilla and eight-fold path. I remember, one of my known persons always tells that 100% following Seela is not possible, as  for making ornaments, we need 22 carat gold not 100% gold. We always try to find justification of not doing the things 100% for our comfort by misinterpreting words of great people.
10. I experienced that one has to battle with his/her own nagging mind who brings past references again and again for the future escaping the present.
11. There is no express or bullet trains in this path to reach the final destination of enlightenment. One has to travel step by step in his/her own pace.
12. Similarly, there is no high speed washing machine for cleaning our dirty “Bikar”. One has to clean one by one when it comes to surface through equanimity.
13. How much time will take to reach the goal, that should be left to the nature since we do not know how much load we have and how much efficient we are?

12-January-2022

At 9:00 to 10:00 am “Metta” was given to all and we were allowed to break the silence.

13-January-2022

At   10:00 am we were made free to contact our kith and kens.

14-January-2022

After final Metta starting at 5:30 to 6:30 am and thereafter we had our breakfast and left the center as per the departure schedule of individuals.

About my batch of meditators

When we were made free from Nobel Silence, I tried to know who were my fellow meditator. I find that people from variety of walks attended the course. In total eleven meditators completed the course and they were from different walks of life such as school  teacher, business man, retired geologist, retired professional, Engineer, Agricultural scientist, from actors family,  veterinary doctor, Vipassana AT, etc. Age profile was between 40-85 years. It was amazing to see the enthusiasms and seriousness of the senior meditators. I now feel that why I made so late entry. Then remembered the discourse of Goenkaj where he was repeatedly reminded that everything should be left to the time of nature. Starting sooner or later, itself is a wonderful achievement.

I could also interact with few female meditators on 13-January-2022 and astonished to see three young meditators who have completed 2-3 long courses before coming to this course. One was dentist and other one was IT professional, third-one, I have no idea. When asked whom will you marry, the  Dentist said with great clarity that if a boy having faith on this tradition, she will choose. The   female meditators out-numbered the male in our batch.

Wisdom gained during 30-day course

1. We are in a world of illusion and our perception are also unreal. In the unreal world every product will be unreal.
2. We have no control over what is happening around us.
3. World is a stage where everything is arising and passing way.
4.  We need to take action not reaction.

Epilogue

In the middle of the street, the Buddha taught Vipassana to a recluse and that is our final goal to achieve. He spoke only a few words, but those words contained the entire teaching:

“In your seeing, there should be only seeing; in your hearing nothing but hearing; in your smelling, tasting, touching nothing but smelling, tasting, touching; in your cognizing, nothing but cognizing.”

When contact occurs through any of the six bases of sensory experience, there should be no evaluation, no conditioned perception. Once perception starts evaluating any experience as good or bad, one sees the world in a distorted way because of one’s old blind reactions. In order to free the mind from all conditioning, one must learn to stop evaluating on the basis of past reactions and to be aware, without evaluating and without reacting. Acknowledgement:

1. I am grateful to Dr. S. N. Saha, my senior in the profession and now AT for dragging me in this path step by step.
2. Dr. Jagan Mohan, one of my IIHR colleagues who gave me the first information about Vipassan center opening in Bangalore in 1997 that stimulated me to take first course in 1997.
3. I acknowledge my micro- and macro-environments in my family and office when I was in IIHR that pushed me to search this path.
4. I am thankful to  Mr Pidugu Ravindra Reddy, Center In-charge teacher for giving me the time for   discussion on various issues of the center and allowing me for taking few photographs of the cenrter’s facilities.
5. I thank the Dhamma Khetta Vipassana International Meditation Centre and its wonderful kind-hearted staff for making my stay and meditation peaceful.

–Satyabrata Maiti