What is vipassana

There is a feeling of gratefulness to Gotama, the historical Buddha, who showed the way to the cessation of suffering, but there is absolutely no blind devotion. The Buddha repeatedly discouraged any excessive veneration paid to him personally. He said, "What will it profit you to see this impure body? Who sees the teaching—the Dhamma—sees me. Although Vipassana is a part of the Buddha's teaching, it contains nothing of a sectarian nature, and can be accepted and applied by people of any background.

The Buddha himself taught Dhamma the way, the truth, the path. He did not call his followers "Buddhists"; he referred to them as "Dhammists" those who follow the truth. Vipassana courses are open to anyone sincerely wishing to learn the technique, irrespective of race, caste, faith or nationality. Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jews as well as members of other religions have all successfully practiced Vipassana.

The malady is universal; therefore, the remedy has to be universal. For example, when we experience anger, this anger is not Hindu anger or Christian anger, Chinese anger or American anger.

Similarly, love and compassion are not the strict province of any community or creed: they are universal human qualities resulting from the purity of mind. People from all backgrounds who practice Vipassana find that they become better human beings.

Developments in the fields of science and technology, in transportation, communications, agriculture and medicine, have revolutionized human life at the material level.

But, in actuality, this progress is only superficial: underneath, modern men and women are living in conditions of great mental and emotional stress, even in developed and affluent countries. The problems and conflicts arising out of racial, ethnic, sectarian and caste prejudices affect the citizens of every country. Poverty, warfare, weapons of mass destruction, disease, drug addiction, the threat of terrorism, epidemics, environmental devastation and the general decline of moral values—all cast a dark shadow on the future of civilization.

One need only glance at the front page of a daily newspaper to be reminded of the acute suffering and deep despair which afflict the inhabitants of our planet. Is there a way out of these seemingly insolvable problems?

The answer is unequivocally, yes. All over the world today, the winds of change are readily apparent. People everywhere are eager to find a method which can bring peace and harmony; restore confidence in the efficacy of wholesome human qualities; and create an environment of freedom and security from all types of exploitation—social, religious and economic.

Vipassana can be such a method. The technique of Vipassana is a path leading to freedom from all suffering; it eradicates craving, aversion and ignorance which are responsible for all our miseries.

Those who practice it remove, little by little, the root causes of their suffering and steadily emerge from the darkness of former tensions to lead happy, healthy, productive lives. There are many examples bearing testimony to this fact. Several experiments have been conducted at prisons in India.

In , Mr. Goenka conducted a historic course for inmates at the Central Jail in Jaipur, the first such experiment in Indian penal history. This course was followed in , by a course for senior police officers at the Government Police Academy in Jaipur. In , a second course was held at the Jaipur Central Jail. These courses were the subject of several sociological studies conducted by the University of Rajasthan. In , another course was organized in Jaipur Central Jail in which forty life-term convicts and ten jail officials participated with very positive results.

In , a course for life-sentence prisoners was held at the Sabarmati Central Jail, Ahmedabad, and was the subject of a research project by the Department of Education, Gujarat Vidyapeeth. The Rajasthan and Gujarat studies indicated definite positive changes of attitude and behaviour in the participants, and demonstrated Vipassana is a positive reform measure enabling criminals to become wholesome members of society.

In , a massive course was organised for prisoners in Tihar jail with far-reaching effects. Vipassana was adopted as a prison reform technique in the largest jails of India. A detailed report of the scientific studies carried out to assess the impact of Vipassana meditation on the prisoner's mental health proves that Vipassana is capable of transforming criminals into better human beings. The civil service career of S. Sayagyi was the head of several government departments.

You can with Headspace. Our convenient online sessions can help you find increased compassion , greater focus , less anxiety , and improved feelings of wellbeing and happiness. From there, once you gain more experience and confidence, you can explore the whole library of meditations and exercises, covering everything from sleep , compassion , and sports to anger , stress , and more.

Get started now! Sign up for Headspace for free, and start reaping the benefits of meditation practice. What is Vipassana Meditation, also known as Insight Meditation? Start your free trial. The Benefits of Vipassana aka Insight Meditation. How to practice Vipassana Meditation. How to start meditating with Headspace. The goal is to help you:. Vipassana, like other meditation techniques, can reduce our response to stress.

In a study , participants took part in a Vipassana meditation course. A small study found similar results after a day Vipassana retreat. In addition to easing stress, Vipassana meditation may also help decrease anxiety. In a small study , 14 participants completed a day mindfulness meditation training that included Vipassana. Their anxiety and depression levels were lower after the training. According to a review , mindfulness programs, including Vipassana meditation, may help alter parts of the brain involved in anxiety.

A study of 36 individuals upon completing a day Vipassana retreat found a significant increase in well-being and a possible, though inconclusive, improvement in heart function. In a study of individuals, those who practiced Vipassana reported higher levels of:. Practicing meditation, including Vipassana meditation, may help increase your brain plasticity.

In other words, your brain can create new pathways to improve mental functioning and well-being throughout your life. A small study found that a regular Vipassana practice may help promote brain plasticity. The researchers came to this conclusion by using neuroimaging scans to examine the brain networks of Vipassana practitioners. An older study found that Vipassana meditation may benefit those with substance abuse. Instead, I took a deep breath, skirted around the creature, and opened my door.

I stood there silently cheering its departure from my room. In the meditation hall, daddy longlegs dropped from the ceiling, feeding my anxiety. Huge black spiders dotted the corner of the room where we picked up our pillows, watching over us as we shuffled into yet another meditation session. This was a Tupperware container plus a piece of paper to slide under it for ease of transport. I did not find this helpful. Then, on day five, I hit peak spider.

Just before bed, I caught a glimpse of a bulbous black spider in my peripheral vision, dropping out of a tiny hole near the ceiling. Unlike the many spiders on the veranda, this one was huge.

I leapt out of bed in a panic. Every time I tried to reach the spider, it would crawl in the hole again and disappear. I left the light on, drifting off only to dream about spiders and wake up breathless.

Finally I shut the light decisively. At 2am, I awoke to a feeling of deep alarm and turned the light back on. The spider was dropping from the ceiling, right above my head. Gasping, I fell sideways out of the bed. The spider, as startled as I, hastily clawed its way back toward the ceiling. I watched in horror as it spent the rest of the night eating other spiders in my room.

I did not sleep at all. Studies have shown that people who are blind or deaf have heightened ability in other bodily senses. I felt a small, temporary version of this phenomenon at the course. I could not speak or write, but my mind was whirring away at an alarming speed. Trapped in a cognitive cycle of shame and blame, my phobia of spiders was magnified. The next day, I swallowed my pride and broke my noble silence.

I begged the female volunteer leader to let me switch rooms. At that point in the course several people had left, and I was able to move to a different cabin. For the rest of the week, as everyone else sat on the grass enjoying the sun between sessions, I stayed in my room, too scared to leave.

A friend once said that in life, worrying ahead of time was futile, because what you are scared of never manifests. Instead, what you least expect creeps up behind you and scares you out of your mind. Or in my case, drops down from the ceiling in plain view. I wish I could say that the spider incident was a turning point. It was simply a bump along the way. By day six, I felt exhausted by the pain, the sleepless nights, and a mind slowly unspooling. Some people talk about intruding memories of childhood or overly sexual thoughts during their Vipassana experience.

For me, the challenge was suppressing the urge to run around like a toddler. Instead of doing a body scan, I fantasized about flinging off my pillows and running through the empty space in the center of the hall, screaming like a banshee. I daydreamed of doing snow angels on the worn carpet, making a mockery of the meditation.