Vipassana is one of the oldest meditation methods in India. Lost for a long time, it was rediscovered by Sakyamuni Buddha more than 2500 years ago. Vipassana means to truly observe, that is, to observe the true face of things: this is a process of purifying the body and mind by observing oneself. At first, I improved my concentration by observing my natural breathing. Wait until the consciousness becomes more acute, and then observe the changing characteristics of body and mind, and experience the impermanence, bitterness and selflessness of the universe. This way of understanding reality through direct experience is the process of purification. This whole (method) road is a universally applicable treatment prescription for universal problems in the whole universe; It does not belong exclusively to a particular organized religion or sect. So no matter who you are, you can practice anytime and anywhere without any restrictions; There will be no conflict because of different races, backgrounds and religions. Everyone can get practical benefits equally and indiscriminately. (The above introduction comes from Neiguan, China. com)
Vipassana is a kind of Buddhism. To practice Buddhism, we must first go through three conversions: conversion to Buddhism, conversion to Buddhism and conversion to monks.
Conversion to Buddhism is the characteristic of conversion consciousness. Conversion to Buddhism is not to argue with people about whether Jesus is the son of God. Of course, Jesus Christ is the son of God, and Jesus' eyes are full of love, compassion and kindness. Believe in Jesus, get inspiration from Jesus, and send out your love, compassion and kindness. Converting to Buddha is not chanting "convert to Buddha, convert to Buddha, convert to Buddha" every day. Buddha is a fully conscious person. Conversion to Buddhism is the characteristic of conversion to Buddhism, which means that you can realize yourself, and only your own consciousness can protect you, not others'. We must convert to our own consciousness and cultivate the characteristics of consciousness, otherwise it is blind faith.
To convert to Buddhism means to live a life that conforms to Buddhism, to practice Buddhism from oneself, and to practice dharma, stability and wisdom. Law is not a sect or a religious organization. Law is the natural law of the universe, and living a life that conforms to the natural law is the law of conversion.
To convert to a monk is not to convert to a certain monk, but to convert to the characteristics of anyone who walks on this right path.
The way to practice Vipassana is the Eight Sacred Ways, namely, right view, mindfulness, righteousness, righteousness, life, progress, mindfulness and positive determination. The Eight Holy Paths can be divided into three stages of training: abstinence, determination and wisdom.
Abstinence is the training of moral cultivation, and it is necessary to get rid of all bad language and behavior.
It must be the training of concentration and the ability to read clearly, so as to dominate and control one's own thoughts;
Wisdom is wisdom, that is, cultivating pure insight and seeing one's own reality clearly.
Discipline is the foundation of practice, without which we can never make progress. We all hope to observe ourselves deeply and cultivate insight to see our reality clearly, which depends on a very sober and calm heart. Only by staying away from evil deeds can the heart become peaceful and begin to look inward.
It must be the training of concentration, concentration and breath, and strive to maintain awareness of income and expenditure, so as to cultivate inner control and tame wild hearts.
Wisdom can be divided into three types: Wen Hui, Sihui and Xiuhui.
Wen Hui is the wisdom he heard, such as the wisdom he learned from others by listening to teachers, reading classic books and listening to speeches.
Wisdom is intellectual understanding. It is after hearing or reading a certain statement that we have to consider it, whether it is reasonable, useful and practical, and feel satisfied after consideration, before we believe it will be followed.
Cultivating wisdom comes from personal experience and understanding of truth. This kind of wisdom comes from the practice certificate, which can change the inner nature and then change a person's life.
In layman's terms, it means learning, thinking and practicing. All kinds of skills in life are constantly learned-> Thinking-> Practice->; Re-learn-> Reflection-> You can't be familiar with it until you practice, and so can the process of wisdom practice. (Many times we all die in Wenhui, and it is impossible for male and female servants to be taught. )
Next, we will enter the 10-day Vipassana course. In order to facilitate your understanding, some common words are now explained as follows:
Teacher S. N. Goenka: I am a native of India. I am a teacher who teaches Vipassana meditation. The Vipassana 10 day course was recorded by S.N. Guernka.
Teaching assistant: Mr. S. N. Goenka appointed a teaching assistant to help him guide the course, and the teaching assistant practiced with the students in the ten-day course.
Office: the management department responsible for students' daily life, consisting of old volunteers who have participated in the 10 day course.
Meeting with the teacher: Talk to the assistant teacher about questions or doubts about meditation skills. From noon 12 to evening 1, you can talk to the teacher in the meditation hall from 9 pm to 9: 30 pm.
Student: A person who studies Vipassana.
Enlightenment: The saying that the monk Dade is a disciple and a believer is called enlightenment, which means that every night from 7: 00 to 8: 15, teacher S.N. Goenka explains Vipassana.
All students must strictly abide by the following five precepts in the course:
1) Don't kill any life.
2) Don't steal
3) Don't commit adultery (meaning: all sexual acts are prohibited) (this commandment was originally not committed adultery, that is, refusing improper sexual relations, and was upgraded to not commit adultery in the course)
4) Don't lie (lie)
5) Don't use all alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
In addition to the above five precepts, all students must abide by the following rules:
Observation method taught on day 1-3 of the course. Observing breathing means observing breathing, directing attention to breathing, and noticing the coming and going of breathing. Sit down, close your eyes and keep your body comfortable and straight. When breathing in, you realize breathing in, and when breathing out, you realize breathing out.
You may think how easy it is, but when you start practicing, you will find how difficult it is. When we observe breathing, an inner thought rises, and then another thought rises, "My little friend got married this weekend and forgot to ask someone to bring a red envelope, hey!" When I got up this morning, I vaguely shouted to turn on the light. Alas, I broke the sacred silence rule. There were so many distractions in my heart, one after another, and I soon completely forgot to breathe. Then start again, pay attention to breathing, and in an instant, the heart ran away again.
"The heart is so uneasy, delusion. When we find ourselves distracted, we tell ourselves that our hearts are running away again and turn our attention back to breathing. When you find that your attention is distracted again, tell yourself,' Oh, my heart has run away again', and then turn your attention back to breathing. Just try again, without any hatred. Don't deliberately control or adjust your breathing, observe, just observe your breathing. "
The next afternoon, when I tried to practice the method of observing interest, a cold feeling entered my nose and my body felt uncomfortable. Oh, my God, what's wrong? Every income is accompanied by a calm and abnormal concentration. It's only the second day What kind of state have I reached? Thanks to Zhifeng for letting me know Vipassana; Thanks to Xi Zhi's two insights into Vipassana, I finally made up my mind to Vipassana (see appendix). Thank the supervisor for allowing me to come down to Vipassana under the tight schedule; Thank my family for supporting me when I was worried that I might be a pyramid scheme. Thank you. Oh, the heart ran away again.
At night, I realized that the temperature of the air outside the body is lower than that inside the body, so we will feel slightly cool when we earn money and slightly hot when we are rich. This is a natural phenomenon that has always existed, and our hearts are too rough to realize it.
Well, keep an alert and focused mind and continue to study hard.
On the fourth day, I began to learn a new practice method-Vipassana, that is, observing my feelings.
We systematically turn our attention to the whole body, first from head to toe, then from foot to head, from one end to the other. But in the whole process, don't deliberately look for or avoid certain feelings, but observe and detect those feelings that appear all over the body, whether they are cold, hot, light, heavy, itchy, throbbing, tight, edema, pressure, pain, tingling, pulsation or vibration. Don't pursue any special feelings, just observe them truthfully when all kinds of physical feelings happen naturally.
Well, keep an alert, focused and down-to-earth heart and keep working hard.
From the fifth day, while practicing Vipassana, there are three periods every day, each period 1 hour. We should sit still resolutely, that is to say, we should meditate for 65,438+0 hours, without changing our posture, moving our legs, opening our eyes and putting down. Emotional impermanence, ups and downs, ups and downs. Don't be greedy or disgusted with any kind of feelings, just observe every phenomenon objectively with an equal and balanced heart.
It sounds easy, but it is not easy to do, just like starting to practice the method of observing interest. I meditated for 10 minutes (maybe 10 minutes, I can't see my watch clearly without opening my eyes, and there is no watch), and my knee hurts. I hope the pain will go away soon. But instead of disappearing, it hurts more. I want to meditate for an hour. What kind of pain is this? I'm trying to hold back 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour is coming, well, it's coming ... What's the matter, the teacher must have mistaken the time, 1 hour must have arrived ... Finally, I couldn't help it, let go of my legs, took a break and continued to meditate. Repeat the above process again, loosen your legs again, have a rest and continue meditation. 1 hour has finally arrived. Although the resolute sit-in has not been completed, it doesn't matter. Keep working hard.
Resolutely sitting is to let us learn to face the pain and train ourselves to be equal. When all the feelings are happy, I clearly know that I can be equal, I will not habitually respond to my feelings, and I will be equal when the real pain occurs. Maybe only a few equal moments can be maintained, and the rest of the time is reacting, but these moments are so powerful. In an hour, these brief moments will become seconds and minutes. ...
Well, keep an alert, focused, stable and equal heart and continue to work hard.
On the sixth day of the course, there appeared the devil who made me fidgety, full of fear for the future and unable to sleep every night.
I study to enlighten my mind;
I travel to meet people and things I don't know;
I run long distances in order to have a healthy body and a good sleep;
I interpret dreams and try to understand my subconscious self;
.......
I constantly strive to improve myself against the devil. It appears less and less frequently, but I know it is still there and may appear at any time. Because of this, I came here to participate in Vipassana meditation.
I didn't run away. I use my present heart to face and think. After a while, I knew I won, and I completely defeated it. This is not a miracle, but my continuous efforts have finally blossomed at this moment.
You don't have to care what my demons are. My demons are what bothers you. It may be a scene you experienced as a child, a mental illness, something you thought you always wanted to do, but you haven't started yet. It could be anything. Will appear from time to time. When it appears, you will eat badly, sleep badly and feel uneasy. Of course, it may also occur when you can't eat well, sleep well or feel uneasy. Do you have a devil?
My demons have been lifted, but I still have greed and hatred. Well, keep an alert, focused, stable and equal heart and continue to work hard.
After the opening ceremony on the evening of the 7th, Teacher S. N. Goenka proposed to keep practicing, that is, to keep awareness at all times. Pay attention to the feeling of feet when walking, the feeling of mouth chewing when eating, the feeling of throat when swallowing, and the feeling parts of the body when lying down. Day and night, in addition to deep sleep, we must continue to work hard.
Day 8-9, the course is coming to an end. However, after completing a resolute sit-in, the situation turned sharply and countless thoughts poured in. I have been disturbed by my own thoughts countless times during meditation. I have tried to calm myself down countless times, but I have failed.
At noon on the 9th, I asked the teacher:
"Teacher, we are going to end the course and go back to our original life. Is equality like this: in life, we encounter difficulties. We think that everything is impermanent and everything will pass, so we should be equal, not greedy for love and not resentful. "
"No .. when you encounter difficulties in life, you should avoid them first and come back to face them later. It's too late to consider equality when encountering problems. Equality requires constant practice, and gradually it will be found that it took four hours to get out of the mood, and now it may only take two or 1 hour to get out. "
"Teacher, I often think about problems. I figured out a lot of problems during the ten-day course. But I find that the power of thinking is too strong, and I often fall into a situation where I can't extricate myself. The mood in the last two days has been particularly chaotic. "
"We don't want you to face the problem just by thinking. We also hope that you will keep practicing, and slowly and naturally, your heart will calm down. "
Yes, my demons have been lifted, but I still have greed and hatred. How to pray that the habits cultivated for more than 20 years can be solved in the 10 day course? Keep practicing and working hard, and your heart will naturally calm down.
Well, keep an alert, focused, stable and equal heart and continue to work hard.
Awareness and equality-this is Vipassana. If you can practice awareness and equality at the same time, you can be free from pain. If we are aware, but lack equality, then the stronger our awareness of various inner feelings, the sharper our sensitivity to feelings, and the easier it is to respond habitually, thus increasing our pain. On the other hand, if we have equality, but we know nothing about our feelings, then this equality is only superficial; The habitual reaction hidden in the deep heart continues, but we just don't know it. Therefore, we should strive to cultivate consciousness and equality in the deepest part of our hearts. Be aware of what happens in your body, don't habitually react to them, and understand the impermanence.
In life, things you don't want happen again and again, but what you want is elusive. We have all experienced disappointment in life-anxiety, irritability, disharmony and pain. Even if nothing goes wrong at the moment, we remember that it will happen again.
We will not confine our unhappiness to ourselves. On the contrary, we will constantly dump our pain on others. We torture ourselves and bring pain to our families. An unhappy person will fill his surroundings with anxiety, and anyone who enters that environment will feel anxious and unhappy. In this way, individual tensions converge into the tensions of the whole society.
On day 10, we showed the concept of practicing compassion-being kind to others. By practicing equality, the mind is freed from the habit of blind reaction, which shows that it can take creative, constructive and beneficial positive actions for itself or others. With an equal heart (giving up), other substances of a pure heart will follow: kindness and love (kindness) help others without asking for anything in return; Sympathize with others' failures and pains (sadness); Sharing others' success and good luck (happiness) is the inevitable result of practicing Vipassana.
May all sentient beings be happy and safe, and may all sentient beings be liberated, liberated and liberated.
1 1 day is the course success day. S.N. Goenka, a clever old man, took everything into consideration.
"From 4: 30 to 9: 30 in the morning, you kept practicing and practicing the use of Buddhism. Every night, we show Buddhism and explain its methods and applications. Naturally, in this process, legal theory will be exposed. Sometimes, legal theory does not conform to our traditional beliefs, nor does it conform to our philosophical beliefs. If so, then put it aside, put that part aside and accept what you can accept. "(I am entangled in your view of life and death).
Vipassana is over, and practice has just begun. Keep alert, focused, stable and equal, and continue to work hard.
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