Vipassana Meditation Course 02

At 7 p.m. one of the old students walked through the building ringing a gong. This was the signal for us to go to the dining hall for an orientation. We were given the rules for the next 10 days and told the details that we needed to know for organizing our lives. This covered things like where to wash our clothes, schedules, and things like that. They also said that starting when we left this meeting the rule of 'noble silence' was in effect. This meant that we could not talk to the other students, nor communicate with them using signals or hand gestures. This rule would be in effect until some time during the afternoon of the tenth day of the course. We could talk to the teacher about our meditation or to the old student who was acting as course manager about any other problems, but otherwise we were to try to act as if we were living alone.

When this orientation was over, we all went to the meditation hall for the first time. It was in the middle of the second floor of the largest building and was very spacious. I guessed that it was about 15x30 meters. It was set up so that as we entered, there were cushions on the floor in front of us. A piece of paper with the name of the person who was to sit there was taped to the floor in front of each cushion. I was to sit in a chair and my seat was in the corner on the right of the door. About 10 meters into the room there were to pillars and the men's cushions were all on the door side of these. About 10 meters beyond these pillars were another pair and then there were cushions for the women. The space in the middle was completely empty, but on the right side there was a door and on the left an alcove with a bench-like place covered with white cloth. There was also a cabinet containing a tape player, controls for the lighting, and some other stuff.

After we had all found our seats, the teachers came in through the door and walked to the alcove where they sat lotus position on the bench. There were two teachers, actually assistant teachers as I will explain in a moment, Patrick Klein and his wife Sachiko. Patrick spoke in English and his wife spoke Japanese. Also lined up against the wall on either side of the alcove were the old students who were assisting with the course, men on the men's side and the women on the other. These men consisted of the course manager, the administrator, and the head cook. There were five women sitting in their row but I had no contact with them so I do not know what functions they performed. From what I could see, it appeared that there were about 30 men altogether and more than 40 women. Ages seem to run from college students up to me. There were at least two men, other than me, who were over sixty, but the majority were in their 20s and 30s.

At this point I discovered that the teacher of the course was S. N. Goenka, commonly referred to as Goenkaji, but he would only appear in tape recordings and videos. Actual contact with the students would be through the Kleins.

The program started with tape recording of a long session of chanting, or maybe I should say singing, by Goenkaji. I knew that some of it was in Pali but some of it did not sound like this language. I later learned that it was Hindi. Goenkaji has a very strange voice and his 'chanting' has a very hypnotic effect. When the chanting was over, he started to explain the course and what we would be doing. He would speak for a sentence or two and then a Japanese women's voice would pop up and translate.

During the course of the next hour or so, we completed a number of formalities. First we all chanted the following in Pali:

Buddham saranam gacchami
dhammam saranam gacchami
sangham saranam gacchami

In English:
I go to the Buddha for refuge
I go to the dhamma for refuge
I go to the sanga for refuge.

Goenkaji explained that going to the Buddha for refuge actually meant that we were using the Buddha's characteristics as guide, not treating him like a god. The dhamma refers to what he called the natural law of how the world works and the sangha referred to the teachers and their teachers, who would tell us about the Buddha and dhamma. He made a big point about our not treating Buddha as anything other than a man and the lack of conflict between what we were going to be doing and religions such as Christianity and the other major religions. He also pointed out that it was not another sect of Buddhism but rather was completely nonsectarian. I should point out that in almost every Buddhist sect reciting this phrase makes the speaker at least a nominal Buddhist.

We also recited something that was much longer and according to Goenkaji's translation and explanation consisted of a formal appeal to the teacher (him) for the teaching.

Finally we took the precepts. The following is taken from the course website.
All who attend a Vipassana course must conscientiously undertake the following five precepts for the duration of the course:

1. to abstain from killing any being;
2. to abstain from stealing;
3. to abstain from all sexual activity;
4. to abstain from telling lies;
5. to abstain from all intoxicants.

There are three additional precepts which old students (that is, those who have completed a course with S.N. Goenka or one of his assistant teachers) are expected to follow during the course:

6. to abstain from eating after midday;
7. to abstain from sensual entertainment and bodily decorations
8. to abstain from using high or luxurious beds.

I have never figured out why they continue to apply number 8, especially considering that most Japanese do not sleep in beds anyway. I believe that it Southeast or South Asian cultural heritage - rich people sleep in beds - that had it included and now no one wants to remove it. Goenkaji talked about the first seven precepts but did not try to explain the eighth.

During the talk Goenkaji also talk about the foundation of the practice which is sīla — moral conduct. And that Sīla provides a basis for the development of samādhi — concentration of mind; and purification of the mind is achieved through paññā — the wisdom of insight. He said that the precepts would guarantee our moral conduct and that we would now start working on samadi through a type of meditation that would increase our concentration. He explain that this was not Vipassana through which we would develop panna. We practiced this meditation for a few minutes. It was simply paying attention to each breath as it came in and went out. We were then given the schedule for the next day and the following days.

4:00 am		Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am		Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am		Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am		Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am		Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon		Lunch break
12noon-1:00 pm		Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm		Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm		Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm		Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm		Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm		Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm		Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm		Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm		Question time in the hall
9:30 pm		Retire to your own room--Lights out

Finally we were sent to bed for the night.

[Tomorrow I will discuss my daily routine in detail.]