Vipassana Meditation Course 06

Until now, I have been mainly talking about the structure and intellectual content of the course but not the meditation. Today I have decided to rectify that. As I mentioned yesterday, the Noble Eightfold Path has three major divisions: sila, samadhi, and panna. Sila was taken care of through our acceptance of the precepts (no killing, no stealing, no sex, not lying, and no drinking). Samadhi and panna, however, were developed through the meditation. For the first three and a half days we did exercises from anapana meditation and then for the remaining days we did various vipassana exercises.

Anapana meditation has the goal of developing samadhi, or concentration. Most Buddhist meditation, Zen, for example, is actually anapana and, while it relieves suffering while you are doing it, has only a small effect once you are back in everyday life. The value of anapana meditation in this course was that it focused the mind and made the vipassana more effective.

On the first evening, after we had the rules and the introduction we were taught the simplest anapana meditation. All you do is sit and watch your breath. You do not control the breath in any way, but simple be aware of the air going in and out. On the second day we began paying attention to the air passing through our noses, whether the air was moving through one nostril, the other, or both. The next step was to be aware of the air moving though the inside of the nose. Then we payed attention to the whole area of the nose, nostrils, inside, etc. We were now trying to be aware of any sensations that we felt in that area, ignore any sensations anywhere else. If there were no sensations, we followed the breathing. Finally we reduced that area in our awareness to the small triangle consisting of the nostrils and the area between them and the upper lip. If there were sensations in this area, we concentrated our awareness on them. If we were aware of no sensations, we focused on the breath moving against the edges of the nostrils.

The effect of this gradual decrease in the area of our awareness was to sharpen and focus the mind, improve concentration. Although I did not realize it until later, the focus on the sensations in the nose was preparing us for the vipassana exercises.

During the afternoon of the third day, Goenkaji walked us through the first vipassana exercise. Starting at the top of the head, at the point where a newborn baby's skull is not yet closed, we focused our awareness until we discovered a sensation. It could be anything - an itch, pain, heat, cold, heaviness, lightness, pulsations, sweatiness, dryness, anything at all. Then the skin under the hair was divided into six areas and each was brought to awareness until a sensation appear. Next we moved through the face and neck, then the parts of the arms, the torso front and back, and finally the legs. Then the process was repeated moving from the feet to the head this time. If we discovered no sensation, we stayed aware of the area for a minute or so, then moved on to the next area. When we had gone down the body and then up the body again, we repeated the process. This continued until the end of the meditation period. If there was an area of exceptionally strong sensation, such as pain or itching, or if there was an area that did not produce a sensation, we went back on focused on these for a minute or two, no more than five minutes.

I have not yet mentioned the most important thing and that is equanimity. Whatever sensation appeared or if no sensation appeared we were to be aware but with perfect equanimity. We should observe with complete awareness but not be concerned with the content. Pain, itching or some other 'negative' sensation was just as good as something pleasant. We were to make no distinctions and to have no preferences. Goenkaji said that this equanimity was the key and that it was necessary to make any progress.

I was quite surprised because a pain that I have had in my hip for more than a year disappeared. I mentioned this before so I won't say more here. However, I still have two areas that remain painful during meditation, even after returning home.

Over the remaining few days, we moved from being aware of individual body areas to simultaneously being aware of symmetric areas of the body, for example, corresponding locations on the arms and legs. Then to the whole body at once or large sections of the body if we could not get the whole body into awareness. In between during these new exercises we went back and repeated the original exercise.

Goenkaji told us many times that the sensations were related to defilements that we had accumulated in the past and that the sensation was the defilement coming to the surface and passing away. He also said that we should not just take his word for this but to pay attention to what was happening in our own bodies and minds. If we did not sense the improvement as these defilements left us, we should give up vipassana. However, he said that he was sure that we would all be able to observe our progress along the Noble Eightfold Path.

I am still doing these exercises. At present I do about 20 minutes of anapana and then 40 minutes of vipassana, usually in the evening. At present my daughter and grandson are staying with us so it is difficult to find a time and place to meditate where a one-year old does not want attention. They are leaving today and I plan to use the next few weeks to see if I can sustain the schedule recommended by Goenkaji: an hour first thing in the morning and an hour in the evening. I am thinking of setting my clock and getting up at 4 a.m. (I usually wake up naturally between 4 and 5) and doing an hour. Then doing another hour between 7 and 8 p.m. Goenkaji claims that the benefits will make the time more than worthwhile.