Vol.18 No.1 January 22, 2008
Words of Dhamma
Yo ca dhammamabhiññāya,dhammamaññāya paṇḍito;rahadova nivāte ca,anejo vūpasammati.
Thoroughly understanding the Dhamma,and freed from longing through insight,the wise one rid of all desire,
is calm as a pool unstirred by wind.
Itivuttaka 3.92
The Factors of Enlightenment (Bojjhaṅgas)
The following has been adapted from Goenkaji’s discourse during the Satipaṭṭhāna course.)
There are seven bojjhaṅgas (factors of enlightenment) that have to be developed to reach the final goal of full liberation. They are:
1. sati (awareness);
2. dhamma-vicaya (investigation of Dhamma);
3. viriya (effort);
4. pīti (rapture);
5. passaddhi (tranquillity);
6. samādhi (concentration, absorption) and
7. upekkhā (equanimity).
The first bojjhaṅga is sati, awareness. Without it, further steps on the path cannot be taken. Sati, the objective observation of reality, is the most important factor because it must be continuously present from moment to moment with every other factor.
Dhamma-vicaya is the second bojjhaṅga. The word caya or cayana means “to integrate.” Apparent, consolidated, integrated, illusionary truth creates delusion and confusion resulting in wrong decisions and actions. Vicaya or vicayana means to divide, dissect, disintegrate, separate, which is what Vipassana intends you to do. Initially dhamma-vicaya is intellectual. The body is analyzed as just four elements, with no “I” about it. The mind is just the four aggregates. One observes the six sense doors, their respective objects, the contact of the two and the process of multiplication. The intellectual clarity gained by this process gives guidance to start the actual practice of Vipassana and study the truth at the actual level. To become a factor of enlightenment, dhamma-vicaya must become an experiential investigation—direct experience of the phenomenon of arising and passing away at the level of sensation.
The third bojjhaṅga is viriya (effort) as in sammā-vāyāmo in the Noble Eightfold Path. Great effort is required, but the effort is not to react, to let things just happen. Even if you have been victorious in a thousand battles against a thousand warriors, this inner battle of non-reaction is more difficult because the old habit is to do something, to react. Some pressure is necessary to drill a hole in a precious gem, but too much pressure will break it. It is a middle path.
As you keep practising with sati, dhamma-vicaya, and viriya, the impurities go away, and you experience the fourth bojjhaṅga, pīti: rapture. You have to be careful. If you develop attachment to this free flow of pleasant vibrations throughout the body, if you look for it and cling to it, it is no longer a bojjhaṅga. If the understanding of anicca remains—that this is still the field of mind and matter, of arising and passing—then pīti becomes a factor of enlightenment.
After this, the meditator experiences passaddhi: a state of deep tranquility and calmness. The mind becomes extremely peaceful, quiet, and tranquil. Again the meditator may have the false impression that this deep peace, never experienced before, is liberation. Just as pīti, can become a bondage if not used properly, in the same way, passaddhi can also become a bondage. You understand that it is only a midway rest-house: the final goal is still far away. You can check that the six sense doors are still functioning: open your eyes, or listen. You are still in the field of arising and passing. You have not transcended the field of mind and matter.
Thoroughly examine this passaddhi, this deep, tranquil, calm experience. Although difficult to grasp, a subtle oscillation remains, and this sensation is called adukkhaṃasukhaṃ (neither pleasant nor unpleasant). In pīti, the experience was pleasant; now it is just peaceful, and the danger is that anicca is not experienced. Detachment from craving towards pleasant sensation or aversion towards unpleasant sensation is much easier than detachment from this feeling of peace. You must be very attentive, with a very sharp mind, feel the subtle oscillation, check the six sense doors, and keep understanding that this experience is anicca. If you are aware of the very subtle oscillation, arising and passing, then it becomes a bojjhaṅga and gives you the strength to move further. Your experience grows.
There is often a question about adukkhaṃasukhaṃ or neutral sensations. The Buddha did not mean the initial, surface sensations which are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. That is totally different and causes craving and aversion because people get bored with it, lose interest, and want something else. Their experience has become stale. They want something more or new, something they don’t have. This is their old habit pattern.
The next enlightenment factor is samādhi—concentration or absorption. Sammā-samādhi takes us beyond all the planes of existence and results in full liberation from the bondage of birth and death, and from every type of suffering. It is practised with sampajañña, the awareness of the mind-matter phenomenon and the realization of its nature of arising and passing. With the practice of sammā-samādhi (with sampajañña), one after the other, the meditator attains the fruit of sotāpanna, sakadāgāmī, anāgāmī, and arahant. Thus, samādhi becomes an enlightenment factor.
Upekkhā—equanimity is the seventh factor of enlightenment. Like sati, it must be present from the beginning to the end, at every step. Whichever other factor is being developed, awareness and equanimity must always be present.
When the bojjhaṅgas are practiced properly, they increase and become perfect and when each is perfect, enlightenment is perfect. This is the whole process of Vipassana.
Goenkaji’s Discourses on Television
Aastha: Daily, 9:40 to 10 am.
Hungama: Daily, 4.30 to 6.00 am.
Bindass: Daily, 4.30 to 6.00 am.
Zee: Urja, daily, 4:30 am.
USA: Aastha TV at 6 pm EST (Monday to Friday) on WORLDDIRECT platform of DIRECTV on channel no. 2005. (Please confirm exact telecast timings.)
Benazir Bhutto and Vipassana
by Dr. Roop Jyoti, Kathmandu
In the summer of 1994, I got a call from the Home Ministry in Kathmandu. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was on an official visit to Nepal, wanted to visit Dharmashringa Vipassana Center in Kathmandu.
Arrangements were made to show her around and explain the Vipassana meditation technique in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S. N. Goenka. Unfortunately, the visit was cancelled.
Two years later, the Foreign Ministry contacted us again. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was going to Pakistan and there was a specific request from Benazir Bhutto to bring along a Vipassana teacher.
Our Principal Teacher, Acharya Goenkaji asked me and Nani Maiya Manandhar, both senior teachers, to go with the delegation. Benazir Bhutto was busy with the state visit and sent word that she would meet us as soon as she was free. On the last day of the state visit, the Nepali delegates were returning to Karachi in the afternoon to fly back to Kathmandu. Nani Maiyaji and I were finally summoned at 3pm, after the rest of the delegation had flown off.
Benazir Bhutto had heard much about Vipassana and wanted to learn the technique there and then. We told her it required a ten-day retreat. She did not have such time, and insisted to be taught right away. Acharya Goenkaji had foreseen such a response and had given permission to teach her the Anapana technique. So, Nani Maiyaji taught her Anapana. Benazir Bhutto started practising right away and found it very calming. She said that she had not slept for days and after the session of Anapana, she wanted to take a nap because she felt so tranquil.
We waited while she had a restful sleep. After a few hours, she emerged looking refreshed and happy. We explained to her the salient aspects of Vipassana: a means out of human suffering and misery; not a ritual of an organized religion but an art of living. Vipassana involves no conversion from one religion to another and is open to all without any barrier of caste, creed or gender. The technique helps people control unruly minds and cleanse them of impurities like fear, anger, hatred, ill will, animosity, greed, passion and restlessness. Vipassana teaches how to diminish the ego and to find truth about oneself and to achieve inner peace.
We talked a bit more about Vipassana and where she could possibly sit through a full ten-day course. We also gave her books, tapes and videos. By this time, it was late in the evening and the last flight from Islamabad to Karachi was about to leave. We rushed to the airport. Upon the prime minister’s order, two seats had been kept for us and the plane took off as soon as we boarded it. When we landed at Karachi that night, we learnt that there had been a military coup and Benazir Bhutto had been deposed. We were the last visitors she met as prime minister.
Last week, as news of her assassination came in, I was filled with sadness, but took solace in the fact that she had learned Anapana, an important part of the Vipassana technique. May she be happy and peaceful in her heavenly abode.
One-Day Course at Global Pagoda
One-day courses are being organized at the Global Pagoda every Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Health permitting, Goenkaji will be present during the one-day course on the third Sunday of every month, which will be conducted in the main meditation hall of the Global Pagoda. (One-day Vipassana courses are only for those who have completed a ten-day Vipassana course.) Registration for these courses is compulsory.
Meditators are requested to switch off their mobile phones and observe noble silence during the course.
Lunch will be served to the course participants in addition to tea and biscuits at 10 am and in the evening.
Please bring your own water bottles. However you can refill their bottles at the Global Pagoda.
There are no facilities for overnight stay at the Global Pagoda.
For registration, contact: Mr. Derek Pegado, Tel: (022) 2845-1206; 2845-1204, 2845-2261 (from Monday to Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm). Email: globalpagoda@hotmail.com
Website: www.globalpagoda.org
10-day courses: 27-2 to 9-3, 12 to 23-3. Please send application to VIA, Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri 422 403. Email: info@giri.dhamma.org
Donations Through Core Banking and SWIFT Transfer
Donations to Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust (Vipassana International Academy, Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri) and Vipassana Research Institute can now be remitted from anywhere in India through any branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) under core banking system.
Account Numbers of State Bank of India, Igatpuri branch are:
1 Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust: 11542160342
2 Vipassana Research Institute: 11542165646.
(Igatpuri Branch Code Number: 0386)
Donations from outside India can be remitted through SWIFT transfer to State Bank of India, Igatpuri Branch, Maharashtra, India. SWIFT Transfer details are as follows:
1. Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial trust: SBININ BB 528 Branch code 01247 beneficiary Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust Account No. 11542160342 Igatpuri branch code: 0386
2. Vipassana Research Institute (VRI): SBININ BB 528 Branch code 01247 beneficiary Vipassana Research Institute Account No. 11542165646 Igatpuri branch code: 0386
Vipassana in Zimbabwe
The first ten-day Vipassana course in Zimbabwe was conducted in August 2001. Since then, six courses have been conducted there and about 15-20 students take part in each course. The last five courses have all been held at the premises of Kufunda Learning Village near Harare. The average expenses for each course is about US$600 including AT’s airfare of about US$350.
In addition, translation of Vipassana outreach material and the children’s course transcripts into Shona is in progress. Recording of the children’s course teaching material is scheduled to take place at Dhamma Pataka, the Vipassana centre in South Africa, in April 2008 and the first children’s course in Shona is likely to be held in August 2008. The next course will be conducted in August 2008. For registration and other details, contact: Marianne Knuth, Phone: +26-30-1121-0023 ; Email: marianne@kufunda.org
AT Training Workshops in 2008
The following workshops have been organized in India in 2008.
21 to 24 February: Dhamma Nāga (Nagpur)
20 to 23 March: Logicstat Farms (Delhi)
1 to 4 May: Dhamma Tapovana (Workshop for conducting Teenagers’ courses)
12 to 15 July: Dhamma Lakkhaṇa (Lucknow)
27 to 30 August: Dhamma Khetta (Hyderabad)
2 to 5 October: Dhamma Sindhu (Bada)
These workshops are for all newly appointed and trainee Vipassana assistant teachers. Vipassana teachers, SATs and ATs are also welcome to attend. Please contact the respective Vipassana centres for registration and register well in advance.
Vipassana Websites
Vipassana introduction: www.dhamma.org
Contains information about Course Schedules of Vipassana centres worldwide, Code of Discipline, Application Form for ten-day courses, etc.
Dhamma Giri: www.vri.dhamma.org
Contains information about Indian Vipassana centres and Schedule of Courses, VRI Newsletters, research papers, publications, etc.
Pali Tipiṭaka Website: www.tipitaka.org
Contains the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka along with commentaries, subcommentaries and related Pali texts. in Roman, Devanagari, Cyrillic, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Myanmar, and Sinhala scripts. More scripts will be added in future.
Sale of Vipassana Books, Cassettes, CDs And DVDs
1.Mr. Dipchand Shah, B-35 Dalas Bldg, Gyanmandir Road, Dadar (W) Mumbai 28. Tel: (022) 2422-8134
2.Vipassana Information Centre, Mrs. Smita Kamdar, 7C, Suresh Colony, S. V. Road, Near Nanavati Hospital, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai 56. Tel: (022) 5581-2672, 3092-8266.
3.Mrs. Amita Parikh, E-1 Asmit, Opp. National Decorators, Bajaj Road, Near Rly. Station, Vile Parle (W) Mumbai 56. Tel: 2612-2226, 2611-8258 (2:30 to 5 p.m.)
4.Vipassana for Better Education office, Lord Harris Municipal Marathi School, L. Tilak Marg, Dhobi Talao, Near G. T. Hospital, Mumbai-400-001 (Monday to Friday, 2 to 7 p.m.). Contact: Sunil Ghadge, Tel: (022) 2270-3601.
5.Mr. S. Bhalerao, Dadasaheb Gaikwad Hall, Andheri (W), Mumbai. Tel: (022) 24163288
6.Mrs. Sujata R. Khanna, Prasad Shopping Centre, Room No. 3, First floor, Opp. Railway Station, Goregaon (W), Mumbai 62. Mon. to Fri, 3 to 8 pm; Mobile: 93204-92269.
7.Ratansagar Books, Mr. Suhas Kamble, 125/1A, Raj Society, Kothrud, Pune-38. Tel: (020) 2541-0796.
8.Mr. Rathi, Shivkrishna Medical Store, Agra Road, Igatpuri. Tel. (02553) 244-036.
9.Arti General Store, Igatpuri 422403, Tel: (02553) 244-790.
Children’s Courses in Mumbai
To serve children’s courses in Mumbai, call 98200-22990.
|
Date |
Venue |
Age |
Registration |
|
3-2 |
South Mumbai |
10-12 yrs |
1 & 2-2 |
|
10-2 |
Matunga |
13-16 yrs |
8 & 9-2 |
|
17 -2 |
Ghatkopar |
10-12 yrs |
15 & 16-2 |
|
2-3 |
South Mumbai |
13-16 yrs |
28-2 & 1-3 |
|
16-3 |
Ulhasnagar |
10-12 yrs |
15 & 16-3 |
|
23-3 |
Ghatkopar |
13-16 yrs |
22 & 23-3 |
|
6-4 |
South Mumbai |
10-12 yrs |
4 & 5-4 |
|
13-4 |
Ulhasnagar |
13-16 yrs |
10 & 11-4 |
Course Timing: 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. Registration: 11 am to 1 pm
Course Venues: Andheri (W): Dada Saheb Gaikwad Sansthan, Babasaheb Ambedkar Marg, RTO Corner, Four Bungalows. Tel: 2510-1096, 2516-2505. Ghatkopar (W): SNDT School, New Building, Cama Lane, Opp Vidyut Society. Tel: 2510-1096, 2516-2505. Matunga: Amulakh Amirchand High School, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, New SNDT College, King’s Circle, Matunga (CR), Tel: 2510-1096, 2516-2505. South Mumbai: Tel: 2308-1622. Ulhasnagar: Guru Nanak High School, Kurla Camp, Ulhasnagar-4. Tel: (0251) 252-2693. NB Please: *bring cushion, *register on the specified phone numbers, *inform in advance if unable to attend after registration, *arrive on time for the course.
New Responsibilities
Ācaryas:
Mr. Arun Suryavanshi, Nashik
To serve Dhamma Sarovara
Senior Assistant Teachers:
1. Mrs. C. Sujatha, Secunderabad
2. Mr. Sudesh Leal, Igatpuri / UK
3. Ms. Robin Russ, USA
New Appointments
Assistant Teachers:
Ms. Frances Barnes, UK
Children’s Course Teachers:
1. Mrs. Jung Jung IM (Madhury), Dharamshala
2. Mr. Buoy Kuon, Cambodia
3. Ms. Dawn Branam, USA
Dhamma Service at Dhamma Giri (House Keeping)
Meditators with professional training in House Keeping who wish to serve at Dhamma Giri by training the House Keeping servers, especially those serving student accommodations, may please contact Male course office, Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri 422 403, Email: info@giri.dhamma.org. Please provide details of your training and experience.
Dhamma Dohas
Jāgo logo jagata ke, bītī kālī rāta;
Huā ujālā Dharama kā, maṅgala huā prabhāta.
People of the world, awake! The dark night is over.
The light has come of Dhamma,
the dawn of happiness.
Āo prāṇī viśva ke, suno Dharama kā gyāna;
Isameṅ sukha hai śānti hai, mukti, mokṣa, niravāṇa.
Come, beings of the universe!
Listen to the wisdom of the Dhamma.
In this lies happiness and peace,
liberation, deliverance, nibbāna.
Yaha to vāṇī Dharama kī, bodhi gyāna kī jyota;
Akṣara akṣara meṅ bharā, maṅgala otaparota.
These are the words of Dhamma, the flame of enlightenment-wisdom,
each syllable of them filled and permeated with happiness.
Mīṭhī vāṇī Dharama kī, misarī ke se bola;
Kalyāṇī maṅgalamayī, bharā amṛtarasa ghola.
Sweet are the words of Dhamma, each phrase like crystallized sugar,
yielding welfare and happiness, suffused with the taste of the deathless.
