Vispana

Mark Sekree

I'm not wearing orange robes, I've still got hair, a job and all my assets and I'm not guzzling down a one-way ticket to ride on Hailey's comet any time soon- after a 10 day meditation course this sceptic calls that a success. But I am feeling happier and do have a few more funny ideas and habits-even better.

It all started with a raving recommendation from a friend who came across Vipassana meditation in India. Not one to miss out on any experience I found myself a couple of months later nervously approaching a non-too-spiritual scout camp in a tucked away corner of Singapore, my home, on the early evening of 'Day 0'.

I made up my bed in the dorm with the other recruits (think Fight Club, Project Mayhem) and went out to listen to the intro. So far everyone had seemed pretty normal- almost all Chinese of different ages, about 20 girls and 20 guys. All the helpers seemed nice and weren't wearing stupefied grins or dodgy clothes and there was an authentic gong, a good start.

That evening we were called together for the introduction and sat in a hall to listen to a recorded address. My first thought as the slightly hypnotic voice urged us to either submit fully to the course for 10 days or leave now was- 'Oh shit. I'm in a cult!'
To be fair my next one was, 'Hey, cool. I'm in a cult'!

It turned out neither was true, but my guard was well and truly up- I've seen those news reports of mass-suicides in the mid-West too.

Here began the 'Noble Silence' that was to remain for the duration- no eye contact, no gesturing and certainly no talking. I soon realised that I was an expert at this having practised endlessly with cute girls in clubs.
Also there was to be no reading or writing, no music, no drinking, no meat, no religious practise (a big deal for some I'm sure) and no vigorous exercise. So what the hell did I do for 10 days? In short I ate, slept, dozed, dazed, learnt and meditated, meditated, meditated:

4am GONG- Doze. 4.30am GONG- Meditate. 6.30am GONG- Breakfast and dozing. 8am GONG- Meditate. 11am GONG- Lunch and daze. 1pm GONG- Meditate. 5pm GONG- Dinner (fruit). 6pm GONG- Meditate. 7pm GONG- DVD of teaching (with a pleasingly Yoda-like teacher. Unfortunately (for him) his wife also looked like Yoda. Damn- that's some bad karma right there!) 8pm GONG-Meditate. 9pm GONG- Daze and sleep.

Rinse and repeat eight times.
The big idea is that misery and suffering are bought about by craving, aversion and attachment.
This is a fairly standard idea but Vipassana's answer is that while you can't free your self entirely from natural craving and aversion you can train yourself not to respond to them, just to let them be.

This is called being 'equanimous'.

A deep realisation that everything changes helps with this- it's much harder to get excited about things once you realise that whether they're painful or pleasurable they ain't going to last anyway- so why crave or fear them? And it's daft trying to hold on to attachments since change is inevitable.

As for how exactly you do this, I don't want to say too much about the process. The only way to learn is to do it, and I agree that the only way to get results is a 10-day intensive course with all the silence and the rest; otherwise you would just never get it.
Look at it this way- they've been running the same course for 2,500 years, with about 100,000 people going through it each year these days, so it's safe to say it's tried and tested.
Be sure though- you don't just sit there daydreaming; this meditation is a real skill like juggling or painting. You've got to concentrate and practise and let it come naturally so you don't try too hard.

And then?

And well then you get 'the Earth and everything that's in it' as Rudyard Kipling said in his poem 'If'-or more precisely you get a good mood that nothing should shake.

If you fancy giving it a go, and if it strikes a chord with you or raises your curiosity at all I urge you to take your courage in your hands and take the plunge, then there's a permanent centre near Wales.
The course is totally free and is solely supported by ex-students through donations, this way you truly get to live like a monk- on the charity of others.

It is hard, perhaps the hardest thing you will ever have done, but you will have one hell of an experience at the least and a much happier life at the most.

Go for it!

See www.dhamma.org for more details.

I'm pleased I did.


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