Mindfulness: 10 days of silence or what?

A reflection on Vipassana meditation

I recently finished a 10-day vipassana meditation retreat and would like to give you my perspective on it.

Most likely, most readers of this post will not be aware of what Vipassana Meditation is. Here are some options for you:

Varying depths of rabbit holes

• My perspective: vipassana meditation is a very deep technique of meditation that is part of a bigger purpose, which is to liberate humanity from suffering. Vipassana helps by working as a technique to purify the mind, exercise your equanimity, and experience your own truth.
• The organization who owns the technique can tell you more here.
• This book was written by the founder of the organization mentioned earlier, Mr. S.N. Goenka.

The initiation…

It is important to understand that, in order to initiate yourself in Vipassana, you must enroll in a 10-day course, which is a 24/7 experience for 10 days plus two days for arrival and dismissal. You can enroll in one of these, all over the world, through the dhamma.org website.

The 10–day retreat experience…

The retreat is a very intense experience, and you should be mentally prepared for it if you decide to go. The highlights are:

• 10hrs of meditation per day
• Vegetarian and light food intake
• No exercise, no yoga
• 6.5hrs of sleep per day -> day starts at 4:00 am and ends at 9:30 pm
• 100% silence during 9 days-> you can only ask questions to your instructor once per day
• The setting is typically a remote (and beautiful) location with the basics for living, no luxuries
• 100% free and operated by volunteers

The theory…

I am not a Vipassana instructor, so if you are really interested in learning, you should read S.N. Goenka’s book, The Art of Living. You can find a free .pdf version here.

In this section, I would simply like to give an overall view on the breadth of things covered.

• Vipassana is part of dhamma, which is the way to liberation
• The root concept is that humans are born in misery… this misery is manifested in our reaction mechanisms. i.e. we get angry when things do not go the way we expect them to be or when we cannot have something we desperately want
• Thus, through morality, the mastery of the mind, and wisdom, the dhamma will help you achieve liberation
• Vipassana helps you purify and dominate your mind, as well as become equanimous and stop generating aversion and craving. Aversion, for the unpleasant experiences in life and craving, for the good things in life
• Many side benefits should come even before becoming enlightened, which makes dhamma an attractive option for anyone. Nevertheless, it is important to follow the dhamma for the objective of liberation, not for these side benefits

The dhamma: post-initiation

Once you have finished the 10-day retreat, a couple of things happen:

• It is recommended that you continue to meditate 2hrs per day, in order to continue walking the path of dhamma. Furthermore, it is recommended to do one 10-day retreat per year
• You are now allowed to donate do the organization, if and only if, you do it from the heart and with compassion
• You gain the right to access a lot of resources to support your practice, all provided by dhamma.org

No-dogmas, not a religion

This practice is non-dogmatic. Furthermore, it is not a religion, but something that applies to all human beings. Even if the teachings have been learned from Siddhartha Gautama, you do not have to be a Buddhist, nor is it recommended in any way.

No one will ever put pressure on you to believe anything or to continue meditating. A key characteristic of Vipassana is that you should discover your own truth, and continue practicing if you see intellectually understand what you are doing, why, and see benefits.

To close, please take a look at this video, in which Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, shares his experience with Vipassana.

I hope this perspective was helpful to you. Again, it is only my interpretation.