Buddhist Insight Meditation - Goenkaji

"Pāramīs are virtues—that is, good human qualities. By perfecting them, one crosses the ocean of misery and reaches the stage of full liberation, full enlightenment. Everyone who is working to liberate oneself has to develop the ten pāramīs. They are needed to dissolve the ego and to reach the stage of egolessness. A student of Dhamma who aspires to attain the final stage of liberation joins a Vipassana course in order to develop these pāramīs.

Little by little, one develops these pāramīs in every course. They should be developed in daily living as well. However, in a meditation course environment, the perfection of the pāramī can be greatly accelerated.

A human life is of limited duration, with limited capabilities. It is important to use one’s life to the best purpose. And there can be no higher purpose than to establish oneself in Dhamma, in the path, which leads one out of defilements, out of the illusion of self, to the final goal of ultimate truth. Therefore no effort is more worthwhile for a human being than the exertion of all one’s faculties to take steps on this path. ..."

Buddhist Insight Meditation - by Sayagyi U Ba Khin

".... I am telling you all not to preach. If there is anything that you want to ask, ask me. If there is anything that you want to say, tell me. If you progress in your practice, just stay quiet and proceed with your own meditation."

"... The eighth soldier of Māra [personification of negative forces] is becoming proud and arrogant when the meditation is successful. When the meditation improves, one can feel it inside. The defilements become lighter and one tends to get conceited and arrogant, and think, “That fellow does not seem to be doing too well. I’d better help him.” I am saying this from my personal experience.

"... A long time ago when this meditation centre was started, there was no Dhamma hall. There was a ten-foot square hut that was here when we bought the land. One day one student came out after the morning sitting and said, “Look.” He hitched up his longyi and there were little lumps all over his thighs and legs just like the skin of a plucked duck. The kick from within was so strong that all those lumps appeared. He hitched his longyi up and showed us saying, “Please look. See how strong the kick from within was. You too, please try hard, please try hard.” The next day he could not meditate. He could not feel any sensations and had to approach Sayagyi for guidance. When he preached, there was ego in it, the “I” was in it, “I am doing well. These people don’t seem to be getting anywhere.” He played very good soccer, was very short-tempered, ready to hit, strike and punch. When a very bad-tempered person with a lot of heat has a kick from inside, it shows up on the body surface."

The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka by William Hart

"[One who practises right speech] ... speaks the truth and is steadfast in truthfulness, trustworthy, dependable, straightforward with others. He reconciles the quarrelling and encourages the united. He delights in harmony, seeks after harmony, rejoices in harmony, and creates harmony by his words. His speech is gentle, pleasing to the ear, kindly, heartwarming, courteous, agreeable, and enjoyable to many. He speaks at the proper time, according to the facts, according to what is helpful, according to Dhamma and the Code of Conduct. His words are worth remembering, timely, well-reasoned, well-chosen, and constructive."

~ The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka by William Hart

Buddhist Insight Meditation - The Essence of Compassion." ---S.N. Goenka

"The Essence of Compassion." ---S.N. Goenka.

Compassion (karuṇā) is a very noble state of the human mind.

Like selfless love(mettā), sympathetic joy(muditā) and equanimity(upekkhā), compassion is also a brahmavihāra (sublime state of mind).

Merely discussing compassion or praising it is far away from the practice of true brahmavihāra.

It is good to accept compassion at the intellectual level as an ideal sublime state. But this is also far away from true brahmavihāra.

🌷 Brahmavihāra means the nature of a brahma (the highest being in the order of beings). It is the practice of superior qualities, the practice of Dhammic qualities.

Only when the mind is suffused and overflows with such brahmic qualities can we call it brahmavihāra.

The mind can overflow with compassion as well as mettā, muditā and upekkhā only when the mind is completely free from all defilements at the deepest level.

This purity of mind and the resultant sublime states born out of it is the fruit of practice of Dhamma.

🌷 What is the meaning of living a Dhamma life?

It means living a life of morality (sīla), that is, to abstain from performing any vocal or physical action that will disturb the peace and harmony of others and harm them.

In order to live a moral life, it is necessary to have complete mastery over one’s mind. For this, it is necessary to practise concentration of mind (samādhi) with a neutral object of meditation.

A neutral object of meditation neither generates rāga(attachment) nor dosa (aversion). It is based on direct experiential truth and is free from ignorance.

However, it is not sufficient to concentrate one’s mind with the help of such a neutral object of meditation.

It is necessary to develop wisdom (paññā) at the depths of the mind on the basis of direct experience and to become established in this experiential wisdom.

By this practice it is possible to eradicate the habit-pattern of the mind of reacting blindly with craving and aversion.

As we gradually learn to recognize and weaken this habit of blind reaction, the old accumulated defilements are eradicated and new ones do not arise.

Ultimately, the mind is completely freed of all defilements and becomes pure.

Then the mind is naturally filled with the brahmic qualities of mettā, karuṇā, muditā, and upekkhā.

As long as the old stock of defilements is present in the mind and new defilements are added to it, it is not possible for the brahmavihāras to arise in the mind.

Ego plays a role in the arising of all defilements.

As long as the mind is ego-centred, self-centred, one may talk about the four brahmavihāras and praise them highly, but one is not able to cultivate them.

The more the mind becomes free from defilements the more the development of the four brahmavihāra.

When a meditator is fully liberated, he dwells continuously in the pure brahmavihāras.

Therefore, for development of the brahmavihāras of mettā, karuṇā, muditā, and upekkhā, it is absolutely essential to become established in sīla, samādhi and paññā.

Buddhist Insight Meditation - Acharya Goenkaji: Understand Dhamma with your own experience by meditating daily

Acharya Goenkaji:

Understand Dhamma with your own experience by meditating daily, morning and evening.

Also it is advisable to periodically attend a 10-day, 20-day, 30-day or even a longer meditation course as time permits, to go deeper into the truth.

Keep checking to see if Dhamma is deepening within, if it is manifesting in your daily life.

Check if the mind is growing more wholesome, or are you just misleading yourself that you are growing in Dhamma?

Also check that your daily sittings have not turned into an empty ritual by asking yourself, “Am I really feeling the sensations?”

And if yes, “Am I really seeing and appreciating them as impermanent, (anicca)?”

And if yes, “Am I getting established in equanimity?”

🌷 These are the benchmarks.