Mrs. Elias

DHAMMA: Vipassana

Table of Contents

✅ Lessons

✅ Stories with moral lessons

✅Anapana

✅ Vipassana

✅ Techniques

✅ Sankaras

✅ Realizing the Truths

✅ The Threshfold Training

✅ Anicca

✅ Metta Meditation

✅ Mahasatispatthana Discourses

lessons by S.N Goenkaji.

Dhamma in Pali means the path- the law, truth, nature, the universal law of nature. It is a form

of mental training to control one's reactions to external stimuli and remain balanced.

"You have to work hard and be your own savior, to liberate and purify the mind, YOU have to walk yourself on the PATH. step by step and reach the final goal. Nobody can take you on his shoulder to the final goal..." (S.N Goenkaji)

פירוש המילה ויפאסנה הוא "תובנה" או "ראיית הדברים כפי שהם

את המושג שמעתי לראשונה לפני כ-7,8 שנים בהשתלמות מיינדפולנס של ד"ר יהודית לובל. 10 ימים ????? לשתוק?????????? כנראה שיש אנשים שממממש משעמם להם חשבתי ... לא בשבילי.. איך אפשר בכלל לעצור את החיים ל-10 ימים...

הזמן עבר.... נכנסתי (בכיף בשמחה) למעגל עשייה והתפתחות אישית שמאוד אהבתי, העצים אותי, הרגשתי שאני תורמת ונתרמת... הרגשתי שאני שולטת במצב, אני מחליטה מה, כמה ומתי... רק שבלי לשים לב, התחלתי לאבד קצת שליטה על קצב העשייה- פרויקט הוביל לעוד פרויקט שהתפתח לעוד רעיון שהצריך ממני עוד אנרגיה, עוד שעות למידה, עוד שעות מסך, עוד השקעה...עוד אתגר...עוד הזדמנות....דבר רדף דבר...

בתחילת השנה, דיברתי עם חברים ועלה הנושא של מדטציות, הם סיפרו לי שהילדה שלהם הלכה לסדנת ויפאסנה... באמת? יש דבר כזה? בארץ? איפה? בצפון, אמרו לי... חייכתי לעצמי... נו.. נראה...

דיברתי איתה והיא הסבירה לי, אפשר להגיע בדרכים שונות התחלתי לעקוב אחרי מועדי הקורסים...אולי, מי יודע? בשיחה עם חברה, מצאתי את עצמי אומרת שחבל שזה כל כך רחוק, אחרת בטוח הייתי הולכת...אמרה לי "למה? כי יצרת פרדיגמה לפני 20 שנה שאת לא נוסעת למרחקים ארוכים ומאז את דבקה בה???" חשבתי לעצמי.... אולי ...

אני מאמינה שלכל דבר, גם לבני אדם יש 3 מצבי צבירה: מוצק, נוזל וגז... בקיץ הרגשתי שאני פועלת כבר על אדים.... כל מה שרציתי זה שמישהו יוציא את התקע מהשקע בחשמל וינתק אותי כי אני לעצמי לא מסוגלת לעשות את זה בעצמי..

זאת תהיה מתנת היומולדת שלי לעצמי , חשבתי, למצוא שוב את האיזון והשקט הנפשי

נסעתי, הגעתי, ועמדתי באתגר ! 10 ימים של שתיקה, לא הפריע לי האמת...המחשבות כל כך מעסיקות ויוצרות תסריט משלהן שהעסיק אותי רוב היום...

למדתי על הקשר של סילה (התנהגות מוסרית) ליכולת של אדם לפתח סמאדי (ריכוז הנפש), ואיך ריכוז זה מהווה את הבסיס לטיהור הנפש שמושג על ידי פאניה (חכמה אישית)

The foundation of the practice is sīla — moral conduct. Sīla provides a basis for the development of samādhi — concentration of mind; and purification of the mind is achieved through paññā — the wisdom of insight.

(https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code)

פתאום, כל מה שלמדתי במהלך השנים, הביקור ביפן, הסיפורים בהשתלמויות- הכל התחבר לי למדתי לעשות מדיטציה שדרכה מבינים ובעיקר לומדים להרגיש את מהות החיים, לא מהשכל אלא מתוך התנסות אישית -אניצ'ה

אניצ'ה: חוק הטבע, חוק אונברסלי שאומר שהכל ארעי, הכל בר חלוף ולהיות מסוגלת להרגיש את האמת הזאת באמצעות הגוף, בעזרת מודעות לתחושות שעוברות וחולפות (מה שמצריך ריכוז)...ולהבין שגם האירועים והאנשים בחיינו בין אם טובים הם או רעים חולפים....(תובנות אישיות), הבנה והשלמה עם האמת הזאת, עוזרת בסופו של דבר לאדם להגיע לאיזון ושקט פנימי.

זה לא שייך לדת או לכת וזה בטח לא קסם,

קיבלתי כלים להתחיל לחיות את החיים שאני באמת רוצה, קיבלתי תשובות לתהיות שהיו לי עם עצמי ובלבלו אותי מאוד, הצלחתי לפתור דברים ולהבין דברים שהטרידו אותי מאוד במהלך השנים, לעשות closure ובאמת לשחרר..

באתי בשביל להזין את הגוף, את הנפש, את השכל במשאבים אחרים המשימה כעת היא להמשיך ולעשות זאת ביום יום, ולהבין שכדי לחיות את החיים שאני רוצה לחיות, עליי לעשות את ההחלטות הנכונות לי.

חברה טובה הזכירה לי לא מזמן שהזמן הוא המשאב היחידי שברגע שהוא הולך, הוא לא חוזר....לכן, מה שאנחנו בוחרים לעשות איתו חשוב במיוחד !

"and that has made all the difference..."

✅ Simplify- concentrate on facts will result in being less emotional.

✅ Help others- you will find you are more meaningful

✅ Meditate- change your habituated natures,

✅ Follow the wise- listen, read, learn valuable life lessons from older people

✅ Mindfulness- as a way of life

✅ Embrace change- every day is a new you, everything changes- no expectation

✅ Live in the moment- life happens now

stories with moral lessons

6 Blind Men and the Elephant

anapana

Anapana is the first step in the practice of Vipassana meditation. Anapana means observation of natural, normal respiration within a limited area- the base of the upper lip and both nostrils, you are keeping your attention at the entrance of the nostrils and the passages inside, as the breath comes in and as it goes out naturally, notice whether it's deep, shallow, passes through the left, right, both nostrils. Don't interfere with the natural flow of the breath. It is an easy, objective and scientific technique that helps develop concentration of the mind. It provides a tool to deal with the fears, anxieties and pressures across all age groups.

The enlightened one found a tool with the help of which you will start experiencing what happens inside your body, within the framework of your body, this tool is the BREATH.

The breath works like a bridge,it connects the known field of your physical structure to the unknown field where things happen just naturally, the breath is a tool that works in two ways, intentionally as well as unintentionally (you can have intentional deep breath). With the help of the breath, you will experience many more realities of your physical structure which will start manifesting themselves.

Very soon, you will also see, that the breath also helps you to explore your mental field. Your breath is connected to your mind and your mental impurities משקעים (negativities). You will understand that when your mind starts rolling in negativity (anger, hatred, animosity, passion, fear etc), the breath, respiration loses its normality, it becomes slightly hard, slightly fast, and when the certain negativity has passed, you find the breath becomes normal again.

After a day or two you will narrow down this area too. Narrowing the area enable you to sharpen your mind. Then, you will start feeling the touch of the incoming and outgoing breath, anywhere in the inner walls of the nostrils, or the outer rings of the nostrils, or the area below the nostrils,or upper lip, anywhere you feel the touch, do nothing, just be aware. This is how you will move from the gross reality to the subtler reality pertaining to this corperial body and also pertaining your mind.

Bear in mind, you could be working for an hour, and experience only ONE moment that your mind is with your breath, the reality of this moment, no ignorance )no visualization, no imagination is involved, no craving, no aversion). That moment when you mind is equanimous מאוזן this moment is PURE.

Vipassana

Vipassana teaches you the proper way of life, the code of conduct, how to live in peace and harmony from within, and how to generate nothing but peace and harmony for others, and this is possible only when you explore the true nature of your own body and mind, the nature of the law of the universe. When you start experiencing that, your way of life starts changing automatically.

Move your attention systematically from head to feet and from feet to head, observing in order each and every part of the body by feeling all the sensations that you come across. Observe objectively; that is, remain equanimous with all the sensations that you experience, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, by appreciating their impermanent nature. Keep your attention moving. Never stay for more than a few minutes at any one place. Do not allow the practice to become mechanical. Work in different ways according to the type of sensations you experience. Areas of the body having different gross sensations should be observed separately by moving the attention part by part. Symmetrical parts, such as both arms or both legs, having similar subtle sensations, may be observed together simultaneously. If you experience subtle sensations throughout the physical structure, you may at times sweep the entire body and then again work part by part.

At the end of the hour relax, letting any mental or physical agitation subside. Then focus your attention for a few minutes on subtle sensations in the body, and fill your mind and body with thoughts and feelings of goodwill for all beings.

There are many techniques of meditating:

1 Contemplating something- an idea, something you have read or seen.

2.Verbalizing something- a matra, a word, a sound.

3.Imagining an image, shape or form.

4.Vipassana- looking at the reality as it is, looking inside, within the framework of the body. Many times, we experience outside (different incidents) the reality inside of us.

Vipassana has two aspects:

1. Developing the sensitivity of the mind- feel the subtlest sensations.

2. Learning how to observe reality objectively- try not to react (without craving or aversion, which is the habit pattern of the mind, understand it is changing).

The 4 mental segments of the mind:

1. Consciousness- its role is to cognize לתפוש (something has happened) all the 6 door senses we have- eyes, ears, nose, tongue, the body skin and the mind, each has a separate consciousness, something comes in contact with one of these doors, a sound comes in contact with the ear sense door and the ear consciousness will arise, something tangible comes in contact will the body, body’s consciousness will arise and immediately another part of the mind arises,

2. Perception- this part will try to recognize what has happened, words? what words? of abuse? of praise? with all the experience of the past, the memories, the conditions, it does not only recognize but also gives evaluation, words of abuse? oh very bad.

3. Sensations- experiencing sensations on the body, subtle nice sensations or unpleasant sensations on the body.

4. Sankara- its role is to react, it is the motivation of the mind, it is an action, it bears fruit, because you keep repeating it, I want more or I don't want, aversion. This sankara is the volition of the mind, which results in mental action and this gives fruit, the deeper is the sankara, the stronger is the seed, the quality of the sankara, will determine what kind of fruit will come.

There are 3 kinds of Sankaras which one keeps generating:

1. Like a line drawn on the water- as it is drawn so it get eliminated.

2. Like a line drawn on the beach- in the morining you drew a line on the sand, by everning it gets eliminated.

3. Like a line drawn on a rock- a deep line, you've carved it with chisel and hammer, it takes years to get eradicated. This one is very dangerous and this is what we keep on doing, keep on repeating anger and more anger, fear, worry, depression, passion, hatred,all these impurities we keep on repeating , the more we repeat, the deeper it gets and the more miserable we are.

Everything (every incident) that happens outside creates a sensation inside, the first part of the mind understands something has happened, the second part gives evaluation, the third part creates either a pleasant or unpleasant sensation, if you train your mind not to get affected by these sensations not to react to the sensations, pleasant or unpleasant, then you will change the behavior pattern of your mind at the deepest level. Even if you react, the sankara wont be as deep because you won't repeat it again and again you will come to your senses.

Tell yourself: let’s see how long it lasts, I won't react, I won't create a Sankara of resentment, aversion. I will just observe, when you're just observing, your head is above the water, these few moments, will turn into a few seconds and then to a few minutes, and slowly you'll turn the table and change the habit pattern of your mind and come out of this misery.

The final goal of Vipassana is to purify the mind, not just at the surface level but at the deepest level, the root level, to change the behavior pattern of the mind- the present pattern which keeps on remaining agitated all the time.

Something unwanted happens in life, one starts building up knots, tension, generating negativity, anger, animosity. Similarly, something wanted doesn't happen some obstacle and again one starts to tie knots , building up tension, one becomes a bundle of knots. The entire physical and mental structure is so tense.

Realizing the truths

The truth about our body is that it is made of millions tiny little atoms, and every particle has a role. Every moment something is happening there, you don't know this, because you haven't experienced it, this technique will help you do that, it just happens, naturally, unintentionally.

The truth about your mind. Observing your fleeting mind- where does it wander? so many places, the monkey mind, hoping from one branch to the other but if you notice carefully, there are only 2 fields: the field of the past memories, and the field of the future. It keeps on rolling in the past or the future, it does not want to live in the present, BUT one has to live in the present, how can you live in the past? The past is gone forever, you can't buy the moment that is gone away given all the fortunes of the world, impossible, and the future is the future, you can't live in it until you experience it. You have to live in the present. Your mind doesn't want to live in the present, this is why it is so agitated, it does not know the art of living. This technique will teach you the art of living- how to live in the present moment, even for a few moments, when you are aware of the respiration.

Another reality, whether it wanders in the past or the future, what kinds of thoughts do you have, again 2 kinds of thoughts (patterns): pleasant or unpleasant. When it roles in a pleasant thought in the past or future, a part of the mind starts reacting: “I like this”, this is wonderful, this should happen again. This liking turns into craving and clinging, and you don't know how you lost the balance of your mind. You become unbalanced, you become miserable because you started craving. Similarly, when the mind rolling in an unpleasant thought in the past or future, a part of the mind starts reacting: “I dont like it’ and very soon it turns into aversion סלידה, hatred,and again, you lose the balance of your mind and become very agitated.

Everyone who generates negativity bound to become miserable and one does not keep his misery to himself. You start throwing this misery on others, making the entire atmosphere around him so tense. Anyone who comes in contact with you will become tense and miserable- this is not the proper way of life!

What Is the Threefold Training?

Buddhist training falls into three categories. Together, they summarize the Buddha’s fourth noble truth, the full path to enlightenment.

Sila - morality

Discipline, ethics, I shouldn't do anything which I dont want others to do to me. I can't decide on other people's path (how they should behave, this is why there is no point of taking anything personally, I am not aware of their motives and perspectives), the only thing I can do is to show them the right path in my opinion and offer my help to get there. As long as my intentions are good for the other person, his interpretations of my action is not any of my concern.

Sila encompasses three aspects of the eightfold path:

Right speech- be impeccable with your word. That is, abstain from speaking lies, harsh words , gossip, slander, defame others להשמיץ

Right action- whosome physical action: dont kill, don't steal, dont get intoxicated.

Right livelihood- if your livelihood encourages others to break silla (e.g., trade arms), it is not right livelihood, also when the motive is wrong (when you want others to be..so you will have work).

Samadhi- concentration

The mastery of mind. By settling and calming the mind through dedicated meditation practice, we achieve peace and are no longer controlled by our delusions and conflicting emotions. There are 3 parts:

Right type of effort- sama samadhi. The object of your concentration is the reality of this moment, without any disturbances, this step will take you to the third step of Prajna. if you imagine any object or repeat a word, you will concentrate your mind, but you will not reach the final goal, because it is momentary, you haven't truly sharpen your mind. This concentration must be free from craving, aversion, free from moha (ignorance), the breath is there, the touch of the breath, sensations.

Right type of exercise- when your body is weak, your mind is weak, you have to do another exercise to make it more stable. In dama every experience examines oneself, there are 4 exercises:

1.Examine yourself- at present I have this weakness and that, get rid of them

2.Examine your mind- my mind doesn't carry any weaknesses, close all the doors, don't let impurities that are not there come.

3. Examine your mind- my mind has this virtue, don't develop ego or pride because of that. This is the reality, I have to preserve it, make it stronger and multiply it.

4.Examine your mind- what virtues you don't have, open the gates of your mind, welcome virtues which you want to have.

Right type of awareness- awareness can't be connected to the past, a memory belongs to the past, it cant be of the future, it is just imagining, dreaming, doesn't help. Awareness manifests itself from moment to moment. This mind, body, the combination of the two. You will notice everything arrives and passes, keeps changing, nothing stays the same, but when you cross this field, nothing arrives or passes away, experiencing it will make you a totally different person, the entire path is a process of purification.

Notice !

The outgoing breath is slightly warmer than the incoming breath. The temperature outside is lower than the body temperature, so the air outside, comes in contact with your body and when it gets out, it is slightly warmer. So does your reactions to the reality. You interpret it (by using your mind) and react accordingly...

Wherever there is life, there bound to be a sensation, heat, cool, perspiration, itching, don't react to it- just observe, an itching will start, see how long it will last, no itching is eternal. No sensation lasts forever, sooner or later, it passes, you are silent to witness reality, maybe a tickling, pulsing, pricking sensation, maybe lightness or heaviness, pressure, tension, pain, expansion, contraction, numbness, dryness, moistre.

Prajna (insight or wisdom).

The key to enlightenment. Using the powerful, concentrated mind of samadhi, we penetrate the true nature of reality and free ourselves from the fundamental ignorance that causes suffering.

Wisdom, insight, which will purify the mind not only on the surface level.

A direct experience of the truth inside and developing the wisdom of the law and changing the habit pattern of the mind.

Silla takes you to samadi where you develop mastery of the mind but this mastery is at the surface level, slightly deeper, and Prajna takes you to the depth of the mind at the deepest level. The third part of dama, its purpose is to purify the mind at the unconscious level. The source of your misery, from where all the impurities arise, and multiply, the stock of your past impurities, all of them have to come up the surface and pass,

There are 2 parts of Prajna:

Sama sankapo- the right type of thoughts- there are incidents which cause impurities of the mind and one starts observing the respiration, the thoughts become very dominant, in some cases there might be anger, hatred, sadness, passion, depression,you find after 3 days that the thoughts are still there but the pattern of the thought has changed,it is not as violent as it were before, they don't disturb you from getting to the next level which is the right view (sama diti).

Sama diti- the right understanding, see things properly, as they are.

There are 3 stages of pranja: Outer wisdom which comes from another source, you read something or heard something and you accept it. It will give you guidance, inspiration to take the next step. Understanding the truth- developing the wisdom at the intellectual level,one asks himself whether it is logical, acceptable, pragmatical, you get direction to move to the third stage.Live your own wisdom- Only by experiencing this wisdom directly in your own life, you can break the bondages of ignorance, aversion, craving, negativity and be liberated. Experiencing this mind-matter phenomenon, the constant interaction, understanding the origin of negativity and witness how it starts multiplying