Vipassana

[FeelFree]

I visited 10 days vipassana course and when they talked about enlightenment I was wondering whether I can reach enlightenment just by practising vipassana meditation and developing sila, samadhi (with anapana) and panna (vipassana).

[aurum]

How many people did you meet who were Enlightened? I also took a 10-day course, and everyone there hand-waved the entire notion of Enlightenment away, saying that it's an incredible long path that will easily take at least 30-40 years,. No, it's really not.

If you actually want to wake up and destroy the entire universe, then forget about Vipassana. Just another trap. So figure out what you want.

[Leo Gura]

Vipassana can definitely be used to attain enlightenment. That's it's entire purpose.

The problem occurs when people just sit and blindly meditate for decades without questioning the self, or get lost in Buddhist dogma. As you do Vipassana, toss all the dogma out the window, and you should also inquire into What am I? The two methods work great together. My first direct consciousness experience occurred during Vipassana. But that's probably because I did over one year of self-inquiry and was doing it during Vipassana practice that day.

And of course ignore all those fools who think enlightenment takes 30 years. Or who don't even know what enlightenment means.

I have been to Vipassana retreats where half the people there don't even know what enlightenment is! WTF? Ignore those kinds of folk.

[Huz]

What does the technique require you to do?

[FeelFree]

4 hours ago, Huz said:

What does the technique require you to do?

It's hard to explain. Basicly it's aiming your awareness onto your feeling sensations. You start from your head and as you feel any kind of sensation you continue down to your feets and conversely.

[Esoteric]

First post here, hello fellow seekers.

Funny seeing this thread here as I just (literally) got accepted for a 10-day Vipassana course. This will be my first retreat. I still haven't really understood what Vipassana is exactly. I mean I know  it is focusing on the breath and body sensations, and I guess I will get a better understanding when I begin the course. It starts in 3 months. I was wondering if someone can enlighten me (lol) on what I should read and practice during these three months leading up to the retreat? Or maybe it's better to just do my regular meditation techniques (mindfulness, strong determination sitting, body scans) and just take the course with not much knowledge about the technique itself?

 

[Leo Gura]

@Esoteric http://www.shinzen.org/Articles.htm

Detailed Vipassana manuals available here, although Shinzen's approach is a bit different than mainstream Goenka Vipasanna retreats, which just have you do body-sweeping and focusing on the breath.

[Esoteric]

Disregard

Edited August 31, 2016 by Esoteric
Forum newbie

[Esoteric]

@Leo Gura Thank you