What is Vipassana?

Vipassana is one of two main categories of Buddhist meditation, and means ''insight'' in the Pali language of the Buddhist texts. It is a kind of meditation, found in the Theravada tradition, that aims at an understanding of dukkha or ''suffering,'' anicca or ''impermanence,'' and anatta or ''not-self.'' The Theravada tradition is based on the teachings of Buddha as found in the earliest texts.

Pronounced va-PAH-shana, this meditation approach was probably discovered by Gautama Buddha, 500 years before the birth of Christ. Although the practice of Vipassana faded for the most part after the seventh century, a Burmese businessman, S. N. Goenka, visited a monastery in the 1950s where it was still practiced by a small group of monks. He was so impressed with this meditation technique that he introduced Vipassana to prison inmates and helped spread the practice around the world.

Vipassana meditation differs from Samatha, which is the second main category of Buddhist meditation and is translated as ''concentration.'' In Samatha, the mind focuses on one item, such as prayer, a chant, a flame, or a religious image, and excludes all other thoughts. But the rapture that results from Samatha meditation is supposedly temporary and disappears after the meditation, while Vipassana meditation is said to lead to a permanent state of liberation.

Buddhists in South and Southeast Asia practice this 2500-year-old tradition. Vipassana is also called ''Insight meditation'' because the purpose is to give the meditator an accurate understanding of the nature of reality. It helps us explore the deepest levels of the mind, and offers direct access into the spiritual realm without addressing deities or spirits.


Why Practice Vipassana Meditation?

Vipassana meditation is a transformative experience that changes our character by helping us become keenly aware of the things we say and do. It helps us to develop intuition, reduces tension and fear, and moderates passion. Through a diligent practice of meditation, we can learn to diminish and dispel illusion, cravings, ignorance, and greed. By watching the mind in a detached manner, the meditator can gain insight into his or her own behavior, and cultivate mindfulness and intense awareness of the inner workings of all things. Although relaxation and concentration are components of meditation, Vipassana seeks another goal: awareness of one's true self.

Everyone can benefit from this practice, which teaches the meditator how to go beyond the conscious mind by allowing the deeper mind to offer solutions. It helps free us from illusion, so that we can look at ourselves with greater clarity and make appropriate changes in our lives. It also helps us become aware of the depth of selfishness that can motivate actions that are thought to be altruistic. Vipassana meditation is a lifelong process that requires daily practice, discipline, and patience.


How to Learn Vipassana Meditaiton

The Goenka-style courses in Vipassana are taught in 10-day retreats (see the Dhamma website.) There is no charge, but those who have completed the course generally make a donation in the spirit of world service.

The essence of these retreats involves the total absence of all distractions. Attendees agree not to talk, make contact, or otherwise communicate with others — not even wives, friends, or family members — for the duration of the experience. An exception to this caveat is asking questions of the teachers when necessary, since having one's questions go unanswered would be a distraction.

There are a number of other rules that all devolve around the concept of ''simplicity,'' such as abstention from intoxicants, absence of bodily adornments, and not sleeping on a high or excessively "luxurious" surface.

Students who have taken the course once before eat nothing after midday. New students eat fruit with the five o'clock break.

All spend most of the day in meditation, beginning from 4:30 to 6:30 a.m. and ending from 9:00 to 9:45 p.m. A look at the schedule confirms that, with time subtracted for going from one place to another, a little over 10 hours per day are spent in group or solitary meditation.

Unapologetically, the teachers agree that this is all hard work — but certainly not too much to ask in return for a lifelong change in one's consciousness.

Two of the major Vipassana techniques involve feeling one's breath going in and out, and extending love to oneself and, progressively, to all others. Although this sounds fairly simple, it's not easy. What's easy is to keep doing what we have always done: worrying, harboring grudges, making judgments, thinking about the past, thinking about the future, wondering if we're doing this correctly...

A really beautiful writing that may help you if you wish to begin Vipassana meditation can be found at ''vipassana.com'' (see Beginning Insight Meditation). It was written by a woman who discovered Vipassana literally on her own deathbed (after many years, she's now a meditation teacher and is still going strong). It is an inspiring account and offers explicit instructions for getting started.


Vipassana Meditation Taught in Prisons in India

In 1975, three courses in Vipassana meditation were offered in a prison environment in Jaipur, India. Although the courses were successful, the program was not continued, and it was not until almost fifteen years later that Vipassana meditation was taught at another prison in India.

During the last half of the 20th century, New Delhi's Tihar Jail, which is one of the largest prisons in Asia, with about 9000 inmates, was at its worst, and considered one of the most dangerous in the Third World. The jail had horrendous accommodations, with beds made of stone, and stagnant pools of water used as baths and toilets. In the early '90s, Kiran Bedi, a revolutionary new warden, arrived at Tihar and declared that she wanted the jail to be a spiritual retreat for the prisoners and not a breeding ground for criminals. In 1993, Ram Singh conducted a course in Vipassana with 96 prisoners and 23 jail staff participants. Then, in 1994, arrangements were made for four simultaneous courses in Vipassana. Kiran Bedi brought in S. N. Goenka and his wife, with 13 assistants — and the results were impressive. The atmosphere of the jail began to transform with each course that was taught, and by the mid-1990s Vipassana had become a major force within the prison.

A permanent center for the practice of Vipassana was created at several Indian prisons, including Tihar Jail, where two 10-day courses were held every month for the inmates. Goenka describes Vipassana as a message of hope that could benefit the whole world, and his meditation program is now considered a reform measure for prisons all over India.

The film Doing Time Doing Vipassana was produced by Israeli filmmakers from 1994 to 1995, and captured the extraordinary changes that took place at Tihar after hardened criminals experienced ten days of silent meditation. This award-winning documentary was shown internationally, and the jury of the San Francisco International Film Festival wrote, ''The teaching of this meditation as a transformation device has many implications for people everywhere, providing [that] the cultural, social, and political institutions can embrace and support its liberating possibility.''


Vipassana in American Jails

Lucia Meijer, director of a Seattle-area jail that specializes in rehabilitation, had tried various programs over the years to help returning offenders develop new ways of behaving. She became interested in Vipassana when she heard about the success it had had in the lives of prisoners in Indian jails. After taking a course in Vipassana, she felt certain that it would have a beneficial effect on her inmates. She also had her staff go through the program, since she felt that they had to experience it before they offered it to the inmates.

While all of the inmates in this Seattle-area jail were told about Vipassana, not all of them chose to participate in the program. Some of the inmates dropped out of the program because of the physical and mental demands of the practice. Others said that the practice transformed their lives. Many spoke with enthusiasm about the program and said that it helped them avoid returning to old drug habits, and gave them a method of controlling their anger.

The fact that Vipassana was so effective in the Seattle-area jail impressed Sheriff Hennessey, who wanted to try it out in a San Francisco jail. Harry Snyder, a lawyer and consumer advocate trained by Goenka, devoted himself to lobbying efforts to bring Vipassana to jails in the United States, and arranged a meeting of the wardens of these two jails. As a result of this meeting, Hennessey agreed to work out the logistics for a program of Vipassana in San Bruno.

The film Changing from Inside depicts the introduction of Vipassana into the Seattle-area jail, and was made primarily for prison administrators. It shows seven women inmates practicing total silence for ten days, ten hours each day. The meditation leads them deep into themselves and helps them gain insight in dealing with the world around them.


The North American Vipassana Prison Course Program

As success stories circulate about the benefits of offering Vipassana meditation in prisons in India and the United States, other countries are also considering implementing similar meditation programs.

The North American Vipassana prison course program is available at no charge to the participants or the facility where the course is held. The one requirement is that at least one person on the correction facility staff of the prospective institution must take a 10-day course in Vipassana meditation. It is also necessary for the facility to provide a vegetarian menu, as well as housing for the inmate participants.


Additional Information

See the Vipassana Meditation Website for information about meditation taught by S. N. Goenka and his assistant teachers.

For further information about the North American Vipassana prison course program, prison personnel can contact one of the coordinating teachers: Rick and Gair Crutcher by fax at 206-522-8295, Harry and Vivian Snyder by fax at 415-383-7739, or Thomas and Tina Crisman by fax at 214-855-4300.

Further Reading

''County Jail No. 3 is a hellhole. Can an ancient, intense form of meditation improve life for the inmates?'' by Joel P. Engardio, SF Weekly. December 20, 2000.

The Foundation of the Empire of Truth, by Anagrika Dharmapala, (1914).

What Buddhism Is Not, by Anagrika Dharmapala, (Maha Bodhi Journal Vol. 34, November 1926).

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