Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MA_TESOL]

I am interested in an ashram experience to lean and to get disciplined in meditation, but I do not want to worship anyone. Is there a such thing as a non-religious centered ashram?

[D.D.]

I have been to many ashrams in my travels. I suggest you do some reading on eastern spiritual beliefs. Your comment is common in terms of not wanting to worship someone but at the same time it worries me as it shows you have confused worship and following.

You can make very quick spiritual progress by letting go of your ego and trusting another person. The ego is the barrier to spiritual growth.

So what are your goals in going to an ashram. Your ego wants the expereince? Your ego wants to be happy. You want to meet chicks?

If your true goal is to discover your real self than pm me and I will send you some ideas on where to go.

[warren pease]

I stayed at a couple ashrams in India. They were mostly yoga based, but there were plenty of other options. I was never asked to worship anything in any way. Basically, it was just like staying at a very modest hotel but with some very reasonable rules.

Don't worry about being inundated. I tried to take the yoga and meditation seriously, but there were a lot of people there just using it as a cheap way to get three yoga lessons a day and food.

Most ashrams have their own rules and expectation. Sadly but somewhat fortunately, ashrams are a customer oriented business. They want you there. They want your money. They want you to be comfortable and to stay as long as possible.

You would most likely have to seek out a religious ashram to be expected to worship anything.

Enjoy yourself!

[alistaircandlin]

I did a ten day Vipassana Meditation course in McLeod Ganj, which is in Northern India, in the Himalayan foothills.

Satya Narayan Goenka's Vipassana organisation has centres all over the world now, I think they run some courses in Korea these days.

They teach two meditation techniques which are derived from the Buddha's teachings, but claim not to be a religious organisation. First you learn Anapana, which introduces you to focusing your mind on your breath and body. Then you learn the main Vipassana practice.

As wikipedia has it, this is a technique of observing the present moment as it manifests itself in your mind and body. What this means in practice is that you sort of 'scan' your body noticing any sensations in your toes, feet, up your legs, spine, eyes, etc etc., every part of the body. You notice the sensation but don't react to it. The aim of this is to achieve equanimty of mind - so that eventually you don't react to painful experience with aversion or pleasurable experience with attraction, you just experience the present moment as it it, without judgement. I think this is connected to the fact that in regular life we are never really present - always trapped in the past or anticipating the future.

The technique sounds like nothing much right? Just observing you own body. But it's an intense experience for ten days, 'sitting,' ten hours a day as I remember. (Meditator's tend to refer to 'sitting,' rather than mediation - you are aiming to achieve meditation, which is an intensely focused awareness.) I've only done one ten day course and another short course at Cambridge in England but I never managed to make it to any kind of focused mind. For me, the physical discomfort is an issue that I was unable to get past. After twenty minutes I 'm just aware of stiffness and cramp in my legs, back, neck, jaw etc. (okay, so I'm not exactly selling this to you am I?)

However, for practioners of Vipassana, this pain is just part of the process, if you follow it through, I 'm not sure that the physical pain would disappear, but you would stop reacting to it with aversion, which would change the experience. What I noticed during sitting is that any physical sensations are connected to mind, to the past and to memory. I guess it's something like psychotherapy - I tried to focus on the body as instructed but couldn't - instead all sorts of memories emerge and you see how you are locked into patterns of behaviour which are negative and disruptive to your happiness.

Of course this was my own experience, for you it might be something completely different. But, I'd seriously recommend it; it's a worthwhile experience and will give you a lot of insight into yourself. In fact 'Vipassana,' mediation is also known as 'insight mediation,' In-sight - to see inside.

What is interesting is that the process makes you aware that 'you' are observing your own mind and body. So you start to ask what is that 'you?' And see where the yogis and Hindus are coming from. If you look at a bit of yoga theory though, and I think Iyengar's Light on Life is good here, you find that the model of consciousness they offer conceives of different layers of mind. So 'mind' in this yoga model is actually only one layer of consciousness. It is a kind of animal mind that thinks, 'food - good - I like food. Warm, happy, nice.' Things like that. Behind this, or above it is intelligence, which is analytical, and so on into different layers of awareness. I'm getting sidetracked here, and this is just one model of mind, not one that is referred to by Goenka.

Is it religous though? Certainly there are no temples, ceremonies, liturgy or anything like that, but sometimes the way Goenka chants the Pali sutras reminded me of religion. I did that course back in 2005 on the recommendation of an Indian friend I knew at University. I was happy I did it and would probably do it again. It sparked off an interest in Buddhism for me, so I've read a bit since then. I like the Theravada teachings of the Thai schools. Recently I asked a Korean nun if Buddhism was a religion, because many people claim it isn't. She said that it definitely is a religion. From what I've read though, I think it could be properly practiced as a technique, and a lot of the ritual and ritual has been added later. This is also Goenka's opinion. He would describe it as the Buddha's original technique minus the religious stuff that was tacked-on later. Goenka learned it from his teacher in Burma, where there is an unbroken line of teachers who maintained the original, simple practice, - or something like that! It believe that if you pursue it, it does require that you accept the idea of the cycle of rebirth.

Anyway, I hope my self-absorbed ramblings haven't put you off mediation for ever. This is what happens if you practice mediation - you become an air-headed, new-age bore. Be careful!

If you are interest in doing a Vipassana course you can find details on the dhamma website, here:

http://www.dhamma.org/

The courses are free; the organisation relies on donation to keep running. The course leader are volunteers who have some experience in the technique. You can contribute what you can afford after the course, or not, if you don't want to. This is actually what impressed me, before I first did it: it must have something if it keeps going on voluntary contributions.

[D.D.]

vipassana is just too much for beginers and it literally fries most peoples nervous systems unless they have done lot's of previous work.

Oneness University near Chennai is quite popular these days. I think the Osho center in Poona is excellent for beginers.

[Globutron]

Assram, more like.

...

vipassanal, more like.

[alistaircandlin]

Double-posted here - sorry.

[alistaircandlin]