July 2010 Newsletter

Meditation Newsletter

July 2010

"When things become manifest
To the ardent meditating brahman,
All his doubts then vanish
since he understands
Each thing along with its cause."

- The Buddha, Udana 1.

September Meditation Course

The Autumn session of our online meditation course begins on Saturday, September 11th, 2010.

Vipassana Fellowship's courses have been offered since 1997 and they have proven helpful to meditators in many countries. The 90 day course serves as a practical introduction to samatha (tranquillity or serenity) and vipassana (insight) techniques from the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. Intended primarily for beginners, of any faith or none, the course is also suitable for experienced meditators who wish to explore different aspects of the tradition. The emphasis is on building a sustainable and balanced meditation practice that is compatible with lay life.

The course takes place on our special website that offers daily material for each of the 90 days, interaction between participants and support from the tutor. Participants also have access to an audio supplement containing guided meditations and chants to support the online material. The course will be led by Andrew Quernmore, an experienced meditation teacher based in England.

Application details and further information is available here:

http://www.vipassana.com/course/

Our Parisa support and encouragement programme is for former course participants; if you have taken one or more of our online courses you are eligible to subscribe. We provide themed teachings each month, year round, and access to our latest course. Andrew is also available to respond to support requests.

http://www.vipassana.com/parisa/

The Power of Mind

by Ananda Pereira

"A lone seer from a tropic land
Sent forth rays of radiant love,
Intense and immeasurable,
Below, around, above.
And far away where snowflakes fell
Death knocked, and round a bed, folk sighed.
He past hope, starts, and whispers—'Look!
Look! Love’s rose-light!' — and smiling died."

- Kassapa Thera

Mind is power, just as electricity is power. Nobody will deny the power of electricity, but people tend to doubt the power of mind because as yet there is no instrument whereby it can be measured. But to those who have had some actual experience of its operation, the power of mind is a very real thing. Sometimes it can be a startling thing.

Since time immemorial the East has recognized the power of mind. While the West has progressed far in studying and exploiting the power of matter, the East has progressed far in studying and exploiting this subtler power. Phenomena such as telepathy, hypnotism, clairvoyance and clairaudience, have, for ages past, been regarded as almost commonplace in the East, whereas in the countries of the West they are still excitingly new.

Mind power, like all forces, is neither good nor evil in itself. It can kill as well as cure, destroy as well as create. And again like all forces, it operates in accordance with certain natural laws. Many have been those who studied these laws, in order that they might use this silent, unseen force. Some used it for evil and reaped the deadly harvest that it yielded. Others used it for good and their names are yet remembered with reverence.

Greatest of all teachers of mental culture was the Buddha. Understanding fully the rational laws in accordance with which mind power operates, He taught His followers how to develop and use it for the highest good, the attainment of final deliverance. The first step on the road to mental culture, according to the Buddha Dhamma, is Sila or virtue. The man who would control his mind must first learn to control his speech and deed.

The next step is bhavana, the practice of concentration and the cultivation thereby of a calm, steady, “one-pointed” mind. It is not easy. The Buddha has prescribed forty subjects of meditation for the cultivation of this “one-pointed” mind. In the absence of an experienced teacher, the aspirant to mental culture must analyse his own nature (always a difficult feat) and choose a subject that suits him.

One of the subjects of meditation that may with benefit be chosen by anybody is metta, selfless love, sympathetic kindness towards all beings. It may be practiced with safety, and indeed with definite advantage, even by those whose sila is yet imperfect. It is wholesome and good, bringing bodily health, mental calm and rapid attainment of concentration.

To the hurrying multitude, a person seated quietly in the practice of metta bhavana may appear to be doing nothing. But those who are aware of the nature of mind power would know better, for such a person is a human dynamo, generating thoughts of love in a world that has forgotten how to love. Were there many such, their united power might yet save the world from self-destruction:

"For not by hatred are hatreds ever quenched here in this world,
By love rather are they quenched. This is an eternal law."

- Dhammapada 5

Source: extract from Wheel 24/25, BPS, Kandy, Sri Lanka

For Free Distribution.

The End

By Paul Dahlke

"If I had wings I would fly beyond love,
High to that world from every impulse free;
Where naught approaches — not love nor hate,
Where the only deed is pure abandoning.
Then, become cool, I may look back serene;
None should know me again; alone I walk on,
Walk on calmly, till the Way itself ends,
With him who walks thereon, and all is done."

Translated from the German by Soma Thera. Soma Thera wrote: “This poem is a sort of Buddhist reply to the Western mystic who wants to fly to his love. Dahlke’s poem shows the translucency of the poet’s mind walking to the End of Ill, with full awareness and single-eyed devotion. The verses of the unknown Western mystic to which the poem alludes, are called the “Song of the Bride,” and have these opening lines:

"Had I the wings of Seraphim,
Thus would I fly, high
Upwards, into Eternity,
Unto my Sweet Love."

Source: BPS Wheel 77/78

The Vipassana Fellowship Newsletter is published about 10 times each year and is sent only on request and to previous participants of our courses. Vipassana Fellowship is an organisation dedicated to the dissemination of accurate and useful information on meditation practices as found in the Theravada tradition. Our next mailing will be in August. Our site can be accessed via the vipassana.com and vipassana.org domains.