Vipassana by S.N Goenka!! What is missing?
Goenka’s technique emphasizes awareness of physical sensations throughout the body. The practice involves systematically scanning the body from head to toe and noticing any sensations that arise, without reacting to them. The primary focus is on developing equanimity by observing sensations without craving or aversion.
While it’s true that the technique as taught by Goenka does not explicitly instruct practitioners to focus on thoughts and emotions, awareness of these mental phenomena can naturally arise as one becomes more attuned to the sensations in the body. The practice can lead to an understanding of how physical sensations are connected to mental states, and practitioners may become more aware of their thoughts and emotions as a result of the increased sensitivity developed through body scanning.
Regarding choiceless awareness, Goenka’s technique does involve a systematic and structured approach, which may seem to contrast with the concept of choiceless awareness where attention is not directed in a particular pattern. However, the goal of developing an equanimous mind that observes sensations without preference or judgment can be seen as fostering a form of choiceless awareness with respect to how one reacts to the sensations. Once a practitioner becomes adept at the technique, their awareness can become more open and encompassing, moving beyond the structure of the body scan.
In summary, while Goenka’s Vipassana meditation has a specific focus and method, it is still a practice of awareness that aims to cultivate a deep, non-reactive understanding of the nature of one’s experiences, which includes sensations, thoughts, and emotions. The practice’s structure is intended to help beginners develop the concentration and mindfulness necessary for insight to arise.
Goenka about Vipassana in his own words:
Yo vishwabhi vipassati — Having turned his face away (abhimukh) from the world, he then practices Vipassana. The word vishwa that is used here means the world in today’s language. But thousands of years ago, vishwa meant that which keeps multiplying (vishadikaran ) and growing. For instance, if a negativity is generated within, then it is not a momentary happening. Once it arises it keeps growing, burning within for hours — be it passion, anger, fear, arrogance or any other negativity. It keeps growing and multiplying.
If a wise person, through the practice of Vipassana, observes the fact that something has arisen within, then he becomes aware of it just as it is with no effort to change it. If anger has arisen, he just acknowledges that anger has arisen. He does not make an effort to push it away, because then it will only multiply. One will start remembering the reason for one’s anger and begin justifying it and so on, and it will continue to multiply. It is important just to be aware, to know that at this moment anger has arisen, negativity has arisen and to observe it objectively with complete awareness and equanimity; this is Vipassana. Continuing this practice, one goes beyond all negativities — sa naha parshadati dvishaha. Negativity cannot remain in the mind of such a person Ancient Knowledge.
Have you ever witnessed what happens whenever such thoughts of anger and animosity flow within your mind? You can see this clearly when you practice Vipassana. When Vipassana is practiced in prisons the prisoners realize, “Oh, whenever I generate negative and hate filled thoughts I become so agitated! Already one avenue of agitation exists due to my imprisonment, and now I have created one more avenue of misery. What a folly! The court of the country has already given me a punishment. Now due to my unhappy reaction the nature too is punishing me. I am only multiplying my unwholsome thought processes, making myself more miserable.”
Q — What is the difference between Vipassana and meditation?
Goenkaji — Well, people have started saying that Vipassana is a type of meditation, but actually meditation means to concentrate the mind on one object. Here in Vipassana the object keeps on changing from moment to moment. The entire physical structure and the entire mental structure–the combination of the two–is constantly changing and you are just observing it. So it is a process of self observation, a process of truth observation, so you can be free from your mental defilements.
Seems like he is not really focussing on “only” physical sensations in his talks but the beginner 10-day is more focussed on physical sensations and can give a wrong understanding to beginners.
It is easier for beginners to come to awareness by observing breath and body sensations. Then they can start observing their thoughts, emotions. What beginner level is doing is Kayanupassana + Vedanupasana but awareness also includes cittanupassana.
But But ….
A lot of them misunderstand and get stuck, some of the issues are listed below:
Practitioner 1:
I had understood that as soon as sensation arises, watch it and let it pass, see that it is impermanent and therefore don’t act on it.
This soon became an escape for me in the sense that whenever I would feel fear or anxiety or lust, etc, my go to mantra was that I ‘shouldn’t’ feel this and therefore watch it and come over it.
Practitioner 2:
By focusing on bodily sensations to the exclusion of all else, you miss what’s happening in the background. And the background is the bridge to a more expansive, robust awareness. Throughout my many hours of body scanning, I’ve frequently realized that I’d been thinking. But, being so preoccupied with sensation, I had no idea what I’d been thinking about. Other than a dim sense of thoughts coursing through the background, I had no awareness of them. If Goenka told students to simply notice thoughts before returning to sensation, he would be in good company. Nearly all meditation teachers highlight the point that noticing thought — or really, anything at all — is not a problem. In fact, it’s excellent, because the act of noticing means that you are already aware of what’s happening, and therefore well situated to view experience with equanimity. But instead of framing such noticing as an opportunity, Goenka frames it as an interruption. In this way, he doesn’t just miss out on an important piece of instruction, but actually undermines it.
Practioner 3:
It was the noise, he said, which kept him from finding equanimity — the noise from the assistant teacher who, seated at the front of the hall, had a habit of breathing heavily and shuffling around. And to make matters worse, the teacher enjoyed opening the window, letting in distracting birdsong and other sounds. Now, I never noticed the teacher’s laboured breathing, which may indeed have been annoying, but I did notice the birdsong and found it quite pleasant. Rather than distracting me from the task of meditating, the birdsong offered a meditative interlude into hearing, which receives no attention on Goenka retreats. This brings up the first problem with Goenka: by stressing the need to meditate in silence, stillness, and with eyes closed, he instils the idea that anything which pierces this mental veil must be a distraction. And when you’re trying to meditate, distractions are, well… distracting. But for better or worse, they’re bound to occur. Considering their inevitability, it makes sense to view distractions not as obstacles, but as just another thing to pay attention to. In fact, by understanding that every distraction presents a path to presence — offering insight into the nature of experience, however it manifests — distractions lose their power to distract. Given the right attitude, few things in life are distracting. Yet with the attitude propounded by Goenka, nearly everything is.
I tried explaining all of this to my irritated carmate, suggesting that he pay attention to the arising of sound just as he might pay attention to the arising of sensations. (Not wanting to blaspheme too badly, I framed this as a means to get his mind focused back on sensations, rather than as an end in itself). But he struggled to see the merit in this, so conditioned was he to view the breath and body — and nothing else — as the way to equanimity. Which brings us to the next problem with Goenka.
But instead of opening up awareness, Goenka tells you to shut it down, restricting it to a narrow band of experience. I’ve now spent hundreds of hours diligently following his instructions, and, as promised, I’ve reached states of serene equanimity where pain and pleasure both lose all power to sway experience. On occasion, though, I’ve drawn back and noticed that this equanimity, along with the awareness it grows out of, is limited and fragile. By venturing away from the breath and body, awareness quickly starts to waver. For many, this common experience lends credence to Goenka’s instructions: if we lose equanimity when we drift away from sensations, shouldn’t we do as he says and not drift?
Practioner 4:
Diligently. Seriously. Ardently. Patiently and persistently. These are the words Goenka uses to describe the attitude he wants you to bring to meditation. If you’re like me, hearing these words on repeat for ten days might lead you to think that meditation is a solemn task, requiring near-Herculean levels of effort. Maybe I’m an an outlier, but these are not the adjectives I’d use to describe a mind free from agitation. Nor are they ones I’d use to describe a mindset primed to spot selflessness.
One of the hardest parts of meditation is dropping the effort to meditate, and one of the most desired states of meditation is that of selflessness. Thus, meditators spend vast amounts of effort pursuing a state that is, in many ways, the antithesis of effort. To unwind this Gordian knot, it helps to accept that, ultimately, one’s mind is out of its own control, and sometimes the best approach in meditation — as in life — is to step aside, do nothing and watch events unfold. Just as conscious effort can interrupt a musical performance that was flowing unaided by (conscious) mind, so it can do the same to meditation.
source: https://medium.com/@tristanflock/vipassana-with-sn-goenka-pros-mostly-cons-cbaa4bada653
Practioner #5:
I have practiced in both traditions about 21 years in Goenka and 4 years in Mahasi. I believe that Mahasi is the superior method. I have never met anyone in the Goenka tradition that has achieved stream entry and I have many colleagues in the tradition who where AT-s and Senior AT’s and meditators of 30 and 40 years practice. Most having started in the tradition with Goenka himself being their teacher as opposed to listening to tapes.
There are differences in beliefs in these traditions — where I practice Mahasi at Wat Ram Poemg in Thailand they expect you to attain SE in this life time. That’s your no 1 goal. Everyone there practices believing this is a practical and reasonable goal for this lifetime regardless of whether you’re a householder, monk, nun or bhikkhunī.
Goenka constantly reiterates a many life times belief in his 10 day, Special 10 day, 20 day, & Sattipattana courses. Most of the Goenka meditators I know believe they’re waiting for the next Buddha to achieve SE — which may be an extremely long wait by the way.
There are two significant practical barriers in Goenka too:
Once you have attained equanimity to formations you have to let go completely of any technique. Every lay Sotapana I have met consistently told me you have to stop practicing in equanimity. Why? Because the act of any technique has a subtle intention in it and you need to let go of everything, completely to attain SE.
You must practice all 4 foundations of minfulness. The Buddha said it, U Pandita said it, U Ba Khin taught it, every Ajhan, monk and nun I spoke to in Myanmar and Northern Thailand, teach it.
Also… Because Goenka only practices vedana Goenka meditators get overly sensitive to sensation and they find public places, crowds, shopping centers overwhelming because they’ve become too sensitive to sensations they’re unbalanced. I am friends with many Goenka meditators who cant stand noise, crowds, too many people — that is not equanimity. Its the opposite — it is reactivity.
To come out of thought identification you have to make thought the object of your mediation. You need the insight into what thought actually is and to develop equanimity to thought.
Suggestions from an enlightened person:
But in Vipassana, do they ask you to observe the suffering thought or the sensation ? Observing the sensation does not reveal much.
It is thought which recognizes pain or any sensation. So when you really observe sensation, you have to be observing the thought which recognizes the sensation. And also the likes and dislikes of the thought with respect to that sensation. All these put together is the suffering. More and more you identify with the witness, the earlier suffering will not be remembered actively. Only during the time of pain there will be suffering. And when you have gained sufficient detachment, even during extreme pains, the detached observation will be there. Also the anxiety, “What will happen to me?” will not be there. This is in effect detaching from the entire personality.
Sensation is recognized only by thoughts and based on its judgement of pleasant or unpleasant it seeks more of it or tries to avoid it. Also thought itself is an inner sensation which we call reaction and is the culprit of hiding the Truth of Real Self by always engaging with 5 senses. So shift your attention from 5 sensations to each and every reaction of yours without trying to alter them. This is real insight or vipasanna which takes you to naked mind or nirvana !
Everything quickly becomes a habit. Even Vipassana will become a habit and to be free from that one cannot sit in Vipassana! 🙂 Self is the only non-mechanical entity. So the result of all observation, inquiry etc is to realize the non-mechanical, pure consciousness as oneself. Thereafter, the mechanical can arise and disappear, but it will not be your Self.