2010年12月13日
Vipassana (2)
Hi team,
Well, it's Monday already, and I am happy to report that I have had no trouble getting back to a regular sleeping pattern. It feels really nice not to be woken up by someone switching the lights on at four in the morning, though!
As I mentioned in my last comment, the course was much tougher than I thought it was going to be. I had expected that it would be very relaxing and stress-free, but it really was more like a boot camp. I remember thinking after the first day, "How on earth am I going to live like this for ten days?!"
The basic idea of the course is that you live like a Buddhist monk or nun for ten days. That means men and women have to live separately and are not allowed to look at each other. It also means that you are not allowed to speak to, make eye contact with, or even communicate using gestures with anyone except the teachers. Of course, all the food is vegetarian. You eat normally at breakfast (6.30) and lunch (11.00), but then you just have some fruit at 5, and that is it for the rest of the day. Mind you, you go to bed at 9.15, so there is no danger of getting hungry late at night! I think I lost about 2kg over the course, which was an unexpected benefit.
The daily schedule was something like this:
4.00 Wake up
4.30-6.30 Meditation
6.30-8.00 Breakfast and break
8.00-9.00 Group meditation
9.00-11.00 Meditation
11.00-1.00 lunch and break
1.00-2.30 Meditation
2.30-3.30 Group meditation
3.30-5.00 Meditation
5.00-6.00 Fruit and drinks
6.00-7.00 Group meditation
7.00-8.30 Video (Explanation of the technique by an Indian teacher)
8.30-9.00 Meditation
9.30 Lights out
And then repeat every day for ten days! During the breaks, you cannot talk, and there is nothing to do except walk around a small garden or stay in your room. You are not allowed to have any reading or writing materials, and of course, no telephone or computer.
There were two kinds of meditation sessions: the first were longer, and we were free to move, change our posture, or even take breaks if we wanted. During the three one-hour group meditation sessions, however, everyone had to sit in the hall, and we were not supposed to open our eyes or move any part of our body for the full hour. It was like a kind of torture!
The meditation technique itself was really simple. For the first few days, we just tried to focus on our breathing. It is amazingly difficult to stop your mind wandering, but it does get easier with practice. From day 4, we learnt the Vipassana technique of observing sensations and feelings in our bodies without reacting to them. The idea is that by learning to observe both pleasant and unpleasant sensations without reacting, you can learn to do the same with pleasant and unpleasant things in your everyday life. The catchphrase was "Anicha," which means "changing." It shows the idea that whether things are good or bad, they will keep changing, so there is no point in reacting strongly to them.
Obviously there is a bit more to it than that, but as I said, the basic idea is really simple. To even begin to understand it, though, you need to spend a lot of time doing it. (More than 100 hours in my case!)
On the tenth day, the rule of silence is lifted at lunchtime, and you can talk to the other people on the course. Men and women are not allowed to mix, though. There were about 60 people on the course altogether - half women, and half men. Three of the women and five of the men were non-Japanese, but everyone else was from Japan. I was amazed to find that quite a few of the people were doing the course for the third or fourth time!! They must be masochists.
Being silent for ten days would not be difficult if you were living on your own, but it causes some practical problems when you are living with other people. For example, you cannot ask the other people in your room if it is okay to switch the light out, so no one is quite sure what to do. It's also quite difficult queuing up for food and toilets when you cannot say "Excuse me," "Sorry," or "Thank you."
Overall, though, it was a very worthwhile experience. It helped me to look at the world in a calmer way, and not get stressed about things that don't matter. For example, on the drive home, I noticed that I didn't get angry like I normally do when other drivers did stupid or dangerous things.
By the way, the course is completely free, but you are invited to make a contribution at the end so that someone else can have the same experience. The idea is that the old students pay for the new ones, and then they pay for the next ones, and so on. If you don't have any money, though, you do not have to pay anything at all.
If you are interested in the course, you can find out about it by googling "Vipassana." There are two centres in Japan - the one I went to in Kyoto, and a newer one in Chiba. I think they have a Japanese home page as well.
So, that is how I spent the last couple of weeks. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will try to answer them.
Bye for now,
David
PS Hi Yusuke. Nice to have you with us.
PPS Hi Amica. I noticed a mistake in your last comment that many Japanese people make. I am going to put it in the next version of my book.
I have three CDs of them. → I have three of their CDs.
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Comments
Hi David!!
You summed that up really well!! What a challenge that was. I too am meditating every day now only in the hope that if I ever feel the compulsion to do this course again I will be better prepared with some artillery. it was a great experience, not a pleasurable experience!!
talk soon buddy!
Paul
- Paul
- 2010年12月13日 14:08
Hi Tomo,
Like everyone, I felt a bit weird when the rule of silence was lifted, but it didn't take us long to get chatting. I'm not thinking of doing it again at the moment, but I might feel differently in a year or two.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for joining us. I had a look at your website this morning - there are some spectacular pictures on there.
Everyone, Paul is an Aussie who lives on an island just off Kyushu. (I forget the name.) He is a diving instructor, and he is also a photographer. Check out his website at projectaquatic dot com. (Put "www" before this.)
- David
- 2010年12月13日 14:46
PS Paul was on his third course this time, so he is clearly mentally unbalanced!
- David
- 2010年12月13日 14:54
Hi David,
You had a rough experience. But I think that you must have had a valuable experience,because this experience gives you feeling calmer on your life than before.
Hi Fumie,
I want to work for medical department in future.
But I didn't decide what I want to work concretely .
If given the chance ,I would give you a song I sing.
But I don't sing a song well.(あまり上手くない。）
Hi Amica
I think so. Their harmony is very beautiful.
I like the song " I'm Already There", Which they sing.
They sing cover songs.
For example " The Rose", "All Or Nothing", and so on.
皆さん、時間があるときにぜひ聞いてみてください。
Hi Tomo.
Thank you for your comment.
I drive a away at become a good father.
でもその前に結婚相手見つけないとね（笑）
Yusuke
- Yusuke
- 2010年12月13日 17:42
Hi David,
Thanks for your reply. I just had a look at Paul's website and saw some pictures there. The sea is incredibly beautiful! Thanks for sharing, Paul.
Hi Yusuke,
そうですね＾＾ By the way, I wrote "...as long as you love your children", but I was not talking about you personally but you generally, of course. I read your comments, so I know you are a university student and have no children. I thought you might have misunderstood my words, but if you didn't, please ignore this comment.
もしかしたら、私が「一般のyou」を使ったので、誤解させてしまったかな･･？と思ったのですが、私の思いすごしだったらこのコメントは聞き流して下さいね。
I'm writing this as I'm listening to "The Rose" on You Tube now. I didn't know Westlife, but their voices are very nice! I liked them! I'll try some other songs later.
Good night, everyone zzz...
Tomo
- Tomo
- 2010年12月13日 23:10
Hey David
I was trying to get in touch with you but your email doesn't work any more. Drop me a line:
jamiekeddie@hotmail.com
Hope all is well
J :-)
- Jamie Keddie
- 2010年12月14日 04:54
Hi David,
That was unusual experience, not that we want to try some day like your usual travel experiences. So it was more like a boot camp, a kind of torture! I could tell how hard the course is. You thought after the first day how on earth am I going to live like this for ten days, but you survived an ordeal! You did it. So that was a life changing experience.
I have few questions.
1.Do people allowed to think some dreams, desires during meditation like thinking about your favorite foods or your boyfriend/girlfriend?
2.I don't know what your religion is, but maybe you are not a Buddhist. Don't you mind to join the Buddhist course if you are not Buddhist? I think religion is a kind of absolute thing for monotheists. (this question is a delicate matter so if you don't want to answer it please ignore it)
It says the course is also given at prison or for children. I thought if bad person had the course, he/she would be better person and the world became a safer place.
Or I sould join the course to learn to calm myself or not to irritate about minor things.
I tried to look at Paul's website but I couldn't. Is it the one "種子島 cafe hr"?
Fumie
- Fumie
- 2010年12月14日 10:08
Hi Fumie,
Actually, there were some parts of the discussions that I didn't like because they were too strongly based on religion. There wasn't too much, though, and I think that of all the religions, Buddhism is the one that makes the most sense because it encourages you to find answers for yourself. I'm not about to become a Buddhist, though!
During meditation, you are supposed to focus on your body, but of course it is impossible to stop your mind wandering onto other things. The aim is to improve your ability to focus with practice.
If you are an impatient person who gets angry easily (like me!), or if you are a person who spends a lot of time worrying about things or getting depressed when bad things happen, I think the course would be very useful for you.
I'm not sure why you couldn't see Paul's website, but that is the name of the island where he lives.
- David
- 2010年12月14日 10:13
Hi Fumie,
I think you can see Paul's website if you go at:
www.projectaquatic.com/
(Put "http://" before this.)
Hope it works this time!
Tomo
- Tomo
- 2010年12月14日 10:35
Hi David,
Thank you for the earliest reply. I can see Paul's website this time, thanks Tomo. The photos are so beautiful. I also saw the picture of you and other participants of the course. I put his site on my favorite box of my pc.
I'm so sorry for my carelessness in discussion. I should be more careful in my speech.
There are some of the things that I don't like about myself, so if I joined the course, it may help. But I'm not patient enough to withstand such a training.
Anyway thank you so much for giving us a chance to know about Vipassana.
Fumie
- 匿名
- 2010年12月14日 14:47
Hello.Nice to meet you,everyone.
I happened to find this blog and decided to make a
comment because I'm interested in meditation.
I'd like to ask you a question,David.
The other day I watched TV program featured meditation. A man who is good at it said that he was able to see himself objectively above him.
It sounded like ゛ゆうたい離脱゛; the soul separates from the body. Do you think it would be possible ?
I have no idea about it because I've never maditated.
- Rose
- 2010年12月15日 20:42
Hi Rose,
I think that is the ultimate idea, but it's difficult for me to imagine because I am only a beginner. I had enough trouble just trying to stop my mind wandering. One thing I found was that I was constantly playing BGM in my head - all kinds of songs, including ones that I haven't heard for years. I would love to reach the stage where I can have an "out-of-body" experience, but I think I'm going to have to do a lot more practice before that becomes possible.
- David
- 2010年12月15日 23:13
Hi David,
Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds really interesting, and I’d like to try it if I had a chance. It would be ok for me being silent for a couple of weeks, but living with other people makes me a bit nervous. On second thought, the course doesn’t suit me!! I don't think I could live with 59 people for ten days :-(
Bye for now
amo
- amo
- 2010年12月16日 00:42
Hi David
Thank you for sharing your experience.
What a hard schedule! There are many words of "meditation" in a time table.
All the food is vegetarian? No fishes?
Do you think that it is effective to do meditation sometimes in your life? Or it works in a program like Vipassana?
Hi Tomo
Thank you for your explaining and examples about usage of "if even". It helps me a lot!
Hi Fumie
Thank you for telling. I didn't read carefully :-(
Hi Yusuke
Nice to meet you. I'm glad that you join us :-)
trmr
- trmr
- 2010年12月16日 08:26
Hi Rose,
Welcome to the blog, and thanks for joining us!
Hi David and everyone,
As I mentioned before, I'm kind of busy preparing for the ceremony for my father-in-law at the moment. It's one-year anniversary of his death, and we are holding it this coming Saturday. Technically, it hasn't been a year yet because he passed away in January, but most people are very busy at the beginning of the year, so my husband and I decided to hold the ceremony a bit earlier. Actually, we are doing it in Shinto, not in Buddhism, so we are having a Shinto priest instead of a Buddhist monk. My family goes to a shrine to make a wish at the beginning of every year, and we do some ceremonies like “shichi-go-san” or “yakubarai” there, but it doesn't mean we believe in Shinto. When my mother-in-law passed away, my father-in-law did her funeral in Shinto. As you know, when you are dead and if your family have your funeral in Buddhism, you will get a new name called “kaimyo”, and the name will be carved on your gravestone. My father-in-law didn't like this idea. He wanted to have my mother-in-law's name carved on the stone, so that's why he did her funeral in Shinto. He didn't care about his ceremony at all, but we wanted to follow his idea this time as well. In Buddhism, the ceremony we are going to have called 一周忌, but in Shinto, it's called 一年祭. They have similar ceremonies to Buddhism ones. For example, they have 十日祭 and 五十日祭 instead of 初七日 and 四十九日. It seems like they use the kanji "祭" for Shinto ceremonies. It's interesting, isn't it?
See you soon,
Tomo
PS
trmr - Glad I could be of help:)
- Tomo
- 2010年12月16日 11:09
Hi team,
An American friend just sent me a link to a video of an a capella group from the University of Oregon. Apparently they were on an American talent show. Check this out - it's amazing!
(I've added the link to the bottom of the entry.)
- David
- 2010年12月16日 16:19
I just watched it again. It's addictive! I can't believe they are doing all that without any instruments!
- David
- 2010年12月16日 16:28
I just came across another amazing singer. Search for "Greyson Chance" on YouTube. He's 12 years old!
- David
- 2010年12月16日 17:14
Hi David,
I just watched the videos. They are amazing!!
- Tomo
- 2010年12月16日 19:27
Hi David,
I’ve watched their videos several times. They are so cool and yes, it’s addictive! Lady gaga’s one is the best for me (for all viewers?!). This video you showed was upgraded from their original one. I love their performance! かっこよすぎる！
Have a nice day!
taco
- taco
- 2010年12月16日 19:38
Hi David and everyone
Yesterday, I came across this blog. I thought this blog will help my reading, writing ability, so I want to join,too. Anyway, Can I ask a question?
What does it mean? → there is a bit more to it than that.
- tsuki
- 2010年12月17日 04:14
Hi Tomo,
You are busy for your father-in-law's 1year anniversary. I've never been to Shinto style funerals or memorial services so I read your story with interest.
As you know, it cost a fortune to have a funeral in Japan traditionally. Although people's ideas about spending so much money on funeral is changing now. If I remember correctly, it cost at least about 200,000 yen to have a single 法名。That's ridiculous! I remember my mother said to me she paid Buddhist monk 10,000yen each for お車代、お昼代 each time when he came for giving Buddhist sutra, although he came by bike. Gravestone is also expensive but in Japan several deceased person's ashes(遺灰）are buried under the same gravestone. I don't know the situations in other countries but from what I had learned from English movies, one person's name is carved on one gravestone, that's means one gravestone for one person. I don't know why but maybe Japan doesn't have enough space to allow us to have our own gravestone. That also might be one of the reason of we do cremation along with sanitary reason. Burial take more space than cremation. Those are just my guessing so please don't trust them.
Hi David,
I watched videos you recommended to us. They are awesome! I wish I could sing and play the piano like Greyson Chance.
Hi everyone,
It's getting so cold, take care not to catch a cold!
I started 大掃除。
Fumie
- 匿名
- 2010年12月17日 06:36
Hi tsuki,
Welcome to the blog! It's nice to have you with us.
As for your question, I think it means “もちろん、それにはもう少し色々あるんだけど・・・”. David is explaining about the meditation(Vipassana) technique in the previous paragraph. In this sentence "Obviously there is a bit more to it than that", I think "it" means "the meditation(Vipassana) technique" and "that" means his explanation about it, so I think he is saying, "Of course, there are more things you need to learn than what I said."(David, please help me if I'm wrong.)
Hi Fumie,
When we had my mother-in-law's funeral, my father-in-law took care of everything, so I had no idea what was going on at that time. This time, my husband is the host of the ceremony, so there are a lot of things I have to do.(but I'm still not sure what's going on!) At a Shinto funeral or ceremony, you don't burn incense(焼香), but you give a branch of 榊(sakaki) to the person who passed away and take two bows, two claps, and one bow(二礼二拍手一礼) like you do at a shrine.
By the way, I didn't know that it costs that much to have a 法名! We paid a lot of money to the Shinto priest when we had my father-in-law's funeral, but apparently, it costs less money than the one you need to pay to a Buddhist monk. I don't know why, though. At the ceremony on Saturday, we don't have to pay the Shinto priest for lunch because he is having lunch with the visitors and us, but we are going to pay him for the transportation as well as 祈祷料. Anyway, I hope I won't make any stupid mistakes at the ceremony...
Everyone, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday.
Tomo
- Tomo
- 2010年12月17日 10:51
Hi Tsuki.
Nice to have you with us. Tomo's explanation is correct - thanks Tomo. "There is more to it" means "it is not so simple" or "there are other things that you have to know." Actually, there is a saying, "There's more to it/him/her than meets the eye." It means that there are things you cannot tell about a thing or person just by looking at it/him/her, or that a person is actually quite different from the way he or she looks.
- David
- 2010年12月17日 11:20
Hi David and Tomo
Thank you for your explanation. I got it.
- tsuki
- 2010年12月18日 03:44
Hi Tomo,
Thank you for telling me about Shinto rituals on funeral. So there is a big difference between Shinto style funeral and Buddhist style one. I hope everything will go well on your father-in law's ceremony. It's a bit tiring because we have to be careful not everyone to think our attitudes are not proper. 気を使いますよね！
I had been worrying about my children's behaviors during my fathere's funeral. They got bored when the monk giving a long sutra.
Fumie
- Fumie
- 2010年12月18日 06:51
Hi David,
遅ればせながらお帰りなさい！After hearing about your experience, I'm motivated to do the course. I don't think I can do it in the near future though. Once my little man is in elementary school, I might do that kind of thing...
You said the food was completely vegetarian. How was the portion? Did everyone get the same amount of food? Did they give you fruit in season? What was the first thing you wanted to eat after the course? How did you (and your stomach) feel when you were back to regular diet?
It's almost been one week since you're back. Do you think you are still good at angermanagement? (You said you didn't get angry as easily as you normally do on the way home.) How is the whole experience affecting your life now?
Tomo,
I hope everything went well at the memorial service. Aren't you glad it's over now?
My grandmother passwed away and we had a funeral recently. So, I can easily imagine how busy you have been.
My family were busy paying attention to rituals before and during the funeral. I thought it was too bad that we were obsessed with the formality of the funeral and couldn't really focus on grandma's death. I was upset when I found out that nobody (but me) prepared things to put in her casket before we left for the crematory. Eveyone was busy working on the seat arrangement for the memorial service after the funeral! Anyway, I thought I'd share my experience and thoughts.
Yuki
- 匿名
- 2010年12月18日 21:36
Hi David and everyone,
Did you have a good weekend? I was very busy this weekend, but everything went well at the memorial service, so I feel relaxed now.
Fumie,
Thanks for your comment. There are some other differences between Shinto rituals and Buddhist ones, so let me share them with you.(This is for my English study, so you don't have to reply to me if you are busy and don't have time;-))
Actually, there are some other families having memorial services at the same venue on Saturday, so I saw a Buddhist monk too. He was wearing a black robe on a white kimono(?) and had "juzu". I heard him chant a sutra using a wooden fish. At my father-in-law's ceremony, the Shinto priest was wearing a white traditional costume and a black hat called "eboshi", and he had a flat ritual baton called "shaku." He also chanted something about my father-in-law, and it went like “かしこみ かしこみ 申～す～, but I'm not sure what it is called. It remained me of my children's first shrine visits(omiyamairi).
Yuki,
I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, but I think she was happy to have a grandchild like you. As you know, Japanese people like to do things(ceremonies) according to set formulas. When people have a wake or a funeral, there are so many things to decide in a short time, and everything was so formal that they didn't really have time to talk to anyone or focus on the person's death. I also think it's too bad, but I think it could support the host family in a way. My father-in-law passed away unexpectedly because of a heart attack. He was in hospital at that time, but it was not serious and the doctor said he would be able to leave hospital soon, so it was a great shock to us. When we had my father-in-law's wake and funeral, my husband was so busy that he didn't really have time to think about his father's death. He had to take care of everything and be strong enough to make speeches in front of the people. I knew he was trying to keep back his tears, so I think those things supported him in a way.
At the memorial service on Saturday, we had a lot of time to think about my father-in-law. His brothers and friends shared funny stories with us, so we laughed and talked about him a lot when we had lunch. I think(hope!) he was laughing with us and my mother-in-law up there:)
David,
Trmr and Yuki asked you some questions about the course, so I'm also looking forward to hearing from you.
Tomo
- Tomo
- 2010年12月20日 11:20
【訂正】
and everything was so formal that they didn't really... → and everything is so formal that they don't really
- Tomo
- 2010年12月20日 11:25
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- Belly Button Rings
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- bilete avion
- 2011年10月30日 06:57
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing. I was really surprised to know how you spent for the 10 days, but I'm glad it helped you to reduce stress in your life. Our lives are very stressful, and stress causes a lot of problems. We all need something to relieve stress, but it's better if you feel less stress in the first place.
By the way, how did you feel when the rule of silence was lifted? Do you want to try the course again?
Tomo