The Wisdom Book : A Compendium of Questions and Answers from Vipassana Teacher S.N. Goenka

By Putra, Himalaya

Book Id: WPLBN0100750274
Format Type: PDF (eBook)
File Size: 4.76 MB.
Reproduction Date: 7/23/2024

Title:	The Wisdom Book : A Compendium of Questions and Answers from Vipassana Teacher S.N. Goenka
Author:	Putra, Himalaya
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Meditation, Mind Purification, Self-Development, General Works (Periodicals, Series, idexes, Almanacs, etc.), Vipassana Meditation
Collections:	Authors Community, Education
Historic Publication Date:	2024
Publisher:	Himalaya Putra

Member Page:	Himalaya Putra
Citation APA MLA Chicago Putra, H. (2024). The Wisdom Book. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Vipassana is the path of reality, of practical wisdom from experience – wisdom beyond doubt, wisdom that transforms life – of individuals and countries. As S.N. Goenkaji reminded us, the real answers are within. This book serves as a calling to Vipassana practice that leads you to experience the subtlest answers. May the answers from your Vipassana practice lead to your final destination of real happiness: the indescribable experience beyond impermanence, beyond all suffering, to the ultimate reality beyond mind and matter. ---

Summary
The alcohol and cocaine-addicted mother of one-and-half-year-old Alphie Phillips beat him to death in a night of unspeakable suffering for the toddler yet to speak his first words. The police in Kent, England, found 70 injuries in Alphie's little body. For Alphie, and for violently abused children like him, this eBook came into being. The Wisdom Book encourages Vipassana practice – the proven ancient way out of addictions, anger, violence, depression - the way out of suffering. If tormented adults practice Vipassana and free themselves from inner demons, the world becomes safer for children. Our world becomes a happier, better world. The change for better begins with each individual. The Wisdom Book completes the ‘Mind Book – Dhamma Giri to the Himalayas, A Vipassana Journey’, with the way the Principal Teacher of Vipassana S.N. Goenka ended his public talks: questions and answers (Q&A) session. During Goenkaji’s lifetime, the editor compiled the original Q&A section (Storehouse of Answers) in the Vipassana website from Dhamma Giri. This was while serving with him for a decade from 1996. In this book, he has widened the sources for Goenkaji's answers – his insights on living a beneficial life through Vipassana practice. This compendium with Acharya Goenka’s penetrating answers covers a wide range of questions on life: addiction, relationships, equanimity, anger, depression, meditation, mind, true love, individual and social change, religion, the impact of Vipassana, what happens at death and more.

Excerpt
How to be free from addiction? Acharya S.N. Goenka: Vipassana practice trains you to observe bodily sensations. Sensations (pressure, pain, heat, vibrations, any tangible feeling in the body) arise with thoughts. The root of the mind (where habit patterns are formed) reacts to body sensations, not to your thoughts or outside objects. This is the law of nature. Sensations are there from birth to death. Vipassana training develops the faculty to be aware of this subtler reality. Vipassana involves awareness of sensations with perfect equanimity. No more reacting with aversion. This means not generating anger as before in a similar situation. This anger-free moment turns into few moments, seconds, minutes. The meditator is gradually freed from addiction to anger – any addiction. *** Q: How would you define success? From interview with PBS (free-to-air Public Broadcasting Service), USA. July 22, 2002. During S.N. Goenka’s four-month tour of North America and Europe. Goenkaji: Before Vipassana, I thought success was being one inch taller than others; but after Vipassana I discovered that true success is being happy. Now I consider myself successful when I see how much I have come out of suffering, and also when I serve others and see the change in them. *** Q: What is the real strength in life? SNG: The strength of a pure mind. No other strength compares to it in life. Nothing can shake the person who has real strength of mind. A truly strong person is not disturbed by the ups and downs of life. *** Q: What is depression? Is it an external or an internal problem? Goenkaji: The real cause of all problems is internal. The apparent cause is external. Vipassana practice takes you deep inside your mind, for you to discover the real cause of your depression. And you will find that the root cause is within yourself, not outside. Remove that cause, and you will be free from your suffering. *** Q: How can Vipassana be of use to anyone in the corporate world? SN Goenka: Businessmen, industrialists, executives have to make many decisions in their career. Ups and downs are bound to come. During difficult times when you lose the balance of the mind, the decisions you make are never beneficial. It harms the business and the atmosphere. Vipassana helps to keep the mind calm, quiet, peaceful, and harmonious, which is good for the businessman, the staff, and customers. You make better decisions. *** Q: What are your comments on ‘love at first sight’? (From public talk at Unionville High School, Pennsylvania, USA. May 10, 2002) Goenkaji (laughing): Why only at first sight? There should be love at every sight! But it should be pure love. Pure love is full of compassion. It is totally free of lust. Q: Why do people cause suffering for us? Goenkaji: Nobody causes suffering for you. You cause suffering for yourself. You do this by blindly reacting to what others are doing. Without a balanced mind, you react with craving or aversion, anger, or some other negativity. You generate tensions in the mind. Nobody is asking you to do so. With Vipassana practice, you come out of the ignorance of what you are doing to yourself. You stop generating tension and negativity. With equanimity from your Vipassana practice, it becomes easier for you to remain peaceful and happy in every situation. *** Q: Suffering, war and conflict are as old as history. Do you really believe in a world of peace? SNG: Even if a few people come out of suffering, good. When there is darkness and one lamp gives light, good. And soon, one lamp becomes 10 lamps or 20 lamps, the darkness gets dispelled here and there. No guarantee the entire world will become peaceful, but as much peace as you can make for yourself, that much you are helping peace in the world. Be the lamp that dispels darkness around you. *** Q: Can a person attain supernatural powers and perform miracles with the practice of Vipassana? Goenkaji: The biggest ‘miracle’ is liberating yourself from misery. Ordinary miracles such as levitation, walking on water, and supernormal powers such as divine eye, divine ear, and reading another person's mind are useless in the work of liberating yourself, and cannot make anyone happy. The only true ‘miracle’ is to eradicate all defilements and to liberate oneself. (Same questioner): Will one be able to communicate with guardian angels if one learns Vipassana? Goenkaji: Learn to communicate with yourself first. That is more important! *** Q: Can one learn Vipassana from a book? Goenkaji: No. It can be harmful. Vipassana is a very delicate and deep operation of the mind. One must take a 10-day course, as a start, under an authorized, experienced guide. At the end of 10 days you are your own master. Q: How can professionals, who have less time, practice meditation? Goenkaji: Meditation is all the more important for professionals! Those who are householders, who have many responsibilities in life, need Vipassana much more. They face difficult situations, the ups and downs in life. They become agitated. Vipassana trains your mind to be balanced, calm. You can work better and quicker. You make better decisions, correct decisions. Vipassana is particularly helpful for people having less time because it increases work efficiency. Q: How is Vipassana different from escapism? Goenkaji: Vipassana is the direct opposite of escapism. The entire training of Vipassana is to face realities, not to run away from it. Vipassana practitioners live a better life in the world. *** Q: Why do you not use the word "Buddhism" in teaching Vipassana? Goenkaji: Though the word ‘Buddhism’ is used commonly for the teaching of the Buddha, I do not use it because it has a sectarian connotation. The Buddha never taught any "ism". We have found in extensive research - in 15,000 pages of the Tipiṭaka (the Buddha's words) and 35,000 pages of the commentarial literature – that throughout this vast literature, the word "Buddhist" or "Buddhism" (Boddha or Bauddh) is not used at all. Even the other traditions did not refer to the Buddha's teaching as “Buddhism” or “Buddhist” for about 500 years after the Buddha. Based on my experience of the practice and study of the Buddha's words, no doubt at all that the Buddha's teaching is universal and non-sectarian. The Buddha was not interested in sects nor was he teaching any philosophy. ***

Table of Contents
Contents Part -1 *Addiction…pg 8 *Anger…14 *Daily Life… 17 *Depression…25 *Corporate World…27 *Governments…pg 33 *Prisons and Crime…39 *Relationships…pg 45 *Religion…47 *Death, Rebirth…50 *Rites and Rituals… 52 *Society… 54 *Anapana Revolution in Schools…pg 55 *Sharing Vipassana…pg 61 *Sex… 63 *Supernatural Powers…65 *Vibrations…69 *Mantras… 70 *Atma/Soul…70 *Vipassana and Yoga… 73 *Danā…pg 76 *Vipassana (Why Meditate?)…pg 78 *Attachment… 92 *Happiness… 98 *Insomnia…103 *Cause and Effect…104 *Mind…107 *Buddha… pg 112 *Craving… pg 123 *True Renunciation… 127 *Dhamma…128 *Ego…135 *Enlightenment…138 *Equanimity…140 *Food… pg 143 *Global Vipassana Pagoda…pg 147 *God… 150 *Sīla (ethics, morality)… 152 *Noble Truths…159 *Other Meditation Practices…163 *Hypnotism… pg 166 Part -2 Clarifications on Vipassana Practice…pg 169 Mettā …pg 179 Part – 3 Q & A on Dhamma Service…pg 181 Specials: *Dhamma Giri …Pages 23, 24, 44, 90,152 *The Lady who saved the Sasana...Pg 35 *The Missile Scientist and the CIA Spy…Pg 38 *The Story of a Photograph….68 *Ganges of Dhamma Flows Again… 82 *Was the Buddha a Pessimist?...117 *Emperor Asoka and Vipassana in Bairath, Rajasthan…133 *Mr ‘A’ Experiences Nibbāna…190 *What Happens at Death? …197 *The Passing of the Day….Pg 200