10 days of Vipassana Meditation
It was an experience of challenges.
The evening of the first night following an orientation I took a vow of noble silence, that is, no speaking, no eye contact and no gestures. The next morning I woke to the reverberation of a gong at 4 am. The first morning we took a vow to follow the five basic precepts: not killing, not stealing, not making sexual misconduct, not telling lies, and abstaining from intoxicants.
Imagine spending 10 days:
...not talking at all...
...living with roommates with which you were not allowed to speak, make gestures or eye contact...
...sitting on a cushion with your legs crossed for 10+ hours a day...
...eating strictly vegetarian only twice a day...
...without a cell phone, Internet connection or TV...
None of the challenges when taken individually are that difficult but when taken as a whole it presents quite a challenge to the body and the mind. All in all, I would say it was an amazing experience.
10 Words to describe the 10 days:
Torture. Bliss. Daydreaming. Sore back. Eating slowly. Sitting. Respiration. Attention.
MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY.
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2 comments:
I agree with your 10 words from my own experiences, though I must admit I've never sat for 10+ hours in meditation in any given time. Sometimes it's difficult to spend so much time with yourself, but after doing so I think it's actually harder to come back to the real world.
The thing I miss most about being at any of my yoga retreats is the acceptance of being inside myself and spend as much time as I want doing so. In the real world, I always succumb to the pressures of interacting and I don't always take the time I need.
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