10 day Vipassana Meditation

December 13th I joined the Joti Vipassana Meditation centre in Yangon (link), to take part at a 10 day lasting meditation retreat.

A lot of fellows I met during my travels were very inspired by the experiences they had there. A lot of people who have had a big crisis in their life attended it and got salvation or were even enlightened afterwards.

So my consideration was clear, do that, as I also wanted to get enlightened, or get at least more security in taking decisions for future, cause I am really suffering about options I am having in any case.

General Information about Vipassana Meditation or the Dhamma Meditation could be found here: wiki and http://www.dhamma.org/ you got also the possibility to chose one of the meditation centres and sign in for courses.

I will post here a short summary of a meditation day schedule:

4:00 am		Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am		Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am		Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am		Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am		Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon		Lunch break
12noon-1:00 pm		Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm		Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm		Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm		Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm		Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm		Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm		Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm		Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm		Question time in the hall
9:30 pm		Retire to your own room--Lights out

and the guidance or rules, which are relevant for the entire stay in the meditation centre:

• to abstain from killing any being;

• to abstain from stealing;

• to abstain from all sexual activity;

• to abstain from telling lies;

• to abstain from all intoxicants.

• Acceptance of the Teacher and the Technique

• All other rites and should be stopped during the time of stay, it is also prohibited to have amulets related to any Religion.

• Any form of communication with fellow student, whether by speaking, gestures, sign language, written notes, etc., is prohibited.

• Separation of Men and Women

• No Physical Contact (having Sex / Masturbation)

• Yoga and Physical Exercise is not allowed

• Prohibition of Religious Objects, Rosaries, Crystals, Talismans, etc.

• Intoxicants, Drugs and Tobacco is prohibited

• The food provided is basic and Vegetarian

• Clothing shall be comfortable but not tight and ladies have to cover their whole body

• Laundry and Bathing shall be done every day in the break sessions, so that the clothes are always clean

• No Outside Contacts and no leaving of the area

• Music, Reading and Writing is not allowed

• Recording Devices and Cameras are not allowed

So far so good ;-)

• The first day was somehow fun, even I  was quite suffering from sitting and trying to meditate for 10.45 hours.
  
  We had to follow the breathe going out the nose and entering the nose - which was quite hard, cause the mind and the thoughts were wandering (at least in my case) around, around and around - and I had the feeling that from the 10.45 hours of Meditation I could maybe properly concentrate 45 minutes => so 10 hours seemed wasted => efficiency is something else...

• The second day we had to feel the breath interacting with the skin in a triangular area built of the nose and the upper lip => again according above mentioned schedule => I was getting better, maybe of 10.45 hours I could concentrate for 2 hours in that what I had to do, the other times, I was thinking about this and that and especially thinking about my back and my knees hurting like hell!

• The third day, we had to feel any sensation in the area of day two like prickling, ... and concentrate on that. And yes, again I was getting better. That day I was maybe able to meditate, or better said concentrate in what they asked me to do for three-four hours of 10.45 hours => I am great, isn't it?

• Day four was requested to be the big day, where real meditation should start: to get clearance about our mind. But nothing happened, instead of learning something new, we did the same things we did at day three and I decided to leave.

Reasons why I left the course are mentioned below:

• I had big problems in sitting all day, cause my back and knees hurt like hell.
• Even more problematic was, that I had to think all the time during meditation time on other things - so basically I had the feeling, that it was waste of time!
• During my tries to meditate, the idea came up, that I was doing too often things in my life, I did not want to do - like doing this course and my feeling was, that 3,5 days is enough to get an experience about something. And in this journey I had sworn myself, that at least once I will only do things I like!
• All day teachers discourse was held by a DVD of Mr. S._N._Goenka who is like a big Dhamma Guru. All people were looking up to this enlightened person on the TV screen and almost praying at him - even he told, that Dhamma should be free of any religious issues, he seemed to be used as a kind of religious symbol.
  
  Right now I am reading an economical book called "5000 years of debts" from David Graeber. He quoted an text from Satapatha Brahmana, who is an old Hindu and no Buddhist, but this text is also valid for Buddhism or at least for the Vipassana course I joined:
  
  In being born every being is born as debt owed to the gods, the saints, the fathers and to men. If one makes a sacrifice, it is because of a debt owing to the gods from birth … If one recites a sacred text, it is because of a debt owing to the saints … If one wishes for offspring, it is because of a debt due to the fathers from birth … And if one gives hospitality, it is because it is a debt owing to men.
  
  

So the question, to go ahead or not, especially due the fact I did not have any benefit out of it, was clear.

And I had my enlightenment, during the course, even I did not finish it yet... I decided, to go back home to my beloved parents and my sister in the black forest and celebrate Christmas with them. So not too bad for a person, who had always problems in deciding anything...and being happy with the decision.

So happy, that I have to share a song with you...

Bagan

Bagan (link) is an anxious town southern of Mandalay located on the Irravady river. The place is really amazing, as you can find thousands of pagodas and temples lying in the beautiful landscape.

The place itself is not only beautiful, but also quite relaxed and quiet, that's why I stayed a bit longer than most tourists do.

As Bagan is one of the major tourist attractions of Myanmar you can get there easily by bus, boat or plane from Mandalay, Yangon but also from Inle lake.
 
I will not comment all temples or Buddha statues you can see on the pictures, cause I don't even know all names of them - but the link above mentions some of the most famous ones by name.

View from one temple down to others...

People were driving cars, buses and motorbikes, but it was in Bagan much more quiet, than at most places before I visited in Asia - therefore I like this picture very much.

One of the locals, carrying some goods.

bird nests right next to a restaurant

Three local ladies with a tourist from Singapore

Me enjoying the nice view on the roof of one temple...

It was really amazing how many Germans I met on the trip, which was in deed very nice to hang around after quite a while with Germans, especially when they were so nice like Maria. That evening we were on the shore of Irravady river siting next to a fire and enjoying some beer.

A lot of people are very eager to take pictures at sun- rise or -set, so I had to do the same, but choose the lazy version ;-)

Some kids playing in the shade...

On the way to an temple, which is located on an hill => sorry forget the name of it ;-)

Yangon

The capital of Myanmar former Burma, now called Yangon (link) is after visiting the hectic places in India, Nepal, Thailand and China pretty relaxed and it does not feel at all like a city with almost 6 Mio inhabitants.

One reason might be, that only the rich people here are having mobile phones and that is maybe one reason why the people are more relaxed than in other places.

On this picture there are some municipal electricians fixing a wiring problem - I really like it the way they are using their ladder.

Probably the most popular place in Yangon is the Shwedagon Pagoda, which is basically a huge Stupa in gold colors surrounded by many pagodas and temples.

Usually I don't like places like this too much, cause beside many tourists and some more temples, which I saw already a lot in my life I usually don't expect anything new.

But there it was different, the are, where the Pagoda is standing on is huge on one hand side - there are not too many western tourists on the other hand and the most important, the people and monks praying there, seemed to be fully by them selves.

By far the coolest monk I saw that day...

By far the coolest western tourist I saw that day...

Beside the tourist attractions I had a wonderful opportunity to get in touch how Expat live looks like in Yangon. Thanks a lot to Shez and Robin, who I met in Tonsai, cause they invited me to stay with them and took me out for some crazy but funny activities... like "the hash" => (link) which is basically a rally through suburbs following shredded paper marks and drinking a lot => so great fun!