Roshchanis Padungpattanodom
“Observe the reality as it is. As it is, not as you wish it to be. Perhaps your breath is deep. Perhaps your breath is shallow. Perhaps you breathed in through the left nostril. Perhaps you breathed in through the right nostril. It makes no difference.”
S. N. Goenka
Introduction
Dhamma Pubbananda, is one of about 200 centers worldwide offering courses in Vipassana Meditation, as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
The center property, located in Claymont, Delaware, was acquired in 2013 by the Mid-Atlantic Vipassana Association (MAVA).
Being named “Joy of the East”, Dhamma Pubbananda is the first urban center in North America among a total of 20 centers in the region. It is situated on 13 acres in a quiet residential neighborhood with easy access to public transportation: bus and Amtrak.
Founding Principles and History
MAVA is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose sole purpose is providing instruction in Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
- In 1997 a group of students in this meditation tradition coordinated the first Vipassana meditation course in the region and formed the Delaware Valley Vipassana Association.
- In 2002 other students began supporting courses in Virginia, and in 2006 courses began in Chestertown, MD.
- In 2005 the Delaware Valley Vipassana Association changed its name to Mid-Atlantic Vipassana Association with the intention of establishing a permanent center for the region.
- The MAVA area includes Pennsylvania, southern NJ, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and the greater Washington, DC area.
Affiliation with Buddhist Traditions
The meditation tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin can be categorised as rooted in Theravāda Buddhism.
U Ba Khin (1899-1971) learned vipassana meditation from U Thet (1873-1945), whose teaching activities took place with the support of the famous Burmese scholar monk Ledi Sayadaw (1846-1923).
In this meditation tradition, methods and techniques are drawn primarily from Dhyānasamādhi Sūtra, which concerns a treatment of the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing. The Dhyānasamādhi Sūtra instructs that awareness should be developed in the following way:
“念諸息遍身, 亦念息出入, 悉觀身中諸出息入息, 覺知遍至身中乃
至足指遍諸毛孔, 如水入沙, 息出覺知從足至髮遍諸毛孔亦, 如水
入沙.
Mindfulness [during] all breaths pervades the body, [while] being as
well mindful of the out- and in-breaths. Completely contemplating the inside of the body [during] all out-breaths and in-breaths, awareness pervades and reaches inside the body up to the toes and the fingers and pervades every pore [on the surface of the body], just like water entering sand, aware from the feet to the hair [while] breathing out [and in], pervading every pore as well, just like water entering sand.”
Anālayo, 2011
According to various Buddhist scholars like Bhikkhu Anālayo, the terminology employed in the Dhyānasamādhi Sūtra for the final four steps of mindfulness of breathing agrees with the presentation given in the Ānāpānasati Sutta of the Theravāda tradition. This points to a degree of affinity between U Ba Khin’s tradition and the Theravāda tradition.
U Ba Khin’s tradition attaches considerable importance to developing a clear and experiential appreciation of impermanence as a basis for the arising of insight. U Ba Khin describes the more advanced stages of vipassanā meditation in his tradition in the following words:
“Mindfulness and concentration on changing sensations and feelings
are so strong that all senses, even the movement of the mind, are
experienced as changing, as vibrations. Perception of the whole world, matter and mind, becomes reduced to various levels of vibration in [a] constant state of change.”
Sayagi authorised a number of teachers before his passing. His most prominent disciples were Satya Narayana Goenka, who established over 100 centers worldwide in this tradition, and Sayamagyi Daw Mya Thwin, better known as Mother Sayama, who established six centres. Both of these wonderful teachers devoted their lives to spreading the Dhamma.
Goenka trained about 1350 assistant teachers to conduct courses using his recordings, and about 120,000 people attend them each year. Upon Goenka’s death, Jack Kornfield, noted American author on Buddhism wrote, “In every generation, there are a few visionary and profound masters who hold high the lamp of the Dharma to illuminate the world. Like the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, Ven. S.N. Goenka was one of the great world masters of our time. [He] was an inspiration and teacher for Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzburg, Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman and many other western spiritual leaders.” Jay Michaelson wrote in a Huffington Post article titled, “The Man who Taught the World to Meditate”, “He was a core teacher for the first generation of ‘insight’ meditation teachers to have an impact in the United States.”
Meditation Practices at Dhamma Pubbananda
In this meditation tradition, participants are given the Ānāpānasati Sutta’s instruction for the mindfulness of breathing, the Dhyānasamādhi Sūtra’s instruction for the mindfulness of the breath to a comprehensive awareness of the whole body and Mettā bhāvanā: Loving kindness instruction.
“The method consists in concentrating the mind … through the practice of mindfulness of breathing, and then turning the concentrated attention that has thus been achieved to the various parts of one’s physical organism – moving systematically through the body – in order to develop an increasingly thorough and subtle awareness of all the sensations which arise in it. … The student begins to scan the body from head to toes, moving methodically from one part to the next.“
Solé-Leris, 1992
In addition to meditation practices, participants must, for the period of the course, abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, speaking falsely, and intoxicants. This simple code of moral conduct (Sīla) serves to calm the mind, which otherwise would be too agitated to perform the task of self-observation.
The Courses
The Center offers ten-day Vipassana meditation courses throughout the year. All courses offered are conducted by assistant teachers of S. N. Goenka using audio and video tapes of Mr. Goenka’s instructions and discourses.
The day begins at 4:00 a.m. with a wakeup bell and continues until 9:00 p.m. There are about ten hours of meditation throughout the day, interspersed with regular breaks and rest periods. Every evening at 7:00 p.m. there is a videotaped lecture by the Teacher, S.N. Goenka, which provides a context for meditators to understand their experience of the day. This schedule has proved workable and beneficial for hundreds of thousands of people for decades.
Day 1
All courses at the center are run solely on a donation basis. Donations are accepted only from students who have completed at least one ten-day course with S.N. Goenka or one of his assisting teachers and have experienced for themselves the benefits of Vipassana. Thus Vipassana is offered free from commercialism.
Interactions with Other Buddhist Communities
There are over 200 centers across the world like Dhamma Pubbananda, which all offer courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
In North Amierica, there are 14 Meditation Centers and 6 Non-Centers.
https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/locations/directory#021
Conclusion
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind.
There is no requirement to convert to any religious belief system. Goenka explained that, “The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma- the way to liberation — which is universal” and presented his teachings as non-sectarian and open to people of all faiths or no faith. “Liberation” in this context means freedom from impurities of mind and, as a result of the process of cultivating a pure mind, freedom from suffering.
References
Anālayo, B. (n.d.). The Ancient Roots of the U Ba Khin Vipassanā Meditation. Retrieved December 1, 2023, from https://host.pariyatti.org/treasures/The_Ancient_Roots_of_the_U_Ba_Khin_Vipassana_Meditation.pdf
A. Solé-Leris: Tranquillity & Insight, Kandy 1992: 139 and 147.
Dhamma Pubbananda . (n.d.). What is Vipassana? Dhamma Pubbananda. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://pubbananda.dhamma.org/introduction-to-vipassana-meditation/
S. N. Goenka. (2023, October 11). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka#cite_note-27
Sayagyi U Ba Khin | Global Vipassana Pagoda. (n.d.). Www.globalpagoda.org. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://www.globalpagoda.org/sayagyi-u-ba-khin
U Ba Khin in J. Kornfield: Living Buddhist Masters, Kandy 1993: 252
Vipassana | S.N. Goenka | The habit pattern of the mind. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 2, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heobdcl_iO4&t=6s