Well, there
are all kinds of things, techniques and gimmicks out there claiming to be
meditation. They range from chanting a whole string of foreign words - the less
you understand the better the exotic rating - for a charmed number of exactly
108 times per round, to staring into a fire or a crystal until your eyes dry up
and the world starts to boogie woogie, to sitting like a hardened pretzel and
trying to think very exactly of nothing at all.
Oh, and
then there are the horror stories of people who meditated themselves up, up and
far, far away from their human bodies. It would have been an exciting adventure,
except that they had a hard time finding their way back to earth again having
battled a fair share of monsters to boot. I’m not actually sure if those guys
were high on drugs to begin with.
So, finally
when our parish priest - a trusted, beloved source who serves mass to all, sundry
and the great beyond in an entertainingly intelligent and engaging manner - announced
his hosting of a 10 day meditation course, I was one of those who snapped it
up.
It was held
in a seminary. There were rules and we had to pay for our vegetarian food. Chief
amongst the rules was ‘Golden Silence’ for the whole 10 days. After the Chief,
the Shaman of the rules was ‘Do not kill’ hence indirectly, the vegetarian
food. We learnt three meditation techniques, and meditation helpings in big and
small portions were served day and night. What I loved most however were the
evening stories.
This was my
first introduction to Vipassana à la S.N. Goenka in its adulterated form. Quite
understandable really, for a Roman Catholic priest can hardly tell you that you
are using a Buddhist meditation technique in a catholic seminary. Just imagine! Pope John Paul the II would
have fallen on him all the way from Rome! Thus white moons, red moons and blue
moons were to wax and wane before I found S.N. Goenka and pure Vipassana …
No comments:
Post a Comment