ANNUAL MEETING: Dhamma Giri, India January 10, 1999
Questioner: Goenkaji, please explain how the Dhamma servers should meditate at 9:00 p.m. when assistant teachers play the workers’ mettā tape.
Goenkaji: The Dhamma servers should understand properly what they are doing. They should not make it a rite or a ritual; otherwise it will be a waste of time, and this will set an unwholesome precedent which will be harmful in the future.
They should keep their attention on the top of the head, be aware of any sensation there and the truth that this sensation is impermanent. When they are with the truth of anicca they are ready to accept the mettā vibrations or Dhamma vibrations that are given. They should also have a feeling of acceptance of good vibrations. If they start working like this they will soon start experiencing that there are good vibrations which they can receive.
During the day they have been working hard; then in this session they gain new strength, and become fresh to work again the next day. §
May we hold three-day Anapana courses for adults?
The three-day residential Anapana courses for new adult students are at present prohibited. An experimental course with new discourses was given a few months back in Jaipur, and we are watching the results. We also have to get feedback from the West because some courses have been given there.
In some cases, especially in India, people go to a meditation course with high expectations. They think, "I will get peace and harmony when I meditate, wonderful!" But within the three-day course they don’t experience peace because this is a type of meditation where the mind is operated on. You all know that during the first three days of a course there is a lot of reaction. So the poor student returns home with all this on the surface—pains here and there and agitation. At home he will say to others, "I have done Vipassana and it is useless, I wasted my time." Now we have put up a barrier preventing this person from taking a course in the future, and we have also made him a tool to spread negativity to others.
Those who feel some peace on the three-day course say, "Now that I know what those people teach, I will continue at home. Why should I spend ten days there? They have explained the rest of the technique of Vipassana, I’ve got enough." Again, we have created a barrier.
So we have to see whether these Anapana course experiments are really fruitful. At present, three-day courses for new adults should not be given. §
Can parents teach Anapana to their children and vice versa? Can doctors teach their patients, and meditators their terminally ill relatives and friends?
Only those specially permitted may teach Anapana; others should not do so. The special permission is for parents to show their children, sons and daughters their parents, schoolteachers their pupils, and doctors their patients.
Parents may ask their children, "Just observe the breath, observe the breath," for two, three or five minutes, that’s all; they should not teach a whole day course. Like this—to your parents, children, pupils or patients, you may show how to practise Anapana for a few minutes, but not for the whole day, not as a course. § Although there is an emphasis on secularism in India there are many castes, creeds and faiths. Would you like to say something about resolving the problems that arise out of these?
Vipassana solves all such problems. One cannot be said to be a high- or low-grade person just because one has come out of the womb of a woman of a particular caste. Dhamma does not discriminate in that way. A human being is a human being whether of this or that caste or community. If one is established in Dhamma this is wonderful, and others have to pay respect. But if somebody is of very high caste but does not practise Dhamma, this person deserves pity.
At a Vipassana centre everyone works together and understands that it is only the Dhamma that makes one high or low. The problems of caste or community dissolve. People from all communities, religious traditions and castes sit together, stand in line and eat together. They forget whether they are rich or poor, highly educated or uneducated, from high or low caste. Vipassana is the only solution, not only for this country, but also for the world. §
Can an assistant teacher add anything to the instructions or discourses on a ten-day course or children’s course?
Why would a teacher want to add something or correct something? Is there any defect in the teaching? The teaching has been accepted by the whole world and there have been no comments that there is something wrong with it.
There is a tendency for subtle ego to arise in a teacher sitting on the Dhamma seat and for him or her to think, "I am not here just to handle this equipment. Guruji has spoken a lot, so I should say something now." And as soon as one teacher adds something, another teacher will feel he or she must add even more. Deviation will start, and within a few generations, or maybe even within a few years, the whole teaching will be spoiled.
The Buddha’s teaching which is given here is kevalan paripuna—complete, with nothing to be added; kevalan parisuddhan—so pure that nothing has to be taken out of it. No teacher, assistant teacher, or children’s course teacher should make the mistake of adding to or subtracting from this teaching. Work as you are asked. §
Why is it important for us—students, Dhamma servers, trustees, ATs, and teachers— to practise a few minutes of mettā after our daily sittings?
Do this for your own benefit. Mettā generates good, wholesome vibrations for others and as soon as you start generating these, you yourself benefit. In the same way, when you generate unwholesome vibrations of ill will towards others you are the first victim and become miserable.
Now you have to change that habit pattern so you think, "Instead of generating ill will let me learn how to generate goodwill for others." You can’t generate goodwill unless your mind is to some extent pure, so you sit for an hour to purify your mind, and then learn how to generate goodwill for others. It is an exercise that helps you to change your behaviour pattern. §
Since Vipassana is so simple, direct, free from trappings and can be practised anywhere, why do we need the Grand Pagoda?
You can practise Vipassana anywhere, but why do I ask you all to sit together once a week? Although you practise at home every morning and evening it is possible that due to different adverse circumstances, your meditation might become weak. One of your Dhamma brothers or sisters might generate good vibrations during meditation and if you sit together your battery will be charged, you will be able to work well.
You will be refreshed for the whole week and strong enough to face difficulties. This benefit can result from twenty, thirty or fifty people sitting together. When this large pagoda is built eight to ten thousand people will sit there together every week—maybe for an hour, half a day or a full day. People will gain such benefit from the sittings, such Dhamma energy. §
Do you see any danger in Vipassana meditators mixing Vipassana with the therapies or techniques with which they earn their livelihoods?
As soon as you mix Vipassana with your livelihood you are harming yourself and also others. Understand how this happens: You might help people by some kind of therapy, and there is nothing wrong with helping people, carry on with that; but once you add Vipassana to it, people will think that the benefit they have gained from Vipassana is because of the other therapy. Even if they realize that the benefit is due to Vipassana, now Vipassana will be seen as a secondary therapy—just a supplement to the main therapy.
That is how you might start harming others. Anybody who creates an obstacle in the progress of another on the path of liberation is performing the most unwholesome action possible. It is very harmful. Under no circumstances, either directly or indirectly, should Vipassana be used as a profession, as a livelihood. §
Why is the Dhamma seat higher than the students’ seats in the Dhamma Hall? The only purpose of all the rules that have been made for a centre is that those who come to learn Vipassana should receive the maximum benefit from their stay. There is no other reason for the rules. The Dhamma seat is not placed higher so that the ego of the teacher can be puffed up. No.
One mundane reason is that unless the teacher is slightly higher, he or she won’t be able to see the students and the students won’t be able to see the teacher. However this is not the only reason. Another reason is the teacher does not teach in a mechanical way, but generates vibrations of love and compassion. Vibrations always move from a higher level to a lower level, therefore the students who sit below the teacher can benefit from these mettā vibrations. Everything that is done is so that the student who comes to a course, leaving behind all the responsibilities of life for ten days, gets the maximum advantage from their stay. §
Should there be flowers and fruit trees at a centre?
When you talk of trees at a centre, certainly everything must be green, full of flowers and fruit. There is nothing wrong with this. Here we have flowers and fruit—it doesn’t harm anybody. Let there be flowers and fruit! §
You say that we should practise "effortless observation," and then you tell us we have to control our minds. Could you please clarify?
"Effortless observation" means you should not make any effort to create a sensation that you like, or to get rid of any kind of sensation that you don’t like. It is effortless because things are happening and you don’t make any effort to change them. You are not the master of the sensations, it is the law of nature that is working. Just observe, do nothing. But effort has to be made to observe. If you don’t make an effort to observe sensations the mind will wander here and there and you will think, "Oh, this is effortless," but what will you gain by that? So the effort to be aware and attentive is a very important part of the meditation, but effort to create a particular type of sensation is wrong. §
You teach attā hi attano nātho—you are your own master. Then how can any external agency, or Māra, affect us, our minds, or our Dhamma pursuits?
Māra is not an external agency but an internal agency. Māra is the personification of your own impurities, the habit pattern of the mind which keeps generating impurities, keeps dwelling on this or that sensual object. Now you have to develop attā hi attano nātho, you have to develop mastery of your mind, so that Māra does not play a game that results in your leaving the path and harming yourself. Again become master of yourself and Māra cannot harm you in any way. No Māra can harm you if you are really attā hi attano nātho. §
In the Satipatthāna Sutta we are asked to become aware of our lack of awareness. How is this possible?
To come out of this lack of awareness you have to be alert and realize, "Look, I am losing awareness now. My mind is wandering away or is becoming drowsy. I must be aware."
You are aware that something is going wrong. At times you are not aware of this, quite true. But as soon as you realize what has happened, think to yourself, "Oh look, I made that mistake, now I will be very alert, I won’t allow it to happen again." So as soon as this laziness, drowsiness or lack of awareness starts, you are alert, and you don’t allow it to overwhelm you. This alertness is necessary. §
Could you give us some guidelines on how to obtain funds for Dhamma outreach activities?
I am not here to teach people how to raise funds. That is not the job of a Dhamma teacher. The more you ask people for money, the more they will run away from you. Don’t make people run away from Dhamma! Just place the information before them, whether they are meditators or non-meditators, "Here is an opportunity to gain merits. This type of good work is being done." If the person is convinced and feels like giving, well he or she gets an opportunity to earn merits. But never press anybody saying, "Give money, give money. Look, our project is so wonderful! You must give money." That is totally wrong; it is not allowed in Dhamma.
A monk stands before the home of a householder with a begging bowl but he is not there only for food. His volition is to give an opportunity to the householder to gain merits by giving alms. If the householder does not want to gain those merits, smilingly, giving mettā, the monk moves further. This tradition has to be maintained in every sector of Dhamma. § In these two special years of Sayagyi’s birth centenary and the new millennium, what projects would you like us to focus on? Are there further guidelines for us? The most important thing for the coming one or two years is that everyone around the world who has taken even one course, and has even slightly benefited from Vipassana should develop a feeling of gratitude towards this great person and express this gratitude.
U Ba Khin was not an ordinary person. Those who were close to him understood what strong pāramīs he had from the past, and what infinite mettā he generated for others. He had such a great Dhamma volition that Vipassana should return to India, the country from which Burma received it, in order to pay back the debt of gratitude. He was convinced that from India it would spread around the world. If he had not had that great volition there would have been no Goenka. None of the credit should go to Goenka, the whole credit for the spread of Dhamma goes to U Ba Khin. In this centenary year of the birth of U Ba Khin we should all feel great gratitude towards him.
The best way to express this gratitude is to strengthen yourself in Dhamma. Become an ideal Vipassana meditator. People who know you should think, "This is a student of the U Ba Khin tradition, what a wonderful example this person is!"
The second way of showing your gratitude to him is to help more and more people to benefit from Vipassana. People around the world do not know that this wonderful technique exists by which they can come out of their misery. The technique is so scientific, rational, result-oriented and non-sectarian—no conversion is involved in it. People should know this. Think what you can do to help this awareness spread.
In the West a seminar will be held to inform people about Vipassana. Good, this will help those in the West to hear about the Dhamma. Near Mumbai the new pagoda is coming up. Because of it people will remember for centuries how Dhamma returned to India from Burma, sent by Sayagyi U Ba Khin. This pagoda will be like a lighthouse that will spread light throughout the world inspiring respect and gratitude towards Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
The Dhamma hall inside the pagoda will be used only for Vipassana, nothing else. Others will not be able to enter even to see what is inside. Only those who have come to meditate will be welcomed.
Outside there will be a gallery where visitors can see what sort of person the Buddha was, how he taught this wonderful technique, and the benefit that people gained during their lifetime. This will give them inspiration to take a Vipassana course at a centre somewhere. This gallery is important because unfortunately in this country people know nothing about the Buddha or his teaching.
Continue to serve Dhamma with all the gratitude to Sayagyi U Ba Khin. May you all be successful. §
[Note: At this point the questions being asked by assistant teachers came to an end. The remaining questions were asked by Dhamma servers.]
Guruji, can you tell us what makes a good Dhamma server?
You become a good Dhamma server by doing good Dhamma service. Good Dhamma service is done when your volition is that those who have come to the course should benefit. You are not serving in order to increase your ego by behaving like a police officer, shouting at those who are not working according to discipline. If you behave like that, the unwholesome sankhāras that you create will harm the students. Make wholesome sankhāras, full of mettā, and you will become a very good Dhamma server. §
Guruji, can you tell us what makes a good trustee?
One who is trustworthy is a trustee. Get established in Dhamma and become a trustworthy person. The purpose of serving as a trustee is to spread Dhamma, to serve Dhamma. It is not a position of power or status. It is madness to think, "Now I am a trustee I have a certain power so I can take this action." No, you have no power, you only have an opportunity to serve people.
After one, two or three years each trustee has to resign and another person is given the opportunity to serve. One reason for this policy is to give more and more people the opportunity to gain merits by serving Dhamma as a trustee. Another reason is that once a trustee has stepped down we can examine how much this person has really developed in Dhamma. Is the same amount of service still being given? If not then he or she has not learned Dhamma, and previously the service was not to Dhamma but to the position, to one’s own ego. If someone who is no longer a trustee continues to give the same amount of service, then it is clear that this person is developing in Dhamma. §
Guruji, finally, can you tell us what makes a good assistant teacher?
If one serves in a proper way one is a good assistant teacher. How does one serve properly? The position of assistant teacher is not to inflate the ego; it is a chance to serve people, to develop one’s pāramis. There must not be a trace of ego in the teacher. One is serving others so one should be filled with humbleness and mettā. For this purpose we ask that every assistant and teacher should serve one course either as a course manager or as an ordinary server. The teacher’s ego is deflated by this service, and others see that this is a wonderful tradition where the teachers also serve. This is good for the teacher and good for others.
There is only one yardstick to measure an assistant teacher: If the ego is increasing and the behaviour is becoming rough and rude, this person is not a good Dhamma teacher. If the ego is decreasing and the teacher is full of love and compassion, one is a good Dhamma teacher. The whole idea is to serve more and more people in Dhamma. §
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