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Reflections from a 10 day Vipassana silent meditation retreat. A thread of personal experiences, key takeaways and realisations...
1/n Equanimity is the true measure of success.
2/n Start (any endeavor) with a calm and quiet mind, alert and attentive mind, aware and equanimous mind.
Work patiently and persistently
Work ardently and equanimously
Work diligently and devotedly.
You are bound to be successful.
Bound to be successful.
Work patiently and persistently
Work ardently and equanimously
Work diligently and devotedly.
You are bound to be successful.
Bound to be successful.
3/n All your life you have been chasing pleasure, and avoiding pain. How has this worked for you?
If you wish to live a truly blissful life, with total freedom and liberation, you will realise that you must abandon the very concepts of pain and pleasure.
If you wish to live a truly blissful life, with total freedom and liberation, you will realise that you must abandon the very concepts of pain and pleasure.
4/n Pleasure, and pleasurable experiences, create pleasurable sensations throughout the body, and over time, one tends to crave these sensations. Craving leads one to chase objects and experiences endlessly, in search of that feeling of pleasure and bliss. A never ending game...
5/n Pain, and painful experiences, due to our conditioned mind, are interpreted as bad and to be avoided. This creates aversion. One detests the moment a painful sensation arises within the body, and demands that it go away instantly. This is not always possible, and one suffers.
6/n Nature has its cause and effect, and you must feel all types of experiences, with different intensities, for different durations of time. If you observe pain equanimously, it melts away.
7/n All bodily sensations, and all life experiences have the same characteristic. They arise, only to pass away.
Know viscerally and experientally, not just intellectually, that what you are experiencing at the present moment is impermanent. This is wisdom.
Know viscerally and experientally, not just intellectually, that what you are experiencing at the present moment is impermanent. This is wisdom.
8/n Total freedom (liberation) is being totally unconcerned about what sensations arise within the body. One knows that every sensation that arises is impermanent (this too shall pass) and watches it come and go, with perfect Equanimity.
9/n Another thing is for sure, time passes constantly. There is no way to stop the flow of time. No matter what you do, you cannot freeze the moment, it passes like water slipping through a clenched fist.
10/n Every passing moment, you are a step closer to death. Know this, viscerally, not just intellectually. Feel it.
This is not depressing. In fact, it is liberating.
It is invigorating to know viscerally how precious each moment is.
This is not depressing. In fact, it is liberating.
It is invigorating to know viscerally how precious each moment is.
11/n You are but one instant away from death. Your life is a steady march to the graveyard. No matter what you are experiencing now, it will certainly come to an end one day.
With this wisdom, you experience each moment equanimously, and live a life of equipoise.
With this wisdom, you experience each moment equanimously, and live a life of equipoise.
12/n Wise are those who have a stable, calm and equanimous mind.
Wisdom is developed through awareness and observation.
Wisdom is developed through awareness and observation.
13/n The mind, by its very nature, is unruly, untamed and wild. It loves to dwell in imaginary futures or live in the past. It detests the present moment.
Because when the mind is truly in the moment, it dies. It disappears. A state of no-mind.
Because when the mind is truly in the moment, it dies. It disappears. A state of no-mind.
14/n The mind does not want to die, it wants to be your master. So it puts up a wonderful guise. It helps you, of course, to survive. And at the same time, ensures that you do enough to indulge it's survival, it's madness of ruminating on the past or imaginary futures.
15/n To tame the mind, one cannot fight it. The mind is a wild elephant, and only gets more incensed and rebellious when one tries to forcefully quieten it. The mind that is castigated for wandering, rebels violently like a rebellious teenager.
16/n The mind can only be tamed with awareness.
The breath is the most natural tool to train the minds awareness, because it is one of the few voluntary and involuntary bodily functions. You can control it, and if you do not, it still continues to function and keep you alive.
The breath is the most natural tool to train the minds awareness, because it is one of the few voluntary and involuntary bodily functions. You can control it, and if you do not, it still continues to function and keep you alive.
17/n When one initially tries to focus the mind on observing ones breath, the mind wanders. The mind observes respiration for a moment or two, and then moves it's attention to some other thought. This is the minds natural tendency. See tweet 13.
18/n When the mind is gently guided back to observing the breath every time it wanders, it slowly becomes accustomed to observing respiration for longer periods of time. A few seconds of awareness grows to minutes.
The mind slowly, subtly, becomes sharper and quieter.
The mind slowly, subtly, becomes sharper and quieter.
19/n A calm and quiet mind is capable of experiencing the subtlest of sensations. It is a wonderful friend, a priceless ally.
It takes time to build the habit of taming the mind, but once the mind is tamed, you are it's master.
This changes your life, forever.
It takes time to build the habit of taming the mind, but once the mind is tamed, you are it's master.
This changes your life, forever.
20/n A tamed mind knows it's place, and let's you experience life and the truth of life, as it is, not as you would like it to be.
There is nothing worth investing more time and effort in than taming ones mind.
There is nothing worth investing more time and effort in than taming ones mind.
21/n When you experience life as it is, not as you would like it to be, you see truth in everything, and your perceptions is not limited to experiencing life through colored lenses. You experience life more wholly, fully and multi-dimensionally.
22/n Truth is all there is. Illusion is all you see.
There are so many fundamental truths, and laws of nature. You know so few, if any at all.
Constant change is truth.
Impermanence is truth.
Death is truth.
There are so many fundamental truths, and laws of nature. You know so few, if any at all.
Constant change is truth.
Impermanence is truth.
Death is truth.
23/n The truth is liberating. It is all there is. A devotion to discovering the truths of life, is a life worth living.
24/n Wise are those who know the truth.
The wise are there to share and guide the serious seekers.
And yet the whole truth, the subtle truth, the truth of each moment for you, is often so inexplicable in words.
Wisdom is only vaguely communicable.
More to follow...
The wise are there to share and guide the serious seekers.
And yet the whole truth, the subtle truth, the truth of each moment for you, is often so inexplicable in words.
Wisdom is only vaguely communicable.
More to follow...
