Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom (S.N. Goenka North American Tour 2002)

S.N. Goenka Tour of the West Report May 03 – May 20

Businessman’s Morality
Selfless Love 
Pleasant Surprise
You are the Future
India and China
Blind Faith, Faith and Interfaith
Annenberg Centre, Penn
Maintain the Purity of the Technique
The Dhamma Caravan

Keep Walking, Keep Walking
Inspiring the Meditators
Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta
Jesus: A Prince Among Saints
Prisoners All 
Houston : Airborne Again.
Dhamma Siri 
Addiction
Farewell to Dhamma Siri
Just as in the Sky Different Winds Blow

Day Twenty-Four (May 3) (Lenox, Mass.)

Businessman’s Morality

This was the ninth day of the course. Meditators were meditating seriously. John and Gail Beary were assisting Goenkaji in running the course. Throughout the day the meditators could meet the Bearys. At noon they could come and seek private interviews with Goenkaji. Sometimes, a student facing difficulties was brought to Goenkaji to seek his guidance.

At 9pm again Goenkaji gave an open question and answer session in the meditation hall. The day before he had instructed in reply to a question that they should always try to be with sensations even while performing activities of daily living. A meditator asked whether they should try to be aware of sensations while working in the outside world. Goenkaji said, “No. At this stage you meditate morning and evening. You may also maintain awareness of sensations during leisure time but while you are working or doing any activity that requires concentration of mind, give full attention to the task at hand. Otherwise you will be distracted from your work. During the day, when you realize that some defilement is empowering you then for just a few seconds you observe sensations with open eyes understanding that both the sensations and the defilement are impermanent. Soon your mind will become calm and you can continue the task at hand.”

A businessman said that in business one has to speak half-truths and sometimes even a lie. Goenkaji replied, “It is our greed that makes us believe that one cannot be totally honest in business. If one practises Vipassana, one realizes within that honesty is really the best policy. And as one becomes an honest businessman, the word spreads around and one gets more business. It also helps to improve the overall atmosphere in the business world.

“Once a lawyer joined a course under Sayagyi U Ba Khin. The lawyer liked Vipassana but thought that he had to lie to defend his clients. Sayagyi told him not to lie and instead to defend only such cases where he was convinced that the defendant was innocent. (It is true that the decision of guilt is not made by lawyer but he can certainly refuse to tell lies knowingly in the court just to defend his client.) The lawyer accepted Sayagyi’s advice. Initially he had some difficulties and his business suffered for a brief period. But he was a happier person. Soon, however, the word spread about his honesty and he started getting more cases than he could handle. He even earned the respect of the judges.

Day Twenty-Five (May 4) (Lenox, Mass.)

Selfless Love

Goenkaji taught metta meditation to the students on the course.

The practice of mett± meditation is the logical conclusion of Vipassana meditation. Metta is selfless love or compassionate goodwill. It is the development of good-will toward others. When the old habit of egoism is gone even to some extent good will naturally flows from the depths of the mind. True love doesn’t expect anything in return. “It is always one way traffic. You just give without expecting anything in return”, Goenkaji says. This good will springing from a pure mind creates a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere for the benefit of all.

After the metta, Goenkaji returned to the meditation hall at noon to meet with meditators alone and in groups. In the evening he met with individual meditators at his residence. After the taped video discourse at night Goenkaji again found time to give a brief talk to the participants of the course. He emphasized that unless a real change starts coming in one’s life, Vipassana cannot be said to have helped one. He also reminded the participants that because they occupy an important position in society, they have a responsibility to be a positive influence on society.

Day Twenty-Six (May 5) (Lenox/VMC, Mass/Flanders, New Jersey)

Pleasant Surprise

Goenkaji left Eastover Resort in the morning. Just before he left, he was able to meet with a few students from the course.

Students in the course at Dhamma Dhar± were in for a pleasant surprise. Though originally Goenkaji was scheduled to go directly to New York/New Jersey, he decided to go to VMC where an English/Hindi ten-day course was in progress. It was the ninth day of the course. Goenkaji answered questions from students for about an hour in the Dhamma Hall. He then had lunch, followed by a meeting with two meditators who wanted to know more about the significance of the Global Pagoda project. Goenkaji mentioned that it is easy for people to come together for sensual entertainment but difficult to come together for spirituality, for true purification of mind. Even when they gather in the name of spirituality they usually gather due to religious fervour and all religions are not included. The Global Pagoda will offer an opportunity for people from different religious backgrounds to come together and work towards peace and harmony.

Goenkaji reached Flanders Motor Home Park in New Jersey after 10 pm.

Day Twenty-Seven (May 6) (Flanders, NJ / Rutgers University, NJ)

You are the Future

Goenkaji travelled an hour from the Motor Home Park to give a speech at the Livingston Student Centre of Rutgers University. The audience included students and academics. During the question and answer session, Goenkaji emphasized how important it is for young people to embrace rational, logical, scientific spirituality that is devoid of blind faith and fanaticism.

He met some people from the audience after his talk. He reached Flanders after 10 pm.

Day Twenty-Eight (May 7) (Flanders, NJ / Manhattan / Queens, NY)

India and China

India and China are two great ancient countries where the Buddha’s benevolent teaching played a major role in their glorious history. Goenkaji feels sorry that both lost the essence of the teaching of the Buddha. It is his dream that the original teaching of the Buddha spreads in both these countries as well as the United States, the most powerful country today. The Indian and Chinese expatriate population in the U.S. has an important role to play in the spread of Vipassana in their countries of origin. Although the idea of meditation may be foreign to the general population of the U.S., many will be attracted to the practical teaching of the Buddha which is universal, non-sectarian, pragmatic and gives results here-and-now.

On May 7 Goenkaji devoted his morning to Indian expatriates and most of his evening was spent with the meditators of Chinese origin.

Goenkaji was invited to the ITV studio, a TV station dedicated to people of Indian origin in Manhattan for an interview. Ashok Vyas was the host.

Goenkaji explained how this invaluable treasure of India was lost to the country and how it is now spreading again around the world giving wonderful results.

After the interview Goenkaji travelled to Queens, NY near the New York Vihara where his Motor Home was parked.

In the evening Goenkaji went to the Dhamma House in Queens where regular group sittings and one-day courses are held. A number of Chinese Vipassana students live nearby. Goenkaji arrived at the end of the group sitting and took questions from meditators. One meditator wanted to know why there were restrictions on Reiki practitioners taking more than one Vipassana course. Goenkaji explained, “Reiki or similar healing practices do help people and I have nothing against them. But when such practices are mixed with Vipassana there is danger of harming oneself and harming others. All such practices attempt to alter reality by means of calling on some external force or auto-suggestion (e.g., self hypnosis, etc.). This prevents the practitioner from observing the truth as it is. Therefore they are fundamentally at odds with the objective observation of reality that is Vipassana.

“The purpose of Dhamma is to make one strong and independent. When one depends on an external force, he/she gets weakened. It makes one addicted to a pleasant sensation of which he has no awareness, much less equanimity. One makes subtle but strong saªkh±ras (karma) of craving and of moha (ignorance).

“Reiki practitioners can take only one Vipassana course and then have to choose one practice—either Vipassana or Reiki. This restriction is not based on speculative reasoning alone but on actual experience. I had to take this strong step reluctantly because of experience of many cases around the world where mixing Reiki and Vipassana harmed Reiki practitioners to the extent that some of them became mentally imbalanced. Many, many Reiki practitioners started distorting the practice of Vipassana, harming their patients or students, harming themselves and confusing the new students of Vipassana.

“We have a responsibility towards the well-being of Vipassana students who come to courses. Even if only a few are in danger, we have to be careful. Anyway, they have learned Vipassana and we have warned them. Now if they continue to practice both, they are free to do so on their own. But we certainly don’t want to encourage the risk.”

Goenkaji usually does not go to restaurants but when he is travelling sometimes circumstances force him to do so. He took dinner in a nearby Chinese restaurant. Most of the meditators accompanying him were of Chinese origin but Dhamma is truly universal—there were many others who joyfully joined the small group comprising every race and many nationalities.

Day Twenty-Nine (May 8) (Queens / Manhattan, NY / Flanders, NJ)

Blind Faith, Faith and Interfaith

Vipassana doesn’t advocate blind faith but real faith that comes from one’s own experience of truth within. This is a big strength on the path of Dhamma. True faith is always accompanied by discretionary wisdom and keeps one in on the right path.

Faith is often also used as synonym for religion or philosophy. The Sangha of bhikkhus is seen by some as a sectarian entity. A practitioner of Vipassana knows that he or she has received this invaluable jewel because it was preserved by a chain of bhikkhu-teachers through the millennia in its pristine purity without giving it a sectarian color. We are so grateful to the Sangha. Such a Sangha inspires confidence. In Buddha’s teaching saddh± means faith or confidence—confidence that one develops in the teaching of the Buddha from one’s own experiential wisdom.

Goenkaji served food to the Bhikkhu Sangha headed by Ven. Piyatissa in the New York Vihara in Queens. So many meditators from diverse backgrounds joined the Sangha-dana. People from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Thailand, Israel, European countries and North America took the opportunity to serve the bhikkhus. Later on the bhikkhus were given their requisites in donation. At the end Goenkaji gave an inspiring address. He recounted how the silent file of bhikkhus with their eyes downcast going out for the alms in the morning in his motherland, Myanmar, always gives him so much joy.

Some private meetings with assistant teachers on organizational matters followed.

In the evening he gave a talk at the Interfaith Centre in Manhattan. This Centre has worked for many decades to bring together people of different faiths. It was hence very appropriate that Goenkaji spoke there. Reverend Dean Morton introduced Goenkaji and requested him to give a talk on Dharma and Business. Goenkaji explained how success and failure, profit and loss are part of business and how they cause misery if one hasn’t learned to maintain equanimity. He also explained how Vipassana transcends sectarian barriers.

After the talk Goenkaji was interviewed by the  press and then returned to Flanders around 11 pm.

Day Thirty (May 9) (Flanders, NJ / Pennsylvania)

Annenberg Centre, Penn

Zellerbach Theatre in the Annenberg Centre at University of Pennsylvania hosted Goenkaji’s talk on the evening of May 9. Steve Gorn introduced Goenkaji.

“Vipassana is a simple, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and to lead a happy, useful life. Vipassana enables us to experience peace and harmony: it purifies the mind, freeing it from suffering and the deep-seated causes of suffering. The practice leads step-by-step to the highest spiritual goal of full liberation from all mental defilements.

“Usually when one is faced with difficult situations say for example when one is angry, most of the time one is not even aware and continues to burn. Even when one realizes one is angry one mostly tries to deal with it by turning one’s attention to some other thing. One may turn to intoxicants or sensual entertainment. Someone may do better and recite something or pray or just do something simple such as counting numbers or get involved in some other activity. All this is running away from the problem. We must learn to face the problem rather than running away from it.

“But how to face anger? It has no shape or form. A Vipassana meditator finds out that every defilement that arises in the mind arises with sensations on the body. When anger arises, there is so much burning inside. He learns to observe this burning sensations or any other sensations that one feels at that time. He doesn’t dwell on the cause of anger. He just accepts that there is anger and understands with experiential wisdom that the sensation is impermanent and so also the anger is impermanent.

“Thus one has learned to face the problem. And as we keep on observing sensations with an equanimous mind, defilements start getting eradicated from the root.”

Goenkaji travelled an hour after the talk to reach the KOA campground at Coatsville, PA. There was a soft drizzle when the motor homes arrived there. Some meditators from the caravan took refuge in the wood cabins at the edge of the campsite.

This was the first day that all the support group of meditators had travelled together with their motor homes and campers.

Day Thirty-One (May 10) (Coatsville / Lincoln University / Unionville, PA)

Maintain the Purity of the Technique

There is a strong team of meditators in this area, including a large expatriate Cambodian community, which is engaged in Vipassana activities. There was a one-day course at the Rivero Hall in Lincoln University.

Goenkaji gave a brief speech at the one-day course, “One of the most important reasons why Vipassana was lost in the country of its origin was that people started adding something to it. The Buddha’s teaching is paripuººa½—it is complete, there is no need to add anything to it. It is parisuddha½—it is totally pure, there is no need to remove anything from it.

“At the Vipassana centers, we must take care that we teach nothing but s²la (morality), sam±dhi (concentration of mind) and paññ± (purification of mind). If we start any other activity that looks quite harmless, soon that particular activity will become very important and Vipassana will be relegated to a secondary position.

“Now that the Buddha’s teaching is arising again, let us keep it in its pristine purity so that it helps more and more people around the world for centuries to come.”

In the evening Goenkaji gave a talk at the Unionville High School Auditorium. asked Goenkaji what his comments were on love at first sight. Goenkaji laughed and said, “Why only at fist sight? There should be love at every sight. But it should be pure love. Pure love is full of compassion. It is totally free of lust.”

Day Thirty-Two (May 11) (Coatsville PA / Ashland, VA)

The Dhamma Caravan

Many meditators had expressed the desire to join the group of vehicles travelling with Goenkaji and Mataji. The tour organizers carefully selected a few based on their utility on the tour. Some are official tour members and some are allowed to join as additional independent vehicles to support the group. They are assigned various duties such as kitchen, laundry, driving, vehicle maintenance, recording Goenkaji’s public talks and talks to meditators, distributing literature, logistics of various events, coordinating with local organizers etc. This group of seven vehicles (some motor homes and others are truck campers) forms the Dhamma Caravan that will take Goenkaji around North America to spread the munificent message of Dhamma.

All have volunteered their time for weeks and some for the whole tour to look after Goenkaji and to support his Dhamma Messenger activity in various capacities. Those who must leave in the middle will be replaced by other Dhamma workers. Most of the Caravan Dhamma Workers are assistant teachers or very senior meditators.

The Caravan left Pennsylvania around 10 am and reached its destination at 6 pm.

Goenkaji agreed to give a live telephone interview on a Houston radio talk show called “The Open Forum” immediately after his arrival at the campsite. He gave the interview and answered questions from the radio show audience from about 6.30 to 7 pm.

Goenkaji has missed many of his evening walks during the past month due to public talks and other engagements. But it had not yet become dark and today he could walk at his leisure. These walks are very important part of his daily routine and help him to stay healthy and fit.

Others in Dhamma Caravan sat a group sitting together as there were not many pressing jobs for them and they all could afford to take one hour off at the same time.

Day Thirty-Three (May 12) (Ashland, VA / Charlotte, NC)

Keep Walking, Keep Walking

The Dhamma Caravan had to cover more than three hundred miles today to reach Charlotte. The distance seemed more daunting as the motor homes cannot drive at same speed as cars.

As the vehicles sped on the Interstate 85 South, Goenkaji found time read and write. Vast expanse of green trees on either side of the road was interspersed with beds of colourful flowers and at times lakes.

Some of the caravan members started getting a bit tired of the long journey. Goenkaji sat absorbed in his work. Last week when he was returning from a public talk and he was still on the road even after 11 pm, he could be heard chanting

            Chala sadhaka chalata rahe, desh aur pardesh;
            Dharma-charika se katen sabake manake klesh.

            Keep going, o meditator, keep going, in the country and abroad
            by the teaching of Dhamma, may people come out their malady.

By the evening the caravan was at the Charlotte Hindu Centre. The meditators from the caravan and local meditators meditated together from 9.30 to 10.30 pm after taking care of all mundane activities such as parking, connecting vehicles to electrical and water supplies etc.

Day Thirty-Four (May 13) (Charlotte, NC)

Inspiring the Meditators

Goenkaji’s arrival rejuvenates Vipassana activities in any area he visits. Wherever he goes the meditators in that area come together. They get to know each other better and they start meditating together. They become inspired to put in more effort on the path of Dhamma. It gives them an opportunity to serve in different capacities at the various organized events. As Emperor Ashoka wrote in one of his edicts, “To do good is difficult. We have to do good in many different ways.” Serving in various capacities complements our practice of meditation.

And so it happened in Charlotte. More and more meditators started to come forward. It was a joy for all to realize that there were so many meditators in their area. One long lost meditator was a physician who had taken a ten-day course in 1971. He had called up the local contact and told him that he heard somewhere that Goenkaji was coming to Charlotte. He was excited that Goenkaji was coming to his area. He was able to meet with Goenkaji after the public talk in Charlotte and told him that the Vipassana course he took so many years ago had had a life-transforming effect on him. There was another woman who had taken a course in 1973 who brought her fifteen year old son to listen to Goenakji’s discourse.

The meditators in Charlotte found it very encouraging that there were more meditators in the area than they had previously known. They are now planning more non-centre courses in their region. As there is no Vipassana center nearby they are thinking seriously about establishing one in the area.

One meditator brought his son to Goenkaji’s talk. He had been trying to convince his son to give Vipassana a try for a long time but had not succeeded as yet. After the talk, for the first time his son said that he would take a Vipassana course.

Day Thirty-Five (May 14) (Charlotte, NC / Atlanta, GA)

Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta

Goenkaji and Mataji left the Charlotte Hindu center in the morning.

The Caravan reached Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta, in the evening.

Since the Caravan Volunteers are usually new to the area, local meditators meet them at the highway exits or at a nearby rest area to take them to their stop for the day.

Every time the Caravan reaches its destination it takes some time to set up the vehicles and to find out what facilities are available. Most of the large vehicles need to have electrical, water and sewer connections. All vehicles need electrical hookup to charge their mobile phones, two-way radios, and batteries for the various cameras used to document the trip. Communication between vehicles is achieved by the two-way radios or cell phone, though mobile phone service is spotty in more remote parts of the country.   Email connection is usually available at the RV Park offices.

At the Stone Mountain Family Campground the atmosphere was quiet and peaceful. Goenkaji took a long walk on the winding pathways of the campground.

Mataji visited some of the Motor Homes in the Dhamma Caravan to see their facilities.

Day Thirty-Six (May 15) (Atlanta, GA)

Jesus: A Prince Among Saints

In the morning Goenkaji granted a telephone interview to James Shaheen of Tricycle magazine. Goenkaji explained that the Buddha’s discovery that sensation is the key to liberation from all misery has been forgotten and that there is a need to go back to the actual words of the Buddha to clarify our practice.

Later in the morning many meditators came from Atlanta to see Goenkaji at the Stone Mountain Park. They sat quietly outside the Motor Home. Goenkaji and Mataji came for a short Metta session and a few words of encouragement to the assembled meditators. Afterwards they were invited to lunch by the meditators in the Caravan. There was an abundance of food prepared by the local meditators and there was plenty of food for all.

In the evening Goenkaji gave a talk at the Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at the Emory University. “Jesus Christ is a prince among saints”, he said. Jesus had love and compassion for the very people who tortured him to death. This indeed is a sign of a true saint. Goenkaji said that Vipassana would help one to imbibe the qualities of Christ in one’s life. Vipassana practice involves nothing but the truth that one experiences from moment to moment. Quoting the Bible he said, “You shall see the truth and truth will make you free.”

Many questions came from the audience about the theory and the practice of Vipassana.

Answering a question that why does one need Vipassana when one is already happy, Goenkaji said, “Don’t you want to be be happier”? Then he went on to explain how one is not aware of one’s misery. It is like a piece of charcoal that remains hot though it appears cool because it is covered with ash; so also people fool themselves and don’t recognize their impurities, dissatisfactions, frustrations, anxieties, fears and attachments. How can one be happy when the mind is continually defiled by impurities such as anger, hatred, jealousy, fear, anxiety and greed? Vipassana doesn’t just make you aware of these impurities but it starts eradicating them.

The next stop on the tour was Birmingham, Alabama. Since he was scheduled to visit Donaldson Correctional Facility at Birmingham the next morning Goenkaji decided to make the three hour journey in the night, after the public talk. The caravan left Atlanta at 10 pm and reached Birmingham at 1 pm.

Day Thirty-Seven (May 16) (Birmingham, AL)

Prisoners All

Donaldson Correctional Facility at Birmingham is a maximum security prison. It held its first Vipassana course in January this year. Goenkaji visited the facility on the last day of the second course there. He was welcomed at the gates by Dr. Debra Marshall the prison psychologist who had taken a ten-day course earlier at VMC, Mass.

Double Responsibility

First Goenkaji went to the prison gymnasium, which had been transformed into a temporary Meditation Hall for both the courses. Students from both the first and second courses were meditating there. Goenkaji expressed joy at being able to visit the meditators in prison. He gave a short talk at the end of the group sitting. He said that in addition to working for their own liberation if they practice regularly they would fulfil two more responsibilities. First, they will be a good example for fellow inmates so that they would also be inspired to give a trial to Vipassana. Second, it will make the Vipassana program in Donaldson Facility a success, which in turn will make the government take notice. This will give inmates of other prisons of the USA a chance to learn Vipassana. A successful Vipassana program in the prisons of USA will make it easier to implement it in other countries as well.

True Correction

After the brief talk to meditators Goenkaji met with prison officials including Director of Programs (Dept. of Corrections) Dr Cavanaugh, prison warden Mr. Bullard, Deputy Commissioner Mr Hardison and Dr Marshall. Ms Phillips of Lion Heart Foundation also joined the meeting. Goenkaji expressed appreciation for the initiative taken by these officers to organize Vipassana courses in the Donaldson Facility. Criminals are sent to prison with the aim of correcting their behavior but after spending time in the punitive and crime infested environment of prison they often come out as hardened criminals. For a prison to become truly a correctional facility the inmates should be given tools to reform themselves in order to become honourable members of the society.

Opening the Mind, Opening the Heart

Dr. Marshall described the previous week as a ‘sensational’ week in the prison. She asked three meditators to talk about their experiences in the Vipassana course.

Leon Kennedy sat his first course in January and served this one. He described his experience of sitting the course as opening the mind and that of serving as opening the heart.

Eli Crawford said that Vipassana meditation was very much needed in the prison and he was very thankful for receiving this invaluable gift.

Rick Smith said that he had been incarcerated for 22 years. He had plenty of time to deal with many issues and had forgiven all. But he said that he was never able to forgive himself. He kept running away from himself all these years. Finally Vipassana forced him to face his inner self; to look inward. It was the most difficult task he had ever undertaken but in Vipassana also gave him unparalleled courage and immense clarity to come to terms with the present reality.

Prisoners Within and Without the Walls of Prison

Goenkaji then gave a brief talk to meditators, prison staff and some selected inmates who had not yet taken a Vipassana course. He said that people both within the walls of the prison as well as outside the walls are prisoners of their unwholesome habit patterns. All keep on reacting with negativities such as anger, fear, hatred, jealousy, greed etc. Vipassana liberates one from the prison inside.

After Goenkaji’s inspiring address, inmate meditators asked him questions about their practice. It was touching to see how the Dhamma had reached these people in the most unlikely place and had comforted them.

Day Thirty-Eight (May 17) (Birmingham, AL / Houston, TX)

Houston : Airborne Again.

Goenkaji and Mataji had travelled by road since their arrival in the USA. Air travel has become increasingly difficult for them. However, they decided to brave it for Houston, the fourth biggest city in the USA. He flew in from Birmingham on a morning flight that landed late due to bad weather. He travelled an hour to get to his residence in the city. Immediately on arrival he met with some local expatriate Indians. Among the guests were Mrs Najma Heptullah, the deputy chairperson of the upper house of the Parliament of India and the Consul of the Indian Consulate in Houston.

In the evening he was interviewed for a radio show. Later he gave a talk at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. The hall had 800 chairs. As more people than expected turned up to listen to Goenkaji, the curtain wall at the back of the hall had to be removed to increase the space and additional chairs were added.

In his talk Goenkaji explained how it was necessary to take a ten-day residential course to learn the technique of Vipassana. In Vipassana continuity is the secret of success. One starts with observation of breath, which is strongly related to the mind and mental impurities. Once the mind is concentrated to some extent it becomes sharp enough to feel sensations first under the nostrils above the upper lip and later throughout the body. One soon realizes that one generates craving and aversion in response to sensations. Unless one learns to remain equanimous while being aware of sensations, one cannot uproot the impurities in the mind. Just as a poisonous tree keeps sprouting again if its roots are not cut, one cannot eradicate impurities unless one works at the level where they arise and multiply.

After the talk Goenkaji travelled to the Southwest Vipassana Center, Dhamma Siri. He and Mataji took dinner in the car on the way. They reached Dhamma Siri at 1 am.

The caravan had driven for about twelve hours from Alabama to reach Dhamma Siri so that Goenkaji and Mataji could get back into their Motor Home to retire for the night.

Day Thirty-Nine (May 18) (Dhamma Siri, Kaufman, TX)

Dhamma Siri (Wealth of Dhamma)

There were heavy rains in both Houston and Kaufman the previous day but on May 18 the skies were clear and there was bright sunshine.

Goenkaji used his morning walk to look at the facilities of Dhamma Siri.

There were many more Dhamma workers at the center than during Goenkaji’s last visit.

At 11 am he met with two senior assistant teacher couples that continue to serve on many courses in spite of their advanced age and attendant illnesses. He enquired after their health. Then Thomas and Tina Crisman, teachers in-charge of Dhamma Siri, introduced the new board of trustees to him. The trust is composed of mainly young people. Thomas said, “Goenkaji, this is the future of Dhamma Siri.” Goenkaji remarked, “Yes, it is good to see that young people have come forward and are taking more and more responsibilities.” After the meeting with the trust, he gave private interviews to many meditators who had come to the center from near and far. He retired for lunch after 1 pm.

In the evening he came to the Dhamma Hall again for a question and answer session.

Day Forty (May 18) (Dhamma Siri, Kaufman, TX / Dallas, TX)

Addiction

Goenkaji again met with meditators individually and in groups at Dhamma Siri in the morning.

In the evening he gave a public talk at the beautiful Sara Ellen & Samuel Weisfeld Center in Dallas.

Goenkaji explained how one keeps on reacting to the sensations without being aware of it.

The Buddha defined ignorance not as the lack of knowledge of scriptures or philosophical beliefs but as the lack of awareness of what is happening inside; the lack of awareness of the impermanent, unsatisfactory nature of everything in the field of mind and matter—things over which one has no control.

An alcoholic thinks that he is addicted to alcohol but actually he is addicted to the sensations that he feels when he takes alcohol. When one learns to be aware of the sensations one can observe the sensations when craving arises without giving into the impulse. Thus one starts coming out of addictions.

Goenkaji added that one is not only addicted to intoxicants, one is also addicted to various defilements of the mind such as fear,depression,anger etc. Whenever these defilements arise in the mind, a biochemical flow starts in the body and one gets into a vicious cycle of reactions. Vipassana helps one come out this blind reaction. However, one has to work seriously to learn the technique of Vipassana.

To a question whether a teacher was necessary to learn Vipassana, Goenkaji replied that in Vipassana there is no gurudom; one is cautioned not to be in the clutches of a guru. But to learn the technique properly one is advised to learn from an experienced teacher in a residential course. After that one is one’s own master and continue to practice on one’s own.

Day Forty-One (May 19) (Dhamma Siri, Kaufman, TX / Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park, TX)

Farewell to Dhamma Siri

The Caravan left the center around 11 am.

Meditators lined up along the driveway to pay respect to Goenkaji and Mataji as the Dhamma Caravan left the center. In the two days he was there, Goenkaji had met all those who wanted to see him. Tears rolled down Mataji’s eyes as she bade farewell to the meditators.

This was Goenkaji and Mataji’s first stay at a center in North America during the Meditation Now tour, 2002.

***

The long journey to Boulder began. It would take the Caravan three days to reach Denver.

In the evening the Caravan stopped at the Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park. One of the Dhamma Workers in the Caravan bought a picture post-card to send to her grandson. It was a picture of a father and a son driving a truck. The father was telling his son, “Son, the sun has riz and the sun has set and it is still the Texas state!” And so it was for the caravan. Texas is a large state and even after travelling for such a long time, they were still in Texas.

Day Forty-Two (May 20) (Texas / Capulin, NM)

Just as in the Sky Different Winds Blow

A strong wind was blowing as the Caravan started its journey across the vast plains of the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico. It stayed with the Caravan almost throughout the day. Sometimes it was dusty, sometimes it was clear. Mostly it was fierce, though sometimes it was gentle. Usually it blew from the sides making the motor homes sway a lot and forcing the drivers to reduce their speed. Sometimes it blew from behind and seemed to help the Caravan move faster. Because of the flat landscape the sky seemed to stretch on forever into the horizon and the wind shook everything that came in its way. But the wind never shook the equanimity of the intrepid drivers!

The meditators were reminded of the Buddha’s words:

yath±pi v±t± ±k±se, v±yanti vividh± puth³;

            puratthim± pacchim± c±pi, uttar± atha dakkhiº±.

            Saraj± araj± capi, s²t± uºh± ca ekad±;

            adhimatt± paritt± ca, puth³ v±yanti m±lut±.

            Tathevimasmi½ k±yasmi½, samuppajjanti vedan±;

            sukhadukkhasamuppatti, adukkhamasukh± ca y±.

            Yato ca bhikkhu ±t±p², sampajañña½ na riñcati ‚01.

            tato so vedan± sabb±, parij±n±ti paº¹ito.

            So vedan± pariññ±ya, diµµhe dhamme an±savo;

            k±yassa bhed± dhammaµµho, saªkhya½ nopeti vedag³

Just as in the sky different winds blow from east and west, from north and south, dust-laden and dustless, cold or hot, fierce gales or gentle breezes—many winds blow.

So also within the body arise sensations, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When a meditator, striving ardently, does not lose his constant thorough understanding of impermanence even for a moment, such a wise person fully comprehends all sensations. Having thus comprehended sensations, within this life he becomes freed of all defilements. Such a person being established in Dhamma after death attains the indescribable state beyond the conditioned world because he knows sensations thoroughly (their arising and passing away and also the state beyond the sensations.)

The Caravan finally reached the Capulin, NM RV Park by 7:30pm. The owners of the park said that the strong wind was very unusual for this time of year.

As the Caravan settled in for the night and the meditators retired to their beds, the wind was still shaking the motor homes.