Sīla: The Foundation of Dhamma

　　- by S. N. Goenka

　　The following is a translation of an article originally published in the August 1998 issue of the Vipaśhyanā Patrikā. It is adapted from the third in a series of 44 public talks broadcast on Zee TV.)

　　To learn Vipassana, the technique of purification of the mind, it is necessary to go to a Vipassana meditation centre. This technique can be learnt only in a conducive atmosphere. If one wants to learn to read and write, one has to enrol in a school. To keep the body healthy and strong, one has to go to a gymnasium. To learn yoga and prānāyāma, one has go to a yoga school. Similarly, to learn this Vipassana technique, the quintessence of the Buddha”s teaching, one has to go to a Vipassana meditation centre. It is not necessary to stay in a school or gymnasium or yoga school day-and-night. It is sufficient to learn the technique and then to practise it at home. But to learn the technique of Vipassana, at least in the beginning, one has to stay in the meditation centre for ten days.

　　If the purpose of meditation is merely to concentrate the mind, one may learn a meditation technique based on a mantra or an image as an object of concentration from some guru and practise it at home. Such a technique may calm the mind, concentrate the mind, and may even purify the surface level of the mind. But Vipassana does not merely purify the surface part of the mind. It is a deep surgical operation of the mind and purifies the mind at the deepest level, where defilements arise and multiply. These are defilements that one has accumulated in the depth of the mind over innumerable lifetimes. Those who do not believe in past lives have accumulated so many defilements even in this lifetime. The mind has become a prisoner of the habit-pattern of generating defilements in the depth of the mind. It is such a great bondage. One has to liberate the mind from this bondage and change its nature of continuously generating defilements. A deep surgical operation of the mind is needed to achieve this purpose.

　　When one becomes physically ill, one goes to a hospital that is clean and hygienic. If surgery is necessary, one has to go to an operation theatre that is completely sterile. Vipassana is a serious operation on the mind. Therefore, one can learn it properly only in an atmosphere that is free from any kind of pollution not only from atmospheric pollution but also from the pollution generated by the defilements of the mind.

　　These Vipassana meditation centres have existed since ancient times and also exist today. The environment in a centre is kept very pure. There is abundant greenery, and no physical pollution of any kind. There is peace, silence and an atmosphere conducive for meditation. And most importantly, there is no activity of any kind other than Vipassana in these meditation centres. As only Vipassana is practised, the entire centre vibrates with the vibrations of pure Dhamma. So it is an ideal place to go for the first surgical operation on the mind. In addition, there are experienced and authorised people in a Vipassana centre who assist in this operation, in teaching this technique. It is not proper to try to learn this technique on one”s own.

　　Vipassana is not complicated; it is a very simple technique. One may get the impression that one can start practising it after merely listening to such discourses or reading a book. But I wish to caution you. Vipassana is an extremely serious task, an extremely delicate task. Once, at least for the first time, one should learn this technique in a conducive atmosphere for ten days, under the guidance of some knowledgeable, experienced, authorised person. After that, everyone is one”s own master.

　　At home, it is not possible to meditate continuously fo…

《Sīla: The Foundation of Dhamma》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…