About Vipassana

Vipassana is one of India’s most ancient meditation techniques. Long lost to humanity, it was rediscovered by Gautama, the Buddha 2500 years ago.

The word Vipassana means “to see things as they really are”. It is a process of self- purification by self-observation. One begins by observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind. With a sharpened awareness, one proceeds to observe the changing nature of body and mind and experiences the universal truths of impermanence, suffering and egolessness. This truth-realization by direct experience is the process of purification.

It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity and results in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

Vipassana meditation aims at the highest spiritual goal of complete liberation. Its purpose is never to cure any physical disease. However, as a by-product of mental purification, many psychosomatic diseases are eradicated. In fact, Vipassana eliminates the three causes of all unhappiness: craving, aversion and ignorance. With continued practice, the meditation releases the tensions developed in everyday life, opening the knots tied by the old habit of reacting in an unbalanced way to pleasant and unpleasant situations.

Vipassana meditation represents a tradition that is traced back to the Buddha. Since the time of the Buddha, this technique has been handed down to the present day by an unbroken chain of teachers. Today, Mr.S.N.Goenka, a householder, is the Principal Teacher of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of the late Sayagyi U Ba Khin of Burma (Myanmar) and through Mr.Goenka more than 150 centres all over the world have been established.

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