S.N. Goenka

(The following questions were asked during the first course for adolescents at Dhamma Giri from 12 to 19 April, 2004 They have been translated and adapted for the Newsletter.)

Question: Many sensations are neither pleasant nor unpleasant and so one does not generate craving or aversion towards them. Why should we observe such sensations?

Goenkaji: Very good question! There are three kinds of sensations: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. One usually generates craving towards the pleasant sensations and aversion towards the unpleasant sensations. Then what about the neutral sensations? You have to observe the neutral sensations attentively so that you can understand their impermanent nature, anicca. If you understand their nature of impermanence, you are with the truth. Your mind will become so sharp that you will not generate craving, aversion or ignorance. Therefore, make use of these neutral sensations also and understand that the nature of these sensations is also impermanent.

Question: While practising Vipassana, sometimes, my mind wanders a lot. Can I practise Anapana in this situation?

Goenkaji: Yes, you should practise Anapana. When the mind wanders a lot, it is difficult to practise Vipassana. Therefore, whenever your mind is very agitated or very sluggish and does not want to work at all, in all such situations, you must start practising Anapana. After practising Anapana for some time, when the mind becomes calm, you can start Vipassana again. If your mind is very restless, you may do Anapana for some time and then combine Vipassana with Anapana. With one breath, observe sensations on one part of the body; with the next breath, observe sensations on the next part. Observe sensations along with respiration. Then the mind will wander less because you have given it two objects of meditation.

As far as possible, practise Vipassana to eradicate the mental defilements at the depth. But if the mind is so unstable that you cannot observe sensations, practise Anapana. We have to use Vipassana to fight our enemies. Anapana will help us to sharpen our weapons so that we can fight these enemies more effectively.

Question: Why do we get different sensations in different parts of the body?

Goenkaji: There are many causes for sensations, not just a single cause. Sensations may be caused by the climate, by any injury or disease, by sitting for a long time, by the food that we have eaten or by past sankharas. It does not matter what the cause is. Whatever the type of sensation, we observe it and remain equanimous to it. Even if the sensation is caused by mental defilements, there are so many kinds of defilements that it is not possible to know which defilement has caused this sensation. So, you should not go into these details.

For example, if we have to clean a dirty cloth, we take soap and water and scrub the cloth with the soap. There is no need to know where, how and when the cloth became dirty. The cloth is dirty, we have the soap, and we have to clean the cloth. Similarly, we have learned the technique of Vipassana. Whatever the reason for the sensation and whatever the type of sensation, we have to observe it and understand its nature of impermanence?

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