Research at the Experiential Level

by Dr. Chandrasheela Shakya

Dr. (Mrs.) Chandrasheela Shakya is a P±li scholar based in N.E. India and Nepal. She wrote this article in January 1984.

After having completed a number of courses at
Dhamma Giri under the guidance of Goenkaji, I have come to a new realization concerning the intent and meaning of many of the words and teachings of the Buddha. These courses have enabled me to reassess my intellectual understanding of the P±li language and its literature, and to see that their real meaning can only be made clear if learned through actual practice in the way in which the author wanted them to be practised.

I have completed a Ph.D on "The Critical Study of the D²ghanik±ya" (Collection of Long Discourses of the Buddha) at Benares Hindu University. As such, I am very familiar with the theories of this field of study and with the various commentarial, lexicological and linguistic works which have been done as well. But now, my research at the experiential level through the method taught by S.N. Goenka has convinced me that I was, in fact, far from the actual meaning of what the Buddha wanted to convey. Interestingly enough, I have found that this is also the experience of many other students who have completed these same courses, including other P±li scholars like myself. The Buddha himself indicated this when he said that pariyesana (complete research) is actually sevitabb± bh±vitabb± (at the experiential level). I find that, until recently, all of the modern research into the Buddha's words has actually been asevitabb± and abh±vitabb± (non-experiential). Unfortunately, the experiential aspect of experimenting with the truth of the Buddha's words has been totally missing.

Although I realize that the intellect is an important factor for research, nevertheless without personal experience, the words of an enlightened person like the Buddha cannot be properly understood. Because I am a scholar and because I have made scholarship and research the central endeavour of my life and my career, I find it very exciting to learn that the academy at Dhamma Giri is taking the proper approach to this important research.

P±li, the language of the Buddha, is already a dead language. Because of this fact, the glorious cultural heritage of our country and our countrymen is not properly understood by Indians in general. The important work being done at Dhamma Giri will bring out the glory of this invaluable cultural heritage and make it comprehensible, not only to our own countrymen, but to the world at large.

From the purely linguistic point of view, this research will enrich and elucidate much of our understanding of the origin and roots as well as the historical development of our own modern Indian languages. Not only the teachings of the Buddha but the language itself is of inestimable value in understanding our cultural heritage. As a scholar, I am impressed, and at the same time pleased, that this is being done in a completely scientific and non-sectarian way.

My own orientation has been to the language and literature of the Buddha, but I believe that scholars of other religions who have done Vipassana courses have had similar experiences in their own academic disciplines. Because the method taught at by S.N. Goenka is completely devoid of any sectarian orientation, the way in which people experience the words of the Buddha inside themselves has given much understanding and special insight to people of various religions and philosophies; even into their own scriptures and saintly authors. People have found new and clearer meanings in the Vedas, the G²ta, and the Upanishads. Even Jain scholars have been impressed with the fresh understanding they have achieved in studying the ¾gamas. I have also heard that Christians and Muslims who complete Vipassana courses and whose religions are not Indian in origin have been surprised by the new meanings which they find in the Bible and the Koran.

By my own research and experiments at Dhammagiri, I am convinced that reality at the experiential level is far different from reality at the intellectual level. Vipassana meditation gives us the opportunity to experience this reality for ourselves.