Secularism and Vipassana

Secularism and Vipassana

by Usha Modak

India is a secular state. Unlike some countries, it has no declared state religion and there is absolute freedom of religious practice. Secularism represents the concept wherein, despite religious differences, people live harmoniously and peacefully with each other. In secular countries such as India, where many religions are practised, the country shelters all of them, giving no preference to any particular one. This is an important way of impartially promoting national and emotional integration.

Here in India public institutions such as schools, colleges and universities are not allowed to teach or advocate a particular religion. However this policy of the state has contributed to a decline in moral values and standards. Students are no longer trained in these values by their teachers, and their parents are unsure what to give them in this regard.

Additionally, under the garb of secularism, the state pays lip service to promoting national integration and to maintaining peace and harmony among people of different religions. But time and again we see these differences erupting like volcanic lava, at times taking monstrous shapes and forms and causing a great deal of suffering in a world already brimming with tensions and anxieties of all kinds.

Can Vipassana meditation play a role in resolving this two-pronged problem: lack of basic moral values and lack of harmony among religions in a non-religious world? For those who have understood what Vipassana is and who have been practising it as a way of life, the answer is definitely "yes."

To understand why, we must understand what Vipassana is. Briefly, it is a technique of purifying the mind, deconditioning the mind of its defilements by self-observation and introspection. It is an effort to change the habit pattern of the mind which always reacts blindly either with craving or aversion. The effort is experiential, and this is the unique feature of this technique. We must make the effort for ourselves, walk the path ourselves. Someone else cannot do it for us, nor can we achieve it through intellectualization.

The great sage of India, Gotama Buddha, discovered, or rather rediscovered, this technique through his deep meditation. He attained enlightenment and was liberated from all defilements of the mind. Then with great compassion and love he distributed it to the suffering mankind. He did not establish any "ism" or cult. He taught Vipassana, the way to purify the mind.

Vipassana is taught in ten-day residential courses. It is a very demanding course requiring the student to observe noble silence and follow strict rules throughout the duration of the course. There are ten hours of meditation daily, with instructions given periodically, and with a discourse in the evening explaining and clarifying the technique, given by the teacher, S.N. Goenka.

There are three steps to the training given in a meditation course. The first is a code of morality. One undertakes not to kill, not to steal, not to tell lies, not to conduct sexual misconduct and not to use intoxicants. One cannot work to liberate oneself from defilements if at the same time one continues to harm others or perform deeds of body and speech which only multiply these defilements. Hence, the code of morality is essential.

The next step is to achieve some mastery over our unruly minds by focusing the attention on the natural, normal breath (not controlled and regulated breath as in pr±º±y±ma). This practice calms the mind and promotes concentration which enables one to take the next step: purifying the mind of defilements by developing insight into one's own nature. Vipassana is experiencing one's own reality by the systematic and dispassionate observation of the ever-changing sensations within oneself. It is a process of self-purification through self-observation and introspection.

The ten-day course gives only an outline of the technique. One doesn't become a seasoned practitioner by taking just one course. It should be followed by practice in daily life and by taking these ten-day courses periodically as boosters to get established in the practice and to reap lasting benefits. It is only then that one realizes the full power of this technique. The mind gradually gets free of its negativities of craving and aversion, and their offspring: jealousy, hatred, selfishness, greed, tension, etc. One becomes peaceful and harmonious and then distributes this peace and harmony to others.

Man is a social being. The basis of any healthy harmonious society is always the healthy harmonious individual. Only if each individual has a pure peaceful mind can we expect peace and harmony in society. Vipassana is a unique way of obtaining peace and harmony at the individual and experiential level; hence it is the best way to attain peace and harmony in society.

Vipassana does not teach any dogmas or creeds which build barriers and divisions between communities. Our beliefs and convictions colour and distort our vision. In the name of religion we have shackled ourselves in golden chains of meaningless rites and rituals. The essence of pure religion is performing acts of body, speech and mind with a pure heart full of love and compassion. Then it doesn't matter what clothes we wear, what rites and rituals we perform, or what beliefs we hold or do not hold. Today our minds are so full of the defilements of anger, hatred, greed and delusion that we have lost the essence of true religion and cling to empty husks: these religious practices. To make matters worse, we quarrel and argue over them! Religion has degenerated into sectarianism. This prevents us from self-examination, introspection into the impurities of our minds and from making efforts to eradicate these impurities.

As Goenkaji rightly points out, the problem is not sectarian, therefore the remedy cannot be sectarian. It must be universal. Everyone faces the problem of mental impurities. It is not Hindu anger and greed, Christian anger and greed, or Buddhist anger and greed. The malady is universal. The remedy must also be universal.

Vipassana is such a remedy. No one will object to practising morality, developing discipline of the mind and developing insight into one's own reality by which it is possible to free the mind of negativities. No one is asked to convert from one organized religion to another. If at all there is conversion it is from misery to happiness, from defilement to purity, from bondage to liberation, from ignorance to enlightenment; it is conversion to a better person.

So Vipassana with its universal approach rises above all sectarian religions of the world and promotes secularism - national and emotional integration in the true sense of the word. This takes place not by some cosmetic surgery on the surface but deep at the roots of the problem: in the mind and heart of each individual. The spread of Vipassana and the practice of Vipassana in all levels of society will liberate each one of us to the best of our abilities and capacities and to that extent will promote the good and happiness of humanity.