My Issue with Goenka's Vipassana Meditation Course

Although I learned a lot from the Vipassana meditation course I had some internal conflicts during the first days. I came to this retreat not because I wanted to learn a new technique. I simply wanted to have the opportunity to practice meditation 10 hours a day for 10 days. However, I encountered several things that I disagreed with.

Continued from: My Vipassana Meditation Experience (Observing the Mind's Reactions)

Comparing Vipassana meditation to yoga meditation

The 10-day Vipassana Meditation Course taught by Goenka sounded like a great opportunity to practice meditation with intensity. It is very difficult to do a meditation retreat like this all by yourself.  You need the right environment, proper food, and lots of discipline. 

Of course, I knew this was a new technique for me and I was not allowed to practice anything else at all during these 10 days.  But I never gave much thought to it.  The only thing I had in my mind was, “10 days silent meditation retreat, awesome!”

But then, when I started the retreat, I realized that I really had to drop any other meditation technique for these 10 days. That was hard, especially cause I felt like I could work very well with the practice I already had since I was experiencing such a clear mind. It felt as if I was wasting some precious opportunity.

I was also shocked by how different the Vipassana approach to meditation is compared to yoga meditation. 

In yoga meditation, you normally learn right from the beginning to have the right posture.  That is sitting with the back straight keeping the natural curvature of the spine, chin parallel to the floor, and hands in a mudra for meditation. And right next you are taught diaphragmatic breathing.

But in this retreat, the teacher only said “Sit in a comfortable posture”. That's all. 

It was only on the fourth day that Goenka mentioned “Keep your back straight.” And only on day six he said “If your mind is too restless just observe your breathing for a few minutes”. 

Another thing that shocked me was that we only got one flat square cushion to sit on, just to avoid sitting directly on the floor. That was it! 

In the Himalayan Yoga Tradition, you are told to raise your hips from the floor, with a cushion or blanket, to allow your knees to rest on the floor while keeping the back straight.  The height of the cushion will depend on how flexible your hips, thighs, and knees are. 

Sure, Indians and Nepalese are more used to sitting on the floor cross-legged. That's a habit in their culture but for us Westerners, this is very unusual.

So the very first day knowing that I needed a higher cushion I folded my cushion to raise my hips and allow my knees to rest on the floor but as soon as I did that one of the volunteers approached me and said “Not allowed to fold cushion”. I thought “What?! How am I supposed to sit comfortably then?”. 

Later on the same volunteer told me that I could ask for an extra cushion if I really needed one. So I asked him, “Ok, can you give me an extra cushion?” Then he said, “No.  You need to ask the teacher”. 

So, I had to wait till 12 am for the teacher meeting time just to ask him for a cushion. Finally, I got my cushion, but it was as good as nothing: hard as a stone, too small and totally irregular. So I had to follow the same process again to ask for a second horrible cushion. This was very frustrating and annoying.

Coming from a yoga background I was just thinking, “Asana: steady and comfortable posture... but how am I supposed to sit steady and comfortable under such conditions? And I still had nine days to go!”

I felt this was very unfair, especially for Westerners and for those with no experience and less flexibility.  

First, we were not taught how to sit properly and then we were not even given proper cushions to sit on.  We all had to improvise cushions with our sweaters, blankets, sleeping bags, or whatever we could find.  And we were not allowed to use the blankets or pillows from the rooms but I totally agree with that.

Apparently, not all Vipassana centers are this strict.  Later on, I heard from other course participants that in other centers you can normally get as many cushions as you want. I guess they wanted us to purposely suffer a little bit, but a little bit for some can be quite a lot for others. 

I couldn't stop thinking about this for the first few days.  It was all a bit shocking and confusing for me. No wonder why gurus always say “Stick to one path and one path only”.

Luckily, as the days passed, I was able to let it go and think “Whatever”.

Is Vipassana the best meditation technique ever?

One thing that really bothers me is that people always believe that their method is the best method in the whole world. It happens all the time. Teachers and gurus always say “This is the fastest, the deepest, the highest, the strongest, the most secret etc., etc., method ever taught”. And Goenka's Vipassana is no exception.

During the evening discourses, Goenka would say something like 

“Sure... verbalization (mantra repetition), imagination (visualization of a deity or inspiring form) are good, but the right type of Samadhi (Samma Samadhi or concentration as he defined it) can only be reached by practicing this Vipassana technique, cause you don't use any external aid but your own body sensations.”

He also said that Vipassana was taught by Buddha in India and then it was spread to neighboring countries but unfortunately, with the passing of time the technique was lost. Luckily it was conserved in its pure form in his country, Burma, and from there it has been brought back to India and spread to the world. 

Ok, fine, but it makes me think that he obviates the fact that Buddha gave more than 85,000 different teachings (which is interesting since it is also said that there are 85,000 yoga asanas) aimed at different people with different characters. Vipassana is not the only technique that Buddha taught.

Why can they just say “All techniques are good, you just need to find the one that suits your personal character?”  I guess these gurus probably talk like this to remove any doubts from the students' minds and to help them to choose and commit to one path only. 

Or, like a friend said, maybe they purposely feed people's egos so they think they have the best technique ever. That would also help people to stick to one path only.

One argument that they use to say that Vipassana is such a powerful technique is to see how it has spread all around the world, even though all the retreats are offered for free, founded only by donations. 

This is quite remarkable and yes you can find a retreat center almost everywhere. I'm sure many people have found lots of benefits doing one of these retreats.  To some, it has probably completely changed their lives.  But I think there is also a psychological factor here.

Buddhists never just ask directly for a donation.  Instead, they give a very compelling philosophical reason to encourage you to do it.

They tell you how positive it would be to spread these wonderful teachings that are so beneficial for all sentient beings, and how positive it would be to share this experience with others. 

They also tell you that a person can accumulate a lot of merit (good karma) by doing such positive acts as donating money or time to spread dhamma, which can help eliminate the suffering of all sentient beings in the world. 

I think this kind of talk plays a bit with our heads and makes us feel unconsciously obliged to donate as much money as we can. They ask for a donation without really asking for a donation.  So smart.

I'm not saying this is wrong, but I think it is a factor that plays a crucial role in successfully helping with the finances and labor to spread a technique like Vipassana around the world. But of course, I do think this is very positive for the world.

Vipassana is a wonderful technique but is not magic. In my opinion, if you practice any meditation technique with such intensity you will definitively experience some powerful transformation. Even if doing something as simple as mantra repetition.  Like Goenka himself says: “You are bound to be successful, bound to be successful.”

Is Vipassana really non-sectarian?

Another thing that really bothers me is that they would regard the Vipassana meditation as a very scientific technique, where no religion or any sectarian beliefs are involved. Yes, that can be a good thing but at least at the Kathmandu Center, I felt that it reaches a fanaticism level.

Before the retreat starts they ask you not to practice anything at all, no chantings or prayers and they ask you to leave behind any religious item like a rosary or mala. I do understand this cause they want you to give a fair trial to this technique. 

But they even asked me to remove my necklace with the Om symbol and some string bracelet that I had attached to my wrist. What!!! if the technique is so scientific why should you remove any religious or spiritual item? And what difference does it make if I'm wearing it or not? This really didn't make any sense to me. Nobody was able to give me a good reason for this.

But then you still have to adhere to their conservative rules like not pointing the soles of your feet to the teachers, not leaving the room before the teachers leave, or before any guest monk doing the retreat. We also had to listen to Goenkaji's chantings and after the evening discourse, the assistant teacher that would play the CD would leave the room in such a ceremonious and serious way. 

I really don't mind sticking to all these rules cause I understand that they are also part of the culture, but if they claim that the technique is so scientific and they force you to drop any belief for these 10 days then why they just don't drop all this stuff as well, especially the chanting?

 
And this brings me back to Yoga. Yoga is also regarded as a scientific technique but you are never asked to drop any of your beliefs. The Yogis say that regardless of what your beliefs are you can still practice yoga (please note that yoga is not just the physical postures). 

A Muslim can be a yogi.  A Christian can be a yogi.  A Jewish can be a yogi.  Anybody can become a yogi. You might gradually abandon wrong conceptions like “I am a sinner” that cause nothing but a guilt and inferiority complex, but this doesn't mean that you need to change or abandon your religion to even start practicing yoga.

Religion is not seen as a negative practice in Yoga. 

Yoga techniques involve different practices that suit the character of different people. Jñana Yoga, for the scientific-minded or intellectual, Karma Yoga for he who is fully active in the world, Bhakti Yoga for the person of devotional character and Raja Yoga, the path of willpower, for he who is attracted to mystic practices like meditation.

No path is better than the other, it all depends on the personal character, but they all complement each other. 

In Bhakti Yoga a devotee of any religion is encouraged to channel his emotions to his Ishta Devata or chosen deity, for instance, Jesus for a Christian. “Sing the names of the Lord and tell His glories”, these are all regarded as Bhakti Yoga practices that lead the spiritual aspirant to the ultimate goal, Self-Realization.

I'm not trying to say that Yoga is the best.  I'm simply trying to point out that, in my opinion, there is no better path or no better technique.  I talk about yoga simply because that's my path. 

Even some Buddhist teachers see yoga as only the physical postures performed by yogis in India and they forget that Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha, was born in India, lived in India, and attained enlightenment in India. 

 

Similar Buddhist teachings but in different words can also be found within Yoga and Vedanta Texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Raja Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 

And actually “Equanimity” which is the main realization and experience that we want to achieve through the practice of Vipassana is the very definition of Yoga as described by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. "Samatvam is Yoga, Equanimity is Yoga".

But don't get me wrong, I do like Goenkaji, he is a fantastic teacher.   Who knows, perhaps he is enlightened as many believe. He has a deep experiential knowledge that he can easily transmit to his students even through recorded videos. 

He has done an amazing job in spreading his Vipassana meditation technique around the world.  He has also made a remarkable contribution by introducing the Vipassana technique in jails in India and in other countries. 

I also believe that the Vipassana meditation he teaches is definitely a powerful technique for mental purification.  That's why I do think you should try the 10-day Vipassana Meditation retreat if you ever have the opportunity.

I simply don't agree with him when he says that this is a superior meditation technique than any other for mental purification and the development of equanimity.  In my opinion, the best technique is the one that suits your temperament and lifestyle, that's all.

Previous:

1. The 10-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat (My Comic Experience)
2. How Vipassana Meditation Purifies the Mind (Based on Yoga Philosophy)
3. My Vipassana Meditation Experience (Observing the Mind's Reactions)
4. My Issue with Goenka's Vipassana Meditation Course

Update 2024.  Here are some more recent articles where I share my experience doing my second Vipassana meditation retreat:

• There is No Aim in Meditation (Lessons From My 2nd Vipassana Retreat)
• 3 Things I Hated about Goenka's 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course