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http://dhamma.org http://dhamma.org puts on 10-day silent Buddhist meditation retreats at retreat centers around the world. They're supported entirely by donati

http://dhamma.org http://dhamma.org puts on 10-day silent Buddhist meditation retreats at retreat centers around the world. They're supported entirely by donations: they don't charge for the retreats, nor do they accept donations from people who haven't attended one. I've participated in retreats at a few of their locations and helped out on the volunteer staff a few times. The stuff they teach, though basic -- observe your breath & observe the sensations in your body -- is really useful.

cool-RR 18y ago
I recommend this organization too. I would recommend to anyone to attend one of those 10-day courses. They assume you have no background knowledge whatsoever about meditation, and they teach you everything you need to know. The course is very intensive and hard, but it's really really rewarding. It's a life-changing experience. I attended this course a few years ago, and while I don't meditate regularly, I do meditate sometimes for 30 minutes. I do it when I feel stressed, or overworked, or when I feel my urges are controlling me. It works great against these things. I feel like this meditation is a sort of super-powerful weapon that I can pull out when life gets tough. As I said, highly recommended.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  Can you explain more about what it involves and in what ways it is intensive/hard, please? (Genuine curiosity not dismissiveness)
  - cool-RR 18y ago
    I will attempt to summarize Vipassana as I understand it. According to Vipassana, all misery comes from "Sankaras". A Sankara is either a craving or an aversion. In other words, wanting something badly, needing it emotionally. The feeling associated with addiction. You have a lot of different little sankaras going on in your daily life. Vipassana is all about systematically eliminating them. It's a sort of ultra-rehab. But they deal directly with sensations: It doesn't matter what the object of the addiction is. They won't talk with you about cigarettes if you're addicted to smoking. They just teach you to feel yourself all over your body, and whenever you feel a sankara, you have to (gently but firmly) destroy it. You destroy it by simply observing it objectively. Over time, you notice that you have less and less sankaras. Why is it intensive/hard? The hard part is having to deal with your sankaras all the time. This is very hard. The intensive part is because there is so much meditation. It's somewhere around 10 hours a day, if I remember correctly, with the biggest chunk being two hours long. You wake up real early and start meditating right away. You have few hours to sleep. There is no dinner. (This is intentional: it's supposed to be better for meditation.) You aren't even allowed to exercise. I think it's worth it though. I took it twice. You can check out their site too: http://www.dhamma.org/ http://www.dhamma.org/

cool-RR 18y ago

I recommend this organization too. I would recommend to anyone to attend one of those 10-day courses. They assume you have no background knowledge whatsoever about meditation, and they teach you everything you need to know. The course is very intensive and hard, but it's really really rewarding. It's a life-changing experience. I attended this course a few years ago, and while I don't meditate regularly, I do meditate sometimes for 30 minutes. I do it when I feel stressed, or overworked, or when I feel my urges are controlling me. It works great against these things. I feel like this meditation is a sort of super-powerful weapon that I can pull out when life gets tough. As I said, highly recommended.

jodrellblank 18y ago
Can you explain more about what it involves and in what ways it is intensive/hard, please? (Genuine curiosity not dismissiveness)
- cool-RR 18y ago
  I will attempt to summarize Vipassana as I understand it. According to Vipassana, all misery comes from "Sankaras". A Sankara is either a craving or an aversion. In other words, wanting something badly, needing it emotionally. The feeling associated with addiction. You have a lot of different little sankaras going on in your daily life. Vipassana is all about systematically eliminating them. It's a sort of ultra-rehab. But they deal directly with sensations: It doesn't matter what the object of the addiction is. They won't talk with you about cigarettes if you're addicted to smoking. They just teach you to feel yourself all over your body, and whenever you feel a sankara, you have to (gently but firmly) destroy it. You destroy it by simply observing it objectively. Over time, you notice that you have less and less sankaras. Why is it intensive/hard? The hard part is having to deal with your sankaras all the time. This is very hard. The intensive part is because there is so much meditation. It's somewhere around 10 hours a day, if I remember correctly, with the biggest chunk being two hours long. You wake up real early and start meditating right away. You have few hours to sleep. There is no dinner. (This is intentional: it's supposed to be better for meditation.) You aren't even allowed to exercise. I think it's worth it though. I took it twice. You can check out their site too: http://www.dhamma.org/ http://www.dhamma.org/