Vipassana retreat?

[mattbell]

I heard some very good things about the North Fork Vipassana retreat center last weekend.  (At least according to the guy I talked to, this particular one is excellent and not cultish.)  I'm hesitant to commit a full 10 days to something like this without really knowing what I'm getting into.

If any of you have done this sort of thing, I'd love to chat with you more about what to expect. 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Definitely!!

Just FYI, though there teachers there (for presence and questions), S.N. Goenka has been filmed and it is his video and dharma talks that are shown. Shannon had various reactions to him that I didn't. (One description she has for him is "cult-like" which I disagree with and can also see elements of. I mean, you are watching a video. That said, I think it's an effective way for an old man to teach what he's spent his lifetime learning in a consistent way.)

I tend to be a take what I like and leave what I don't kind of person so whenever he mentioned reincarnation (being Buddhist - which I wasn't at the time), I ignored it pretty easily. The methodology and teachings are sound, and if you follow the practice, you will definitely learn mindfulness and about your own monkey mind and how to tame it.

That said, it's probably the hardest thing I've ever done - except for maybe getting divorce. It was an incredibly worthwhile practice for me and changed my life. And I really don't think you can do less than 10 days for this kind of stuff...just because the monkey mind is the mind you've had your whole life. A 2-day or even 5-day workshop isn't long enough to really learn discipline.

[xleste.livejournal.com]

Btw - that was me - Gayle :) I forgot to sign in.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

"Oh, what a well-informed anonymous person. Must be Gayle. :-)" Thanks for the detailed advice.

I'm fairly good at picking and choosing memes from different groups. I did it with cultures all over the world.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Matt,

I've done a number of these 10 day retreats and I highly recommend them. I don't know much about the shorter session offered by other organizations, but I do know they charge quite a bit for their teaching.

In the 10 day coures, the full 10 days are required to learn the technique as it's taught progressively. My advice is just to sign up and go for it.

Dhamma Bum