Pariyatti pilgrims meditate for an hour facing the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, a few meters from the spot where the Buddha attained enlightenment. The image was taken during the most recent Along the Path pilgrimage. Unfortunately we had to discontinue that tour when it was two-thirds completed, due to the coronavirus situation. We trust those first weeks were beneficial to the participants and we send mettā to all affected by the outbreak. May we all find equanimity in any situation.
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Dear friends,
With the whole world affected in one way or another by the coronavirus pandemic, there is a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding us. Please take the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe, protect others, and try to do so with a balanced mind. It is essential to cultivate our practice of Vipassana meditation, as it will help us respond to challenges in a balanced way—with wisdom (paññā), compassion (karuṇā), and equanimity (upekkhā).
Worldwide, Vipassana meditation courses as taught by S.N. Goenka have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, and so are weekly group sittings, in order to support social-distancing. Whether in self-quarantine or limiting non-essential movement outside, many of us may be staying at home, with more time on our hands than usual. We can choose to use this time well by practicing Dhamma.
We here at Pariyatti are working on releasing new audio and video materials during this time in order to provide you with additional Dhamma support and inspiration. In the meantime, we want to remind you of the various resources that are already available.
You can find audio recordings in all available languages of group sittings, discourses, and chanting on www.discourses.dhamma.org and via the Dhamma.org mobile App (for Android and Apple devices).
Initiatives in different parts of the world allow you to join virtual group sittings. When you register online for the virtual group sitting program organized in the USA, you will receive an email with all the necessary details to join the sittings. Currently group sittings start every hour between 5-9am and 7-11pm EST (4.30-8.30am and 2.30-7.30pm IST; 10am-14pm and midnight-4am CET).
For the time being, our bookstore remains open and continues to ship orders. So, for those who prefer printed materials, you may order them via store.pariyatti.org.
With Metta,
Pariyatti
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Good Old DVD is Back in Stock
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Ten-Day Vipassana Course Discourses
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Although the discourses of the various Vipassana Meditation courses as taught by S.N. Goenka are available for streaming and download free of charge via discourses.dhamma.org, there is still demand for other formats, including DVD, CD, and flashdrive for those in areas with not-so-ideal Internet connections, and for meditators and organizations working with older devices.
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Our online Pāli course Exploring the Path closes its third chapter with selections and thoughts on sammā vāyāmo, viriya; and padhāna, the energy, endeavor, effort, perseverance and the striving one should undertake to progress on the path. Lesson 3.7.12—the Assājānīyasuttaṃ (Eight Extolled Virtues that Qualify a Follower of the Path)—defines the eight potentials of a well-born thoroughbred that the Buddha uses as a simile for his disciples. Similar capabilities and qualities for a monk, when developed, serve to turn him into an inspiring example and a worthy and valuable member of the Saṅgha.
The last of the eight described qualities, highlighted here once more, refers back to what has been described in the previous lesson as the ‘strong determination of maintaining one’s chosen posture’. But once again a reminder refers to the guidance that persistence, tenacity and fortitude engulfed in equanimity need to go hand in hand with patience and confidence for the proper time to ripen sooner or later for someone who maintains full awareness and proper, thorough understanding: Sato, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajāno kālaṃ āgameyya. Ayaṃ vo amhākaṃ anusāsanī.
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We would like to make you aware of a video by the Vipassana Research Institute on the spread of Dhamma, created to mark the 50th anniversary in 2019 since our late teacher, Satya Narayan Goenka (1924-2013), brought Vipassana meditation back to India, its country of origin.
The film reports on how the Dhamma spread after it was rediscovered by Siddhartha Gotama in India, that it got lost almost everywhere five centuries later, and how it started spreading again when S.N. Goenka was encouraged by his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin to leave Burma and go to India.
The various interviews with Goenkaji, Mataji and the early students—many of them now (Assistant) Teachers—instrumental in organizing courses and starting the building of meditation centers, are wonderful to watch and no doubt gratitude-prompting for meditators in our tradition.
The film illustrates beautifully how volition, humility and compassion are the pillars of service in this tradition—for teachers and Dhamma servers alike. This has resulted in the many locations (center and non-center) where Vipassana courses are being held, in more than 100 countries.
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Donations: Either one-time or monthly pledge
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Pariyatti is a charitable, non-profit, educational support system for the Dhamma community. Pariyatti exists because of funds donated by supporters.
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FACT: Did you know that Pariyatti publishes resources under four different imprints: BPS Pariyatti Editions (BPE), Pariyatti Press (PP), Vipassana Research Publications (VRP) and Pariyatti Digital Media?
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Words of the Buddha
Upanīyati jīvitamappamāyu.
Jarūpanītassa na santi tāṇā.
Etaṃ bhayaṃ maraṇe pekkhamāno,
lokāmisaṃ pajahe santipekkho.
Life is swept along, next-to-nothing its span.
For one swept to old age no shelters exist.
Perceiving this danger in death,
one should drop the world's bait and look for peace.
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Doha – Dhamma Verse
Jala ke, thala ke, gagana ke,
prāṇī sukhiyā hoṅya.
Nirabhaya hoṅ, nirabaira hoṅ,
sabhī nirāmaya hoṅya.
Whether of water, earth or sky,
may beings be happy,
without fear or enmity;
may all be freed of ills.
–S.N. Goenka
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Pāli Words
saraṇa — protection, refuge, shelter
aniñjita — immoveable, undisturbed, unshaken, without desires
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