Vipassana Diary - Day 3

Day 3 - 26 Aug, 2009

Dear Diary,

Ouch ouch ouch!!!

Sorry, it's only been 3 days and all I've done is whinge, but $#@%, I'm just not built for sitting unsupported. 3 days of meditation can't right the wrongs of 28 years of bad posture. Still, it was another marginal improvement of the previous day.

I'm starting to feel a lot better about the daily routine now, I've settled in nicely. The pain in my back is my only real complaint. And my ability to concentrate improves with every hour - we have to practise, practise, practise to tame the wild cecentration beast, Goenka keeps telling us. My beast is still far from tame. My beast foams at the mouth like a rabid dog and savages any thoughts that dwell in my mind for more than a few mins. But that foam is slowly turning to drool and the bites to nips. A few more days and I might even consider petting him... with a long stick.

Aside from the book-on-tape teachings we receive from the wise Goeaka, we also have our very own Enlightened One that presides over the class. If he does have a name, I never heard it and it's too late to ask now. I refer to him as the White Wizard in my head, and he does look a lot like a wizard. He must be 80, or very close to it, and he wears a white cotton outfit that's so loose you could easily mistake it for a gown. Atop his head sits a neatly wrapped, small white turban, and a a wispy beard flows like a white waterfall from his lower jaw. If you took this man out in a blizzard, you'd never see him again.

At least once each day, the assistant teacher will come around and tap my cushion, this means it's time to meet the Wizard. Silently I sneak up to the front of the mediation hall and sit down in front of him. He then proceeds to ask me if I understand the technique, and if I can feel the touch of my breath. I nod. You can speak to the Wizard if want to, but I don't. The Wizard and I meditate together for a few mins and then it's back to cushion #24 to finish off the session.



The main objective of the Vipassana technique is to ultimately free your mind from craving and aversion (the two key causes of misery according to Buddha), but right now if Buddha was standing between me and a cold beer, I'd probably set him on fire to get to it.

Tonight, for the first time a long time, I feel genuinely lonely. Most likely just a nasty side effect of Noble Silence, but it's not a very pleasant way to go to bed.