Vipassana Newsletter
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Vipassana Newsletter In the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S.N. Goenka Vol. 25, No. 3 Autumn, 1998 P.O. Box 51, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370-0051, U.S.A. Published three times yearly Words of Dhamma Phuµµhassa lokadhammehi, When faced with lifes vicissitudes, citta½ yassa na kampati; ones mind is unshaken, asoka½ viraja½ khema½, free from sorrow, impurity, or fear eta½ maªgalamuttama½. this is the highest welfare. Khuddakap±µha 5.12, Maªgalasutta Farewell Dhamma Brother by Kaly±ºamitta S.N. Goenka How extraordinary! But the patient is so peaceful, so free from revered teacher, only one ten-day course was Speaking in his customary soft voice, Dr. distress; it is difficult to accept that she is held each month, starting on the first Friday Om Prakash repeated, It is really suffering from cancer. We shall have to carry of that month. Ever since she had started extraordinary. I have seen so many people out further tests before making a diagnosis. walking on the path of Vipassana six or seven die, but never like this. He was referring to years before, there had not been a single my aunt and adoptive mother, Rami Devi. course in which Mother had not taken part. Truly, her illness and death were Just recently she had completed a special 30- extraordinary. At the age of 75, about 15 days day course. Her equanimity had become so before she died, she was chatting with Illaichi established that there was no possibility of Devi (Mataji) and happened to remark that her giving way to lamentation. for several months she had felt constant pain After many tests, both doctors concluded in her abdomen. She was able to endure it and that it was definitely cancer and that it had remain equanimous, but she mentioned the already advanced to the terminal stage. They fact in passing. believed that Mother had only a few days left. At once I called our doctor and my close friend, Dr. Om Prakash, who had become an CONTENTS inseparable part of the family. He examined Farewell Dhamma Brother .............................. 1 Goenkaji and Mataji Visit my mother and then, taking me aside, he said, East and Southeast Asia ................................... 4 It might be cancer of the liver. The signs all Meditation Pagoda for Thailand Center ........ 4 clearly point toward this diagnosis, except Vipassana in Cambodia .................................... 5 On the Path, a book excerpt ............................. 6 for one fact: in such a case the pain is Dr. Om Prakash, Vipassana Acharya Website Update.................................................. 6 intolerable, and the distressed patient keeps 1912 - 1998 New Film on Vipassana in U.S. Prisons .......... 7 crying and weeping. No person could suffer Millions See Film on Prison Courses ............... 7 Dhamma House in Italy .................................... 7 from the pain of this cancer for months and After they left, Illaichi Devi asked Mother, What is the pain like that you feel? The Regional Developments in North America ..... 7 not so much as mention it to anyone. Even Course Schedule ................................................ 8 now your mother is so peaceful. I shall have reply astonished everyone; Mother said, It is Teacher Appointments ..................................... 9 much more severe than the excruciating pains Schedule for Long & Special Courses ............. 9 to investigate further. Update on Conferences in the West ................ 9 of childbirth. But what is the use of crying? I Two days later, Dr. Om Prakash came Distributors ........................................................ 9 observe the pain with equanimity. After all, Vipassana Meditation Centers ...................... 10 with Col. (Dr.) Min Sein, a well-known doctor isnt this what Guruji [Sayagyi U Ba Khin] World Contacts ............................................... 11 in Rangoon. After examining Mother, the Questions and Answers ................................... 12 taught us to do? colonel said much the same thing: All the signs suggest an advanced stage of cancer. Mother was an outstanding Vipassana The Vipassana Newsletter is funded mainly meditator. At the meditation center of my by the donations of grateful old students. 1 Any kind of treatment would be useless and How can this be? Illaichi Devi explained Anapana, he is for ready Vipassana. Come would only increase the suffering. that Mothers body was still soft and warm, immediately; he must be given Vipassana Nevertheless, they continued with palliative unlike a dead body. now. I went to the center for the giving of care. We all went to Mothers room with Dr. Om Vipassana to Dr. Om Prakash, and once more At 3:00 a.m. on her last night, Mother told Prakash. He examined the corpse carefully returned home. Sayagyi came again for the the nurse that the time of her death was and said that though Mother was certainly not evening meditation and discourse. He was approaching, and she asked for her children alive, it was true that the whole body was still very happy, saying that after only one day of to be called. We all went to her room. I warm. Her face was exceptionally tranquil Vipassana, Dr. Om Prakash had attained the immediately telephoned Dr. Om Prakash. He and illuminated by some divine radiance. It state of bhaªga [dissolution] and was now had not yet gone to bed; just two hours before, seemed as if she was in deep sleep. And this working at a very deep level. he had been called out to see another patient was the moment when Dr. Om Prakash The next morning he called me again and who was dying. Even so, he came at once. I remarked, How extraordinary! There was said, Come at once. The progress of your also called Sayagyi, and fortunately he too no doubt that she was dead, but what marvel friend is extraordinary. It seems that he has came with Mother Sayama. was this? I was at a loss for words. abundant p±ram²s of many lives. He has Dr. Om Prakash checked and could not We performed the funeral ceremony and reached close to the state of nibb±na. He will find a pulse. Mother had only a few minutes returned home. Everyone in the family was a have to be given the necessary instructions left. Shortly before her death, she said, I Vipassana meditator, and so no one cried. I now. Overwhelmed with great joy and want to sit up. Dr. Om Prakash advised meditated most of the time to maintain a wonder, I went to the center and took my seat against it, saying, It would be better for her Dhamma atmosphere. By early evening all near Sayagyi. Dr. Om Prakash was given the to keep lying down. The pain will worsen if the Vipassana meditators in the city had requisite instructions. There was no limit to she sits up. But Mother insisted and, assembled for a one-hour group sitting. my happiness when he immediately understanding this as her last wish, I supported Sayagyi and Mother Sayama were also experienced nibb±na, the state transcending her so that she could do as she wished. To our present. After the hour, other members of the the senses. Sayagyi was also happy. He astonishment, she made the effort to sit up community who were not Vipassana examined him closely and found that all the cross-legged and started meditating. Truly meditators came and, with Sayagyis signs indicated this was the state of nibb±na. this was remarkable Dhamma strength. permission, I gave a one-hour Dhamma What limit could there be to my happiness! A few minutes before, her pulse had been discourse. Immediately afterwards, Dr. Om My dear friend had entered the stream of undetectable, and now she was sitting cross- Prakash came to me and said that he wished liberation, had become a sot±panna, an ariya legged and meditating! To reinforce her to sit a course. Tell me when the next course [noble person]. resolve in meditation I said, Tai m±, anaiss±, will be held, he requested. It was scheduled My first contact with Dr. Om Prakash was anaiss±Aunt/Mother, anicca, anicca, to be held after about fifteen days. I assured at a public meeting in Rangoon after the pronouncing the word as they do in Burmese. him that I would inform him well in advance. Second World War in 1947. We were She lifted her right hand and, touching the top The next day, again there was a Dhamma immediately drawn toward each other. of her head, said, Yes, son, anaiss±, anaiss±. discourse in the evening. Again at the end, Fortunately the friends whom I met socially Then she lowered her hand. She looked at me, Dr. Om Prakash came to me and said, The were good people and I had affectionate she looked at Dr. Om Prakash, she looked at next course will not be held for some days; I relationships with all of them. But of them Sayagyi and Mother Sayama, and then she wish to sit as soon as possible. Sayagyi was all, Dr. Om Prakash was closest to me. We looked upward and breathed her last. standing nearby. Seeing the strong Dhamma used to work together in various fields. In the The sight of such a death had astonished impulse that had arisen in Dr. Om Prakash, he post-war period, we re-established the All- Dr. Om Prakash. It was about 4:20 a.m. agreed to hold a course immediately. We Burmese Hindi Literature Society, and Mothers body had been removed from the were astonished that Sayagyi would conduct branches opened in many places throughout bed and placed on the floor, in accordance a course for just one person, but he directed the country. A symposium on Hindi literature with Indian custom. We would have to wait me to come to the meditation center on the was organized every week in Rangoon.