10-day goenka retreat

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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tiltbillings
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by tiltbillings »

delf7 wrote:
tiltbillings wrote:
delf7 wrote:what happened to item 4 ?
Nothing.
now, this is just getting silly.
You are the one that brought it up.

Item #4:
4. cool.
Gnarly, man.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
delf7
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by delf7 »

is anyone else getting tired of this thread, or is it just me?
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tiltbillings
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by tiltbillings »

delf7 wrote:is anyone else getting tired of this thread, or is it just me?
If you are tired of this thread, then don't post in it.

As for item #4, you wanted to agree to disagree, which is fine, but then you kept on posting stuff. If you do not want comments to your postings, then the best thing is: don't post anything and you'll not get comments.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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mikenz66
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by mikenz66 »

I'm hardly a "goenakaist". I've only done one retreat, and I prefer the Mahasi-style approach that my local teachers use. The method itself is a bit too rigid for my taste.

However, I don't see anything about the structure of a Goenka retreat that is at significant variance with other strict retreats. No talking, no reading, get up, practice, eat, practice, sleep. Difficult stuff, but very standard.

Personally, I'm pleased I did some less strict, shorter, retreats before the Goenka retreat. I actually felt very relieved on the Goenka retreat that the silence was kept strictly by the servers.

The point is, any intensive retreat will bring up a lot of difficulties. New meditators might consider starting with some shorter and/or less demanding retreats.

:anjali:
Mike
delf7
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by delf7 »

tiltbillings wrote:
delf7 wrote:is anyone else getting tired of this thread, or is it just me?
If you are tired of this thread, then don't post in it.

As for item #4, you wanted to agree to disagree, which is fine, but then you kept on posting stuff. If you do not want comments to your postings, then the best thing is: don't post anything and you'll not get comments.
o.k., i'm pretty new to this forum, so excuse me for asking, but are you always this smug & childish?
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tiltbillings
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by tiltbillings »

delf7 wrote:
tiltbillings wrote:
delf7 wrote:is anyone else getting tired of this thread, or is it just me?
If you are tired of this thread, then don't post in it.

As for item #4, you wanted to agree to disagree, which is fine, but then you kept on posting stuff. If you do not want comments to your postings, then the best thing is: don't post anything and you'll not get comments.
o.k., i'm pretty new to this forum, so excuse me for asking, but are you always this smug & childish?
Which is, of course, not very helpful. I am trying to make sense of your question: "what happened to item 4 ?" Damdifino what you are trying ask here. It would help if you would be a bit more expansive.

Seriously, if you are getting tired of the thread, don't post in it. Complaining about it probably is not going to help.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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Ben
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ben »

Hi delf,
delf7 wrote:i guess what i'm not understanding about this whole discussion is why the pro-goenka faction here at dhammawheel cannot simply accept that his methods are not right for everybody and why the goenkaists say that those who do not buy into these retreats have somehow "failed".
I am sorry you had a difficult course experience and felt compelled to leave. I feel somewhat responsible as I encouraged you on the public forum and also via pm to attend a ten-day course. However, I do believe I did indicate privately that the courses are not for everybody and that they can be difficult and hard work. If I did not, or if I did not make that point more clear - then I am sorry. Its something that I have reiterated many times publicly.
Also, see my earlier post where I detailed recently leaving a long course before the retreat finished. After being involved exclusively with the "tradition" for nearly 27 years it was the first time I ever left a course before its completion. For me, the difficulties that arose were too difficult to deal with at that point in time.
Whatever you chose to do in the future whether it is to attempt another 10-day course under the guidance of SN Goenka, or do something under the guidance of another teacher/tradition, I wish you all the very best.
with metta,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
delf7
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by delf7 »

Ben wrote:Hi delf,
delf7 wrote:i guess what i'm not understanding about this whole discussion is why the pro-goenka faction here at dhammawheel cannot simply accept that his methods are not right for everybody and why the goenkaists say that those who do not buy into these retreats have somehow "failed".
I am sorry you had a difficult course experience and felt compelled to leave. I feel somewhat responsible as I encouraged you on the public forum and also via pm to attend a ten-day course. However, I do believe I did indicate privately that the courses are not for everybody and that they can be difficult and hard work. If I did not, or if I did not make that point more clear - then I am sorry. Its something that I have reiterated many times publicly.
Also, see my earlier post where I detailed recently leaving a long course before the retreat finished. After being involved exclusively with the "tradition" for nearly 27 years it was the first time I ever left a course before its completion. For me, the difficulties that arose were too difficult to deal with at that point in time.
Whatever you chose to do in the future whether it is to attempt another 10-day course under the guidance of SN Goenka, or do something under the guidance of another teacher/tradition, I wish you all the very best.
with metta,

Ben
thanx ben, all is fine.
as i've said in previous posts in this thread, i do not regret going, and i do not regret leaving early.
it just wasn't where i needed to be at that point in time.
however, i believe i did get some benefit from it. i learned alot from the experience.
you did tell me it was hard and you did voice concern that it may be too intense for a "rookie" such as myself, so don't feel that you steered me wrong. you did not. as i've stated before, my only regret is i should have done some more research on it before i decided to go. i look at it as just another fork in the road. took the left, should have turned right, ya know? good thing is i didn't get lost. i'm still on the path, no worse for wear.
thank you for your well-wishes.
metta,
delf
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Ferox
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ferox »

mikenz66 wrote:I'm hardly a "goenakaist". I've only done one retreat, and I prefer the Mahasi-style approach that my local teachers use. The method itself is a bit too rigid for my taste.

However, I don't see anything about the structure of a Goenka retreat that is at significant variance with other strict retreats. No talking, no reading, get up, practice, eat, practice, sleep. Difficult stuff, but very standard.

Personally, I'm pleased I did some less strict, shorter, retreats before the Goenka retreat. I actually felt very relieved on the Goenka retreat that the silence was kept strictly by the servers.

The point is, any intensive retreat will bring up a lot of difficulties. New meditators might consider starting with some shorter and/or less demanding retreats.

:anjali:
Mike
that doesn't sound any different then the retreats I've done at the Bhavana Society, and I agree 100% that retreats like that bring up difficulties, but that is the whole point of the retreat, at least this is what I've come to find, so I don't know why someone might say otherwise.

at the Bhavana society retreats they do have dhamma talks, Q&A sessions, interviews, and optional yoga, and work periods, but otherwise its around 6 hours of meditation a day. no book reading, even buddhist ones, noble silence etc.


My retreat experiences are as this - 3 day dhamma retreat, 5 day meditation retreat, 7 day meditation retreat, all within the last year... I'm not sure if the OP has done retreats before but to jump right into a 10 day retreat has to be near insanity.
-just one more being treading the ancient path of Dhamma-
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Ben
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ben »

Hi Ferox,
Ferox wrote: I'm not sure if the OP has done retreats before but to jump right into a 10 day retreat has to be near insanity.
Actually, its not!
The ten-day meditation course is actually an "introductory" course. For some people, its not suitable.
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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retrofuturist
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

My first retreat was a 10-day Goenka one - I didn't consider this decision to have been near insanity then, nor do I consider it such now.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by cooran »

Hello all,

I think people can go to their first retreat with a mind full of wrong ideas about what it is going to be like.
A Retreat is a time of hard work to advance in the Dhamma.
A Retreat allows all sorts of kusala and akusala feelings, thoughts, imaginings, memories to arise in the first four or five days.
Peace often starts anytime from day 3 or 4 onwards.

Goenka is not my main practice, but I have been to a number Goenka retreats over the last 15 years and often have dosa arise due to the recordings. But I get over it, and take the benefits that come.

The best advice I've been given about the rough times during any Retreat is: ''Stay the distance''.

with metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ferox »

retrofuturist wrote:Greetings,

My first retreat was a 10-day Goenka one - I didn't consider this decision to have been near insanity then, nor do I consider it such now.

Metta,
Retro. :)

lol... I'm just basing it after my experiences doing 5 and 7 days being rough, let alone 10. I'm sure I would of made it through a 10 day as my first.. but man... lol, hell I haven't even experienced one yet but at least I've been through enough retreats now to know what to expect.
-just one more being treading the ancient path of Dhamma-
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Ben
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ben »

Ferox wrote:I've been through enough retreats now to know what to expect.
They're all different!
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Ferox
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Re: 10-day goenka retreat

Post by Ferox »

Ben wrote:
Ferox wrote:I've been through enough retreats now to know what to expect.
They're all different!
kind regards,

Ben

I meant in terms of what will arise within my own mind and body in terms of pains etc, sorry should of been more specific.
-just one more being treading the ancient path of Dhamma-
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