DNS wrote: ↑Sun Jul 24, 2022 5:13 pm
thepea wrote: ↑Sun Jul 24, 2022 4:38 pm
The teacher(Buddha) is within, in a man like sayaghi u bha khin and SN Goenka they were highly evolved and as such the dhamma spread across the globe. Vipassana centres sprung up like blades of grass with strong roots.
Goenka was your teacher, correct? At least indirectly though the courses you took?
Here are some quotes from Goenka-ji:
Why is vegetarian food helpful for meditation?
Mr. S. N. Goenka: When you eat meat or something, then this being - animal or fish or whatever it is - for its whole life was generating nothing but craving, aversion, craving, aversion. After all, human beings can find some time when they can come out of craving and aversion. These beings cannot come out of it. So every fibre of their body is vibrating with craving and aversion. And you yourself want to come out of craving, aversion and you are giving an input to all of that. So what sort of vibrations you will have. That is why it is not good.
Why is vegetarian food helpful for meditation?
Can a non-vegetarian succeed in Vipassana?
Mr. S. N. Goenka: When you come to a Vipassana course, only vegetarian food is served. But we don't say that if you take non-vegetarian food, you will go to hell. It is not like that. Slowly, you will come out of eating meat, like thousands of Vipassana students have. You will naturally find there is no more need for you to have non-vegetarian food. Your progress in Vipassana will certainly be better if you are vegetarian.
As a nonviolent vegetarian, who even praised the vegetarian diet, he obviously would not condone fishing and hunting. And his tradition was not a monastic one, so he certainly wouldn't say the precepts only apply to monks or those "on retreat."
Buddha(god, Father, conscious awareness) is the teacher, the dhamma(Christ, son, body) is the teachings, the sangha(the Holy Ghost, mind) are the support.
Goenka would contain all three and would most likely fall into catagory of sangha in relationship to thepea.
I am inclined more towards the beggars bowl, while doing jhana practice in retreat setting. I use to be vegetarian/vegan in past(8/4 years) but it did not ultimately agree with me in laylife as an absolute. It’s never sat well with me to feel that those living in northern climates without access to grocery stores and global shipping could not practice dhamma due to animal flesh in ones diet and the harvesting of this flesh at opportune times. At current I simply will hold out my bowl and make do with that which is offered and generate gratitude for my daily bread(meat, which contains flesh of animal, fruit and vegetables nuts, etc...)
I’ve never heard Goenka speak against hunters or fishermen. He most definitely speaks against these activities while cultivating jhana and allowing Vipassana to arise. But the term “you are your own master” is spoken when referring to students after a course is completed and one returns to lay life.
As I speculate Goenka being a non-returner he had a highly developed awareness and single pointed concentration it seems logical he would remain within the protection of Vipassana centres and travel with entourage to assist in mundane day to day activities.
Precepts have nothing to do with vegetarianism, you are adding this to the teachings. The Buddha was a beggar he had a bowl and ate what was offered.
Goenka was an IMO non-returner layman who was setting up global meditation centres, under these unique circumstances.