About Insight Meditation
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meditation as embodied prayer and evolving consciousness
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Insight Meditation Tradition Vipassana, Insight, Mindfulness or "clear seeing" is a simple, direct and powerful practice that can be used to help us open to clear consciousness and to develop calm, focused, and balanced awareness. As we learn to make direct contact with our experience, we open the door to self-knowledge and create the possibilities for conscious choice, for change, for freedom and for deep understanding. 2500-year-old meditation teachings rooted in Theravada Buddhism. These teachings are a component of all Buddhist traditions and compatible with any spiritual practice, whatever the tradition. Teachers Insight Meditation teachers act as spiritual friends, guiding the student through obstacles of the path. Exposure to multiple recognized teachers is encouraged. Students are continually asked to rely on their own hearts for inner guidance, to become aware of and trust their own process and experience. They are also asked to be open and willing to learn, to come to appreciate that much suffering is the result of conditioning and lack of understanding. (Back to Top) Affiliation The major retreat centers of the Insight Meditation network include the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, Gaia House in Devon, England, and Spirit Rock in California. Insight Meditation or Vipassana teachings have revolutionized countless lives of those fortunate enough to discover them. A publication containing excellent articles about our tradition and maintaining current information about Insight Meditation connections is Inquiring Mind. You can now find them on line at www.inquiringmind.com . (Back to Top) Intention Our intention is to open to innate compassion and wisdom, to come to self-knowledge through exploration and direct contact with experience, to bring arising wisdom into all life experience. We invite everyone to journey with us in learning a few basic practices that help us plunge deeply into silence and to discover in the stillness:
(Back to Top) Basic Meditation Practices: Metta - opening to innate capacities including loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity and empathetic joy Vipassana - insight, wisdom, or clear seeing through training in concentration, awareness and mindfulness,
Releasing agendas and unskillful activity of mind Resting in stillness and fullness that contains and permeates all Manifesting skillful behaviors Being open to truth of experience, of qualities of mind, whatever they are Accepting experience rather than denying Being interested in experience, investigating when appropriate Releasing views, remembering nothing is substantial as it seems Watering the seeds of wholesome qualities of mind Terminology: Citta:(a Pali word for mind,"c" pronounced [ch]; sanskrit "chitta"), used here because of limitations in the English word mind. Citta suggests a much more inclusive and basic understanding of mind. It may include mind, heart and consciousness.
Dana or generosity: The teachings are considered priceless, a gift that comes only due to auspicious circumstances or good karma. Dana, a practice of generosity for both students and teachers, is an important practice in itself and manifests uniquely for each individual.
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