Day 5 (This is rational?)

Adventures in Meditation,The Buddha Within, Stephen on 9 February 2007 @ 2:49 PM — 0 comments

Ok, maybe the not having any reading, writing or music with me is getting to me just a teeny bit. The one document I have (the code of conduct pamphlet) is now fully memorized and I have started to turn my attention elsewhere. The heretofore not very interesting labels on my toiletries suddenly take on an almost poetic poignancy. Of particular interest is the alcohol composition and content in my hand sanitizer. I briefly weigh the pros and cons of huffing.

In the evening DVD discourse, Goenka starts getting heavier and heavier with the religion, and farther and farther away from the rational. I am particularly bugged by his continued assertion that this is all “universal, scientific, rational” (which the technique itself most surely is), while elucidating such concepts as rebirth, nirvana, sankaras, sila, samadi and panya. And let’s not even go into “anitchew…anitchew…anitchew…” (basically a word meaning impermanence, it represents the most important characteristic of all sensations). He is starting to sound a bit haughty about it all.

I resolve to ignore the preachy parts and try to focus on mastering the technique.