DHAMMA BOOKS

author William Hart

A full-length study of the teaching of S. N. Goenka, prepared under his guidance and with his approval. Useful for meditators and non-meditators alike.

This is the first book to appear in English that accurately describes the practice of Vipassana at length for the general reader. It includes stories by Goenkaji as well as answers to students’ questions that convey a vivid sense of his teaching.



Paperback, 167 pages
Published by Vipassana Research Institute
ISBN 81-7414-008-5

Summaries of the evening discourses by S.N. Goenka from a ten-day course of Vipassana.

"Liberation can be gained only by practice, never by mere discussion, " S.N. Goenka has said.

A course in Vipassana meditation is an opportunity to take concrete steps towards liberation. For this reason, in a Vipassana course the emphasis is always on actual practice. No philosophical debates are permitted, no theoretical arguments, no questions that are unrelated to one's own experience. As far as possible, meditators are encouraged to find the answers to their questions within themselves. The teacher provides whatever guidance is needed in the practice, but it is up to each person to implement these guidelines: one has to fight one's own battle, work out one's own salvation.

Given this emphasis, still some explanation is necessary to provide a context for the practice. Therefore every evening of a course Goenkaji gives a "Dhamma talk", in order to put into perspective the experiences of that day, and to clarify various aspects of the technique. These discourses, he warns, are not intended as intellectual or emotional entertainment. Their purpose is simply to help meditators understand what to do and why, so that they will work in the proper way and will achieve the proper results.
It is these talks that are presented here in condensed form.

The eleven discourses provide a broad overview of the teaching of the Buddha. The approach to this subject, however, is not scholarly or analytical. Instead the teaching is presented in the way that it unfolds to a meditator: as a dynamic, coherent whole. All its different facets are seen to reveal an underlying unity: the experience of meditation. This experience is the inner fire that gives true life and brilliance to the jewel of the Dhamma.

Paperback, 95 pages
Published by Vipassana Research Institute
ISBN 81-7414-023-9

In addition to his teaching work, Mr. S.N.Goenka has presented Vipassana to the general public through hundreds of public discourses in different countries, and in different cities in India. Mr. Goenka has given the majority of these talks in Hindi; the remainder, as in the present volume, in English. Initially, these talks were given in one session. In recent years, however, Goenkaji has developed an additional format of speaking for a series of three or five consecutive evenings, in order to treat the subject in greater depth.

The three-day series of public talks contained in this book was given in Hyderabad, A.P., India from July 22 to 24, 1993.

The Sanskrit word Dharma (which is spelled Dhamma in the Pali language) originally meant "the law of nature" or "the truth." In today's India, unfortunately, the word has lost its original meaning, and is mistakenly used to refer to "sect" or "sectarianism." Using this theme as an introduction, Goenkaji explains that Vipassana meditation teaches how to live a life of pure Dharma-a life full of peace, harmony and goodwill for others. This subject is particularly relevant in India today-and indeed the whole world-where sectarianism and communalism have divided large sections of society and caused acute suffering.

Paperback, 70 pages
Published by Vipassana Research Institute
ISBN 81-7417-015-8

The first essay discusses the therapeutic role that meditation can have, its scientific basis, and its relevance to practitioners of healing professions.
The second essay explains how Vipassana meditation can be understood through Western psychology, and why it leads the meditator away from narcissism to mature, social love.

About The Author
Dr. Paul Fleischman is the author of The Therapeutic Action of Vipassana and Why I Sit, two essays that were published under one cover by the Buddhist Publication Society of Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1986 (Wheel Series No. 329, 330). He has also written The Healing Spirit: Explorations in Religion and Psychotherapy (Paragon House Publishers, New York, 1990 paperback ed.). He took his first Vipassana course under the guidance of S.N. Goenka in 1974, and has conducted courses as an assistant teacher since 1987. He has taught Psychiatry and Religion at Yale University, and practises psychiatry in Amherst, Massachusetts. In San Francisco, in May 1993, Dr. Fleischman was honored by the American Psychiatric Association as "an outstanding contributor in the field of psychiatry and religion."

Paperback, 29 pages
Published by Vipassana Publications of America
ISBN 81-7414-009-3

"Siddhartha Gotama" the Buddha, who lived in the 6th century B.C., preceded Patanjali by a few centuries.... While Patanjali, the author of the Yoga-Sutras, could draw upon the oral as well as the living tradition of the Buddha's teaching, which were extant in his time, his commentators and sub-commentators remained ignorant of both. This fact itself seems to have resulted in inadequate -- and, at times, uncalled for -- interpretations being offered by these commentators while explaining the Yoga-Sutras. The flaw can be rectified by attempting a re-appraisal of the Yoga-Sutras in the light of the Buddha's teaching as enshrined in the Pali Canon." --from the Preface, by S.N Tandon.

Pali and Sanskrit in both Roman and Devanagari scripts; Yoga-Sutra text included; extensive footnotes; bibliography

Paperback, 142 pages
Published by Vipassana Research Institute
ISBN 81-7414-024-7

A seminar held at Dhamma Giri, India

In this book (a translation and adaptation of the Hindi Kya Buddha Dukkhavadi - first published in Nepal in 2000) S.N. Goenka has explained the background of fundamental misunderstandings that have evolved about the Buddha and his teaching. These misconceptions arose when the Buddha's teachings were lost to India and most of the world. Goenkaji rebuts these wrong views about the Buddha and resolves the misunderstandings with lucid examples from the Pali Canon.

Contents
• Was the Buddha a Pessimist?
• False Criticism of Pessimism
• Does a Doctor Promote Disease?
• Spread of Falsehood
• Happiness and Welfare of Many
• Dispenser of Happiness
• Definition of Happiness
• Overemphasis of Misery
• Was the Buddha an Extreme Pessimist?
• The Buddha's Two Main Meditation Techniques

Three primary discourses of the Buddha that relate to the practice of Vipassana are explained by the late U Ko Lay, scholar, professor, and long-time student of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

Published by: Vipassana Research Institute
Publication Date: 2002
Softcover, 122 pages
ISBN: 81-7414-229-0

An anthology of articles from the Vipassana Research Institute.

When he died in 1971, the great Burmese meditation master Sayagyi U Ba Khin left an invaluable legacy. He was one of the first teachers in this century to present the ancient technique of Vipassana in a modern, systematic way, making it accessible to people of diverse denominations and cultures. Vipassana, the essence of the teaching of the Buddha, is a simple, practical method for achieving real peace of mind.

This journal commemorates U Ba Khin's exemplary life and teaching. It contains a selection of his discourses, and biographical sketches of his life and the lives of the teachers who preceded him. Included are essays about his noteworthy career by his renowned disciple, S.N. Goenka, as well as articles on different aspects of the Vipassana technique.

The Journal includes the writings of Sayagyi U Ba Khin; essays by and interviews with S.N. Goenka; historical sketches of the chain of teachers from Ledi Sayadaw to Goenkaji; a sampling of Pali research papers from V.R.I.; descriptions of the Vipassana meditation centers under Goenkaji's direction; and essays and testimonials by assistant teachers and students of Vipassana. Full color pictures of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, S.N. Goenka, and Vipassana centers.

Paperback, 320 pages
Published by Vipassana Research Institute
ISBN 81-7417-016-6

A Seminar, February 1990, Dhamma Giri
By Vipassana Research InstituteThe Seminar on Vedana and Sampajañña, held in 1990 at Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri, India, was an important milestone in the acknowledgment of Vipassana meditation as the quintessence of the Buddha's teaching. The papers presented at the seminar gave detailed insight into these two very important terms from the Pali canon. They are inspiring to meditators and intriguing to scholars interested in the Buddha's teaching.
In this second edition S.N. Goenka has contributed a new article that once again stresses the importance of vedana(body sensations) in the practice of Vipassana and the understanding of Satipatthana Sutta and many other passages from the Pali Tipitaka.

•Why Vedana and What is Vedana ¬ by S.N. Goenka
•The Importance of Vedana and Sampajañña
•Vedana and the Four Noble Truths
•The Significance of Vedana in Vipassana
•Relevance of Vedana to Bhavana-maya Pañña
•Significance of the Pali Term Dhuna in the Practice of Vipassana
•Types of Vedana and a State Beyond Vedana
•Vedana in Paticcasamuppada
•Vedana in the Practice of Satipatthana
•Sampajañña
•The Importance of Vedana
•The Causes of Vedana
•The Comprehension of Vedana, the Sambodhi of the Buddha
•The Importance of Kaya-samphassaja-vedana in Vipassana Meditation
•Samisa and Niramisa in Meditation
•Sampajañña--the Constant Thorough Understanding of Impermanence
•The Pariññaya of Vedana
•The Importance of Vedana and Sampajañña in Vipassana Meditation
•The Four Sampajañña
Other Papers Presented at the Seminar
•The Buddha and His Noble Path ¬ by Ven. Ñanissara
•Vipassana and Vedana as Understood by a Novice ¬ by U Tin Lwin
•Dukkha Conducive to Absolute Sukha ¬ by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing
•Importance of Vedana and Sampajañña in the Vipassana (Insight) System of Meditation ¬ by Ven. Bhikkhu Lokopalo
•Vedana and Aniccasañña of Vipassana in the Pali Texts ¬ by Ashin Arseinna
•The Many By-paths of Vedana ¬ by C. Witanachchi
•Kamma and Vedananupassana ¬ by Lily de Silva
•The Impact of Thorough Understanding (Sampajañña) on Sensations (Vedana) ¬ by Prof. N.U. Trivedi
•The Routine Duties of a Meditator: Sampjañña ¬ by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing
•Feeling and Right Perception in Vipassana Meditation ¬ by G.C. Banerjee