The Teachers background
Bhante Vimala
tells us of his background in
his own words:
"I began
meditation in October, 1974, in
San Diego with the practice of
the Burmese style of meditation
called Vipassana. After a
few months of practice, I did a
self-retreat for about two weeks
and then decided to find a
teacher to guide me.
So I went to
San Jose, California, to begin
meditating with a former Sri
Lankan monk and wound up staying
at that center for about a year
and a half. While there, I met
and practiced with an Indian
teacher, Munindra, who practiced
in Burma for nine years.
Munindra is a famous meditation
teacher, best known as Joseph
Goldstein's mentor. (Joseph is
currently the main teacher at
the Insight Meditation Society
of Barre, Massachusetts.) Under
Munindra's guidance, I meditated
intensely for nearly 16 hours a
day, alternating between walking
and sitting each hour.
From San Jose,
I went to Hawaii and began
teaching meditation to a few
students. After two years, I
wanted to return to the mainland
to continue meditating and to
work with people who were dying.
I helped to start a Hospice in
Escondido, California to teach
terminally ill patients how to
meditate and to accept the
experience of dying.
Following a
year of the Hospice work, where
I had a chance to work with
understanding both pain and
death, I went to San Francisco
and stayed as a layman in a
Burmese monastery to practice
with a world-famous teacher by
the name of Sayadaw U Silananda.
I was, at this time, continuing
the Vipassana meditation. At a
later time I would continue
working with terminally ill and
those in depression would often
find relief by learning the
meditation I taught them.
I took the
next few years off to live as an
ordinary layman and started my
own business as a contractor,
building luxury homes. In 1986,
after being quite successful in
business, I decided to go to
Asia to practice meditation
intensively. So I left for
Thailand, became a monk, and
practiced with many different
teachers.
Two years
later, in 1988, I went to the
famous mediation center-Mahasi
Center-in Rangoon, Burma. There
I did an intensive eight-month
retreat, practicing for 22 hours
a day. But at that time, Burma
was in a difficult social
upheaval and, during their
revolution, they asked all
foreign monks to leave the
country. So I left Burma for
Malaysia and began teaching
meditation at a center that I
started there.
In 1990, I
returned to Burma for an
intensive two-year retreat,
alternating walking and sitting
meditations for about 18 hours a
day. The teacher there told all
the yogis to extend our
sittings, so I began setting for
longer periods of five to eight
hours (without moving). After I
had experienced all the stages
of meditation that a Vipassana
practitioner is supposed to
experience, I remained
unsatisfied and went back to
Malaysia. I began instructing
many people in meditation,
teaching the Loving-Kindness
form. This is the style which
the Buddha, according to the
suttas, taught to the ordinary
people who came to listen to
him.
Having taught
many students this form of
meditation, I was asked to join
the largest Theravadan monastery
in Malaysia, which happened to
be a Sri Lankan monastery.
There, I taught meditation and
gave Dhamma talks to many
people. Sometimes as many as 500
people would attend these talks.
At this time,
I had the opportunity to meet
many Sri Lankan monks and, after
long conversations with them, I
realized that many of the
writings I had been studying in
Burma were actually commentaries
on the Pali texts, rather than
the original texts themselves.
The monks said that , upon close
examination, some of the ideas
conveyed in these commentaries
are somewhat different from
those contained in the original
suttas. Surprisingly, one monk
even suggested that I disregard
the commentaries and go straight
to the Pali texts for the best
teachings. Another teacher
showed me how to meditate as
described in the suttas-a method
remarkably different from the
forms I had learned.
As I continued
meditating on my own, I
discovered that my meditation
was deeper and progressed faster
than ever before. After a few
more months of practice, I began
teaching meditation according to
this form described in the
original Pali suttas. I have
also written a book,
"The Anapanasati Sutta: A
Practical Guide to Mindfulness
of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom
Meditation" To date,
there have been over 1,000,000
copies printed and distributed
throughout the world, and I am
currently revising and expanding
this book. After reading this
guide, many students have come
to me for meditation
instruction.
For about
three years, I stayed at the
Theravadan temple in Malaysia,
and still have over 1000
Malaysian students in varying
degrees of deep meditation. I
returned to the United States in
1998 and have taught all across
the country."
This is the
capsule version of his teaching
so far. At the very least,
Bhante Vimalaramsi's journey
into meditation is fascinating.
Certainly, the gift he has to
offer anyone interested in
meditation is of immeasurable
value. I encourage you to listen
to him with an open, relaxed
mind and to receive everything
in love and compassion as it is
freely offered by him most
directly from the Suttas. In
respect to the Kalama Sutta I
encourage you to: ' Not believe
any of what is said because of
any reason. Use your own common
sense. Take what you can use at
this time and add it to your own
practice if it improves your
meditation. Leave behind for now
what you cannot use. This is the
customary way of receiving
Dhamma in this tradition.
In Metta.
Khema, Kappiya
to Bhante Vimalaramsi
March, 2002-2004 |
