Author: Ryan Shelton
Social Justice From the Base of Vipassana Meditation as Taught by SN Goenka
https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2021/1/5/episode-29-racial-equity-training-in-the-vipassana-organization-of-sn-goenka This podcast interview with Clyde Ford via the Insight Myanmar Podcast strongly connects with me. Within the Goenka organization, my spiritual development reached a plateau that I'm happy with, but I've been stuck trying to figure out how to positively influence my world from this spiritual base. Working towards liberation by solely prioritizing practicing …
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Another School Year Begins!
The school year is starting; It’s time for us teachers to inspire another class of high school students! So what is the inspiring message for this year’s students? Let’s survive the pandemic together with masks and social distancing! Now that it’s abundantly clear that racism exists, let me explain why we continue to protect and …
Returning to School
I'm scared. I’m scared to return to work as a high school teacher with COVID looming, but there is something deeper. I’m scared to leave the safe bubble of my home where I’ve been hiding with my family since March because everything beyond these walls feels like chaos. I’m ready and willing to make sacrifices …
Making Connections for Future Generations
A global pandemic. Awareness of systemic racism. Calls for justice. Calls for order. How can a high school teacher support and encourage students as they’re receiving messages of division and marginalization during a social quarantine? I’m not sure, but I’m going to try to share some positive thoughts on inclusivity, unity, and hope and see …
Insight Myanmar Podcast
https://insightmyanmar.org/podcasts If you're looking for helpful and interesting dhamma podcasts, Insight Myanmar is worth checking out.
The Rigidity of the Tradition: Part 2
Written by Dan Kaminsky In the last post on the tradition’s rigidity I mainly focused on the technique itself. Here I’d like to discuss the tradition’s view of exploration. In my experience the tradition implicitly and explicitly discourages exploration of other meditation or spiritual paths. Implicit Messaging Implicitly the messaging happens in a few ways. …
Vipassana Purifies Intention, Intellect Solves Problems
Despite the intellectual disagreements I've shared with various aspects of the Goenka organization over the past 3 months, the aspect of Vipassana that I want the world to recognize and celebrate is its ability to purify one's intentions. Our world is obsessed with "how" to accomplish goals. How do I make money? How do I …
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Outside the Circle of Universality: Part 2
Written by Dan Kaminsky In the last post I began by talking about questions I had about vibrations. This post will elaborate more on other concepts that feel to me to be contradictory to the mission of a universal tradition. EnlightenmentEnlightenment has the possibility to be sectarian in the same way heaven and hell is. …
Outside the Circle of Universality: Part 1
Written by Dan Kaminsky In my first post on this blog, I mentioned a number of concepts that don’t feel to be universal to me. I only mentioned these concepts in passing so I would like to expand on them in the next two posts. In this post I will discuss Vibrations, and in the …
Living Vipassana 