Hi Dylan,
i found the Goenka scanning method and advice from the ten day courses (especially the emphasis on the three characteristics) to be excellent for fast progress both pre and post-stream entry. i would say the problem with the Goenka courses is not the technique or teachings, but the lack of non-scripted personal guidance.
i got stream entry with that technique, on the ninth day of my first Goenka course (which was my first meditation practice of any kind). fortunately, a year prior to that, i had experienced a short glimpse of what i considered to be the ideal condition i wanted to pursue (also called a "pure consciousness experience"), and the memory of it served as my guide throughout that course. that glimpse was not a permanent shift of any kind, and it could happen to anyone. i was still full of inner turmoil, craving & aversion, discomfort, confusion, etc. going into the course, so i don't think it was much of a head start in terms of progress, but invaluable in that it made me know what i was working towards--heightened, undistorted, equanimous awareness and getting rid of all suffering/emotional baggage/problems of self. also, having seen a glimpse of a perfect life made me see my usual "normal" condition as so unacceptable that i would have rather died than continue living that blindly. i practiced very very strictly, mostly because i was afraid of screwing up practice and not getting results, and that 100% effort every single second of the course paid off. basically, if you have a clear idea or at least some idea of what you're trying to develop, then the scanning technique can be a very effective tool.
i suspect that the natural tendency of one's attention might have an effect on whether scanning or noting would be better for a vipassana meditator. i think the Goenka scanning technique was good for me because my attention tended to be on the diffused and panoramic side and would very rarely become unintentionally absorbed and one-pointed. knowing how to keep the attention full and panoramic seems to be important for balanced development, leading into the equanimity ñana, and driving development post-path, but it's not taught as a technique in Goenka's 10-day courses. he only hints at it from time to time by advising yogis to constantly stay aware and live in the present, but he does not mention sights and sounds as practice objects. since my attention was more on the diffused side and hard to make one-pointed, the scanning advice worked out nicely for me because i always had at least some awareness of everything else in the background (sounds, thoughts, intentions, and sights when with eyes open) while scanning body sensations. i rarely got absorbed in the pinprick of a sensation or in altered states or imagination. sometimes there would be more extra attention to spare, and other times less, but it's important that all the attention you've got is applied to stuff arising in the present. for instance, if you're busy scanning but there is some restless energy and attention that's giving fuel to wandering thoughts, then while scanning you could apply that excess attention to sounds.
for someone whose attention tends to get focused in a one-pointed way easily (when attention gathers and stays on one thing and nothing else), especially if this tends to happen unintentionally, then i think it would be better to start off or switch to the Mahasi noting method, because this practice ensures that the attention gets thrown around like a pinball so that everything in the present gets noticed.
if you do the Goenka technique while sincerely and vigilantly doing all you can to figure out how to stay in the present, stay equanimous, and stay observant and objective, giving importance to the three characteristics, then you can make quick progress, but if you just "body scan" all day without a clear objective in mind, then you might achieve just that--the ability to scan the body for an hour at a time, but not much progress. actually if you listen carefully to all the practical advice he gives, which includes the evening discourses, i think the teaching is very complete and should take you straight to the kind of integrated, customized(to suit you), advanced and effective practice in which the techniques of noting and body-scanning join up and become almost the same thing. but because the advice is not personalized, you might not hear what you need to hear most at the right time.
another thing (copied from
here):
one drawback of the lack of non-scripted personal guidance at Goenka courses:
the emphasis on perfect equanimity--“every moment aware, every moment equanimous” can really throw meditators off at some points, and this is where knowledge of the insight maps and stages helps. you don't need to figure out what exactly which stage you're at, but it's helpful to realize that there are times in a diligent meditator’s practice when good equanimity is simply impossible. these include certain pre-path stages of insight progress (dark night stages from fear through re-observation), and perhaps other instances not related to stages when intense personal issues are coming up. you’re following directions to the letter, doing all you can, vigilantly staying with sensations and not getting swallowed by content, and still it seems impossible to achieve the objective of “remaining equanimous.” you get frustrated because you’re giving it your very best and are apparently failing. the frustration and thoughts about “i just can’t do this” start disrupting and complicating the practice, possibly making you give up or slack off, when phenomena-wise everything was moving along just fine. what this Goenka student needs to hear is that “every moment trying to be aware, every moment accepting” is good enough practice, because at certain periods maintaining stable equanimity is just not possible, and at the most difficult points the very best you can manage is to squeeze out barely enough tolerance to keep attention sputtering—and that is totally natural and in fact expected in the stages of insight.
do you feel that you've (not) made significant progress since 2005?
jill