RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Smiling Stone, modified 2 Months ago at 12/14/24 7:16 AM
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Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Insight in Perspective: S.N. Goenka and the emergence of Global Insight Meditation and Mindfulness - by Daniel M. Stuart
- Numata Center for Buddhist Studies - Hamburg 2024
(written with the support of the University of North Carolina, College of Arts and Sciences)

Introduction

Hello all,

So... I have been quite fascinated by this new book by Stuart and wanted to start a dedicated thread to share my notes about it, hoping it will be of interest to some.
I will post my notes on each chapter, quoting Stuart quite heavily when I couldn't see the point of paraphrasing him. This notes reflect my interests and might not cover all the aspects of the book. I might comment afterwards as, for now, the book is still resonating within. 
All quotes are between brackets ("") with the page number afterwards between parenthesis (p.69). If you find a page number without brackets before, it's just the page I'm talking about.
I strongly recommend to those interested to read the whole book!
https://www.projektverlag.de/schriftenreihen/hamburg-buddhist-studies/Insight-in-Perspective

The aim of the book is to recontextualize the contours of current-day Burmese lay insight meditation practices, and to correct the conflating of the development of the mass lay meditation movement with the lineage tradition of the Mahasi Sayadaw, reassessing the role of the U Ba Khin/Goenka tradition in the development of global insight meditation.

It goes into great details about many stories and assumptions at the root of the mythology of this tradition, in a way that is fascinating to me...

Let's start, then...

with metta
smiling stone

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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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The Ledi Sayadaw

Stuart states that both the Ledi Sayadaw and U Ba Khin have not been seriously studied by scholars and that their role has been misrepresented and downplayed, particularly by Eric Braun in his popular Birth of Insight (2013). The first chapter is built around a refutation of Erik Braun's exposition of Ledi Sayadaw, and I realized that I had internalized quite a lot of his views, namely that he taught the abhidhamma to lay people, which gave birth to a meditation method which downplayed calming techniques (shamata): dry insight. So I had constructed my image of Ledi Sayadaw very much according to his portrait, which confirmed the abhidhammic intellectual bend of the Sayadaw's writings I had had access to (the Manual of Insight -Vipassana dipani-).

On the contrary, Stuart finds that Ledi Sayadaw based his meditation practice on the suttas, and that a modicum of concentration remained an important factor to reach insight. He also did not think the Abhidhamma was necessary for the laity. The Sayadaw himself was a master in supranormal powers, as was Saya Thetgyi who spent at least seven years exclusively on calm meditation.

The book is a critique of the modernist view as exemplified by Braun and Sharf.
"It is necessary to stress that Ledi fully occupied such a world [populated by spirits], claimed to actually see such forces, and strongly opposed modern skeptics who doubted the reality of such a world" (p.41)

Stuart on Ledi in the Manual of Insight : " [Here he points out] that the detailed theoretical discussions entailed in Abhidhamma learning are not necessary for the enactment of insight meditation practice" (p.38).
("These innumerable momentary deaths occur innumerable times even during the wink of an eye. These momentary events are only relevant in Abhidhamma discussions. In insight meditation, all that is needed is consideration of the [awareness] of the transformation and the transfiguration of the continua, things which are visibly evident, and personally experienced by every man alive" (adapted from LD 1915 -p.64-65).

As a monk the Ledi Sayadaw could not write about his experiences or even plainly about meditation practice, which made the small manual by U Ba Khin such a revolutionary milestone! It was the first time that a practical guide was committed to writing, and it had to be by a lay person [did I read that right? Or first time that a guide was written by a lay person?]. 
"It is not suitable for venerable monks, who must abide by disciplinary rules, to speak openly of [such] things [related to meditation]."(U Ba Khin 1962 [1952] p.1-2).
I totally suscribe to Stuart's remark: "I find it difficult to see more than a very traditional scholar, one who is greatly constrained by the format of his work." (p.81)
That's why Stuart gave more importance to treaties not directly related to the path, such as the Rogantara dipani (manual for warding off pestilence), where he could find more details about the Ledi Sayadaw's worldviews.
This rather short chapter on the Ledi Sayadaw draws extensively on the Rogantara dipani.

Stuart wants to unearth the magical (weizza) and esoterical aspects of the line of teachers at the root of the Goenka network to counter the modernist view of most scholars on the matter.

Braun states that the Ledi Sayadaw has simplified meditation by introducing Abhidhamma categories obviating calm abiding practices. For Stuart, the Sayadaw's simplification of meditation comes from his knowledge of the sutta tradition, which obviates the need for Abhidhamma learning at an introductory level of meditation practice.

There was an apotropaic quality found in the recitation of the Abhidhamma in the times of the Ledi Sayadaw and in Burma, and that's what he had in mind when he created recitation groups ("apotropaic" is a fancy word for "magical"). "The Abhidhamma is important as much for his ritual power as for its logic" (p.44, see also p.46 on the cosmic battle between good and evil). He was himself a powerful healer, as was Sayagyi U Ba Khin
Yes, Weizza, It's like the traditional magical path in Myanmar, that of wizards and healers... It seems that both the Ledi Sayadaw and U Ba Khin were considered such, per their mastery of supernormal powers.

The Mingun Jetavana Sayadaw (1868-1955) was the first who taught groups of lay meditators and established the very first center (in 1911) where they could congregate and practice together. (note 77, p.52).
His disciple, the Mahasi Sayadaw, developed his teacher's method, setting up a large network of lay meditation centers, and being tasked by the government to teach foreign visitors from 1950 onwards. (p.53).
​​​​​​​The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, published in 1954 by the german monk Nyanaponika Thera -who learned from Mahasi-, was one of the first western language books on practical Burmese insight meditation. (note 78 p.53)
The monk Waya-Zawta claimed that he had attained key stages of Buddhist liberation and promised such stages to those who followed his teachings... in the middle of the eighteen century.
The monk Medavi (1728-1816) authored the first meditation-oriented treatise. (p.53)

Ledi played no part in such events. His importance lies elsewhere, perhaps in the fact that he was the first "to charge one key lay disciple with the duty of teaching insight meditation to other lay people, and even certified that this disciple was qualified to teach monks" (p.56), thus starting a lay lineage.

(.../....)
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Martin V, modified 2 Months ago at 12/15/24 12:19 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Fascinating!
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Thanks Martin and Shargrol!
​​​​​​​There's more to come...
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Chris M, modified 2 Months ago at 12/14/24 7:17 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Smiling Stone - I hope you don't mind that I fixed the link in your first comment. It was broken.
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Thanks Chris!
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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I'm enjoying this, thanks Smiling Stone
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Sayagyi Maung Po Thet, known as Saya Thetgyi

Here, Stuart draws extensively on A treatise on the shortcut to knowledge and vision of insight meditation in this very life (ditthadhammavipassanananadassana - unknown author, one of Saya Thetgyi's close disciples), [which I referenced in the thread "some views...". So I knew some of this material.]

The main novelty was that Saya Thetgyi proposed a shortcut approach to insight through short seven days retreats, where the meditator would first develop strong concentration.
He believed the power of the teacher could help the meditator reach high states of concentration very quickly, which was a condition for deep insight.
"It is precisely the great supernormal powers of these lay teachers and their natural karmic capacities that in the end renders unnecessary the need for their students to engage in extended practices of calm meditation before engagement with insight practice." (p.65)

He was also famous as a powerful healer. The fact that Ledi asked him to teach at least one thousand people (or six, depending on the source) shows how he valued the powers when it came to teaching skills, hence concentration practices that unlock them.

His initial difficulty to gather students despite the support of the Sayadaw shows the prominence given to monastics in teaching these matters by the Burmese population. Stuart states that only the Goenka network would eventually prove successful in Myanmar as a lay meditation method, the rest staying in the hand of monastics. (p.67)

As he was not a scholar, his example would set the trend for an anti-intellectualism bend that would become a key aspect of Goenka's teachings. This is despite the fact that both U Ba Khin and Goenka would claim some authority on Theravada Buddhist learning. (p.69)

(.../....)
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Sayagyi U Ba Khin

It is important to note that, even if U Ba Khin downplayed the necessity of deep concentration in specific contexts (where the help of a powerful teacher would render it unnecessary to reach insight), he would still "[teach] his advanced students to develop their concentration skills to a high level, and to tap into fields of supernormal powers themselves". (p.72)

"U Ba Khin's character came to represent the paradigmatic modern insight meditator" (p.73)

He started meditation at 38 but made extraordinary quick progress due to his exceptional cosmic/karmic background... (p.74)
He was encouraged to teach by Webu Sayadaw only 4 years later, in 1941!

Something hinted at by Stuart is the degree of self-persuasion of his own worth sanctioned by his elders (Saya Thetgyi and the Webu Sayadaw who invited him to teach). He did exactly the same thing with quite a few of his western visitors, providing them quickly with experiences that he interpreted as attainments [my interpretation], giving them the mission to bring his teachings abroad. He did not do that with his faithful long-term Burmese disciples, hinting at the fact that they were to follow him from life to life on his Boddhissatva path... (p.108-110)

This made me think of how he embodied (or actuated) the values of Buddhism, which is something which is so important in the whole tradition and a big difference with modern dharma where the most important is to feel the truth of our being in the depths of our lived experience. In U Ba Khin, we have somebody who was successful in burying his human frailties so as to appear as more or less a saint. Same with Goenka, and that's what he asks of his deputies (old students) when he demands a stainless sila. It's because we're a conquering tradition, we are ambassadors of the Dhamma, it's not some sort of new-age-ish self-development, we're here to convince people of the efficiency of the "true" Dhamma.
There's something about sacrificing truth for order, stability and power which Yuval Noah Harari analyzes well in Nexus (but doesn't seem to apply to his own tradition???) and which has been on my mind since Trump's election...

His only meditation manual was: The right answers to practice with a basis of textual theory.

Stuart brings to the fore something which has always puzzled (intrigued?) me: Goenka's explanation of lokutarra jhana vs loki jhana samadhi (supramundane vs mundane absorption) and the former relationship to nibbana. It appears that U Ba Khin view on this topic was modified between the two editions of his book to better concur with the Abhidhamma:

"The particular idea that emerges here is that the attainment of the supramundane path state can itself bring about the capacity for worldly absorption [loki jhana samapatti]. [...] in the 1962 edition of his treatise, for reasons that are not clear, he slightly modified his position. He characterized the kind of absorption accomplished as a result of the attainment of the path state as supramundane [lokuttara jhana samapatti] -as opposed to mundane- which brings his position closer to the classical tradition of the Abhidhammatthasangaha." (p.84-85)

Also, "Those of my students who are believed to have attained absorption meditation as a result of the path state (maggasiddhijhana) progress from the first absorption of the fine material sphere to the fourth absorption of the fine immaterial sphere in a matter of hours" (U Ba Khin 2003 [1952] p.34-35)
From this, I understand that access to the jhanas is a direct result of path attainment, not the other way around.

I have to quote this last one from U Ba Khin at length as it is as precise as it can get:
"At the time of entering the attainment of the fruition state, one does not take as object a conceptual counterpart sign, as one does not attend to one. There is simply attainment upon attending to nibbana as the object by way of the three characteristics. The mental impulsion of the fruition state arises after one experiences the sparkling-like mind element (manodhatu), which has the characteristic of purity, as it is free from the subsidiary defilements (upakkilesa). At the time of emerging from the fruition state, the characteristic nature (sabhavalakkhana) of what one experiences is vastly superior to the peace of absorption meditation. With great force, the peace and bliss (santisukha) of the stillness of nibbana is experienced for oneself." (U Ba Khin 2003 [1952] p.39-40)
The first I heard talk about "taking nibbana as object" was Analayo , and it sounded somewhat mysterious to this worldling back then...

We have talked elsewhere about how important the protection from spirits was, and how it was one of the duties of the teacher to maintain the purity of the atmosphere at the meditation center... Also how Sayamagyi was a powerful helper as a suspected anagami... Together, they gather the conditions for the meditator to reach the high stages of concentration necessary to start Vipassana successfully.

I enjoyed re-reading John Hislop's account which is quoted by U Chit Tin. I will reproduce some of it here:

"When the time was ripe,[he told me to concentrate harder on the center, then harder still]. Then he would say the moment was there, to concentrate harder still, with an appreciation of Anicca in the consciousness, then to exert a strong mental pressure on the spot for several seconds with the strong desire to escape from the suffering of existence and from the endless succession of births and deaths (Samsara), then to suddenly relax the mental pressure and hold the mind empty -just let the mind go blank. To anticipate and expect nothing. [Then Sayagyi and Sayamagyi would gather the forces of the devas and brahmas present to create a shield against the forces that rush to prevent escape from samsara]. Then they would need a second type of effort."
"This second effort would be in this fashion: the arising of mind and matter units is continuous [becoming and extinctions following so close together that it seems] an unbroken stream or "process" or "thread". With their power, Guruji and helper would intercept between two of these instants and make a small gap in the mind-matter process for a "fraction of a second" for the "breakthrough" attempt [...] if I was able to cooperate with them in making the gap in the stream of my Samsara and then suddenly relaxing the mind to stillness so that "something new", the unconditioned, could "fill" or "replace" the mind which I had suddenly given up." (Chit Tin 1985 p.26-27)

So "in this lineage of practice, the harnessing of such teaching powers is what made it possible to render unnecessary long periods of calming meditation" (p.96)

By teaching to non Buddhists, English speaking U Ba Khin emphasized that the teachings would "not interfere with their religious faith", but he elsewhere stated that they would "become Buddhist" upon taking up the practice (when speaking in Burmese). He also thought that his students had great paramis (and so were often Buddhist in past lives). (p.104)

The concept of paramis, developed through innumerable existences, is central to his worldviews, as it is to Goenkaji's!

Stuart hints at the fact that Sayagyi might not have attained stream entry, but was still able to successfully bring many people to those stages (p.111). That's because he considered himself a boddhisatta (bodhisatva) of the highest kind -the next Buddha Maitreya, according to his disciples!-, a rationale (being a boddhisatta) which was also endorsed by Goenka. He quotes the same passage in the documentary From Myanmar to the world that I referenced in the Goenka thread (I was moved to see that), to show that his closest disciples (Bill Hart in this instance) firmly held that belief.

Also, he said that "the Webu Sayadaw [picked and collected some] hair that had been shaved off his head" (p.113) Seeing this, he collected the rest and brought it back to Yangon, where it became relics for his disciples (even when he was alive), who then enshrined small bits of it in their centers. This is a clear sign of a cult toward U Ba Khin, which was never made public.

(.../....)

[12/20/24 : edited for clarity]
Eudoxos , modified 1 Month ago at 12/28/24 5:45 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Fascinating. I wish I had spotted this thread earlier, I would not have to wait for a week for the book to arrive now emoticon

The magick aspect of insight is definitely worth exploration. The teachers in Thailand I had contact with were not doing dry science meditation for sure. Resolutions for attaining insight stages (used much more often than Mahasi did) have their magick aspects, and the interviews sometimes felt as tacit metta/healing sessions covered up with talking about meditation. One of the names of Ajahn Jodok (Thai-Lao, disciple of Mahasi Sayadaw in the 50s, "the father of Mahasi method in Thailand", main vipassana teacher for Thailand in Wat Mahathat in 70s and 80s, one of the teachers of Ajahn Tong) was "Yanasit": Thai (=lazy) rendering of "Ñana-siddhi".

Just related to what you write about "taking nibbana as object" for fruition, this same Ajahn Jodok uses that phrase in his Path to Nibbana here (I would assume it to be an established expression from abhidhamma?). In the same text, he also distinguishes between jhana-samapati (spelled chana-samapati; which I assumed to be deep absorption with loss of external senses, but not cessation) and phala-samapati (for extended fruition/cessation). It is a hint of his olympic-level concentration mastery when he says there that one can do "24 hours or more" "if you have good concentration".
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Smiling Stone, modified 1 Month ago at 1/7/25 2:22 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Hey Eudoxos,

Thanks for the link to Ajahn Jodok, which looks like worth exploring !
And for sharing some of your experience with Thai Vipassana lineage, interesting indeed...

I hope you'll come back here after having read the book for further comments.
I've been reconsidering my own relationship to magical thinking after reading the book. Not so rational like I believed myself to be, for sure...
I thought somebody would have commented on the birth of the IMS... this chapter answered a lot of questions about the links between the founders of the Ims and Goenka... 

Here, I don't go in all the biographical details to concentrate on what is news to me. For those interested, here are a few (more hagiocraphic) biographies by Patrick Given Wilson :
On Goenka (first of two parts)
On Saya Thetgyi 
On Sayagyi U Ba Khin 
On the Ledi Sayadaw

and an insightmyanmar interview on Munindra with Mirka Kastner, her biographer.

I'll be back shortly to continue the thread on the book!
​​​​​​​
with metta
smiling stone
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Satya Narayan Goenka. The beginnings

"[We have to] understand that U Ba Khin conceptualized his students as true deputies, as proxies able to serve as channels of his physico-mental [sic] power and allow him to extend it beyond the borders of Burma. A primary element of this teaching model involved his ability to radiate his thought waves to his students at great distances, a practice that he claimed to have verified by experiment. [...] [With the support of Sayamagyi]... he could transmit the force of wisdom (vijjadhat' - nibbanadhat') that would help them purify their minds, and he could provide a protective "cover" from evil forces that are always on the look out to intervene in the process of human liberation." (p.121)

That's how, in 1968, he could send unprepared westerners to teach in their respective countries (only Hover, Coleman, and Ruth Denison -to teach women only- had taken up to it by 1975, but he had also appointed Leon Wright -as early as 1958, an interesting story in its own right-, Forella Landie -Canada, to teach women only-, Jan Van Amersfoort (the Netherlands). Goenka was deputized one year before them, in 1967, to teach a course in Mandalay "under the direct personal guidance of his teacher", translating his teachings to a "non-sectarian Hindi" for fellow members of the Hindu Burmese community. (p.116)

A savvy anecdote "... U Ba Khin was known to recite [chant] one particular mantra that went something like: "May I not come in contact with the ignorant. May I encounter only wise, saintly people until I attain nibbana." This verse emerged from a vow he had taken that "may only ripened people with very good paramis from the past come to me to take Dhamma, and may these people later take the torch of Dhamma, and spread it around the world". Being a devout student and wanting to emulate him, S.N. Goenka learned the mantra and would go around reciting it. One day U Ba Khin heard him... and rebuked him: "These words are not for you!" he said. "You are to give seeds of Dhamma to a very large number of people." (p.115)

Stuart goes on to report the firm belief of Goenka that he was receiving the mangal maitri [the dhamma vibrations, the nibbanadhatus] from his teacher, and that it is the key factor that allowed the tradition to expand as it did, Goenka pushing the "deputy" aspect of his appointed "assistant" teachers even further...
So the tradition is based on a cultic, magical paradigm which is certainly not emphasized!

There is an ongoing "eternal conflict of cosmic forces", exacerbated when one tries to spread the dhamma, which translates as contrary outside events. This belief was also passed from U Ba Khin to Goenka. See also the importance of the purity of the location where one teaches... (p.127)
To this day, the ATs (assistant teachers) play U Ba Khin's chanting ( Stuart says it's a part of the Tikapatthana (which pertains to the Abhidhamma) on the afternoon of day 0, before the beginning of the course (p.128). I've witnessed it a couple of times, not sure if it's always the case. (note 221: The Tikapatthana is used as a protective incantation in Myanmar)

In stark contrast with the legend immortalized in Goenka's discourses, "U Ba Khin tells about Goenka in a discourse on the fifth day of one of his ten-day meditation retreats": (note 334 p.192-193). There, he reveals that, when Goenka took refuge in July of 1954, two months before his first course, he got rid of his headaches immediately:

​​​​​​​"He offered his body to me. He accepted himself as Sayagyi's disciple. As soon as he did so, his headache was gone. [...]. On the first Friday of September, [...] he did not appear. He did not enrol in the list either. Here, we were going to start on Friday. He suffered a headache, as seriously as before, the Wednesday prior. How? He broke his promise, right? Therefore, I guess that the guards who gave protection in favor of me did not protect him anymore. [...] Later, he meditated here and was completely free from headaches. So, he pays much respect to me..."

Another testimony of the prominence of dhatu here, subtle vibrations, in the worldviews of both...

(.../....)
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Goenka and Munindra

It's not the place to expand on Munindra's biography, suffice to say here that he was a student of the Mahasi Sayadaw (which was the reason why U Ba Khin, which he knew well, did not want to have him sit a retreat at the IMC (p.138)), and also explored a range of different traditions during his nine years in Burma (p.133).

Munindra started to teach in Bodhgaya in 1966, three years before Goenka, which does not fit in the narrative of Goenka as the unique agent of the prophecy about the return of the teachings to India after 2500 years (p.131).

But it seems that Munindra had great respect and friendship for Goenka from their years in Burma. He participated in the first course in Bodhgaya in 1970, which had a powerful effect on him (whether it was a first encounter or something he had already experienced before remains unclear: it is good for the Goenka narrative to suggest that it was a discovery (note 237 p.139)).

I see Munindra as willingly endorsing the narrative, out of frienship/respect for Goenka (just from what transpires from the excerpts reproduced here (a letter he sent to U Ba Khin after the course, where he is very enthusiastic about the retreat and about Goenka as a teacher. (p.138)). Stuart stresses that he might also have adhered to the prophetic cult around U Ba Khin (p.138)). Sitting the course under Goenka gave him a subordinate position in the tradition's mythology... . It is also noteworthy how he taught "vipassana meditation" to his students: on an open day to day basis, giving talks but not really organising retreats...

Munindra would gladly send his few students to sit Goenka courses, and have access to different teachings. It is a peculiarity of this tradition to reject other traditions as inferior and to downplay intellectual understanding (note 240 p.141 where U Ba Khin tells Goenka that the extracts of the Abhidhamma he gave him are enough to satisfy any scholar, that "it is desirable to avoid telling them anything which they cannot understand now by experience."

Interesting that Goenka knew the Mahasi Sayadaw quite well (p.135). Stuart talks about the need of endorsement of these lay teachers by some monastics, thus the importance of the Webu Sayadaw for U Ba Khin... and at the same time maintaining this sense of superiority of their practice (which is clear in the extract from Goenka about the Mahasi Sayadaw).

To have an idea of the U Ba Khin network at the time, Hover taught a few courses alongside Goenka in India. He created the Vipassana newsletter in the US, on the model of Goenka's hindi model.

(.../....)
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Smiling Stone, modified 1 Month ago at 1/8/25 4:10 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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The birth of the IMS

Joseph Goldstein conducted a 30 days Sati-patanna [sic] course in September 1974 in California, the first of its kind, drawing on Munindra's teachings but also nourished by his intense practice with Goenka. (p.146)

"At the time Goldstein taught this course, he had been practising under Goenka intensively for four years, and some in the communities of meditation students thought he was being groomed by both Munindra and Goenka to become a teacher." (p.143)

The Satipatthana sutta was an important framework in the teaching of the Mahasi Sayadaw and Munindra, not so in the Ledi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin lineage. Prior to that course, Goenka had wanted Goldstein to stop attending Munindraji's teachings. (p.143)

Goenka reacted strongly against what he stated was a "big confusion in the mind of western students with these words of Satipathanna and Vipassana" (p.147)

Goenka would go on teaching his own Mahasati Patthana Sutta course on december 1981, after completing a comprehensive analysis of the text, reconciling it with the practice he teaches, and positioning himself as a true pandita for his indian public. (p.195)

Stuart rightly states that the practice inherited from U Ba Khin is more aligned with the Anapanasati Sutta (MN118) or the Dhatuvibhanga Sutta (MN140), but that Goenka wanted to position himself along "the Mahasi Sayadaw who taught using the Satipatthana Sutta"... He even asked a student to bring all the Sayadaw's treaties about this topic back from Myanmar to study them, in 1980 (just a year before the first STP course)... He also wanted to respond to his western students who had by then started teaching in the States! (p.197-198).

The IMS center opened in Barre Massachussetts in the summer of 1975. The first course was conducted by... Robert Hover! Its establishment was explicitly associated with the three non-Asian constituents of U Ba Khin's global team: Hover, Denison and Coleman. (p.149).

In their opening statements, they said the center would also welcome other vipassana traditions [than that of U Ba Khin, courses by its three teachers being the firsts to be announced]. (p.150) This would prove unacceptable to Sayama and Goenka. In 1977, both Hover and Denison were ousted from the tradition. Coleman stayed, as it seems he had a good relationship with Sayama (Stuart goes into minute details on why they were ousted. You should read the book! Hover used a female student to channel U Ba Khin, among other things -unproved allegations of sexual misconduct-. Denison was too new-age-ish, mixing meditation and dance etc.)

Hover was also informally "ghosted" by the IMS afterwards, his contribution erased from the history of the center ... and from western meditation. It should be noted that (according to Stuart, p.157) Ayya Khema was a student of Robert Hover, one that was especially strong in her concentration skills... but apparently not the one that was used as a channel!

Stuart states that the IMS founders were in dire need of a south Asian lineage endorsement to feel authorized to teach, as they lost the connection to U Ba Khin lineage. That's where Munindra (and his disciple Dipa Ma) comes to the fore, having encouraged Goldstein to teach early on. He led numerous retreats there from 1977 to 1984. This would lead to the long-term connection with the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage, who first came in 1979. (p.160-163).
The Burmese scholar-monk U Rewata Dhamma saw the need of a formal endorsement of the young teachers by the Sayadaw (in the form of a famous picture shown in the book p.162),

Interesting that "these young teachers pulled much of their initial cultural capital from the endorsement of the 'crazy wisdom' Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his budding Naropa Institute" (note 281 p.161 ; Fronsdal Virtues without rules: Ethics in the Insight Meditation Movement p.287-88). Goldstein was connected to Trungpa early on.

While they turned to U Pandita after the demise of Munindra (because of an alleged story of sexual misconduct that was 'swept under the rug' because he was "too deeply embedded in the narratives of the IMS founding to be completely removed[...]" p.165), the fact that they never "fully embraced an institutional vision that puts monastics at the center of its activities" (p.166) had to do with the fact that (among other things) they had been groomed by a lay meditation lineage.
​​​​​​​
Stuart goes on to explore Kornfield's strategy at "setting himself up as a self-standing authority", having had "a broad exposure to a variety of teachers and practice models" from years in Asia [see his book Living Masters], and claiming scientific endorsement through a Phd and alluding to a "superiority of the west" thanks to modern psychological insights. In the process, he misrepresented U Ba Khin teachings in his book...

To conclude, I would say it looks like a more thorough and accurate report that what Braun gathered, and quite different from the image I had of the IMS (It looks like they also had to bend history their way, at some point)...

​​​​​​​(.../...)
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Smiling Stone, modified 1 Month ago at 1/8/25 4:01 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Goenka and Mother Sayama

Next come the repudiation by Mother Sayama, in 1981. Stuart gathered quite a lot of information, even if he does not pretend to have all the elements in hand to explain the fall out.
He points to the fact that it was Sayama's decision to oust Hover and Denison, and that Goenka just followed the lead, before being the next one on the list. That's quite different from what I had understood from the first book, where I had assumed that Goenka needed to get rid of the very Buddhist identity of Sayamagyi, and thus somehow provoked, or at least welcomed, the clash.

Well, going through the book again to write this, it is indeed the "notice of change" issued by Goenka (western Vipassana newsletter autumn 1981, not the Indian version) which makes the split public, and insist on voluntary donation by old students as the sole wholesome way of funding the courses. This document comes after four courses given back to back (in England) by the four remaining teachers of the tradition, that is, Coleman, Sayama, U Chit Tin and Goenka. There must have been heated discussions in this occasion.

There are five points in "the notice of change":
1- the dana aspect
2- No personal gain from the teachers
3- The Eightfold Noble Path, concrete beneficial results that can be verified objectively
4- Students should take refuge in the Dhamma, not in any teacher, and develop their own insight...
5- Non sectarian Dhamma, not a religion but a way of life.

We can see how number 5 would rub "unabashed" Buddhists such as Sayama and all.

Coleman responded with a "notice of clarification" in the spring of 1982, reminding the public that Sayagyi's original organization did actually charge dues to its members, and that he was a staunch Buddhist (vs point n°5).

Stuart remarks that the "notice of change" was directly conceived to solve the problem of Mother Sayama", although it appears like a general statement for the future of the organization, a "coherent set of Buddhist modernist principles that might be the basis for a modern approach to Buddhist (or non-Buddhist) meditation." (p.186).
He also highlights that there was a discrepancy between this written statement and how Goenka and his students were engaged in practice, giving tremendous importance to the connection with Sayagyi beyond the grave and to the power of his nibbana dhatus.

Stuart interviews students that were there on both sides at the time, and further explanations are proposed:
- One was that Sayama was not happy with Goenka teaching such big courses ("It seems that Goenka has become carried away by being a guru" (Streat talking to U Chit Tin, p.188). She sensed very negative vibrations when she arrived at the IMC center in England, and could not sleep for ten days right after a course where, "on the sixth day [...] one man accused Goenka of mind control and then publicly exited the retreat. On the eight day, another meditator began hyperventilating. [Which morphed into a primal scream which had him carried away from the tent]. These challenges led Goenka to end the course one day early [...and he] seemed troubled by these events." (p.189). In this context "she asked Goenkaji to stop giving such big courses, and to surrender to her as a teacher. She also asked him to start charging for courses as we do now, in order to dissuade the wrong people from attending". (Streat K. 2005 Captain Buddha and his amazing Dukkha machine: a seven year journey p.158) (p.188)

- Also, Goenka's choice of giving bigger courses was going against "U Ba Khin's theory of dhat', which stipulated the need to have the right psychic and material forces in force [sic] in retreat contexts to create the conditions for breakthrough to the nibbanic state." (p.189)

- Finally, Goenka, who did not want to say anything against Sayamaji, whom he was devoted to, did put the blame on U Chit Tin, "who had a different agenda". (p.191)

Interestingly, everybody (on both sides) was told NOT to talk about it.

- There's a also a hint at racial prejudices from Mother Sayama : she "invoked ethno-nationalist divisions, referring to Goenka disdainfully as 'that black face' [kala, a burmese term that was used for both non-Burmese immigrants of South Asian origin as well as British colonialists]." (p.190). That comes as a secondary account, put together from the primary account of two close disciples of Goenka who were involved in trying to mediate the conflict. (I give this precision as this disclosure was quite disappointing).

- "[She remembered] she had been Mother Visakha in the time of the Buddha. And she'd find people who had meditated with her before. [...] And she was very much what you would expect a middle-class Burmese housewife from that period to be, in terms of her beliefs." (p.191)

Also, Goenka was instrumental into developing the cult around U Ba Khin at the IMC in Burma, and participated in this visionary world to a large extent. We have to keep that in mind when we read the notice of change. And to remember how he "[solved the conflict] by seeking a direct psychic connection to Sayagyi U Ba Khin", which beforehand was the prerogative of Sayamagyi. (p.192)(the famous story about the course in Japan p.186-187)

"And this visionary process, virtually impossible to 'verify objectively', becomes foundational for the internal community validation of its mission." (p.192)

Which is exactly what Stuart wants to come to...

​​​​​​​(.../...)
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Smiling Stone, modified 1 Month ago at 1/12/25 12:12 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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At the head of his organization - The missionary drive

A few months after that, in 1982, he launched the first Satipatthana course, as we saw in the post on the IMS, "setting himself up as a true pandita for his Indian public" (p.195)
Along with that, he started to form assistant teachers, although "this program was developed in a context in which Goenka did not feel that his assistants were yet competent to teach the Dharma themselves" (p.210).
Stuart doesn't give details on how the tape-recorded instructions appeared (I remember hearing that a western student came with the technology and Goenka was thrilled!) but "it allowed Goenka to be the only actual teacher, while at the same time harnessing the zeal of his close disciples and providing more and more courses as the demand increased" (p.210). Also, maybe he did not want any student to do to him what he had done to Mother Sayama... (p.213)

Stuart shows how there was a lot of communication to show how "efficient and well received" the assistant teacher's courses were, in order to build the trust in the new program.. Also, while the idea was at first for the ATs to conduct courses for old students only, this was quickly changed to welcome new students as well. This would allow much quicker expansion...
There is also a note about the fact that it took him some time to appoint independent female assistant teachers... the conservative gender normes, still somehow at play in the courses, being a consequence of Goenka's own views, in line with traditional Asian attitudes, unlike what the organization would later try to convey (note 357 p.208).

How come there was such a drive toward expansion?

We have seen before how Goenka's mission was to bring the "seed of Dhamma" to large numbers of people ("the ignorant masses" p.198). Stuart shows very well how the break with Sayama was the occasion to develop the soteriological* identity of Goenka as a Boddhisattva, where his mission and that of his followers would become to assist the Buddha Maitreya along many lives.
* Soteriology: the branch of theology dealing with the nature and means of salvation

Stuart goes back with a great deal of details on how the tradition developed this feeling of superiority, not unlike what we find in Mahayana. As one student puts it: "In the end, I knew that if I went with Sayama it would be for my own liberation. With Goenkaji, it was for [the liberation] of others" (p.200, secondary account).

As a matter of fact, "by emphasizing his identity as a future chief-disciple-boddhisattva (aggasavakabodhisatta) of the coming Buddha, Goenka and his followers were [...] able to set themselves up as special beings with a special mission, while at the same time ensuring that the likes of Sayama and U Ba Khin's other students could be relegated to an inferior position within the cosmic hierarchy [because of their attainments, they could not be considered as vow-takers, except some Burmese disciples like U chit Tin and U Tin Yee]." (p.199)

Early on, however [after the split], Goenka made it clear that any serious student of his would have to make a choice. It was either him or Mother Sayama: no student of his could continue his work with her." (p.200) This was a big change from the first ten years where he had happily sent promising students to Burma to deepen their practice.

"At the same time, this idea devalues U Ba Khin's own teachings in certain respects. His primary focus was to bring his students as quickly as possible -and with whatever force necessary- to attain the final goal of Buddhist Nirvana. This was done through a one-on-one teaching model, one that often involved Mother Sayama's assistance". (p.200)

It is at this moment in time, for Stuart, that the goal of [realizing nibbana] "gets pushed to the background -if not rubbed out entirely- while the work of large-scale missionary institution building gets foregrounded" [...and assistant teachers start to be deputized] (p.204).

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​[.../...]
shargrol, modified 1 Month ago at 1/12/25 12:29 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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so interesting, thanks again!
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Smiling Stone, modified 20 Days ago at 1/26/25 1:18 PM
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The spread of Vipassana : the theoretical output

"[There is now] an emphasis on the popularity of Vipassana which becomes "the direct proof" of its beneficial efficacy and authenticity." The success of the mission is now measured by the numbers of attendees and their felt benefit, the number of courses taught and the development of new centers... when the only yardstick for U Ba Khin and Mother Sayama was the attainment of the spiritual goal of Buddhism (p.209).

Let's come back to the organization of the courses through tapes and proxies: we said it avoided some of the power issues faced by Goenka with the U Ba Khin team. "Goenka gathered around him a large collection of devoted and subservient disciples..."
It could exist only because there was this strong belief that the person conducting the course would be a channel for U Ba Khin's metta through Goenka's instructions and personal metta. It also allowed to have courses led by assistant teachers more and more remote from "the original cultural and cultic context in which the teachings were developed under U Ba Khin [...] [and] from the traditional doctrines of Burmese Theravada Buddhism that provided the foundations for U Ba Khin's teachings and practices." (p.214)

[I would add as a comment that the faith in Goenka and in the "technique", measured by the amount of service, is the only yardstick used to judge if a meditator is fit to become a teacher. Certainly this might allow disparities in the degree of realization of the ATs?
They do keep on sitting a lot of long courses if they can, and I can vouch for the fact that I myself wanted to do more, longer retreats: this is a special, intense time dedicated to progress on the path (well, geared toward purification really, if you believe in that line of thinking). It is the culmination of the daily practice which it brings to new levels, then sedimenting into daily life. One never becomes wary of the technique: "the proof is in the pudding", "the path is the goal"...]

The summaries of the discourses are published in Hindi in the Vipassana newsletter in 1982. They become a "literary source for the teachings...for those who had already learned the basics of meditation [through a ten day course]". While the English translation followed shortly after, the translation of the morning chanting waited many years, because "the content of Goenka's liturgy is largely devotional, contains explicit supplications to his teacher, and invokes a range of supernormal powers in a religious fashion that is explicitly tied to traditional protective rituals and domestic Buddhist ritual practice." (p.215)

Stuart then details how "boiling [down] the teaching to their "essence"" would keep both assistants and students in the dark... (he did not call it "mushroom culture" but the idea is there!), while at the same time providing them "with a sense that they are engaging intellectually with the tradition. "This process is the literary parallel of the assistant teacher program in that it dumbs down an already simplified set of doctrinal points and strips out much of the nuance of U Ba Khin's original teachings" (p.215)

He goes on to comment on the creation of the Vipassana Research Institute in 1985, which was never aimed towards actual research, but served as a publisher for the entire Tipitaka in Devanagari (its main purpose) and for Vipassana literature which could maintain tax exemption for the whole trust in India (as long as it did not make profit from the sales). The "research" has always been bogus, and the publications rehashing the same content in circles (the technique is the answer to everything), the best example being the satipatthana course where we are told that, yes, there are four frames of reference, but we only need one to reach the goal, because in vedana (taken as the elucidation of the physical component of the feeling) we have access to the body, the mind and the mental factors...

" I have [...] run into numerous young meditators who find themselves deeply puzzled by Goenkaji's satipatthana sutta course and his interpretations of the famous text."
I would add that the weird reasoning of Goenka during the course, explaining why the practice had to remain the same, puzzled me as well. I then found out that there were some discrepancies between Goenka's and Analayo's interpretation of the sutta, although Analayo had been a teacher on long courses in the tradition. This finally brought me here...

"I have also seen a consistent trend within the community, particularly in recent years, of actively discouraging students from studying buddhist texts, which often on their face conflict with Goenka's practical interpretations [...]"(p.223). [No, they respect the suttas and encourage us to read them -in pali better-, the problem is in the commentaries, few moderns like Bikkhu Boddhi pass the test, but if you tell them you're reading them -or a Ledi Sayadaw treaty-, they will ask you "how many long courses have you done?" and maybe tell you you're not ready.. My experience...]

From a VRI notice : "[...] the research work is best done by those with direct experience of the Buddha's teaching." (VRI 1994 (1991): 246), of course meaning an experience in this tradition, "thus solidifying the internal narrative of the tradition while at the same time calling into question the interpretations of anyone outside of it, those not fully committed to Goenka and his community" (p.225)

[Despite my bend toward critical thinking, I had internalized that point and subconsciously, I too have tried to convince others and myself that the technique was self-sufficient, that it contained everything necessary to reach the final goal... Nowadays... I still believe the problem lies not so much in the technique -in my experience, it is an efficient vehicle for reducing suffering- but in the rigidity of views in the tradition which hinders progress... I am totally behind Stuart when he becomes more confrontational in this latter part].

At some point, they had to conduct some research on the social beneficial effects to keep the tax exemptions, that's why we have some conference transcripts on Vipassana and addictions, sleep etc., but it was a service a minima, done rapidly and stopped as soon as it was not needed anymore. (p.225)

After all this, Stuart says in the end that the VRI scam should not automatically be viewed negatively if it allows more people to get in touch experientially with the teaching (more money meaning more courses): "This may sound like an entirely negative assessment, [...] but one way to consider it is to acknowledge this approach as a skillful use of public authority for the purpose of spreading the seeds of Dhamma widely in the form of meditative experience".(p.226)

​​​​​​​[...]
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Martin V, modified 13 Days ago at 2/2/25 1:08 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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This is exceptionally interesting and helpful! It must have taken a lot of work to boil so much down into this readable summary. I was particularly interested in the "magical" aspects of the development.

I have been thinking for some time that we could use a general readership book that explained the historical underpinnings of the major Buddhist schools and the development of Buddhist teachings in the West over the past 100 years. If we get one, I hope that it will have writing like this!
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Smiling Stone, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 8:59 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Thanks Martin!

We're soon  getting to the end of the book... and I've been procrastinating quite a bit. It's difficult to maintain the fascination over time (to keep the flame alive), but the book and the research behind it totally deserve it.
So it's encouraging to read nice comments, thanks again to you and to all who have manifested support along the way.

with metta
smiling stone
Polymix P, modified 18 Days ago at 1/28/25 9:45 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Thank you for these messages. Regarding the VRI (Vipassana Research Institute), I totally agree: I’ve never understood why they never conducted historical research on Ledi Sayadaw or Saya Thet Gyi. Even their website was limited to replicating "mythological" narratives; it was only with the release of Erik Braun’s book that they were able to update the related biographies or historical references.
There has also been a lack of research on the effects of body-scanning from a biometric or neurophysiological perspective.
Eudoxos , modified 13 Days ago at 2/2/25 2:04 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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I would ascribe this to cultural reasons, which might be hard to appreciate. My gut feeling is that Western-style historical research is just not in the blood of Asians, it will mostly have to be done by Westerners (two cases in point is this thread's book, Insight in Perspective, and The Birth of Insight). Dtto for Western-style scientific research on body-scanning. Dtto for mediaeval scholastics doing zero historical research on Jesus, or Aristotle.

As an example on historical research, not to go far away, consider Mahasi Sayadaw. His importance for Theravada in Burma, SE Asia and the West can hardly be exaggerated. Yet, how many historical books on him do you find? In English, I found one obscure book (The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw Biography, Abridged Edition — Part I; compiled by Ashin Silānanābhivamsa, translated by U Min Swe, “First printed and published in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, April 1982”). The style is like this (page 70, random example): “The name of Ashin Pothīla is so well-known that there is hardly anyone who has not heard of him. He was an eminent Thera with a very brilliant scholarship, nay, an intellectual giant.” It is not up to our standard of historical book by any stretch of imagination.
Polymix P, modified 17 Days ago at 1/29/25 11:09 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Let me add some personal reflections to this thread.  
This latest book by Stuart can be read on multiple levels.  

First and foremost, as explicitly stated by the author himself, I would define it as historiographical: under the pretext of counterbalancing Braun’s work, it corrects the recent historiographical—or even mythological—perspective present in the academic Buddhist world regarding the origins of meditation, its diffusion, and the scientistic and rationalist approaches to it.  

On another level, the book also serves as a dissemination of "reserved" information, which is hardly known outside of restricted circles—and even within them, it can only be accessed through arduous personal research. I’m referring to texts by U Ba Khin, Goenka on long courses, Saya Thet Gyi, and the connections with the Burmese Theravāda world (including its cosmological aspects and struggles between opposing forces). Perhaps these texts are available online, but without an adequate interpretive key. Between the lines, the book also addresses the authenticity of the body scan technique, at least up to Ledi Sayadaw.  

Additionally, it presents a genealogy of Goenka’s tradition and its development over time, tracing its journey to where it stands today. It also explores Goenka’s co-teachers (appointed by U Ba Khin himself) — many of whom are almost entirely unknown, along with their various approaches, some of which are particularly interesting - Robert Hover's for example.

Finally, the book intersects with the birth of IMS (Insight Meditation Society) and all the implications this had for Buddhism and meditation in the United States and beyond.  

There’s truly a lot here, and in my opinion, this book is particularly rich for a practitioner in Goenka’s tradition who is also interested in the historical aspects of this lineage — beyond rhetorical or mythological constructions — and aware of the possible "magical" forces at play. 
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Chris M, modified 17 Days ago at 1/29/25 3:10 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Thank you for that wonderful summary, Polymix P. It has convinced me to purchase and read this book.
Polymix P, modified 17 Days ago at 1/30/25 4:14 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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You are welcome. If I may say so, I find the choice to publish this text under a quite esoteric publishing house like “Projekt Verlag” a bit unfortunate: let's say a distribution for “insiders,” which certainly does not intercept the whole readership base that could have been reached by publishing through Shambhala, as he did with the previous monographic book on Goenka. As a result, such a historically interesting book remains virtually unknown or overlooked to this day.
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Smiling Stone, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 12:35 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Hi Polymix,

Thanks for the nice synthesis, I totally agree on the different levels of reading, and you've done a good job at delineating them. 
You seem to like Robert Hover... I am curious why, as I was disappointed when I read his book Internal Moving Healing Manual of Instruction, as he seemed really beside the point. And what Stuart tells in his book is not so engaging... Do you have other sources ? Did you know him, by any chance? *
​​​​​​​Here some info about the book on Dhammawheel.

Nice to have you here
with metta
smiling stone

* Edit : Here all the talks from Robert Hover on a two week retreat in the early 80's. It looks fascinating and will no doubt modify my bias towards him...
Polymix P, modified 12 Days ago at 2/3/25 7:25 AM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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The literary genre of "biography" and its cultural declination in the East (specifically in Burma) has also been explored by Houtman (*). Undoubtedly some biographies that appear in this context may seem more like hagiographies or even epic/legendary tales from a Western perspective (**).

However I would like to clarify that Stuart's critique is directed not at Eastern scholars but at Western ones and their unconscious founding myths:

 - For example, the idea that the spread of meditation arose as a counter-revolt against colonialism, rather than also involving indigenous seeds of renewal within itself
 
 - Or the assumption that Ledi Sayadaw was a rationalist and deliberately diluted the requirements for mental pacification (samatha) — whereas it is evident that he had what we might call a magical vision of the world. He wrote about amulets, saw dark entities during plagues, and so on.

These uncritical Western assumptions ultimately cause the "disappearance" of biographies of those whose actions displayed non-orthodox traits from a scientistic point of view. For instance, the theologian Mr. Wright was a healer (in addition to being the first Black teacher appointed by U Ba Khin), and he is absent from the genealogies of mainstream mindfulness. Similarly, certain aspects of Mr. Hover have led to him being sidelined. Another example, it is often overlooked that certain Pali chants were recited for spiritual protection and continue to be used for this purpose — even within the organization of Goenka’s retreats.

(*) The Biography of Modern Burmese Buddhist Meditation Master U Ba Khin: Life before the Cradle and past the Grave

(**) See how begins Sunlun Sayadaw's biography:
https://sunlunfan.com/uploads/books/BIOENG.pdf
It is the inherent nature of an Ariya to be obsessed with a persistent
desire for escape from the perilous round of rebirths, characterized by
constant perishing of mental and material phenomena. One such Ariya to
be, faring in Samsara’s innumerable existences, happened to be born as a
parrot during the time of Kassapa Buddha who appeared in the Bhadda-
kappa (the present world) which is blessed by Five Buddhas.
One day, the parrot happened to meet Kassapa Buddha [...]
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Smiling Stone, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 12:45 PM
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RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

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Calm and insight

At the end of the book, Stuart comes back to the misrepresentation by scholars (the main one being Braun):
1- Of the relationship between calm and insight in the Ledi Sayadaw lineage.
2- Of the importance of this tradition in the development of modern Buddhist meditation worldwide.

What Goenka downplays from U Ba Khin's framework is the role of the teacher. This serves him in three ways:
- by setting himself apart of the tradition of guru worship in India,
- by acknowledging the rationalist bend of his western disciples,
- and by pushing Mother Sayama out of the equation (who would have been included in the line of teachers otherwise?).
Two of these had to do with the establishment of the tradition in religious India.

Meanwhile, the courses still play Goenka's morning chantings nowadays ("for good vibrations", dixit Goenka), and the assistant teachers still play U Ba Khin's chanting before the opening of the course (for the purification of the precinct - the quality of the vibrations in the center are of utmost importance)...

Stuart quotes Goenka's discourse on the unfolding of the ñanas in the mind of the meditator when practising this technique (I would add: on retreat... Shared in its entirety by Polymix here).
This text is yet another instance of Goenka using (bending) the scriptures to validate the technique (just like in the VRI publications).

Stuart adds that the point missing from this discourse is that the meditator is encouraged to cultivate the uppekkha ñana by bringing meditative attention [...] to the "heart base" (hadayavatthu), the seat of the subconscious mindstream (bhavanga). This instruction comes all the way from the Ledi Sayadaw.

Stuart interprets this secret instruction simply as a proof of the necessity to develop strong Shamatta in order to attain liberating insight in this tradition.
As I have stated elsewhere, I have developed a belief that strong concentration on this point (for a few minutes at a time only, as you're advised on the 30 day course -maybe it becomes more prominent at the end of the longer retreats?-) in a state of dissolution unearths "deep rooted complexes" in the form of intense imbalance that may take different forms, the return of solidified sensations turning into restlessness... or into spectacular mood swings and mind wanderings...

"All of these teachers [...] also considered the ability to meditatively access this very subtle aspect of embodied mental life as a key aim of the practice. Accessing this deepest level of the mind at the level of direct experience -when it is accompanied by the weizza or vidya [wisdom] of Vipassana- allows for the arousal and subsequent eradication of karmic forces from past lives that are responsible for future births -bhavasankhara, to use Goenka's language. " (p.235-236)

This aspect of the technique has fascinated me for a long time, but I had never infered I had accessed the bhavanga... until now, where I am tempted to consider it as I read this again!
So here is my current hypothesis: I started the process (by dwelling in the heart base for some time in a state of complete openness) and had some king of delayed access to the bhavanga (the weird mind phenomenons which happened days/hours/minutes after formal meditation - but in the ongoing intensity of the long retreat). Because I did not sit all the way through, the "kleshas" or "kilesas" ("formations" or "impurities"?) partly went through the top (deep mind imbalance) instead of through the bottom (pains in the lower parts of the body), as a dhamma friend would put it. Well, I also sat with "unpleasant-solidified sensations" after resuming scanning in the same session but... Should I have sat until total liberation like the Buddha did?... I was not ripe to be a Buddha, I guess. But I have felt lighter and lighter with each occurrence nonetheless. For me, this noticing that the mind is becoming weird is a way of "seeing formations" : that's the most subtle mind event I have been able to witness so far.

And the "purification" aspect of the technique is that the scanning goes progressively into releasing "stuff" all the way from the start (all kinds of thoughts pop up that may interrupt the scan), that's why we should keep moving (and not stop for too long on one spot), why the first retreat is often spectacular (sometimes if rarely even to the point of full dissociation and suicide, tragically), and why this particular practice (focusing on the heart base) is kept for longer retreats -and total dissolution-.

Of course, many people here and elsewhere have advocated continuous focus on this very spot to reach the goal (Tarin, Nikolaï, quite a few monks in different theravada traditions), and don't make a fuss about it... I'm still puzzled by that discrepancy... I believe that there is a moment, late into intensive practice, where we get full access to... the bhavanga.
And my experience has been that "dissolution" is impermanent and that it's part of the process (as Joseph Goldstein was surprised to discover). So for me, an "attainment" in the energetic realm is when a change towards a subtler experience becomes baseline (but the baseline is never the same as the high point of the retreat). 

You'll note that, hidden behind a bend towards rational thinking, I am not without magical beliefs myself!


Despite the importance of strong concentration in the higher stages of Buddhist attainment, "Goenka never formally taught his students to attain jhana" and even warned against the dangers of jhana, leading to an ongoing defiance against jhanas within the old students (p.236). For my part, I heard within the tradition that practising the formless jhanas becomes more efficient (less time-consuming) after sakadagami... And that yes, there is a risk to develop attachment towards the jhanas before. But quite a few old students turn to Pa-Auk, thus recognizing the need for jhana practice. Then, the whole body scanning process leads to a different kind of concentration which is satisfying in itself: It brings the jhana factors into daily life... (again, my interpretation)

Stuart concludes the chapter with the Bodhissatta vow, which explains why many disciples downplay attainments, and discourage the pursuit of strong concentration: "an incitement to hold back from awakening in order to work in future lives for the benefit of many. (Does this sound familiar? These are some of the soteriological forces behind the historical development of early Mahayana Buddhism)". (p.237) I like the parallel he draws with Mahayana, I did that too!

[...]

Edited : link to heart/chest area thread
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Smiling Stone, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 1:12 PM
Created 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 1:12 PM

RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

Posts: 367 Join Date: 5/10/16 Recent Posts
Re : Edited : link to heart/chest area thread

Re-reading the thread, it is obvious that everybody showed some respect towards the zone, even if Tarin was Gung Ho about going all the way. He was my source when I spoke of thai teachers...
What comes out if that we are all different when it comes to karma (what is stored within us). I am sometimes guilty of forgetting that... So was Tarin!

PS : I made a reply to the post instead of an edit because the edit destroyed the formating (which was a pain)...
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Chris M, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 9:01 AM
Created 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 9:01 AM

RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

Posts: 5644 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
I'm anxiously awaiting the summary - those top five things you've taken away from reading this book.
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Papa Che Dusko, modified 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 8:54 PM
Created 8 Days ago at 2/7/25 8:54 PM

RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

Posts: 3397 Join Date: 3/1/20 Recent Posts
Not knowing about the book or Goenka but the "strong Samatha" is a misleading term which might give impression of sharpest of concentration or even deepest of concentration and yet in my experience it's more of a loosest of concentrations and momentary concentration as part of clearly comprehending the chain of actual experiencing. 
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Smiling Stone, modified 6 Days ago at 2/9/25 9:19 AM
Created 6 Days ago at 2/9/25 9:19 AM

RE: Insight in Perspective by Daniel Stuart: a review

Posts: 367 Join Date: 5/10/16 Recent Posts
Hey Papa Che,
I hope you're doing well. Happy to see that you got it all figured out these days !
Let's correct my misleading intro to the quote : "Despite the importance of loosest/momentary concentration in the higher stages of Buddhist attainment, "Goenka never formally taught his students to attain jhana etc."
Ok, I could have written "deep", but I admit that both terms convey a sense of intensity (fueled by right effort) that maybe you want to warn seekers against. Also, don't go on retreat, might be a bit intense... 

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