Category Archives: Vipassana

Germany, TravelTuga, Vipassana

The Power of Algorithms

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Were scheduled to fly last Friday the 21 of October to Germany to visit some friends there and afterwards attend a Vipassana Meditation Course as a Server in Triebel.

We where already in the plane after two schedule updates, and then the captain inform us that the flight had been cancelled. Took it lighthearted and thought this would be resolved quickly and a re-connection flight would be booked by the company which is TAP Air Portugal.

After we de-boarded we went back to the check-in counter and there where 2 TAP employee’s attending the hordes of people from the flight waiting for answers which simply didn’t came. At least to me, after 3 hours of waiting in the line and few inches of advance. I gave up. Called a friend in Lisbon and went there to sleep and figure out what to do next.

Meanwhile i received an SMS saying that the flight had been re-scheduled to Sunday. I conformed with this new date after trying to call the Call Center and they assuring that they would help me to find a new date, but this TAP employee had not the authorization to make the change effective so he would pass me to the CENTRAL. All a big lye, after 1 hour waiting hearing music, never ever someone picked up.

Saturday evening I got another SMS saying that the flight on Sunday had also been cancelled and no other flight was assigned at the moment.

Called again the Call Center, after a long conversation and trying to find a solution, i could not believe it, again the same sentence, i have no authorization and i will pass you to the CENTRAL.

I know at this moment that nobody would help me, they have automatic algorithms in place and re-schedule your flight based on some parameters and there is nothing you can do about it or any employee of the call center. When you here the phrase “I will pass you to the CENTRAL” they will put you in an endless loop of Music and that’s it.

The algorithms have already taken over at TAP and that is sad. My plans to visit my friends in Germany are cancelled and so is the Course i would attend. Live goes on and at least i am well…

Nepal, TravelTuga, Vipassana

Doing Time

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This Post could start with, once up on a time there was an Nepali, Malaysian and Portuguese sharing a room in a Vipassana Center in the middle of the Forest of Pokhara (Bengal Lake).
Learning the value of Tolerance, sharing moments of real pain and happines, ups and downs. All while being in Noble Silence for 10 days. Getting to know the Routine of everyone after a while, no matter which color or religion or ethnic group. In the end we are all human with the same desire to be happy.

Thats the reason for doing time, to find a better way of life, to recognize ourselfs, to know your thoughts and feelings and where you are heading.

This was my second 10 day course and I thought it would be easier than the first, but it was not. The first days are so hard to get your body and mind to calm down and to focus. After that you start actually the Vipassana technique, which simply consists of scanning the body sensations. You might think it is easy, but it is not…the mind wants to keep wandering all the time and is the biggest enemy. It will do everyhting it can to take you out of the process.

Now the sentence makes sence when they say, Your worst enemy is yourself. Until you have tamed your mind, it is like a wild horse, doing what ever it wants.
Vipassana is one tool to help you on the process.

After the 7th day actually started to be more calm and to get some results, i could at least sit still for one hour and mostly be vigilant, attentive and alert.

You think what this means? It means you will watch, every sound, every smell, every thought, every image that goes trough your mind and don´t react to it. I mean every of this things…it requres a lot of focus, all this while in sitting posture and scanning for body sensations and again don´t react to them.

The sense doors (sound, thought, smell, etc..) will lead to body sensations, which we will avaluate with good or bad and that´s where the problem starts. We will crave for the good ones and have aversion for the bad ones…

I am gratefull to the lineage of Masters that kept the technique all this years, since buddha untill now, to all the teachers that thought me the Technique and mostly to Goenka Ji who spread it around the World. Thank you !!!

Portugal, TravelTuga, Vipassana

Vipassana Journey

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8th of January 2022, i am again in the consultory of a guy in Beja (Portugal) who makes you stop smoking with quantum energy. He puts two metal crocodils on your ears and then with something that seems a pistol he shoots you some electricity into the location of your third eye. Pada, after some minutes you leave the consultory as if you never smoked, true story...its only the habit and social pressure that makes you return.

After being freed from addiction, i left for the north of Portugal. Porto, Viana de Castelo, Moncão, etc…
Being in Monção i received the call from someone, the connection was bad and i was really not understanding the purpose of the call. Finally i remembered that i had inlisted in a Vipassana meditation and was on the waiting list. Are you still interested in coming, you must be here tomorrow before 18:00. Thanks for the call, i will check if i can make it and call you after or send a message.

Checked the train connection and yes it was possible if i would stand up at 5:00 am in the morning. Here we go, by train to Madrid and then Candeleda in total around 1000km.

I had not really searched up on the course and it´s program, so i was going a little bit in inocense without knowing what to expect. I don´t know, i thought it would be nice to meet new people, sing some songs around a fire and that stuff and meditate some hours.

In reallity it is a military grade camp, you stand up at around 4:00 and go to bed at around 22:00. In between you are thougt the meditation technique Vipassana and meditate (sit) around 10 hours.

There is a really good book who explains all the details of a 10 day Vipassana Course https://store.pariyatti.org/the-equanimous-mind in a personal view, higly recomend if you are interested.

So in short, in 10 days they thought you a millenial technique that was discovered by Siddhartha the Buddha, it is not tied to Buddhism as the name Buddha suggests.
It´s a simple technique and thats it, no dogmas or other religious stuff. Of course if you continue the practise it will inevitably lead you to his other teachings and also buddhism in general which has some parallels.

I have been practising Vipassana since then, every single day 2 hours per day at least. For me it has opened a door to a universal truth, which would be quite dificult to ignore or close again, so i continue to walk on the path. I am gratefull to all that lead me to take the course and in 3 days i will repeat a 10 day course in Pokhara to further deepen the technique.