Vipassana Camp

I completed my first and only 10-day Vipassana camp in late November 2017. I am not an expert or even knowledgeable about the practice.

If you find incorrect any interpretation and explanation of a Vipassana camp, I would love to be corrected. Also, know that the final and sole authority on Vipassana is the course itself. Any blog you read to understand it, including this one, will reveal only a partial reality colored by the writer's biases and inadequacies.

What is Vipassana?

The word Vipassana means "to see things as they truly are". While it is a completely secular, non-religious, non-denominational practice, it is grounded in the work done and language used by the Gautama Buddha (the one pictured with a serene face sitting in Lotus).

A practitioner of Vipassana - a Vipassi - is not expected to embrace Buddhism. In fact, every discourse that you will hear during the course will contain numerous disclaimers to this effect.

The goal of Vipassana is to let you see your reality. (Take note of how this statement is structured.) Since the goal is to show you reality, a Vipassi attending the course is told not to engage in any other religious or meditative practice. This is done so that when you start to see your reality, it is probably because of the effects of Vipassana and not a hybrid of your personal practice and Vipassana.

Of course, you can continue to do physical exercise like Yoga or running during the course; just make sure you aren't inside your own head while doing those exercises.

What is a Vipassana course?

To teach Vipassana to a new aspirant, the aspirant is required to be at a Vipassana camp for a period of N days. Under Shri S.N. Goenka's practice of Vipassana, the aspirant is required to be on-site for N=10. Other schools of practice have different Ns.

Under the S.N. Goenka practice, once you reach the camp site, your food and lodging are free.

Camp structure and setup

A typical camp consists of a teacher (themselves advanced Vipassis of either gender), some male and female servers, and support staff for kitchen and maintenance duties.

The first few hours of the camp are for acclimatization. Vipassis are separated into men and women. At this stage, while the genders can mingle and talk, you are expected to avoid any physical contact with anyone. Once the course starts in earnest, the mingling and talking also has to completely stop.

In larger camps, each Vipassi is given a separate cell for lodging and practice. In smaller camps like the one I attended, we had a dormitory, five 2-person cells, and a single 4-person cell.

You turn in any valuables for safekeeping and are issued a plate, spoon, tumbler, cups, and dishcloth. Their definition of a valuable is very interesting - anything whose presence in your cell will draw your attention to it is considered a valuable. So, if you are carrying a photo of your SO which is likely to remind you of them, you should probably turn it in.

Once the course begins, for the next N days, Vipassis can engage in very limited conversation with the teacher and very rarely with the servers. Topics are limited to matters related to Vipassana (teacher) and food/lodging (servers). You cannot, for instance, ask the server to look up soccer scores for a match.

On Physical Contact

Vipassana defines physical contact as not just touching but even eye contact, words and sounds, and smells. Anything which impinges on another's senses is considered physical contact and is verboten.

Sitting

Vipassana causes significant physical discomfort. Even people accustomed to sitting crosslegged for long periods will find it hard to sit without a backrest for ten and half hours every day for N days.

Apart from three 1-hr sessions every day, you are allowed to change positions and relieve any pain you feel.

People who ask can get low wooden seats or extra cushions to have a more comfortable sit.

Schedule

Each S.N.Goenka camp follows exactly the same schedule regardless of where you are in the world.

Each day at the camp begins at 0400 Hrs. The first meditation session of the day runs from 0430 to 0630 Hrs. You then break for 1.5 hrs.

The next session runs from 0800 to 1100. You break for lunch from 1100 to 1300 Hrs.

The afternoon session runs from 1300 to 1700Hrs. You break for tea from 1700 to 1800.

The evening session runs from 1800-2100. You can ask questions of the teacher from 2100-2130 Hrs.

Mandatory lights out at 2130 Hrs.

Diet

From what I heard from other vipassis who have attended more than one camp, the food taste can be hit or miss depending on the support staff.

The food is completely vegetarian. In the camp I attended, they served rice, chapattis, daal, tea, biscuits, desserts, and fruit - fairly standard fare for the region. I presume other camp sites around the world will provide vegetarian food that is easily available in their location.

Clothing

You are expected to be fully covered at all times with as little skin showing as possible. Since my camp was up in the mountains in late November, this was not very difficult for us. I imagine following this rule while attending a camp in a warm location in summer is going be a challenge. Invest in light clothing if that is going to the case for you.

Chores and tasks

Obviously, you have to wash your own clothes, make you own bed, and keep your quarters clean. In addition, you are also expected to wash and dry your utensils and help keep communal areas - like sinks - litter free.

At our site, none of the cells had direct hot water or geyser so we also had to keep the communal fire going to heat water. One of the support staff used to bring us firewood but we took turns feeding the fire to keep it alive. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this Boy Scouts aspect of the camp. It became my thing every morning to finish breakfast and check the fire to make sure I have enough hot water to start my shower. It was a lot of fun. 5/7 would recommend to everyone.

Conclusion

I hope this brief description of a camp gives you some context about a typical day of Vipassana.