Realizing Change: Vipassana Meditation in Action

According to the independent Buddhist magazine "Buddhadharma," S. N. Goenka is the number one teacher of Vipassana meditation in the world today. He has trained more than 700 assistant teachers and each year more than 100,000 people do a Goenka sponsored Vipassana course. Ian Hetherington invited people who had had profound, life-changing experiences from Vipassana to tell him their story. The accounts in "Realizing Change" are from everyday people from all walks of life. Medical doctors see Vipassana curing serious illnesses, students improve their school lives, a 70-year-old deals with a serious age-related health problem, a hardened criminal finally finds happiness and breaks the cycle of recidivism, drug addicts stop using, alcoholics use it to improve their conscious contact with God, angst ridden teenagers rediscover certainty and contentment, a man recovers from a serious motorcycle accident, and psychiatrists see patients using Vipassana to better themselves. Vipassana has also had a profound and positive impact on my life. Both of my two 10-Day courses were like a cosmic "defrag" and the technique continues to be a source of strength that carries me through life's ups and downs. In fact, my "10-Day" courses were the most positive transforming experiences I have ever been a part of, and so I highly recommend the Vipassana meditation courses as taught by Mr. Goenka outlined here The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation. I also recommend "Realizing Change" because it will give you some idea of what to expect from your own 10-Day Vipassana course.

For someone wanting a general overview of Vipassana meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka, The Art of Living by William Hart is good. But for someone wanting an idea of what an intense 10-day Vipassana course of this type is like and how it can affect one's life, these personal accounts by people from all walks of life (business people, teachers, students, prisoners, priests, health-care professionals, etc.) from many different national, religious, and ethnic backgrounds give valuable perspectives.Perhaps the best perspective on Vipassana in this tradition for someone without the experience of a course would be to have a close friend or relative take a 10-day course with an attitude of open-minded skepticism. After that friend/relative gives the meditation a fair trial for 10 days and then judges its effects over time, the best perspective would be to ask that person, "What was it really like? And how did it change your life?"This book tries to fill that gap of understanding. The accounts tend to be personal, powerful, and enlightening.