Screening “In Memoriam of S.N. Goenka”

Wed 16 Oct 2013, 8 pm
The Hanoi Bicycle Collective

From The Hanoi Bicycle Collective:

Come to the next session of Cinexin Hanoi this week with the screening of “In Memoriam of S.N. Goenka”.

Film programme:

S.N Goenka UN Peace Summit speech (15 min)
“Doing time, doing Vipassana” (52 min)

Satya Narayan Goenka (January 30, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was a noted Burmese-Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma, he followed the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, under whom he trained for 14 years. In 1969, he shifted to India and started teaching meditation, and started a mediation centre at Igatpuri, near Nashik in 1976. In time, he became an influential non-sectarian teacher of the Vipassana movement and a pioneer of the Vipassana meditation in India.[1] He trained more than 1300 assistant teachers and each year more than 120,000 people attend Goenka led Vipassana courses.

The technique which S. N. Goenka teaches represents a tradition that is traced back to the Buddha. Goenka emphasizes that, “The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma – the way to liberation – which is universal”[2] and presents his teachings as non-sectarian and open to people of all faiths or no faith. “Liberation” in this context means freedom from impurities of mind and, as a result of the process of cultivating a pure mind, freedom from suffering.[3] Goenka calls Vipassana meditation an experiential scientific practice, through which one can observe the constantly changing nature of the mind and body at the deepest level, a profound understanding that leads to a truly happy and peaceful life.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2012 for social work.

Free entrance.