I recently returned from giving Service as a Male Manager at my third 10-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat under the S.N Goenka lineage.  What a profound, heart opening experience with many transforming lessons.

This article provides insight into the experience and benefits of giving dharma service.

Read about my motivations for attending retreat Here.

WHY GIVE VIPASSANA MEDITATION SERVICE?

The entire Buddhist path can be summarized into three basic trainings:  Morality, Concentration and Wisdom.  When attending a course as a student, the focus is to train in concentration and wisdom to liberate the mind. 

When giving service, the goal is to train in all three faculties with an emphasis on morality.  You’re there to assist meditators get through the course without expecting anything in return. 

In doing so we often serve ourselves in unexpected ways.  This usually manifests as feeling more compassion for ourselves and others.  I believe we also connect with the side of us, perhaps for the first time, that is much bigger and greater than oneself. 

This was certainly the case for me.

SERVICE DUTIES AS MALE MANAGER:

As a Male Manager, I was required to carry out general operations of the center and continually survey the students to ensure their wellness.  Additionally, I was able to meditate for 8-9 hours per day - performing my own operation of mind.  This is one of the benefits of serving as a manager opposed to being in the kitchen.

Admittedly, I had anticipated attending this retreat as a student. I had my own interests in mind. However, due to COVID-19, not enough space was available to facilitate my sit and I was instead offered the opportunity to serve. 

While initially disappointing, I am now eternally grateful for this.

CONVERSION OF SERVING MYSELF TO SERVICE:

A profound insight occurred for me around day 7 of the course.  Because my volition of attending the course was still subtly grounded in serving myself, I was taking full opportunity of the 8-9 hours of meditation time available.  Because I was going deep into the practice while working alongside the assistant teacher, I was able to communicate some of the more extraordinary experiences occurring in my meditation to him. 

I believe he picked up on this and sat me down for an interview.  Very gently and skillfully, he delivered a powerful message.

“By checking in with your volition for serving the course frequently, you set a safety net of not getting too deep into your practice. You avoid sacrificing your availability toward the students and train in morality as the students become your primary focus”. 

These simple words percolated in my mind from thereon, and I spontaneously found myself now wanting to prioritize student welfare more than my own practice.  I began to seek ways to be of service more actively and carried out my duties with a new stride in my step. 

This change of my volition was heart opening.  Additionally, it was serving to benefit my meditation as positive emotion aids in mental sharpness. It was a win-win for everyone involved.

Post retreat, I now find myself seeking to be of service elsewhere.  I believe a seed was planted here thanks to a skillful intervention.

SERVICE ALLOWS FOR VIPASSANA MEDITATION TECHNIQUE INTEGRATION:

When giving service on retreat, between meditation sits you're required to talk with fellow servers and students if managing.   Additionally, you perform jobs and tasks and you're even allowed to engage with worldly activities such as reading and using your phone.

The mental baggage of these tasks is often carried directly into meditation over and over again.  Here, we are gifted a beautiful opportunity.  It can be used as an object of meditation and transfers more directly to real life.

For example, at the start of the retreat I found my mind racing.
What tasks should I be doing?
Did I forget to do something?
What time is it? 

However, continually I was able to let these thoughts go.  In this act I was training the profound skill of reaching deeper concentration with greater speed and a capacity to cut through identifying with the racing mind.

Let it come, let it be, let it go. - John Yates

But the benefits didn’t stop there. 

Because I was the interface between the students and the assistant teacher, I was tasked with dealing with often emotionally damaged men.  You see, the quieter the mind becomes the more likely it is that hindrances, past traumas and emotional flux will occur. 

I found it fascinating how my mind would respond to a distraught, crying student with a similar emotional pattern.  Seeing them upset made me upset. What a wonderful gift!

I was then able to cultivate compassion and simultaneously work with the emotional upheaval as a meditative object.  Training in this way will serve as an invaluable skill in day to day experience.

THE POWER OF SANGHA:

In the west, it is very rare to find people deeply engaged with spirituality.  So, when a group of like-minded individuals funnel together to a meditation retreat it is pure gold.  I was privileged to be serving with a diverse range of young and older men and women from all walks of life.

During lunch breaks it was always a delight to be in the presence of such people.  Their aura was one of compassion and understanding which yearned for deeper connection.  Conversations were of depth and littered with wisdom rather than the stock standard ‘how’re the kids’. 

Exercising mindfulness, useless talk was largely absent.  There was often comfort in this silence.  Although, admittedly it was insightful to observe my people-pleasing tendency to want to talk to fill the void of silence.

The 25-year-old Japanese man I was serving with was particularly inspirational.  Hearing his future plans to open a restaurant with ethically sourced products and pursue higher purpose grounded in spirituality was motivating.  When leaving the retreat, it was an absolute gift to know that he had assembled an origami crane with a personalized message of appreciation for meeting me.  This brought me to tears.

Where else do you meet people such a nature?

Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. – The Buddha.

Not to mention my assistant teacher.  Hearing him speak about his youth – traveling solo through the Himalayas and through the holy sites of India for one and a half years while growing on his spiritual path blew me away.  Not only that, but his presence, capacity to listen without judgement and exercise mindfulness moment to moment set the bar for my own practice.  It inspired me to set the example as a manager and provided motivation for my own future endeavors.

FIRST VIPASSANA MEDITATION SERVICE WRAP-UP:

In truth, I know that my practice is still primarily motivated by my own interests.  After all, how can I help others when there is work to done on my own mind? However, I feel this retreat provided a firmware upgrade to consciousness that opened new perspectives. 

Execute MoreCompassionate.exe.

I am now finding myself seeking to volunteer elsewhere.  I want to give back, and for perhaps the first time it’s coming from a genuine place.  I feel more equip to deal with the flux of emotion and thoughts that our busy Western lifestyle produces.  I also feel inspired by the incredible people I met on retreat to continue with energy toward my practice. 

Going on retreat is always is always a treat.  😉

Meta.­­­

Read about my motivations for attending retreat Here.

Watch my video recounting my experience of the retreat Here:

Apply to attend a retreat at Dhamma Rasmi Here