Israelis Are Meditating
Every year, thousands of Israelis go off to Vipassana or Buddhist meditation retreats. There may be more people joining such retreats in Israel, on a population basis, than almost any other country.
This is despite the fact that the retreats are not easy. They usually involve many hours of deep meditation practice while sitting or slowly walking, in silence.
It might be thought that only keen young spiritual explorers, fresh back from India, would do such a thing. But this is not so – there are young and old, men and women, from all walks of life, many professionals, especially psychologists and psychotherapists, and even a steady stream of religious Jews.
Buddha Started The Trend
The origin of this current interest is traceable back some 2500 years ago, when an Indian Prince, Siddharta Gautama, left the palace where he had been living in secluded comfort, and set out on a search for ultimate truth.
His way led him to deep inner investigation into reality, a transcendent journey of discovery. Later, after total awakening – Nirvana - when he became the Buddha, his teachings emphasized the same characteristics: coming out of our ‘comfort zone’ palace, on a quest for realization of the truth.
His teaching the ‘dharma’ is a living tradition that has been accumulating knowledge uninterruptedly since that time; knowledge of inner space, consciousness, meditation, and the subtle inner and outer worlds.
Though it is true that millions of Buddhists in Asia worship Buddha images and pray in temples for a better life or better rebirth, something that would have made Gautama himself turn in his grave, this is not what arrived in the West.
Western Style Meditation
The Western world, tired of its old religions, tired of meaninglessness and materialism, and hungry for contact with the transcendental, imported a path stripped back to its essence: genuine spiritual practice.
Perhaps for these reasons, millions of westerners now take meditation courses, millions are sitting in groups, retreats or reading the thousands of books now published on the dharma.
There are 80,000 forms of meditation in the tradition. At the core there are two, Samatha, which means calm, steady, concentration, and Vipassana, insight, clear seeing of the nature of reality.
The concentration training of Samatha is necessary to steady the scattered, distracted and engaged mind that is always busy.
Vipassana is a process of unpeeling layers and layers of our conditioning, to access in the stillness, underlying truth and so free us to live in sacredness. The two are taught together in courses. But more than that, the path, the ‘Eightfold Path’, includes all aspects of life, from the way we speak and think to the essential moral values, all woven into a meditative, wise and heartful life.
Buddhism In Israel
The dharma has been taken up even more keenly in Israel than other places. Less than 20 years ago it was entirely unknown in this country. Buddhism was a strange religion belonging to somewhere far away.
I started bringing dharma teachers to Israel in 1989, and holding silent retreats in my house and other places where participants could practice meditation. From these beginnings was initiated Amutat Tovana - the Israel Insight Society.
At the same time another group also began bringing Vipassana to Israel, in this case taught by one teacher, S.N. Goenka. They too are very popular, with similar numbers sitting 10 day retreats. In addition there are some major Tibetan-oriented and Zen organizations.
Why So Popular In Israel?
There may be several reasons for this. One might be the genuine need, mostly but not entirely of secular people, to find a spiritual practice. In a land heavy with religion, there may be a hunger for a ‘clean’ non-religious practice.
Another reason is that Jews have a long tradition of inquiry and exploration, going back to the Talmud and continuing in two thousand years of Exile in which the texts became the Temple. This fits well with the quest for realization.
The ghosts of the ‘Tzaddikim’ may be energizing a new revival of spirituality in the Holy Land.
There is a story by Carl Jung that illustrates this. One night he dreamt of a Tzaddik, a wise and holy man. The next day he was due to see a Jewish client who was suffering from anxiety. During the course of therapy, Jung asked the client if by any chance her father was a Tzaddik. She said no, but that she did have a grandfather who was a Chasid, whom she loved and who died when she was 6 years old. Jung said: this ancestor has initiated your spiritual soul. Your anxiety is because you have ignored this higher self, so it has turned from an angel into a demon. Go and learn. So she did and was cured.
Another reason could be the pressure of Israeli society. After generations of apparently insoluble conflict, wars and instability, and in the shadow of the Holocaust, Israelis feel insecure, and are close to human suffering. It is not buried and denied, but out in the street. This may create a sense of urgency to explore the spiritual life.
In addition, in Israel, similar to other countries, there is a growth of interest in the way dharma can impact on our daily life, how it can help psychologists to renew their methods and approaches, how it gives ways to aid the sick and the dying, how it can help reduce stress and pressure, and how it can create and support different social values from those of greed and competition.
For example Amutat Tovana has now made a commitment for all of its courses to be entirely on a donation basis, so that the teachings are never sold, only given freely, with the participants invited to support the teachings by giving what they can.
From Tovana has arisen various offshoots such as peacemaking projects, and regular meditation classes in a number of prisons in Israel.
I listened recently to one young Israeli asking a seasoned meditator what he gets out of meditation. “The wisdom of the heart,” he replied. “So what is that?” asked the young Israeli. “It makes me shine,” came the answer.