The Global Vipassana Pagoda, Mumbai

The Global Vipassana Pagoda deserves its own blog post because it has meant so much to me in my life as I have attended four 10 day Vipassana courses in the past (all entirely free of charge, supported by donation only) and plan on attending annual retreats yearly with my wife. The life path I have chosen to this day is built off the experience and wisdom that I have acquired with Vipassana. Also I have learned how to be a better partner to the love of my life. (Basically I kill all the scary bugs around her and keep her well fed, with tea and chocolate for afterwards....well slightly more than that lol). This non sectarian, non religious, universal technique provides an opportunity to practice good morality, mind mastery and acquire wisdom through the scientific pragmatic observation of the relationship between the mental structure and the physical structure that makes up this impermanent mass of atoms named Jarris, all understanding the impermanent nature that this too shall pass. We signed up for a 1 day course and were able to sit and meditate inside the main Pagoda for 4 one hour sits with short breaks (including a yummy free lunch) in between. We were the only foreigners but were welcomed as all walks of life are. The dome is built with Basalt, sandstone, and marble, and was completed relatively recently in 2008 with more construction being added around the main dome. It is the biggest pillar-less stone dome structure in the world taking 3.87 million man days to complete with 2.5 million tonnes of stone used. It is almost as high as a 30 story building and can fit up to 8000 meditators at once!
The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony. The Global Vipassana Pagoda has been built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar for preserving the practice of Vipassana. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda (Golden Pagoda) in Yangon, Myanmar. It was built combining ancient Indian and modern technology to enable it to last for a thousand years.Read more