Reading a couple of different magazines that deal with Buddhism and meditation (and related matters) I could not avoid reflecting (once again) on how everything can become another “product” and how spirituality is the umbrella under which books, cds, seminars, dvds and many other things are sold.
Masters, gurus and leaders of different groups/ cult/sects seem to be competing to see who wears the most extravagant outfit. Isn’t obvious for those people that all that parafernafalia represents exactly what the Buddha was trying to avoid?
That’s why I like Vipassana and the ten day retreats systems. The simplicity, the lack of anything that is not needed, the frugality, the one meal a day, etc. It all makes part of a combination of factors that expresses beautifully what the practice is about.
I never had the money to take one of those “7 yoga day cruises” where you can get all kinds of massage, fancy food, steam rooms etc and four classes a day with the “sensation of the moment”. I was even upset about not being able to afford those things.
I realized today that those things don’t help to speed up anybody’s enlightenment. Let’s keep our practice pure and simple!
