With Love, Yuting

My Experience as a Vipassana Dhamma Server

As some of you might recall, I blogged about my Vipassana Experience about more than one year ago. If you have not heard of Vipassana meditation, you might want to check out my previous article first. If you have done Vipassana meditation and are thinking about whether you should dedicate 10 days of your life to Dhamma service, read on, and I hope what I share will offer you some insights!


So how did I end up as a Dhamma server?

When I was a Vipassana student at Dhamma Malaya, I was really touched by how the volunteers (also known as Dhamma Servers) served us so tirelessly for 10 days and with so much love and compassion. I had gotten so much out of learning Vipassana Meditation and I was curious what being a Dhamma server would be like. I decided to serve as I thought it would be a great opportunity to pay-it-forward as well as to learn how to live and work in a mindful way.


Fast forward to 7-18 August 2013 (yes, this is quite a backdated entry, been taking some time to put it up!), I managed to apply for leave and applied to be a Dhamma server! This time, I got my father to go along with me. It will be my father’s first time there, and he would be learning the art of Vipassana Meditation for the very first time!


My Experience

I decided to write this blog entry because when I was researching about Dhamma service, I realized little was written on it. I could not get much information. Therefore, I thought it would be useful for me to share my experience with my readers, and maybe inspire you to take on this noble role as a Dhamma server as well.


Here’s what Vipassana Teacher, S.N Goenka, wrote about Dhamma Service.

Value of Dhamma Service

"If you really want to get established in Dhamma, if you really want to apply Dhamma in your day-to-day life, give some service in Dhamma courses and get proper training. By giving Dhamma service in a course, you are fulfilling the teaching of the Buddha which is not just to help yourself to get liberated but also to help others to get liberated. Therefore, I keep recommending to my students, 'As you find time of ten days for purifying your mind for your own development in Dhamma, you must also give at least ten days in a year to serve others so that both the aspects of Buddha's teaching become stronger in you.'
I want all of you to keep growing in Dhamma, not just to take courses and then to forget about it. You have to apply Dhamma in life. And to apply it in life, serve at least one course a year to get the strength to apply it in life. May you all keep growing in Dhamma- not only for your good and benefit, not only for your liberation, but also for the good and benefit of so many others, for the liberation of so many others. Bhavatu sabba mangalam!"

S. N. Goenka

(You can also click here to read more about the purpose of Dhamma service. )


So here’s what I got out of Dhamma Service.

1. First-hand experience of what happens behind the scene

As a Dhamma server, one of our main responsibility was preparing food in the kitchen (this is for female servers, for men they do more washing of plates etc) I got to handle different types of fruits and vegetables. I interacted with a wide variety of vegetables, learnt more about their benefits, and the proper way of preparing each of it. It was quite an experience preparing food for a hundred people. Everything was done and prepared in bulk. Imagine preparing 5 watermelons, or 8 papayas, or 20 carrots at a time!

Food at the Dhamma centre is all cooked with love. I remember the first time I had to peel vegetables, I was sitting on stool beside huge buckets of vegetables, and told to intentionally peel and wash the vegetables. We were supposed to think good thoughts while preparing the food so that students will be able to eat food with loving energy.