A post-mortem of Vipassana!!! Is it scientific? Not yet!!!

 Vipassana is a meditation-based program that is claimed to be scientific  by its  preachers. How true is this statement and claims made by preachers and the followers of Vipassana? Let us analyze. 

Science and its definition 

Wikipedia states that Science is a systematic enterprise that organizes discovered and gained knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions of the universe including the living and non-living things in it. 

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Thus science has some basic hypothesis that has to undergo a litmus test before it can be incorporated into the subject of science. Thus the hypothesis or assumption has to be tried out in a good sample of people and yield reliable and reproducible results. Research is the basis of science and it should be controlled, blind, and randomized. Randomized controlled and blinded studies with a good sample size is a must before one can call any subject or program as a science. 

Thus science is of three types namely basic natural science such as chemistry, biology, and physics, Social Science such as economics, sociology, and psychology, and formal science such as mathematics, logic, and computer science. There is a disagreement on whether one can call formal science as science since it is not based on empirical evidence. When this knowledge is put into practice, it is applied sciences such as medicine and engineering. 

What is Vipassana? 

Vipassana is a 10-day practice program that has put a set of components together. These include:

1. A person is away from home and work

2. A person is with Nature 

3. A person is away from noise and digital gadgets

4. The participants observe noble silence : no talk,  and no eye contact with each other. 

5. A person is self-reflecting and has ample time and place to do so at the retreat. 

6. And there is partial fasting and 10 hours of meditation. 

How these components were brought together by the initiator of this practice is not known. There is no explanation provided anywhere for it except that it descends from Lord Buddha. The preachers of this practice talk about detachment from worldly objects and things and no reaction to any thing in the world. 

Is Vipassana a science? 

Vipassana (Source: Pinterest) 

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As said earlier, to say that Vipassana is a science, it has to be subjected to 'properly conducted large scale trials with long term follow-ups' . 

There are some non-connected small scale non-randomized, non-controlled, and non-blinded studies done of Vipassana in jail inmates and some employees in India and in North America. The preachers claim that it helped the participants. But none of these studies are properly conducted in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct of trials. Also no long-term follow ups have been done on those who have undergone these courses. 

Each of the above components of the Vipassana program needs to be studied individually for its role in helping a person improve. Different 'combination and permutations of the components' need to be studied in detail for their efficacy and safety in people and population. How the theory of non-attachment and non-reaction holds true and applies in the daily life of an individual should be studied and explained in the context of 'human beings' . How it helps an 'individual' and how it helps the 'society at large' needs to be gauged and interpreted well as well. The effects of a scientific program on individuals and study recruits have to be predictable and it is wrong to say that every individual has a different experience after the course, as claimed by preachers and advocates of the program.  This does not say good of the said program. 

Until the above is done on the Vipassana course, it would be unethical and wrong to say that it is science. It has to be proven beyond doubt and subjected to proper tests before one uses the term science for it. I would request the preachers and followers to stop using the term 'scientific' in respect of Vipassana course. They are free to use the term 'after and only after' they have studied the whole program in depth and in a scientific way and it provides reliable, safe, effective, and reproducible results and outcomes in the trainees!!! Not before that please! There is nothing scientific as of now in it! 

One cannot assume that a topic or program is a science, it has to be proven so!