How I looked inside me and found true peace through meditation

The difference in the way I lived through each was as stark as between night and day.

For most of my life, everything had been smooth and fortunate.

In school, I excelled in elite classes, won top prizes in academic competitions and earned scholarships to study abroad.

When I started working, I was given major responsibilities early in my career. I had a strong, healthy body and a happy family with beautiful children. Before I turned 40, I had already achieved nearly everything that many spend a lifetime striving for.

But despite what many saw as the definition of success and happiness, I was constantly restless and anxious.

These feelings drove me to search for a way out of this inexplicable suffering.

Fortunately, I found a refuge for my mind before the life's incoming waves crashed down on me.

Over the past year I have endured physical and emotional pain that few can imagine. Once a young and energetic person chasing big dreams, I suddenly found myself struggling with the most basic physiological needs. But paradoxically, when my world seemed to collapse, I discovered happiness, peace and harmony like never before.

Instead of reacting with despair to my body's decline, I learned to embrace it. Rather than lamenting my fate, I found gratitude in the lessons hardships in life taught me.

Instead of sinking into sorrow, my family filled our home with laughter and love. I spent the time I had left seeking inner peace and spreading positivity to those around me.

This transformation did not happen by chance. It was the result of over five years of practicing Vipassana meditation taught by the late Indian teacher S. N. Goenka.

Through Vipassana, I learned to look within, observe these sensations with equanimity, and break free from my habitual reactions to positive and negative emotions.

I came to realize that Vipassana, and everything the Buddha taught, were not religious doctrines but rather a direct path to happiness and liberation from suffering—one that anyone can walk.

A Vipassana practitioner begins with a 10-day meditation course, offered entirely free of charge to ensure the practice remains pure and uncommercialized.

Teaching, accommodation, food, and all services are provided through the voluntary contributions of past students who have benefited from the practice and wish to share it with others.

During the meditation course, participants observe five basic moral precepts: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxicants.

They also disconnect from the outside world, including communication with fellow students. Reading, writing, listening to music, or engaging in any form of entertainment is prohibited. The goal is to turn inward, develop awareness of the body and mind, and cultivate equanimity in the face of change.

As social beings, we are conditioned from birth to seek external validation. Each of us builds an idealized self-image based on how we want to be seen and remembered.

To protect this imagined self, we chase or cling to what we desire—status, wealth, health, relationships—while avoiding or rejecting things we dislike such as illness, poverty, criticism.

When we get what we want, we feel pleased; when we don't, we become anxious and unsettled. Over time our attachments to desires grow stronger, and we end up suffering because of them.

But the truth is that life is unpredictable. What we desire may never come to pass, and what we dread may arise unexpectedly.

Even the Buddha, revered by millions who prayed for his blessings, could not alter life's impermanence. It is not external events but our reactions to them, the oscillation between craving and aversion, that create suffering.

This is the universal truth of human pain.

Through Vipassana, I began to understand the root of my past anxieties. Having always been at the center of attention, I had crafted an image of perfection for myself. A single stain from a bowl of noodle soup on my neatly pressed shirt could ruin my mood for the entire morning. I found satisfaction when things went my way but quickly reacted negatively to even the smallest inconveniences, creating tension around me.

I was not only self-critical but also judgmental of others. Despite seeming like I had everything, I was far from truly happy, as my mind remained restless as it had always been.

Vipassana, an ancient Pali term, means "seeing things as they really are," not as they appear to be. This is the essence of the practice: observing reality objectively without reacting.

Every emotion we experience in response to the external world is reflected as sensations within our bodies—whether the warmth of pleasure from a compliment or the heat of anger in a moment of rage.

When we practice Vipassana, we learn to witness life's ups and downs without being swept away by them. Instead of constantly searching for external causes of our suffering, we recognize that suffering originates within us—in our blind reactions to pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

When we stop reacting to our earthly desires, we stop multiplying our pain. Instead, we allow our mind to rid itself of unwanted thoughts and be calm.

The Buddha's enlightenment was not about controlling external events but about achieving equanimity in the face of life's ups and downs.

As we progress in the way of Vipassana, we begin to see that suffering is universal. This understanding deepens our compassion for others' struggles and our joy in their successes.

True peace cannot be contained; it spreads naturally, creating harmony around us.

Of course, mastering this takes time, as Vipassana is a serious discipline. But even in the early days of practice, the benefits of meditation are profound.

No one can quench their thirst simply by praying or watching others drink water. The Buddha, despite his many followers, never imposed blind faith.

He merely pointed to the path he had discovered through his own experience. He invited others to walk it for themselves, witnessing the truth, understanding suffering and finding liberation from it by achieving equanimity in the mind.

Though I am still in the early stages of my Vipassana journey, I am deeply grateful to have found what is most precious: the sweetness of true peace, harmony, and happiness—something I had never known before.

* Dr. Do Thanh Long was an education and science and technology executive with nearly 20 years of experience. He served as chief of office at the Ministry of Science and Technology. He passed away on Feb. 8, 2025, after a prolonged illness.