Coming to a vipassanā retreat is like staging a rebellion against the government inside our mind. So our teacher told us. And indeed it does seem so.
The mind that has been left untrained for innumerable lifetimes has been strongly ingrained in the many defiled habits that has kept us bound to saṃsāra (the rounds of birth and death) and the suffering that accompany it. These habits such as covetousness, clinging, obsession, conceit, hatred, jealousy, avariciousness, restless searching, mistaken-views, etc., are habits that are so strongly influenced by Māra (the Buddhist personification of evil) who delights in keeping beings trapped in saṃsāra and unable to break free from his clutches.
Over the long period of our journey through saṃsāra, through having fallen repeatedly under the enticing and deluding spells and charms of Māra, we have all grown fond of him, drawn near him, opened ourselves up to him, delighted in and adopted his ways, even worshipped him. Unwittingly we have invited and welcomed Māra into our minds and he has surreptitiously annexed our mind and added it to his domain. And in doing so he has set up his government within our minds to dominate over us.
