@christophermilner21

5 years ago

The Essence of Vipassana (Insight Meditation)


Observing Your Mind

Begin practice by sitting up straight and paying attention. You can sit on the floor, you can sit on a chair. At first, you need not fix your attention to much. Simply be mindful of the in-and-out breathing. If you find it helpful, you can also repeat ‘’Buddho’’, ‘’Dharmo’’ or ‘’Sangho’’ as a mantra while you watch your breath going in and out. In this awareness of breathing, you must not force. If you try to control your breathing, that is not yet correct. It may seem that the breathing is too short, too long, too gentle, too heavy. You may feel you are not passing the breath properly, or you may not feel well.

Just let it be, let it settle by itself. Eventually the breath will enter and exit freely. When you are aware of and firmly established in this entry and exit, that is correct breathing.

When you become distracted, stop and refocus your attention. At first, when you are focusing it your mind wants it to be a certain way. But do not control it or worry about it. Just notice it and let it be. Keep at it. Samadhi (Concentration) will grow by itself. As you go on practicing in this way, sometimes the breath will stop, but here again do not fear. Only your perception of the breath has stopped; the subtle factors continue. When the time is right, the breath will come back on its own as before.



If you can make your mind tranquil like this, wherever you find yourself – on a chair, in a car, on a boat, on a plane – you will be able to fix your attention and enter into a calm state immediately. Wherever you are, you will be able to sit for meditation.

Having reached this point, you know something of the Path, but you must also contemplate sense objects. Turn your tranquil mind towards sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, thoughts, mental objects, mental factors. Whatever arises, investigate it. Notice whether you like it or not, whether it pleases or displeases you, but do not get involved with it. This liking and disliking are just reactions to the world of appearances – you must see a deeper level. Then, when something initially seems good or bad, you will see that it is only impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty. File everything that arises in those three categories – good, bad, evil, wonderful, whatever it is, put it there. This is the way of vipassana (INSIGHT) by which all things are calmed.



Before long, knowledge and insight into impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and emptiness will arise. This is the beginning of true wisdom, the heart of meditation, which leads to liberation. Follow your experience. See it. Strive continuously. Know the truth. Learn to give up, to get rid, to attain peace.

When sitting in meditation, you may have strange experiences or visions such as seeing lights, angels, or buddhas. When you see such things, you should observe yourself first to find out what state the mind is in. Do not forget the basic point. Pay attention. Do not wish for visions to arise. If you go running after such experiences, you may end up babbling senselessly because the mind has fled the stable.

When such things do come, contemplate them. When you have contemplated them, do not be deluded by them. You should consider that they are not yourself; they too are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not self. Though they have come about, do not take them seriously. If they do not go away, re-establish your mindfulness, fix your attention on your breathing, and take three long inhalations and exhalations – then cut them off. Whatever arises, keep re-establishing your attention. Do not take anything as yourself – everything is only a vision or a construction of the mind, a deception that causes you to like, grasp or fear. When you see such constructions, do not get involved. All unusual experiences and visions are of value to the wise person but harmful to the unwise. Keep practicing until you are not stirred by them.



If you can trust your mind in this way, there is no problem. If it wants to be glad, you just know that this gladness is uncertain, unstable. Do not fear your visions or other experiences in practice, just learn to work with them. In this way defilement (Anger Hate etc) can be used to train the mind, and you come to know the natural state of the mind, free from extremes, clear, unattached.



As I see it, the mind is like a single point, the centre of the universe, and mental states are like visitors who come to stay at this point for long or short periods of time. Get to know these visitors well. Become familiar with the vivid pictures they paint, the alluring stories they tell, to entice you to follow them. – But do not give up your seat – it is the only chair around. If you continue to occupy it unceasingly, greeting each guest as it comes, firmly establishing yourself in awareness, transforming your mind into the one who knows, the one who is awake, the visitors will eventually stop coming back.

If you give them real attention, how many times can these visitors return? Speak with them many times here, and you will know every one of them well.

Your mind will at last be at peace.

The peace that arises from knowing the true nature of EVERYTHING.




Offered with Love.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety.
May ALL beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be.

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