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Category:Mindfulness
, lhaktong;
Wyl. lhag mthong) in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality,[1][2]
namely as the Three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, and
the realisation of non-self.
Vipassan-meditation is a modern Theravada practice, reintroduced by Ledi Sayadaw and
Mogok Sayadaw and popularized by Mahasi Sayadaw,[3][4][5] S. N. Goenka and the Vipassana
movement, [6] in which mindfulness of breathing and of thoughts, feelings and actions are
being used to gain insight in the true nature of reality. Due to the popularity of Vipassanmeditation, the mindfulness of breathing has gained further popularity in the west as
mindfulness.[6]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 Insight
o 2.1 Origins
o 2.2 Bare insight
o 2.3 Relation with samatha
3 Practice
o 3.1 Theravda
3.1.2 Vipassana-meditation
o 3.2 Mahyna
3.2.1 Vajrayana
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Sources
8 External links
o 8.1 History
o 8.2 Background
o 8.3 Practice
Etymology
See also: Enlightenment in Buddhism, Sotpanna, Jnana, Prajna, Bodhi, Vidhya and Kensho
Vipassan is a Pali word from the Sanskrit prefix "vi-" and verbal root pa. It is often
translated as "insight" or "clear-seeing," though, the "in-" prefix may be misleading; "vi" in
Indo-Aryan languages is equivalent to the Latin "dis." The "vi" in vipassan may then mean
to see into, see through or to see 'in a special way.'[2] Alternatively, the "vi" can function as an
intensive, and thus vipassan may mean "seeing deeply."[citation needed]
A synonym for "Vipassan" is paccakkha (Pli; Sanskrit: pratyaks a), "before the eyes,"
which refers to direct experiential perception. Thus, the type of seeing denoted by
"vipassan" is that of direct perception, as opposed to knowledge derived from reasoning or
argument.[citation needed]
In Tibetan, vipashyana is lhagthong (wylie: lhag mthong). The term "lhag" means "higher",
"superior", "greater"; the term "thong" is "view" or "to see". So together, lhagthong may be
rendered into English as "superior seeing", "great vision" or "supreme wisdom." This may be
interpreted as a "superior manner of seeing", and also as "seeing that which is the essential
nature." Its nature is a luciditya clarity of mind.[7]
Henepola Gunaratana defined Vipassan as:
Looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and
separate, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of
that thing" [2]
Insight
Origins
In the sutta pitaka the term "vipassan" is hardly mentioned:
If you look directly at the Pali discourses the earliest extant sources for our knowledge of
the Buddha's teachings you'll find that although they do use the word samatha to mean
tranquillity, and vipassan to mean clear-seeing, they otherwise confirm none of the received
wisdom about these terms. Only rarely do they make use of the word vipassan a sharp
contrast to their frequent use of the word jhana. When they depict the Buddha telling his
disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying "go do vipassan," but always "go do
jhana." And they never equate the word vipassan with any mindfulness techniques.[8]
Bare insight
The suttas contain traces of ancient debates between Mahayana and Theravada schools in the
interpretation of the teachings and the development of insight. Out of these debates developed
the idea that bare insight suffices to reach liberation, by discerning the Three marks of
existence (tilakkhana), namely dukkha, anatta and anicca.[9] This is a summation on the
knowledge and insight on the Four Noble Truths which can only be reached by practising the
Noble Eightfold Path. According to Theravada tradition enlightenment or Nibbana can only
be attained by discerning all Vipassana insight levels when the Eightfold Noble Path is
followed ardently. This is a developmental process where various Vipassana insights are
discerned and the final enlightenment may come suddenly as proposed by other schools.
The Sthaviravda, one of the early Buddhist schools, emphasized sudden insight:
In the Sthaviravada [...] progress in understanding comes all at once, 'insight' (abhisamaya)
does not come 'gradually' (successively - anapurva).[10]
The Mahasanghika, another one of the early Buddhist schools, had the doctrine of ekaksanacitt, "according to which a Buddha knows everything in a single thought-instant".[11] This
process however, meant to apply only to the Buddha and Peccaka buddhas. Lay people may
have to undergo various levels of insights to become fully enlightened.
The Mahayana-tradition emphasises prajna, insight into sunyata, dharmata, the two truths
doctrine, clarity and emptiness, or bliss and emptiness:[12]
[T]he very title of a large corpus of early Mahayana literature, the Prajnaparamita, shows
that to some extent the historian may extrapolate the trend to extol insight, prajna, at the
expense of dispassion, viraga, the control of the emotions.[13]
Although Theravada and Mahayana are commonly understood as different streams of
Buddhism, their practice however, may reflect emphasis on insight as a common
denominator:
In practice and understanding Zen is actually very close to the Theravada Forest Tradition
even though its language and teachings are heavily influenced by Taoism and Confucianism.
[14][note 1]
The emphasis on insight is discernible in the emphasis in Chn on sudden insight,[10] though
in the Chn-tradition this insight is to be followed by gradual cultivation.[note 2]
Practice
See also: Buddhist Paths to liberation
Vipassan can be cultivated by the practice that includes contemplation, introspection and
observation of bodily sensations, analytic meditation and observations on life experiences
like death and decomposition. The practices may differ in the modern Buddhist traditions and
non-sectarian groups according to the founder but the main objective is to develop insight. [1]
Theravda
Vipassan movement
See also: Vipassana movement and Buddhist modernism
The term vipassana became popular due to the influence of the Vipassana movement which
started in the 1950s in Burma. It has become a practical solution to handle emotions in a
sophisticated society of the West.
The Vipassan Movement, also known as the Insight Meditation Movement, refers to a
number of schools of modern Theravda Buddhism, especially the Thai Forest Tradition and
the "New Burmese Method", which emphasize development of insight into the three marks of
existence as a mean to become awakened and enter the Stream.
The modern influences[6] on the traditions of Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos and Thailand
originating from various Theravda teachers like Ledi sayadaw, Mogok Sayadaw who was
less known to the West due to lack of International Mogok Centres, Mahasi Sayadaw, Ajahn
Chah, and Dipa Ma, as well as derivatives from those traditions such as the movement led by
S. N. Goenka. The Vipassan Movement also includes contemporary American Buddhist
teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack
Kornfield.
In the Vipassan Movement, the emphasis is on the Satipatthana Sutta and the use of
mindfulness to gain insight into the impermanence of the self-view.
Vipassana-meditation
Vipassan-meditation uses mindfulness of breathing, combined with the contemplation of
impermanence, to gain insight into the true nature of this reality. All phenomena are
investigated, and concluded to be painful and unsubstantial, without an immortal entity or
self-view, and in its ever-changing and impermanent nature.[27][13]
Mindfulness of breathing is described throughout the Sutta Pitaka. The Satipatthana Sutta
describes it as going into the forest and sitting beneath a tree and then to simply watch the
breath. If the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice
that the breath is short.[28][29]
By observing the breath one becomes aware of the perpetual changes involved in breathing,
and the arising and passing away of mindfulness. One can also be aware of and gain insight
into impermanence through the observation of bodily sensations and their nature of arising
and passing away.[30]
Stages in the practice
See also: Four stages of enlightenment
Vipassan jhanas are stages that describe the development of vipassan meditation practice as
described in modern Burmese Vipassana meditation.[31] Mahasi Sayadaw's student Sayadaw U
Pandita describes the four vipassan jhanas as follows:[32]
1. The meditator first explores his body, then his mind, discovering the three
characteristics. The first jhana consists in seeing these points and in the presence of
vitakka and vicara. Phenomena reveal themselves as appearing and ceasing.
2. In the second jhana, the practice seems effortless. Vitaka and vicara both disappear.
3. In the third jhana, piti, the joy, disappears too: there is only happiness (sukha) and
concentration.
4. The fourth jhana arises, characterised by purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.
The practice leads to direct knowledge. The comfort disappears because the
dissolution of all phenomena is clearly visible. The practice will show every
phenomenon as unstable, transient, disenchanting. The desire of freedom will take
place.
Eventually Vipassan-meditation leads to insight into the impermanence of all phenomena,
and thereby lead to a permanent liberation.[13]
Mahyna
Vajrayana
Main articles: Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism
Indian Mahyna Buddhism employed both deductive investigation (applying ideas to
experience) and inductive investigation (drawing conclusions from direct experience) in the
practice of vipayan.[note 6][note 7] According to Leah Zahler, only the tradition of deductive
analysis in vipayan was transmitted to Tibet in the strayna context.[note 8]
In Tibet direct examination of moment-to-moment experience as a means of generating
insight became exclusively associated with vajrayna.[35][note 9][note 10]
Mahmudr and Dzogchen
Mahmudr and Dzogchen use vipayan extensively. This includes some methods of the
other traditions, but also their own specific approaches. They place a greater emphasis on
meditation on symbolic images. Additionally in the Vajrayna (tantric) path, the true nature of
mind is pointed out by the guru, and this serves as a direct form of insight.[note 11]
See also
npna
Buddhism
Buddhist meditation
Jna
Jhna
Meditation
Monastic silence
Samatha
Satipatthana
Tipitaka
Upasana
Vipass Buddha
Notes
1.
Khantipalo recommends the use of the koan-like question "Who?" to penetrate "this notself-anture of the five aggregates": "In Zen Buddhism this technique has been formulated in
several koans, such as 'Who drags this corpse around?'"[15]
This "gradual training" is expressed in teachings as the Five ranks of enlightenment,
Ten Ox-Herding Pictures which detail the steps on the Path, The Three mysterious Gates of
Linji, and the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin.
See, for example:
AN 4.170 (Pali):
Yo hi koci, vuso, bhikkhu v bhikkhun v mama santike arahattappatti bykaroti, sabbo
so cathi maggehi, etesa v aatarena.
Katamehi cathi? Idha, vuso, bhikkhu samathapubbagama vipassana bhveti[...]
Puna capara, vuso, bhikkhu vipassanpubbagama samatha bhveti[...]
Thrangu Rinpoche describes the approach using a guru: "In the Stra path
one proceeds by examining and analyzing phenomena, using reasoning. One
recognizes that all phenomena lack any true existence and that all appearances are
merely interdependently related and are without any inherent nature. They are empty
yet apparent, apparent yet empty. The path of Mahmudr is different in that one
proceeds using the instructions concerning the nature of mind that are given by one's
guru. This is called taking direct perception or direct experiences as the path. The
fruition of amatha is purity of mind, a mind undisturbed by false conception or
emotional afflictions. The fruition of vipayan is knowledge (prajn) and pure
wisdom (jna). Jna is called the wisdom of nature of phenomena and it comes
about through the realization of the true nature of phenomena.[37]
References
1.
"Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at the Mind, by Khenchen Thrangu
Rinpoche". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in plain English, Wisdom Publications, pg 21.
King 1992, p. 132-137.
Nyanaponika 1998, p. 107-109.
Sources
Bond, George D. (1992), The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka: Religious Tradition,
Reinterpretation and Response, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
Buswell, Robert E. JR; Gimello, Robert M. (editors) (1994), Paths to Liberation. The
Marga and its Transformations in Buddhist Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers
Fronsdal, Gil (1998), Insight Meditation in the United States: Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness. In: Charles S. Prebish and Kenneth K. Tanaka, The Faces of
Buddhism in America, Chapter 9
Gombrich, Richard F. (1997), How Buddhism Began. The Conditioned Genesis of the
Early Teachings, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Khantipalo, Bikkhu (1984), Calm and Insight. A buddhist Manual for Meditators,
London and Dublin: Curzon Press Ltd.
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter (2003), Blending the Stras with the Tantras: The influence of
Maitrpa and his circle on the formation of Stra Mahmudr in the Kagyu Schools.
In: Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis: Studies in its Formative Period, 900
1400. Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International
Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford
Nyanaponika (1998), Het hart van boeddhistische meditatie (The heart of Buddhist
Meditation), Asoka
Schumann, Hans Wolfgang (1974), Buddhism: an outline of its teachings and schools,
Theosophical Pub. House
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Year Unknown), One Tool Among Many. The Place of
Vipassana in Buddhist Practice Check date values in: |date= (help)
External links
History
Background
Practice
Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the
tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin at free centers worldwide
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