Is there anything we experience which is permanent? Two other avenues of investigation are unsatisfactoriness dukkha and not-self anatta. Insights into these Three Characteristics of Existence lead to liberation from all suffering.
That is why observing the breath at the nostrils is a popular and effective way of achieving those higher states of concentration known as the Absorptions jhana. When concentration becomes locked into one-pointedness on a single object, the effect is to suppress everything else, and this stops the process of purifying the heart, our emotional life. This is not to say that concentration practice cannot go hand in hand with vipassana. Indeed, it is well supported in the discourses. Rather, the Mahasi espoused the direct path of vipassana only ekayano maggo as it is taught in the Discourse on How to Establish Mindfulness satipatthanasutta MN Nor does this mean that observing the breath at the nostrils is not a valid technique in vipassana meditation.
Indeed, although the Mahasi preferred the abdomen as a place of primary observation, he did not ban anyone from observing sensations at the nostrils. However, when we centre on the abdomen or the chest when the breath is shallow , we remain very much in contact with body. This allows any turbulence in the body caused by our states of mind to manifest and burn off. This is the psychotherapeutic effect of vipassana. Our emotions, moods and mental states express themselves through the body often as blocks, aches and pains and so on, and sometimes as raw emotion.
All this mental turbulence has to be allowed to express itself within consciousness, and it all has to be borne patiently. The second technique, which is specific to the Mahasi method, is noting. Paradoxically this is to take a meditator beyond thinking. It is not an end in itself. The Mahasi was a highly respected scholar. As a young man he had passed Dhammacariya Teacher of the Dhamma examination with distinction.
At the Sixth Buddhist Council in , when all the texts where reviewed and for the first time all the commentarial literature was edited, the Mahasi Sayadaw was given the task of Pucchaka Questioner and Osana Final Editor of the texts. Although a scholar, he was not one to confuse intellectual understanding with true experiential insight.
Indeed, he put that intellect to the service of the Dhamma. He wrote many books on Dhamma and the best introduction to his system still remains his opening talk to beginners—satipatthana vipassana, Discourse on the Basic Practice of the Application of Mindfulness. A more detailed description will be found in his book, Practical Insight Meditation.
The first is a simple noting or naming of the object. This simple labelling, naming, noting—whereby attention is pointed at the object—is known as vitakka and is likened to a bee flying towards a flower.
It is a word which encapsulates the whole experience. In a child this is very obvious and simplistic. When two-year-olds begin to speak they rejoice at being able to name an object: Car!
There is not much thought around it since language itself, which allows us to think about an object, is not developed enough for this to happen. This is thinking about an object. This mentation is known as proliferation papanca. The purpose of thinking and daydreaming is to keep us off the present object and to distract the mind. The Buddha likened this to a monkey jumping from branch to branch.
This is exactly what we have to bring to a stop. Shrinking thought down to a single word is the preliminary effort.
This, it seems, was a little revolution. Question feed. New to Buddhism? It is often quite a discovery to find that there is another way of experiencing the world. These are the insights that lead to the direct experience of nibbana, the first time known as Stream-entry sotapanna ; the whole process being repeated three times leading to the attainment of the Path and Fruit of the Once-returner sakadagami , the Non-returner anagami , and the Arahat, the enlightened being.
But at this stage the meditator has to constantly pull the attention out of wandering and into observing. Indeed, this is what training through a technique is all about—reconditioning consciousness to be present, to be attentive to what is happening now. To be effective, this noting has to be done with precise effort. It has to be an acknowledgement of what the body, heart or mind are doing. For instance, when one wakes from a fantasy, there is the first noting—arguing, planning, lusting—and then the second and consequent noting which is an acknowledgement of what is obsessing the mind.
It is as though the intuitive intelligence sees through the word and experiences the presenting object directly. In this way the intellectual faculty is brought into the service of that intuitive intelligence rather than intuitive intelligence being fogged by conceptual thinking.
Thought itself can be split into two categories—conceptual and image making. As we note the breath, for instance, there will be a concept of rising and falling and also a mental image of the abdomen.
We do not try to destroy them or in any way obliterate them. We just keep pointing the attention at the feeling of movement, the sensations. This attention, as it grows in strength, will eventually take all the energy out of thinking to the point where there is just the noting word. The meditator is still noting, but the attention becomes stuck, as it were, onto the object instead of wanting to wander off. This is likened to a bee landing and sucking on a flower.
It is the second stage of developing right concentration and is called vicara. This may raise the misinterpretation that Buddhism doctrines are no longer necessary to comprehend. In the Modern Chan movement, Buddhist views for life, the world, and any belief that related to the religion and cultures should be forgone. This would be very worrying in deed if people streamline Buddhism into mindfulness and bare attention.
Welcome to the website of the Canberra Insight Meditation Group. We are a group of meditators practising in a Western form of the insight tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma.
Insight meditation is also known as Vipassana or Mindfulness Meditation. More information about this form of meditation is provided here. Activities include: weekly meditation; a one day retreat once a month 1DR ; a Dhamma discussion group DDG ; and some social activities. Booking details to be advised.