Insight Meditation
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Mindfulness practice or insight meditation:
Meditation in this context (as a translation of the Indic term bhavana) is the process of bringing about changes. A word I find that captures this basic idea is Cultivation.
This sort of "meditation" may be distinguished from meditation as an intellectual (conceptual) process, as a focused, topic-defined contemplation, or a detailed, thorough thinking, the way it does in a Western philosophical context (compare the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius or Descartes' Meditations).
Thus, in the sense of Cultivation, a "tranquility meditation" is the systematic cultivation of tranquility, and an "insight meditation" is the systematic cultivation of insight. This means specifically insight into the nature (features, structure, patterns) of our own experience.
Stated generally,
insight (vipassana) practice (or meditation) operates through mindfulness (sati), as
tranquility (samatha) practice (or meditation) operates through concentration (samadhi).
Here, by being mindful of what is ongoingly current in our life situation, we come to insight into how we are experiencing our world. In particular we may carry out this practice in various physical positions or "forms" (seated, standing, walking/moving, and lying down).
Beyond that "formal" way of naming a meditation, we may describe it in a "formless" way, in terms other than those concerned with our bodily posture or status.
This formless meditation that is mindfulness practice or insight meditation is simply a matter of paying attention to what is most prominent in our consciousness at each moment, and doing this repeatedly, ongoingly. This is perhaps the simplest description of what this practice is.
As this can sometimes be quite an excited and agitated show, it is often suggested that we begin by calming down the mind a bit. This can be done by any concentration practice (which helps develop calm or tranquility), such as repeating a sound or looking at some object or putting our attention on our breathing. (Each of these has been suggested in different contexts.)
In insight (termed vipassana in Pali texts, and vipashyana in Sanskrit ones) practice, we cultivate the ability to notice each moment of consciousness in its turn. There are traditionally four general groupings of possible sorts of experience, which are termed the four foundations of mindfulness. These are discussed in many texts on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice. Let me refer the interested reader in particular to the extended presentation of these in
The Inner Palace,
for which more information can be found at
The Inner Palace directory.
These four are described in detail in tradition texts and are called the four satipatthanas or foundations of mindfulness. Most central here is the discourse (or sutta) called the
Satipatthana Sutta.
As we are being attentive to each and every moment of consciousness, in what is termed open mindfulness (open to whatever there is to be aware of), we will come to see our patterns of experiencing, interpreting, our shifting moods,
states of mind, our body's changes in response to what we take to be happening, our conclusions, intentions, and actions. And see that these form integrated wholes.
When we see this sort of overall pattern, we come to notice how these contribute either to more torment in our world (for ourselves and/or those around us), considered in the tradition to be unskilful thoughts and actions, or to less torment (similarly considered to be skilful thoughts and actions).
If you are interested in an approach to heart-felt mindfulness as taught under the name of insight (vipassana) meditation, you may join an on-going virtual
discussion group
on this practice both in its theoretical aspects and in its applications to experience in everyday life.
On meditation and mental health (psychotherapy), see the essays found at
Dayamati on therapy.
To have a sense for this open mindfulness as applied to ongoing life contexts, let me also cite here an earlier work of mine, presently available at various university libraries in the USA, UK, Ireland, and Canada: Mitchell Ginsberg,
The Far Shore: Vipassana, The Practice of Insight (London, 1980; second ed., Delhi, 1996; revised Indian edition, Delhi, 2001). I will be posting some passages that might be relevant here, as time permits (see
links). See also the reviews of this
book.
Of special value here will be any of the writings of my teacher, V.R. Dhiravamsa (formerly Chao Khun Sobhana Dhammasudhi), such as
The Way of Non-Attachment (which also appeared in French, Dutch, and Spanish editions), A New Approach to Buddhism, and his more readily available (both through the publisher,
Blue Dolphin Publishing)
The Middle Path of Life,
and
Turning to the Source.
This last book is dedicated to his "Most Venerable Master, Phra Dhammadhiraraj Mahamuni (Nyanasiddhi Mahathera), Tripitakacarya and the Principal Vipassana Master of Thailand."
Dhiravamsa has also several books published in Spanish. Of particular interest might be
Palabras de sabiduria del buda: analysis psicospiritual del comentario del Dhammapada and
El gran rio de la conciencia.
For more, see
Dhiravamsa's home page, with text in English and Spanish.
For more information on this approach, check out the
Insight Practice on-line discussion group, or write to me at the email address below. (To do so, simply click on the address there for jinavamsa and you will be provided with a form to write me.)
Return to
jinavamsa's Home Page.
Please come back soon and visit here, as I will updating and adding to this home page as time permits.
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2009
Stated generally, insight (vipassana) practice (or meditation) operates through mindfulness (sati), as tranquility (samatha) practice (or meditation) operates through concentration (samadhi). Here, by being mindful of what is ongoingly current in our life situation, we come to insight into how we are experiencing our world. In particular we may carry out this practice in various physical positions or "forms" (seated, standing, walking/moving, and lying down). Beyond that "formal" way of naming a meditation, we may describe it in a "formless" way, in terms other than those concerned with our bodily posture or status. This formless meditation that is mindfulness practice or insight meditation is simply a matter of paying attention to what is most prominent in our consciousness at each moment, and doing this repeatedly, ongoingly. This is perhaps the simplest description of what this practice is.
As this can sometimes be quite an excited and agitated show, it is often suggested that we begin by calming down the mind a bit. This can be done by any concentration practice (which helps develop calm or tranquility), such as repeating a sound or looking at some object or putting our attention on our breathing. (Each of these has been suggested in different contexts.)
In insight (termed vipassana in Pali texts, and vipashyana in Sanskrit ones) practice, we cultivate the ability to notice each moment of consciousness in its turn. There are traditionally four general groupings of possible sorts of experience, which are termed the four foundations of mindfulness. These are discussed in many texts on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice. Let me refer the interested reader in particular to the extended presentation of these in
The Inner Palace,
for which more information can be found at
The Inner Palace directory.
These four are described in detail in tradition texts and are called the four satipatthanas or foundations of mindfulness. Most central here is the discourse (or sutta) called the
Satipatthana Sutta.
As we are being attentive to each and every moment of consciousness, in what is termed open mindfulness (open to whatever there is to be aware of), we will come to see our patterns of experiencing, interpreting, our shifting moods,
states of mind, our body's changes in response to what we take to be happening, our conclusions, intentions, and actions. And see that these form integrated wholes.
When we see this sort of overall pattern, we come to notice how these contribute either to more torment in our world (for ourselves and/or those around us), considered in the tradition to be unskilful thoughts and actions, or to less torment (similarly considered to be skilful thoughts and actions).
If you are interested in an approach to heart-felt mindfulness as taught under the name of insight (vipassana) meditation, you may join an on-going virtual discussion group on this practice both in its theoretical aspects and in its applications to experience in everyday life. On meditation and mental health (psychotherapy), see the essays found at Dayamati on therapy.
To have a sense for this open mindfulness as applied to ongoing life contexts, let me also cite here an earlier work of mine, presently available at various university libraries in the USA, UK, Ireland, and Canada: Mitchell Ginsberg, The Far Shore: Vipassana, The Practice of Insight (London, 1980; second ed., Delhi, 1996; revised Indian edition, Delhi, 2001). I will be posting some passages that might be relevant here, as time permits (see links). See also the reviews of this book.
Of special value here will be any of the writings of my teacher, V.R. Dhiravamsa (formerly Chao Khun Sobhana Dhammasudhi), such as
The Way of Non-Attachment (which also appeared in French, Dutch, and Spanish editions), A New Approach to Buddhism, and his more readily available (both through the publisher,
Blue Dolphin Publishing)
The Middle Path of Life,
and
Turning to the Source.
This last book is dedicated to his "Most Venerable Master, Phra Dhammadhiraraj Mahamuni (Nyanasiddhi Mahathera), Tripitakacarya and the Principal Vipassana Master of Thailand."
Dhiravamsa has also several books published in Spanish. Of particular interest might be
Palabras de sabiduria del buda: analysis psicospiritual del comentario del Dhammapada and
El gran rio de la conciencia.
For more, see
Dhiravamsa's home page, with text in English and Spanish.
For more information on this approach, check out the
Insight Practice on-line discussion group, or write to me at the email address below. (To do so, simply click on the address there for jinavamsa and you will be provided with a form to write me.)
Return to
jinavamsa's Home Page.
More to be added.... visit when inspired.
email:
jinavamsa@yahoo.com
C 2009
