2.2: (2b) The Progress of Vipassanā

[Full title: 2.2—Types of Meditation (2): Insight Meditation (Vipassanā-bhāvanā) (b): The Progress of Vipassanā]

The first Vipassanā is a method of the cultivation and the development of the precepts. Purification of Conduct means here, in the case of male and female devotees (Upāsakas and Upāsikas), the acceptance of the Precepts, and the proper guarding and protecting of their observance, whether it be the five precepts, the eight Uposatha precepts, or the ten precepts. ^[1]

In the case of Bhikkhus, Purification of Conduct is the well-kept purity of the fourfold conduct incumbent upon monks, beginning with Restraint according to the Disciplinary Rules of Bhikkhus, called Pātimokkha. Of that fourfold conduct, the Restraint according to the Pātimokkha Rules is of first importance; because only when that Restraint is pure, will one be able to accomplish the development of meditation. ^[2]

When Purification of Conduct has been established, the meditator who has chosen pure Insight as his vehicle should endeavour to contemplate the Body-and-Mind (nāma-rūpa) . In doing so, he should contemplate, according to their characteristics, ^[3] the five Groups of Grasping, i e. the bodily and mental processes that become evident to him in his own life-continuity (at his own six sense-doors). ^[4]

Insight must, in fact, be developed by noticing, ^[5] according to their specific and general characteristics ^[6] , the bodily and mental processes that become evident at the six sense-doors. At the beginning, however, it is difficult to follow and to notice clearly all bodily and mental processes that incessantly appear at the six sense-doors. Therefore the meditator who is a beginner should first notice the perfectly distinct process of touch, perceived through the door of bodily sensitivity; because the Visuddhi Magga says that, in Insight meditation, one should take up what is distinct. When sitting, there occurs the bodily process of touch by way of the sitting posture and through touch sensitivity in the body. These processes of tactile sensitivity should be noticed as “Sitting... touching” and so forth, in due succession. Further, at the sedant meditator’s abdomen, the tactile process of bodily motion (i.e., the wind, or vibratory, element) which has breathing as its condition, is perceptible continuously as the rise (expansion) and fall (contraction) of the abdomen. That also, should be noticed as “rising... falling,” and so forth. While the meditator is thus engaged in noticing the element of motion which impinges continuously on the door of bodily sensitivity in the abdomen, it becomes evident to him in its aspects of stiffening, of vibrating, and of pushing and pulling. Here, the aspect of stiffening shows the Motion Element’s characteristic nature of supporting; the aspect of vibrating shows its essential function of movement; and the aspect of pushing and pulling shows its manifestation of impelling. ^[7]

Hence, the meditator, noticing the tactile bodily process of rise and fall of the abdomen, accomplishes the observation of the bodily process (rūpa), by getting to know the characteristic nature, etc., of the Element of Motion. Later when he has accomplished the observation of Mind (nāma), and the observation of both Body and Mind (nāma-rūpa) , he will also come to know the general characteristics of the processes concerned, i.e., their impermanence, liability to suffering, and their being void of a self.

But while he is engaged in just noticing the rising and falling of the abdomen and other tactile processes, there will appear thoughts of desire, etc., feelings of pleasure, etc., or acts such as adjusting various parts of the body. At that time, these activities (of mind and body) must be noticed, too. But after noticing them, he should turn again to the continuous noticing of the tactile process of the rising and falling of the abdomen, which is the basic object of mindfulness in this practice.

During the early part of the methodical practice, as long as the meditator’s mind is not yet fully purified, wandering thoughts arising by his thinking of objects of sense desire, etc., will also appear intermittently between thoughts of noticing (the objects of meditation). Hence, these wandering thoughts are called ‘hindering thoughts.’

When, however, the momentary concentration of his mind has become strong, the thought process of noticing becomes well concentrated. Hence, when attending to the objects to be noticed–the abdominal movement, sitting, touching, bending, stretching, seeing, hearing, etc.,–his noticing thoughts now appear as if falling upon these objects, as if striking at them, as if confronting them again and again. Then, as a rule, his mind will no longer go elsewhere. Only occasionally, and in a slight degree, will this happen, and even in those cases he will be able to notice any such stray thought at its very arising, as expressed in common speech; or, to be exact, he will notice the stray thought immediately after its actual arising. Then that stray thought will subside as soon as it is noticed, and will not arise again. Immediately afterwards he will also be able to resume continuous noticing of any object as it becomes evident to him. That is why his mind at that time is called ‘unhindered.’

While thus practising the exercise of noticing with ‘unhindered mind,’ the noticing mind will get more close to and fixed at whichever object is noticed, and the act of noticing will proceed without break. At that time there arises in him, in uninterrupted succession, ‘the concentration of mind lasting for a moment.’ directed to each object noticed. This is called ‘Purification of Mind.’ ^[8]

Endowed with the ‘Purification of Mind’ and continuing the practice of noticing, the meditator now gets to know body-and-mind analytically as follows: ‘The rising (i.e. upward movement of the abdomen) is one process; the falling (i.e. downward movement) is another; sitting is another; touching is another, etc.’ In that way he gets to know how to distinguish each bodily process that he notices. Further: ‘The knowing of the rising movement is one process; the knowing of the falling movement is another.’ In that way he gets to know each mental act of noticing. Furthermore: ‘The rising movement is one process; the knowing of it is another. The falling movement is one process; the knowing of it is another,’ and so on. In that way he gets to know how to distinguish each bodily and mental process. All that knowledge, indeed, comes from simple noticing, not from reasoning; that is to say: it is knowledge by direct experience arrived at by the mere act of noticing, and not knowledge derived from ratiocination.

Thus, when seeing a visual object with the eye, the meditator knows how to distinguish each single factor involved: ‘The eye is one; the visual object is another; seeing is another, and knowing it is another.’ The same manner applies in the case of the other sense functions.

Such knowledge as this, which analyses in each act of noticing both the bodily process noticed and the mental process engaged in noticing, according to their true essential nature, is called “Analytical Knowledge of Body and Mind.”

When that knowledge has come to maturity, the meditator understands thus: ‘At the moment of breathing-in, there is just the rising movement of the abdomen and the knowing of the movement, but there is no self besides; at the moment of breathing-out, there is just the falling movement of the abdomen and the knowing of the movement, but there is no self besides.’ Understanding it thus in these and other instances, he knows and sees for himself by noticing thus: “There is here only that pair: a material process as object, and a mental process of knowing it; and it is to that pair alone that the terms of conventional usage ‘being,’ ‘person’ or ‘soul,’ ‘I’ or ‘another,’ ‘man’ or ‘woman’ refer. But apart from that dual process there is no separate person or being, I or another, man or woman. This is called “Purification of View.”

Seeing thus the misery in conditioned things (formations), his mind finds no delight in those miserable things, but is entirely disgusted with them. At time, his mind becomes, as it were, discontented and listless. Even so he does not give up the practice of Insight, but spends his time continuously engaging in it. He therefore should know that this state of mind is not dissatisfaction with meditation, but is precisely the ‘Knowledge of Disgust’ that has the aspect of being disgusted with the formations. Even if he directs his thought to the happiest sort of life and existence or to the most pleasant and desirable objects, his mind will not take delight in them, will find no satisfaction in them. On the contrary, his mind will incline and lean and tend only towards Nibbāna. Therefore the following thought will arise in him between moments of noticing: ‘The ceasing of all formations that are dissolving from moment to moment–that alone is happiness.’

In short, Vipassanā-bhavanā is realization of the three signs of being, anicca, dukkha, and anatta, by direct insight. These three characteristics, impermanence, suffering and non-self, can be grasped intellectually, as scientific and philosophical truth, but this is not in itself sufficient to rid the mind of egoism and craving. The final objective lies on a higher level of awareness, the direct “intuitional” plane, where it is actually experienced as psychological fact. Until this personal confirmation is obtained, the sphere of sense perception (ayatana) and sensory-responses remain stronger than the intellectual conviction; the two functions side by side on different levels of consciousness, but it is usually the sphere dominated by avijja which continues to determine the course of life by volitional action. The philosopher who fails to live according to his philosophy is the most familiar example of this incompatibility between theory and practice. When the direct perception is obtained, however, what was at its highest intellectual level still merely a theory becomes actual knowledge, in precisely the same way that we “know” when we are hot or cold hungry or thirsty. The mind that has attained it is established in the Dhamma, and paññā, wisdom, has taken the place of delusion.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

I. The five Precepts, binding on all Buddhist laymen, are: abstention from 1. killing, 2. stealing, 3. unlawful sexual intercourse, 4. lying, 5. intoxicants. II.The eight Uposatha Precepts are: abstention from 1. killing, 2. stealing, 3. all sexual intercourse, 4.lying, 5 intoxi-cants, 6. partaking of solid food and certain liquids after 12 noon 7. abstention from (a) dance, song, music, shows (attendance and performance), (b) from perfumes, ornaments, etc., 8. luxurious beds. -This set of eight precepts is observed by devout Buddhist lay followers on full-moon days and on other occasions. III. The ten Precepts: (1) -(6) = ii, i -6; (7) = ii, 7 (a);(8) = ii, 7 (b); (9) = ii, 8; (10) abstention from acceptance of gold and silver, money, etc.

[2]:

The other three items of the monk’s Fourfold Pure Conduct are control of the senses, purity of livelihood, and pure conduct concerning the monk’s requisites.

[3]:

Literally: “according to their true nature and function.”

[4]:

This method of meditation aims at ‘knowledge by direct experience’ (paccakkhanāna), resulting from mindfulness directed towards one’s own bodily and mental processes. It is for that reason that here express mention is made of “one’s own life continuity.” Having gathered the decisive direct experience from the contemplation of his own body and mind, the meditator will later extend the contemplation to the life-processes of others, by way of inference (anumāna). See, in the Satipatthāna Sutta, the recurrent passage: “contemplating the body, etc., externally.”

[5]:

“Noticing”–sallakkhana is a key term in this treatise. The corresponding verb in the Pāli language is sallakkheti (sam-lakh), which can be translated, adequately as well as literally, by “to mark clearly.” Though the use of “to mark” in the sense of “to observe” or “to notice” is quite legitimate in English, it is however somewhat unusual, and unwieldy in its derivations. Hence the rendering by “noticing” was chosen. “Noticing” is identical with “bare attention,” the term used in the translator’s book “The Heart of Buddhist Meditations” (London 1962, Rider & Co.).

[6]:

The Sub-commentary to the Brahmajāla Sutta explains as follows: “Things in their true nature (paramattha-dhammā) have twofold characteristics or marks: specific characteristics and general characteristics. The understanding of the specific characteristics is ‘knowledge by experience’ (paccakkha-nāna), while the understanding of the general characteristics is ‘knowledge by inference’ (anumāna-nāna) “The specific characteristics, for instance, of the Element of Motion (vāyo-dhātu) are its nature of supporting, its function of moving; its general characteristics are impermanence, etc.

[7]:

The three terms printed in italics, are standard categories of definition used in the Pāli commentaries and the Visuddhi Magga. In the case of mental phenomena, a fourth category, “proximate condition” (padatthāna) is added. The definition of the Element of Motion (or of Wind) occurs, for instance, in the Visuddhi Magga (tr. by Nānamoli Thera, p. 399), and is shown in this treatise to be a fact of direct experience.

[8]:

Purification of mind’ refers to mental concentration of either of two degrees of intensity: Full Concentration or Access Concentration. In both types of concentration, the mind is temporarily purified from the five Mental Hindrances, which defile the mind and obstruct concentration.