Part 5 - Insight Meditation

If you have faith it doesnt matter whether you have studied theory or not. If our believing mind leads us to develop practice, if it leads us to constantly develop energy and patience, then study doesnt matter. We have mindfulness as a foundation for our practice. We are mindful in all bodily postures, whether sitting, standing, walking or lying. And if there is mindfulness there will be clear comprehension to accompany it. Mindfulness and clear comprehension will arise together. They may arise so rapidly, however, that we cant tell them apart. But, when there is mindfulness, there will also be clear comprehension.

When our mind is firm and stable, mindfulness will arise quickly and easily and this is also where we have wisdom. Sometimes, though, wisdom is insufficient or doesnt arise at the right time. There may be mindfulness and clear comprehension, but these alone are not enough to control the situation. Generally, if mindfulness and clear comprehension are a foundation of mind, then wisdom will be there to assist. However, we must constantly develop this wisdom through the practice of Insight Meditation. This means that whatever arises in the mind can be the object of mindfulness and clear comprehension. But we must see according to Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta. Impermanence (Anicca) is the basis. Dukkha refers to the quality of unsatisfactoriness, and Anatta says that it is without individual entity. We see that its simply a sensation that has arisen, that it has no self, no entity and that it disappears of its own accord. Just that! Someone who is deluded, someone who doesnt have wisdom, will miss this occasion, he wont be able to use these things to advantage.

If wisdom is present then mindfulness and clear comprehension will be right there with it. However, at this initial stage the wisdom may not be perfectly clear. Thus mindfulness and clear comprehension arent able to catch every object, but wisdom comes to help. It can see what quality of mindfulness there is and what kind of sensation has arisen. Or, in its most general aspect, whatever mindfulness there is or whatever sensation there is, its all Dhamma.

The Buddha took the practice of Insight Meditation as His foundation. He saw that this mindfulness and clear comprehension were both uncertain and unstable. Anything thats unstable, and which we want to have stable, causes us to suffer. We want things to be according to our own desires, but we must suffer because things just arent that way. This is the influence of an unclean mind, the influence of a mind which is lacking wisdom.

When we practice we tend to become caught up in wanting it easy, wanting it to be the way we like it. We dont have to go very far to understand such an attitude. Merely look at this body! Is it ever really the way we want it? One minute we like it to be one way and the next minute we like it to be another way. Have we ever really had it the way we liked? The nature of our bodies and minds is exactly the same in this regard. It simply is the way it is.

This point in our practice can be easily missed. Usually, whatever we feel doesnt agree with us, we throw out; whatever doesnt please us, we throw out. We dont stop to think whether the way we like and dislike things is really the correct way or not. We merely think that the things we find disagreeable must be wrong, and those which we find agreeable must be right.

This is where craving comes from. When we receive stimuli by way of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind, a feeling of liking or disliking arises. This shows that the minds is full of attachment. so the Buddha gave us this Teaching of Impermanence. He gave us a way to contemplate things. If we cling to something which isnt permanent, then well experience suffering. Theres no reason why we should want to have these things in accordance with our likes and dislikes. It isnt possible for us to make things be that way. We dont have that kind of authority or power. Regardless of however we may like things to be, everything is already the way it is. Wanting like this is not the way out of suffering.

Here we can see how the mind which is deluded understands in one way, and the mind which is not deluded understands in another way. When the mind with wisdom receives some sensation for example, it sees it as something not to be clung to or identified with. This is what indicates wisdom. If there isnt any wisdom then we merely follow our stupidity. This stupidity is not seeing impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not self. That which we like we see as good and right. That which we dont like we see as not good. We cant arrive at Dhamma this way -- wisdom cannot arise. If we can see this, then wisdom arises.

The Buddha firmly established the practice of Insight Meditation in His mind and used it to investigate all the various mental impressions. Whatever arose in His mind He investigated like this: even though we like it, its uncertain. Its suffering, because these things which are constantly rising and falling dont follow the influence of our minds. All these things are not a being or a self, they dont belong to us. The Buddha taught us to see them just as they are. It is this principle on which we stand in practice.

We understand then, that we arent able to just bring about various moods as we wish. Both good moods and bad moods are going to come up. Some of them are helpful and some of them are not. If we dont understand rightly regarding these things, then we wont be able to judge correctly. Rather we will go running after craving -- running off following our desire.

Sometimes we feel happy and sometimes we feel sad, but this is natural. Sometimes well feel pleased and at other times disappointed. What we like we hold as good, and what we dont like we hold as bad. In this way we separate ourselves further and further and further from Dhamma. When this happens, we arent able to understand or recognize Dhamma, and thus we are confused. Desires increase because our minds have nothing but delusion.

This is how we talk about the mind. It isnt necessary to go far away from ourselves to find understanding. We simply see that these states of mind arent permanent. We see that they are unsatisfactory and that they arent a permanent self. If we continue to develop our practice in this way, we call it the practice of Vipassana or Insight Meditation. We say that it is recognizing the contents of our mind and in this way we develop wisdom.