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NAMO
TASSA
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'THE
BUDDHIST HOUR'
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Hillside
Radio 1620 AM, 87.6 FM & 88.0 FM |
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The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 24 June 2001
The topic of today’s broadcast is: Vipassana Meditation
Two of our Members are about to do a ten-day Vipassana course and have asked our Teacher what mental preparation they need to understand this ten-day course, which has very little talking, so they do not panic and run away. As Venerable Sayadaw U Janakabhivamsa states that the meaning of Vipassana is, “if a yogi does not understand the purpose of Vipassana meditation, he or she will not try to discover something by his noting of mental and physical processes. Vipassana is a compound of two words: vi-and passana. Vi means various, i.e. the three characteristics (transiency - Anicca, unsatisfactoriness - Dukkha, non-self - Anatta). Passana means right understanding or realisation by means of mindfulness of mentality and physicality. Vipassana therefore means the direct realisation of the three characteristics of mentality and physicality”. The Pali Text Society English-Pali Dictionary translates vipassana as: inward vision, insight, intuition, introspection. Many religions practice meditation on the body in different ways. Vipassana Meditation is a Buddha Dhamma practice often referred to as Insight Bhavana or Mindfulness Meditation. It has no counterpart in other religion’s practices. Mindfulness of the body and of its 32 component parts proceeds. Vipassana meditation. The body has been composed of the four great elements. The mindfulness of the body as composed of 32 parts is Kaya-Nupassana. It is fine to write, read or hear a radio talk or other commentary on Vipassana Meditation, however, it must be said that Vipassana Meditation is itself a practice. Venerable Henepola Gunaratana writes that, “Meditation is a living activity, an inherently experiential activity. It cannot be taught as a purely scholastic subject”. The purpose of practicing Vipassana Meditation is to gain insight into the reality of phenomena. Vipassana is the oldest of the Buddhist meditation practices rediscovered by the Buddha. The method of Vipassana leads directly to the Satipatthana Sutta, a discourse attributed to the Buddha himself. The Satipatthana Sutta can be found in the Tipitaka, which is the three section collected works in which the Buddha’s original teachings have been preserved. In the Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation - A basic Buddhist Mindfulness Exercise, The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw Agga Maha Pandita writes: “People who are without the training and knowledge of the Meditational Development of Insight (vipassana bhavana) hold the view that seeing belongs to or is ‘self, or ego, or living entity, or person’. They believe that ‘Seeing is I; or I am seeing; or I am knowing’. This kind of view or belief is called the Erroneous View that there is a self (sakkaya-ditthi). Sakkaya means the group of matter (rupa) and mind (nama) as they exist distinctively. Ditthi means to hold a wrong view of belief. The compound word of Sakkya-ditthi means to hold a wrong view or belief on the dual set of Matter and Mind which are in real existence. For more clarity it will be explained further as to the manner of holding the wrong view or belief. At the moment of seeing, the things that are in actual existence are the eye and visual object of material group, and the seeing which belongs to the mental group. These two kinds are in actual existence. Yet people hold the view that this group of elements is ‘self’, or ‘ego’, or living entity’. They consider that ‘seeing’ is I; or what is seen is I; or I see my own body’. Thus this mistaken view is taken on the simple act of seeing as ‘self’, which is Sakkaya-ditthi. As long as one is not free from Sakkaya-ditthi one cannot expect to escape from the risk of falling into miserable existence of hell, or animals, or petas. Though he or she may be leading a happy life in the human or deva world by virtue of his merits, yet he or she is liable to fall back into the state of miserable life at any time when his or her demerits operate. For this reason Lord Buddha pointed out that it was essential to work for the total removal of Sakkya-ditthi as follows: Sakkya ditthippahanaya sato bhikkhu paribbaje. This says: Though it is the wish of everyone to avoid old age, disease and death, yet no one can help it but must inevitably submit to them one day. After death, rebirth follows. Rebirth in any state of existence does not depend on one’s own wish. It is not possible to avoid rebirth in the realm of hell, or animals, or petas by merely wishing for an escape. Rebirth takes place in any state of existence as the circumstances of one’s own deeds provide, and there is no choice at all. For these reasons, the Wheel of Rebirth (Samsara) is very dreadful. Every effort should therefore be made to acquaint oneself with the miserable conditions of Samsara and then to work for an escape from this incessant cycle, and for the attainment of Nirvana. If an escape from Samsara as a whole is not possible for the present, an attempt should be made for an escape at least from the round of rebirth in the realm of hell, or animals, or petas. In this case it is necessary to work for the total removal from oneself of the erroneous view that there is a self, which is the root-cause of rebirth in the miserable states. This erroneous view can only be destroyed completely by the Holy Path and its fruition (ariya magga and phala), three virtues of Morality, Concentration and Wisdom. It is, therefore, imperative to work for the development of these virtues. How to work? That is, Sato: by means of noting or observing; Paribbaje: must go out from the jurisdiction of Defilement (kilesa). One should practice by constantly noting or observing every act of seeing, hearing, etc., which are the constituent physical and mental processes of the body, till one is freed from Sakkya-ditthi. The best preparation is to become skilled in Samatha meditation before you start. Some people with high blood pressure, for example, use this meditation to lower their blood pressure. In Samatha meditation you concentrate on one object such as the sensation of breathing. By practicing this you will eventually experience a calm mind because every other impingement coming through the senses is cut off. You hold your attention on your breathing and by doing that the breath becomes more and more refined, and you will calm down. High blood pressure will lower because Samatha meditation calms the heart. Obviously you need to be medically fit before you start intensive meditation as otherwise you will get sick. A doctor’s advice should be sought if you are on some medication. Meditation is not for everybody. Samatha meditation is a safe kind of Buddhist meditation. Vipassana is not necessarily safe unless you have kept five precepts (sila). In Vipassana, insight-meditation, you are opening your mind to everything and no particular object is chosen to concentrate on. The Venerable Ajahn Sumedho writes in his book Mindfulness the Path to the Deathless: “In vipassana, we take this characteristic of impermanence (or change) as a way of looking at all sensory experience that we can observe while sitting here.” If you were corrupt earlier this life, you can start to sense what the kamma will bring you for your lack of sila. As you sit, you can see clearly that certain dull actions such as misuse of intoxicants are driving you away from human birth towards brutish animal births. The awareness of this sad state becomes so clear to the practitioner of Vipassana that they may give up and accept they are to be born animals. This is not correct, because change of behaviour is possible if you change your viewpoint about who you think you are. For example, if you could imagine yourself having a life without any alcohol, you can see clearly you would abandon your drunken friends who really are your enemies because they like you to keep them company as they get drunk and drunker. They know if you continue to drink with them, you will never challenge the stupidity of their behaviour. You may only know persons who drink and not know a single person you can relate to who does not drink. Persons who do not drink do not wish to know you. You are afraid of being alone so you decide to continue drinking ‘just-a-little’. Just-a-little’ over time becomes ‘just-a-lot’. Stop means stop. There can be no half-way measure in the case. The same applies to other precepts. If you enjoy killing fish, as many Australians do, you must stop killing. Who will you spend your time with? Who do you know that will not kill under any condition. And so on. The price for success in the moral life is not that much. When will you realise your fellow killers are not nice persons and killing is killing no matter what? Good and bad habits are not developed without causes. Habits are produced by repetition until they become well established in the mind. Evil habits are difficult to overcome because they drag down the mind. Good habits have the power to uplift the mind. It is of utmost importance that parents implant good habits into the minds of their children before it is too late. This may be done by finding careers with good habits and good schools, for example. In the words of Dr. S. N. Goenka, “Liberation can only be gained by practice - never by discussion” There is no age limit for learning Vipassana because:
In the tradition of Sayagyu U Ba Khin of Burma, this is what Vipassana is:
Ten days are certainly a very short time in which to penetrate the deepest levels of the unconscious mind and learn how to eradicate the deep-lying complexes. Continuity of the practice in seclusion is the secret of this technique’s success. The rules and regulations have been drawn up keeping this practical aspect in mind. The rules are not primarily for the benefit of the Teacher or the Management, nor are they the negative expressions of tradition, orthodoxy or blind faith in some organised religion. Rather, they are based on the practical experience of thousands of meditators over the year and are both scientific and rational. Keeping the rules creates a very conducive atmosphere for meditation - breaking them pollutes it. The rules should be carefully read and considered. Only those who feel that they can honestly follow the discipline scrupulously should apply for admission. Those not prepared to make full-hearted efforts will only waste their time and worse still, cause a disturbance to those others who wish to work seriously. An intending student is warned that it would be both harmful and unpleasant to have to leave without finishing the course if he finds the discipline too difficult. The late Sayagyi U Ba Khin of Burma, said: “It has been my life’s ambition to teach Buddha-Dhamma in the West. After thirty years of research work and trials, with success and failures, I have reach a stage at which I consider myself well qualified to teach the people of the world.” Dr S. N. Goenka, Spiritual Director of the Vipassana International Academy at Igatpuri, India, said: “If you appreciate what you have started doing then you will see that Vipassana is not a rite, nor any kind of ceremony. It is a scientific way of changing the habit patterns of the mind; to come out of the blindness; to come out of the ignorance of the conditionings within. Then one should remain so clear that you never react in a wrong way: you can’t harm yourself and you can’t harm others. Instead you will help yourself and help others as well.” Code of Discipline All Vipassana course participants are to follow a Code of Discipline. The essence of this code is as follows: The five precepts must be kept, which are to abstain from killing, to abstain from stealing, to abstain from all sexual activities, to abstain from telling lies, and to abstain from intoxicants. There are three additional precepts, which are to abstain from taking food after 12 noon, to abstain from sensual amusements and bodily decorations, and to abstain from using high and luxurious beds. For the period of the ten-day course, the student must surrender himself or herself completely to the Teacher and the technique of Vipassana, which includes all the rules, Code of Discipline and the course timetable. All other meditation practices the student may have tried in the past should be suspended without any condemnation whatsoever, in order to give a fair trial to the Vipassana Technique. In the past there have been cases in which students have deliberately mixed Vipassana with some other ritual or practice and seriously harmed themselves. Physical yoga and other physical exercises should also be suspended. Students may obtain physical exercise by walking in areas set aside for this purpose. Problems or confusions about the meditation should be taken only to the Teacher for clarification. No writing or reading materials are to be taken to a course, nor are tape recorders or cameras, unless specific permission is given by the Teacher. To clarify the spirit behind the discipline and rules, they may be summarised as follows: TAKE GREAT CARE THAT YOUR ACTIONS DO NOT DISTURB ANYONE ELSE. TAKE ABSOLUTELY NO NOTICE OF ANY DISTRACTIONS CAUSED BY OTHERS. This radio script is dedicated to all past, present and future Vipassana practitioners. May they be well and happy and obtain success in this practice.
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Davids and Stede (Eds.) (1979) Pali-English Dictionary, London; Pali Text Society. Ganaratana, Henepola, Venerable, (1991) Mindfulness in Plain English, Boston, Wisdom Publishing. Sayadaw U Janakabhivamsa, Vipassana Meditation-lectures of Insight Meditation, (1997), The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw Agga Maha Pandita “The Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation-A basic Buddhist Mindfulness Exercise” (1979) Perstauan Tafakur Vipassana Buddhisme Selangor Selangor Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Society Venerable Ajahn Sumedho “Mindfulness: The Path to the Deathless”, Amaravati Publications, England, 1987. Venerable Phrase Attorn Mama Bower Nyanasampanno (Compiler) Mun Bhuridatta Thera W.A.V.E. Wisdom Audio Visual Exchange, June 2000. International Meditation Centre (Editors) Vipassana Meditation (The Art of Living) International Meditation Centre, Rangoon, Burma. Document
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