Vipassana: For All Purposes, for All People and for All Seasons

Abstract: Vipassana practice is unique to Buddhism. It is said that Gautham Buddha had found this practice 2500 years ago, which lead him to his final liberation under the Bodhi tree. However we find different forms of Vipassana practices in other religions too. This could be true as Vipassana essentially means, "Insight Meditation" which can be practiced by anybody despite their religious or ethnic background. There are many programs nowadays offering seasonal Vipassana retreats (during Monsoons). We believe that Vipassana practice is the sure remedy to end our suffering and to be free from mind projections. But how so? And what is the true from of Vipassana? This article covers only the practicality of Vipassana and relate them to Buddha's enlightenment.   

Fig. 1: Vipassana: From meditation to a quality of mind.

When it comes to the practice of meditation, there are thousand different forms to it. Similarly in Vipassana meditation. The aim of this article is to bring the science of Vipassana practice to the reader, thereby getting rid of any confusion. Instead of explaining the practice against different traditions, lineages, this article presents different Vipassana modes with respect to the purification stages of our human mind and energy system. In this way, we find "human mind, body and energy system" as a common ground to present the science of Vipassana.

Understanding Our Mind

Many human mind-models are nowadays available to explain the working mechanism of this complex instrument. This article prefers to use the Carl Jung's model as it is well established, and easy-to-use model across many frameworks; be it religious, metaphysical or new-age. It is much simpler than the typical Abhidharma models in the Buddhist literature. You can find an introduction to this model, in this article. 

         

Fig. 2: Three layers of human mind: The picture is self explanatory.

[1]. Observing the arising and passing of the mental objects (For Triggers and Suffering): This is the most famous method of Vipassana which comes under the Chittanupassana practice in Buddhism. It means to ''Contemplate on the State of Mind'' or to develop mindfulness in more subtler way. This is the subtlest meditation technique one can think of owing to the atomic level operation of our mind. In my opinion, with the help of long term engagement in Shamatha, this mode of meditation becomes more effective. 

This practice handles the dynamic mental activities which include, emotions, impulses, thoughts of both polarities. It takes place in the conscious layer of our mind, and therefore the conscious layer itself is the awareness to all these activities. Longer the practice of observing, stronger the detachment to these activities. As shown in the picture below, the long term engagement of this practice makes ourselves less sensitive to those so called five aggregates. 

Fig. 3: Arising of the mental object and clinging in the scope of conscious mind.

Fig. 4: Arising and passing of the mental object due to Vipassana practice. No clinging and deposits to

other layers. Therefore the true Vipassana practitioner is said to live well, and sleep well.

This Vipassana meditation mode 1 helps us to be free from suffering, as the very root cause of suffering is found within. This does not mean we are passive, not sensitive or crippled to the outside world. This means, simply the outside world situation cannot affect our inner state any longer. In a nutshell, mode 1 takes place in the conscious layer of the mind and should be practiced daily. With this approach, the outside projection of ourselves or the notion of "self" slowly dissolves.

[2]. Cleansing the mind layers (For Defilements): This is the little-known, forgotten method of Vipassana, and is arduous to practice. Typically, the subconscious and the unconscious layers of human mind is dark at the beginning and, by our own effort, we need to bring light into those areas. 

Undoubtedly, we have the full control over the conscious layer of our mind. What about the other two ? If not, then how shall we clean these layers in order to bring light unto it ?

First, it is important to understand the content of these two layers. Our conscious mind is naturally neutral. For instance we can enjoy sunset, sunrise at beach without being bothered by our tendencies, greed or anger. Then from where do these impulses stem from ? They are essentially from the other two layers, where these impulses, mental formations deposited as a sticky substance. The thoughts and emotions generated in the conscious layer get contaminated with this sticky substance. Therefore our thoughts naturally get polarized by it.    

Eradicating Fetters (i.e. Greed/Ill-will)

If you are a serious Vipassana practitioner, this is the final stage of your path, leading to the fruition at each stage. After meditating for a sufficiently long time, the clear-light (initial luminosities) appears to the practitioner, and from this point onwards the eradication of deeply buried defilements starts. From the bottom most layer, these defilements time-to-time populate to the conscious and sub-conscious layers. Practitioner's task is to observe these mental images, seeing their impermanent nature and letting them dissolve/settle as soon as they arise. This has to continue until the fruition mind appears to you. 

Fig. 5: Vipassana Mode 2: Examples to the purification process of our mind.

When the adept reaches the final bodhisattva stages or shravaka stages, these defilements start to emerge massively and sometimes its effect can influence the adept's daily life as well. This purification stage is not an easy thing to do as it has a significant impact on the physiological and emotion spheres of the practitioner. Indeed owing to its "self destructive" nature ! 

The Order of the Purification

Can we ever purify our mind against defilements, at a remote cave? How can we even detect our impurities, without being exposed to outer objects? When the adept is closer to the fruition of any stage, naturally the universe provides him/her exposure, to practice his Vipassana. Unless your five senses are not contaminated by the external objects, the system cannot trigger the deeply-buried defilements. Therefore these impurities lie beneath the conscious/sub-conscious layers. The cleansing process is as follows:

1. Upon cleansing his mind to at least let's say 50%, these impurities start to surface. This is a natural process of our mind. Therefore, the pre-attained luminosity very slowly degrades. 

2. Without the external contamination, the practitioner cannot sense the strength of these impurities. Why? The natural clinging in our conscious mind is necessary to identify the strength/impact of these defilements. Vipassana practitioner's attention notices the strong urge of engaging in such activities due to this contamination. In daily life as well as in dream state. He/she then let the surfacing dissolve with the help of their wisdom on impermanence or by faith in his practice. 

3. After dissolving this impurities, the practitioner should meditate again. To completely eradicate the re-surfaced defilements, he/she should bring the luminosities across the mind layers again. In this way, the cleansing continues step-by-step, until the fruition mind appears to him. 

This is like cleaning a rusty metal pipe. Vipassana attention and contemplation is sanding this rust one time. Bringing the "luminosity" during the meditation corresponds to flushing out the rust. This iteration process is what we call, the "complete Vipassana training".

Fig. 6: Iteration process of cleaning pipes: Unclogging, sanding and flushing multiple times.

This process is not merely a mechanical process like stated above. It cannot be done in a rush, and in fact it is a process beyond time. During this process, the practitioner would come to a deeper understanding of his/her mind, body, and this world. We see the inter-dependent nature in this very practice too !!!

  

[3]. Uprooting Subtle Bodies (Death and Complete Annihilation of the Individual): This is the most unknown part of the Buddhist meditation practice. At least the adepts who follow the bodhisattva path, are more aware of this stage than the other types of adepts. Following two articles in this blog explains, how the life (universal) force is entangled with the physical structure of our human body:

Magical Relationship Between Our Physical Body and Mind - Do We Reincarnate ?

Self vs No-Self: Are They Really Opposing Ideas ? 

Another well-known form of Vipassana meditation is, bringing our focus on "breathing". Usually this is done at the very beginning of the meditation by some practitioners. With the help of this, some practitioners were claimed to attain subtle mental concentrations. But is it the true motivation behind this practice ?

The true motivation for this practice comes from Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. After all his attempts in meditative and yogic sadhanas, he abandoned all activities and rest in silence. So this breathing meditation "happened to him naturally". With the help of this, he was said to attain the final enlightenment under the bodhi tree. This is going beyond his physical limitation, the divine incarnation.

The Moment Before Buddha's Enlightenment vs The Very Beginning of Our Practice ?

This is my opinion: The technique that helped Buddha to disentangle his subtle bodies from his physical body would not be effective at the very beginning in our practice. Buddha's realization was a gradual process and was done without any support from a guru. We cannot really expect the same result by doing this at the very beginning. But with help of an incarnated guru, there might be a chance !

To come to this stage, first the adept has to master both material and immaterial meditative absorptions. As a result, the subtle energy channels and winds in the body get activated and corresponding chakras, their energy fields become fully active. For some people, this may happen after 2nd mode of Vipassana. In this way, the individual self died to us and, the universal energy incarnates into our physical body.

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Putting it Altogether: Right vs Wrong Vipassana ?

This article has introduced 3 Vipassana modes. They cover the entire Vipassana training scope, from a remedy to suffering to the incarnation of the higher self. To which stages, are they corresponding in Shakyamuni Buddha's life ? 

The 7 weeks of enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha, might reveal more information !