Vipassanā (insight) | Theravāda

1. Vipassanā

Vipassanā (Pāḷi) or Vipaśyanā (Sanskrit) literally special, super (Vi), seeing (Passanā), is a Buddhist term that is often translated as insight.

The Pāḷi Canon describes it as 1 of 2 qualities of Mind which is developed in bhāvanā, the training of the Mind, the other being Śamatha (Mind calming).

It is often defined as a practice that seeks insight into the true nature of reality, defined as:

- the 3 marks of existence in the Theravāda tradition,

Vipassanā practice in the Theravāda tradition largely fell out of practice by the 10^th century, but was reintroduced in Burma in the 18^th century, based on contemporary readings of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts.

A new tradition developed in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, centring on 'dry insight' and downplaying Śamatha:

It became of central importance in the 20^th century Vipassanā Movement as developed by Ledi Sayadaw and U Vimala and popularised by Mahāsī Sayadaw, V. R. Dhiravamsa, and S. N. Goenka.

In modern Theravāda, the combination or disjunction of Vipassanā and Śamatha is a matter of dispute:

While the Pāḷi Sūtras hardly mention Vipassanā, describing it as a mental quality alongside Śamatha which develops in tandem and leads to Liberation,

the Abhidhamma Piṭaka and the commentaries describe Śamatha and Vipassanā as 2 separate techniques, taking Śamatha to mean concentration-meditation.

The Vipassanā Movement favours Vipassanā over Śamatha, but some critics point out that both are necessary elements of the Buddhist training, while other critics argue that dhyāna is not a single-pointed concentration exercise.

2. Origins

Vipassanā is a Pāḷi word derived from the older prefix vi- meaning special, and the verbal root -passanā meaning seeing.

It is often translated as insight or clear-seeing.

The type of seeing denoted by Vipassanā is that of direct perception, as opposed to knowledge derived from reasoning or argument.

According to Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, in the Sūtra Piṭaka the term Vipassanā is hardly mentioned, while they frequently mention Jhāna as the meditative practice to be undertaken.

When Vipassanā is mentioned, it is always in tandem with Śamatha, as a pair of qualities of Mind which are developed.

According to Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Śamatha, Jhāna, and Vipassanā were all part of a single path.

It is believed that by the 10^th century Vipassanā was no longer practiced in the Theravāda tradition, due to the belief that Buddhism had degenerated, and that Liberation was no longer attainable until the coming of the future Buddha, Maitreya.

It was re-introduced in Burma in the 18^th century by Medhāvī (1728–1816), leading to the rise of the Vipassanā Movement in the 20^th century,

re-inventing Vipassanā meditation and developing simplified meditation techniques, based on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts, emphasizing Satipaṭṭhāna and bare insight.

Ultimately, these techniques aim at Stream Entry, with the idea that this 1^st stage of the path to awakening safeguards future development of the person towards Full Awakening, despite the degenerated age we live in.

3. Relation with Śamatha

While the Abhidhamma and the commentaries present Śamatha and Vipassanā as separate paths,

in the Sūtras Vipassanā and Śamatha, combined with Sati (Mindfulness), are used together to explore the fundamental nature of Mind and body.

In the later Theravāda tradition, Śamatha is regarded as a preparation for Vipassanā, pacifying the Mind and strengthening concentration in order for insight to arise, which leads to Liberation.

The Buddha is said to have identified 2 paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:

The Buddha is said to have extolled serenity and insight as conduits for attaining the unconditioned state of Nirvāṇa.

For example, in the Kiṁśuka Tree Sūtra (SN 35.245), the Buddha provides an elaborate metaphor in which serenity and insight are the swift pair of messengers who deliver the message of Nirvāṇa via the Noble Eightfold Path.

In the 4 Ways to Arahantship Sūtra (AN 4.170), Ven. Ānanda reports that people attain Arahantship using calm abiding and insight in one of 3 ways:

In the Pāli canon, the Buddha never mentions independent Śamatha and Vipassanā meditation practices; instead, Śamatha and Vipassanā are 2 qualities of Mind to be developed through meditation.

As Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu writes,

Similarly Ajahn Brahm (who is of the Thai Forest Tradition) writes that

The method most often described in the Pāli canon is one where Śamatha and Vipassanā are practiced together.

Jhāna is induced by Śamatha, and then Jhāna is reflected upon with Mindfulness, becoming the object of Vipassanā, realizing that Jhāna is marked by the 3 characteristics.

Buddhist texts describe that all Buddhas and their chief disciples used this method.

Texts also describe a method of bare insight, or dry insight where only Vipassanā is practiced, examining ordinary physical and mental phenomena to discern the 3 marks.

In the Nikāya-texts this method is less common, but has become the foundation of the Vipassanā Movement.

According to Thai meditation master Ajahn Lee (1907–1961),

4. Vipassanā Movement

The term Vipassanā is often conflated with the Vipassanā Movement, a movement which popularised the new Vipassanā teachings and practice.

It started in the 1950s in Burma, but has gained wide renown mainly through American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield.

The movement has had a wide appeal due to being open and inclusive to different Buddhist and non-Buddhist wisdom, poetry as well as science.

It has together with the modern American Zen tradition served as one of the main inspirations for the 'Mindfulness movement'.

The Vipassanā Movement, also known as the Insight Meditation Movement, is rooted in Theravāda Buddhism and the revival of meditation techniques, especially the New Burmese Method and the Thai Forest Tradition, as well as the modern influences on the traditions of Śrī Lanka, Burma, Laos and Thailand.

In the Vipassanā Movement, the emphasis is on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra and the use of Mindfulness to gain insight into the impermanence of the self.

It argues that the development of strong Śamatha can be disadvantageous, a stance for which the Vipassanā Movement has been criticised, especially in Śrī Lanka.

The New Burmese Method was developed by U Nārada (1868–1955), and popularised by Mahāsī Sayadaw (1904–1982) and Nyanaponika Thera (1901–1994).

Other influential Burmese proponents are Ledi Sayadaw and Mogok Sayadaw (who was less known to the West due to lack of International Mogok Centres); Mother Sayamagyi and S. N. Goenka which were both students of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

Influential Thai teachers are Ajahn Chah and Buddhadasa.

A well-known Asian female teacher was Dīpa Ma (1911-1989).

5. Morality & Mindfulness

Vipassanā meditation uses Sati (Mindfulness) and Śamatha (calm), developed through practices such as Ānāpānasati (Mindfulness of breathing), combined with the contemplation of impermanence as observed in the bodily and mental changes, to gain insight into the True Nature of the reality.

Practice begins with the preparatory stage, the practice of Śīla, morality, giving up worldly thoughts and desires.

Morality is a quintessential element of Buddhist practice, and is also emphasized by the first generation of post-war western teachers.

Yet, in the contemporary Mindfulness movement, morality as an element of practice has been mostly discarded, 'mystifying' the origins of Mindfulness.

The practitioner then engages in Ānāpānasati, Mindfulness of breathing, which is described in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra as going into the forest and sitting beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath.

If the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long,
if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.

In the New Burmese Method, the practitioner pays attention to any arising mental or physical phenomenon, engaging in vitarka, noting or naming physical and mental phenomena (breathing, breathing), without engaging the phenomenon with further conceptual thinking.

By noticing the arising of physical and mental phenomena, the meditator becomes aware how sense impressions arise from the contact between the senses and physical and mental phenomena, as described in the 5 skandhas and Paṭiccasamuppāda.

Awareness and observation of these sensations is de-coupled from any kind of physical response, which is intended to recondition one's impulsive responses to stimuli, becoming less likely to physically or emotionally overreact to the happenings of the world.

The practitioner also becomes aware of the perpetual changes involved in breathing, and the arising and passing away of Mindfulness.

This noticing is accompanied by reflections on causation and other Buddhist teachings, leading to insight into dukkha, anatta, and anicca.

When the 3 characteristics have been comprehended, reflection subdues, and the process of noticing accelerates, noting phenomena in general, without necessarily naming them.

6. Stages of Jhāna

Vipassanā Jhānas are stages that describe the development of Śamatha in Vipassanā meditation practice as described in modern Burmese Vipassanā meditation.

Mahāsī Sayadaw's student Sayadaw U Paṇḍita described the 4 Vipassanā Jhānas as follows:

1) The meditator 1^st explores the Body/Mind connection as one, non-duality; discovering 3 characteristics.

The 1^st Jhāna consists in seeing these points and in the presence of Vitarka and Vicāra. Phenomena reveal themselves as appearing and ceasing.

2) In the 2^nd Jhāna, the practice seems effortless. Vitarka and Vicāra both disappear.

3) In the 3^rd Jhāna, Pīti, the joy, disappears too: there is only happiness (sukha) and concentration.

4) The 4^th Jhāna arises, characterised by Purity of Mindfulness due to equanimity.

The practice leads to direct knowledge. The comfort disappears because the dissolution of all phenomena is clearly visible. The practice will show every phenomenon as unstable, transient, disenchanting. The desire of freedom will take place.