Vipassana - 1

HI folks !

Sorry for the delay !

I've been writing, deleting and rewriting this to explain the theory as simply as the actual practise is.

Not easy !
Give me a 30-day course any day !

Mandar has asked a very interesting question.

Actually, there IS a difference between Hinduism and what has been named as 'Buddhism'(- our name, not The Buddha's )!

Let me tell you what it was that The Buddha taught, then the answer will be clearer.

The Buddha taught in Pali, the common man's language of North India of his time, so that the illeterate could also understand the technique clearly and liberate themselves.

In Pali, 'PASSA' means to see, and 'VIPASSANA' means to see in a special way.

He had practised all the meditations that were available at that time but had found that they did not end the cycle of birth, illness, old age and death.

Working backwards, he realised that it was the mind's craving, aversion or ignorance at the moment of death that were causing the rebirths.

It was the mind's habit pattern that it wallowed in any of these three emotions all the time, without a moment's respite when alive, and therefore, when dying.

The mind, then, was the key, and it had to be reined in.

The Buddha saw that the suffering was universal and so were the causes, hence the remedy also had to be universal.

He decided to use the breath, as it stayed with man from his birth to death, and had no sectarian or religious limitation.

In the first step of a 10 day Vipassana course, one is taught to observe the incoming and outgoing breath.

The mind, not accustomed to staying in one place, much less obeying, runs away.

It brings up all kinds of memories and distractive thoughts.

Each memory brings with it a physical manifestation in the form of a bodily sensation.

A heaviness, numbness, tickling - a discernible physical sensation.

One is taught, and learns to watch the breath and feel the sensation in the first step called ANAPANA.

Then comes VIPASSANA when one goes all over ones own body with the now sharpened and more obedient mind, discerning the sensations, identifying them but learning NOT to react to them.

The WHY? is the essence of His teaching!

One learns, by ones own experience, that these sensations on our own body come and go as they please, that they are ever-changing and one has no control over them.

If there is a pleasant sensation and you request,order or plead with it to stay, it does not listen to you.

If there is an unpleasant one and you want it to go away fast, it seems to hang on forever.

It's your own body, but you have no control over the sensations over it !

So what does one do ?

One learns to watch them without reacting.

These bodily sensations are the physical manifestations of our thoughts and habit-patterns of long.

Any one may precede the other, but they are inseparable.

Now, when one reacts to the thought that has arisen by either craving or aversion, one strengthens that habit pattern.

It is not easy to hang on to a thought - it has no body, it is like a free-flying kite or a ferocious dog without a leash.

So instead, one concentrates on the physical manifestations that has accompanied it.

We go over the body with our mind slowly, ignoring the enticing thoughts but stop and watch the sensation without reacting to it.

In practising to do so, we learn to take a step back, not drown in emotions, be equanimous in all kinds of situations.

As one practises Vipassana, the mind calms and is at peace even in times of strife and sorrow.

The old stock of habit-patterns, of craving, aversion and ignorance gets diminished.

There comes a time when you will not have made new stock, and the old one is over.

That, dear friends, is Nirvana or Liberation from the cycle of birth and death!

One does not have to wait to experience peace of mind till one dies or goes to heaven or in the next birth.

Each one who practises it honestly, does so right here, from the 7th or 8th day onwards, right in the course.

Essentially, The Buddha taught that each one's liberation was in their own hands, that irrespective of caste, colour, race, gender-everyone could work towards one's own liberation.

The time taken would depend on the stock one has come with and the sincerety of work, but there is really no one who would 'bless' you or give you a ride because you were born a Brahmin or rich or were a king or performed many rituals.

Different from Hinduism, isn't it ?!

During The Buddha's time and for a few hundred years after him, people practised the technique as He had taught and many thousands in the Northern India were liberated.

The other prevalant religions naturally felt the sting, because here, there was no place for any middleman between a person of any origin and his liberation.

The people of established religions, the millions whose daily bread depended on hundreds of rituals and blind-faith and so on, had to do something to keep their power over people and riches intact.

Mandar, this should partly answer your question.

I like my blogs to be short, and this is already quite a long one, so I will explain the third and the most beautiful step of this technique in the next one.

Chew this over.

Become aware of your breath and how it changes, subtly, with your thoughts.

Please do not try other steps on your own, there are certain pre-requesites!

More next time.

Including the relevant sites.

Have a great day -