Vipassana meditation is the personal purification of the mind. It
is the highest form of awareness—the total perception of the mind-matter
phenomena in its true nature. It is the choiceless observation of
things as they are.
Vipassana is the meditation the Buddha practiced after trying all
other forms of bodily mortification and mind control and finding them
inadequate to free him from the seemingly endless round of birth and
death, pain and sorrow.
It is a technique so valuable that in Burma it was preserved in its pristine purity for more than 2,500 years.
Vipassana meditation has nothing to do with the development of
supernormal, mystical, or special powers, even though they may be
awakened. Nothing magical happens. The process of purification that
occurs is simply an elimination of negativities, complexes, knots, and
habits that have clouded pure consciousness and blocked the flow of
mankind’s highest qualities—pure love (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha).
There is no mysticism in Vipassana. It is a science of the mind that
goes beyond psychology by not only understanding, but also purifying,
the mental process.
The practice is an Art of Living which manifests its profound
practical value in our lives — lessening and then eliminating the
greed, anger, and ignorance that corrupt all relationships, from the
family level to international politics. Vipassana spells an end to
daydreaming, illusion, fantasy—the mirage of the apparent truth.
Like the sizzling explosion of cold water being thrown on a red-hot
stove, the reactions after bringing the mind out of its hedonistic
tendencies into the here and now are often dramatic and painful. Yet
there is an equally profound feeling of release from tensions and
complexes that have for so long held sway in the depths of the
unconscious mind.
Through Vipassana anyone, irrespective of race, caste, or creed, can
eliminate finally those tendencies that have woven so much anger,
passion, and fear into our lives. During the training a student
concentrates on only one task — the battle with his own ignorance. There
is no guru worship or competition among students. The teacher is simply
a well-wisher pointing the way he has charted through his own long
practical experience.
With continuity of practice, the meditation will quiet the mind,
increase concentration, arouse acute mindfulness, and open the mind to
the supramundane consciousness—the "peace of nibbana (freedom from all
suffering) within."
As in the Buddha’s enlightenment, a student simply goes deep inside
himself, disintegrating the apparent reality until in the depths he can
penetrate even beyond subatomic particles into the absolute.
There is no dependence on books, theories, or intellectual games in
Vipassana. The truth of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and
egolessness (anatta) are grasped directly with all the enormous power of
the mind rather than the crutch of the intellect. The illusion of a
"self," binding the mental and physical functions together, is gradually
broken. The madness of cravings and aversions, the futile grasping of
"I, me, mine," the endless chatter and conditioned thinking, the
reaction of blind impulse—these gradually lose their strength. By his
own efforts the student develops wisdom and purifies his mind.
The foundation of Vipassana meditation is sila—moral conduct. The practice is strengthened through samadhi—concentration of the mind. And the purification of the mental processes is achieved through panna—the
wisdom of insight. We learn how to observe the interplay of the four
physical elements within ourselves with perfect equanimity, and find how
valuable this ability is in our daily lives.
We smile in good times, and are equally unperturbed when difficulties
arise all around us, in the certain knowledge that we, like our
troubles, are nothing but a flux, waves of becoming arising with
incredible speed, only to pass away with equal rapidity.
A Non-sectarian Technique: Although Vipassana meditation was
developed by the Buddha, its practice is not limited to Buddhists. There
is no question of conversion—the technique works on the simple basis
that all human beings share the same problems, and a technique that can
eradicate these problems will have a universal application.
Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, Roman Catholics, and other
Christian sects have all practised Vipassana meditation, and have
reported a dramatic lessening of those tensions and complexes that
affect all mankind. There is a feeling of gratefulness to Gotama, the
historical Buddha, who showed the way to the cessation of suffering, but
there is absolutely no blind devotion.
The Buddha repeatedly discouraged any excessive veneration paid to
him personally. He said, "What will it profit you to see this impure
body? Who sees the teaching—the Dhamma—sees me."
