Post # 28- Practicing Buddhist Meditation at Home - Insight  Meditation (Wisdom–Part 1)

Monks citing Buddha Dhamma say that there are many ports from which you can enter Nibbana. Similarly Meditation teachers also explain many such methods. From what I have so heard, I have attempted to articulate below one such method for gaining wisdom. This for me seems practicable for the busy householder, although it is not projected as the typical method. However the reader should keep an open mind as to the method he/she would adopt after a review of other teachings and then engage in a chosen practice to gain some advancement in this life itself. This life provides a unique opportunity that should not be missed. Understanding and gaining this wisdom is one of the deeper teachings and unique to Buddha Dhamma. I found it quite difficult to understand, leave alone explain it in a Blog Post. However I  attempted to grasp the essence of this teaching as best as I can from my research. My attempt here is to bring to your attention some salient points to evoke your interest in the subject. 

Our aim is to practice mindfulness culminating in insight to realize the truth. We want to know the working of our body-mind complex not as we have traditionally treated it, but  exactly as it is. We want to get rid of all psychological annoyances to make our life peaceful, happy and more importantly, seek liberation from Samsara.

The purpose of this training - We saw that we need to develop the skills required to be aware, be mindful and have clear comprehension (sihiya, sathiya, and sathi sammpajanaya) of experiences of the present moment, as they unfold.  We also saw how experiences manifesting as Sankaras form the Bhawa (re-becoming condition) and how this Bhawa conditions our Samsaric (rebirth) process.  We saw how we must control the Bhawa forming Sankaras to shorten the Samsara. The skills developed by being mindful can be used to exercise Yoniso Manasikara (acting mindfully with clear comprehension and acting wisely according to Dhamma) to intervene as necessary in the present moment. This intervention can control the Bhawa forming Sankaras.

In serenity meditation (samatha) we stop at the initial stage where the five hindrances which are obstacles to attaining Nibbana are suppressed. At this stage the hindrances are only suppressed and not eliminated. Why they are still present in dormant form is due to ignorance or ‘not knowing’ of the true nature of things. To eradicate the hindrances we have to get rid of their support, which is ignorance. Ignorance is eliminated by developing wisdom or understanding of the true nature of things. Hindrances we cultivated due to lack of understanding, like the clinging to the five aggregates, are eliminated by contemplating on the factors of mind and body to understand their true nature. The wisdom thus gained is referred to in the Pali language as Nama Rupa Parichchaja Nana ( understanding and discernment of the 'name' and 'form' constituting a 'Being').This will be the focus of this Post.

Buddha-Dhamma explains  that suttamaya nana (theoretical knowledge) is gained by listening to and by reading the suttas. Then one consolidates this knowledge by analytical contemplation. That is cintamaya nana (deductive or inferential knowledge). Finally by meditative experience one gains bhavanamaya nana (experiential knowledge). They are all essential for developing wisdom and realization of Nibbana.

Insight (Vidarshana) meditation is practiced through three methods. First is the method of Sushka Vidarshaka- directly into insight meditation. The other is by the method of Samatha first and then Vidarshana. The third is the method of Samatha and Vidarshana in tandem or alternately –the Yugananda method. 

We use skills gained by meditating on the four foundations of mindfulness, to become aware of mind-body experiences as they unfold in the present moment. That is by fixing one's awareness on what the body  feels, knows, and experiences etc. in the present moment and similarly what the mind feels and knows and experiences etc.in the present moment. In this method we try to use these mind-body experiences as a means to understand who this living 'Being' called I or me, really is?

The Training - As the initial training one may use a guided practice to observe some selected present moment experiences as they unfold. In this initial training method one tries to select present moment experiences in a certain determined sequence. The purpose is to validate and consolidate the knowledge gained about them in suttamaya nana. This also has another purpose for this targeted meditation which we will discuss later.

 In real insight meditation however one does not select any particular present moment experiences for vidarshana, but stays in awareness of each experience as they unfold and see their true nature. This is for the experienced meditator. But for the beginner the two stage method of getting an understanding of what is taught in the Dhamma through deductive or inferential knowledge (Chinthamaya Panna) first would be more appropriate. This way the beginner will not mistakenly assume some experiences they have during meditation as a possible realization of Marga or Pala (world transcending states). That is because he/she is now having a better understanding of what these experiences are.  The example cited in Dhamma Talks of the thirsty deer seeing a mirage and mistaking it for water and running after it and perishing, thus comes to mind. 

The practitioner would then go to the next stage by Sushka Vidarshaka- directly into insight meditation to gain bahawanamaya panna and acquire the real experiential knowledge of the true nature of things as realized in the deductive or inferential knowledge stage.

To practice, you first take the recommended sitting posture, and try to become aware of what the body  is, to the extent to only know that there is a body. This is the form aggregate, in the ‘name-form’ aggregation as taught in the Dhamma. Then become aware of its present posture. Then try to become aware of feelings or sensations of the body while being in this posture as they arise. For contemplating on what the body feels, knows and experiences in the present moment, a beginner would choose and fix the attention to begin with on breathing as this is a clear bodily sensation being experienced in the present moment (anna panna pabbaya). Holding the attention on the breath with a concentrated mind as the object of attention (process of one pointed concentration development in serenity meditation) and using vidarshana  one sees each such experience through a penetrative mind dissecting them into components and seeing their true nature -yugananda method.  A meditator will thus focus attention on the sensation of breath as it is first felt entering at the tip of the nose (or upper lip), then notes how inflow continues and then ceases and how outflow starts, stays and ceases. This cyclical process of each breath is seen to exist by repetition. The breathing is also experienced as a regular activity happening without interruption and therefore seen as an essential life giving (living) process. Thus the meditator sees breathing as a feeling experienced by the body and it’s above nature, as part of this living process.

Similarly one directs and fixes the attention on other bodily sensations and feelings experienced by the other body parts such as legs, lower body, hands etc. while in the sitting posture. By treating these feelings as objects of attention one gains a concentrated mind on these objects. Then by noting with vidarshana the true nature of these feelings (the Yugananda method), one recognizes these sensations as hardness, tightness and heaviness of these solid body parts. Similarly when one experiences a condition such as sweating, this is discerned by vidarshana as a sensation of a liquid flowing and dispersing while the constituent parts remain clung together. Then one gets as a living experience, an understanding of the true nature of the liquid parts in the body.

When the attention is focused on inflow and outflow of breath one experiences the expanding and contracting nature of internal body parts responding to breath, and gains an understanding of the true nature of air existing in the body as another body part. You will notice that air has a nature of giving rise to expanding and contracting in solid body parts. Also with focused attention and concentration on parts of the body in contact with external surfaces or influences such as heat or cold, one becomes aware by vidarshana of the warm or cold sensations at the surfaces of contact. This is understood as the true nature of heat, which is yet another body part constituting the body that experiences hot or cold as sensations.

This contemplation on what is felt and experienced during this guided meditation validates the suthamaya knowledge that the body consists of solid parts  whose true nature is hardness etc., liquid parts whose true nature is flowing and dispersing (both categorized into 28 components), and air as a body part having a nature of causing expansion and contraction, and heat in the body as a body part which experiences  hot or cold sensations. 

This guided meditation as said before, has a purpose. Although it is based on some abstract analysis that is taught in the dhamma, and guided more by the trust in it than through real present moment experiences as they unfold, this contemplation and experience validates what is taught in the Dhamma as the nature of the body. Contemplating on the diversity of such body parts, one sees the validity of the teaching, where the fundamental formation of the body has been described. These solid, liquid, gaseous and heat parts of the body are so formed to fulfill their respective traits and functions  that were inherited from the past lives, in this life as  well. These traits and tendencies are accumulations in the mind (sankaras) that are carried over through the re-linking consciousness that passes from the last life to this life as a kammic phenomenon. This teaching says that these body parts are formed by the aggregation of the basic units of the form aggregate called ‘Rupa Kalapa’.  These Rupa Kalapa are in turn formed by the combination of the fundamental phenomena of nature called the Sathara Maha Dathu (elements of action). These elements are termed in the Pali language as Patavi, Arpo Thejo and Vayo. These are the basic elements/actions conditioning the formation of all matter in the universe. Those rupa kalapa with an abundance of Patavi with others in lesser proportions when they aggregate will give rise to the solid body parts displaying hardness heaviness etc. Similarly those rupa kalapa having an abundance of Apo give rise to the liquids, and those with Vayo give rise to air and Thejo gives rise to heat of the body. By contemplating in this manner one also gains the inferential knowledge that the present moment experience of the body also arises through body parts of solids, liquids, gases and heat formed from the basic elements -Sathara Maha Dathu-( Dathu Parichchada Nana)

Guiding the contemplation similarly on the present moment experiences due to external signals such as colours, sounds, smells etc., one sees the validity of the teaching where these are experienced as seeing, hearing etc. through the different faculties (Ayathana) formed in the body. For example the teaching says that when colour as a signal falls on the body, there arises in abundance in that part of the body known as the eye, due to past samsaric experiences, karmic elements called Chakkun Pasada Rupa ( one of the form components in the group called uppada rupa). These condition the body part eye, to function as an ayathana (faculty) of the body experiencing seeing. When colour signals, fall on the other parts of the body the karmic elements do not form in sufficient intensity in these parts. That is because they have not functioned as a body part for seeing based on samsaric experiences. Thus the eye conditions itself as the only faculty that facilitates seeing. On a similar analysis one begins to understand how the ear as a body part arises as a faculty to experience hearing, and the arising of other faculties for smelling, tasting and experiencing tactile feelings.

With this awareness deepening this way and treating each experience analytically and dissecting into its factors, the understanding we have of a body is really seen to be a composite of many components described in the Dhamma as arising from a collection of parts- Skanda (heap of composits), Dathu (funtional elements)  and Ayathana (faculties). Therefore one sees that the body experiences the present moment feelings and sensations, through the three parts of; the essential living phenomena of breathing, a heap of body parts formed by Sathara Maha Dathu and the five faculties formed as eye, ear, nose etc. Thus we begin to recognise what is  referred to as the Rupa-Skanda in Pali - heap of body composites or the ‘form aggregate’ of the five aggregates. This deductive or inferential knowledge gained by this process is the opening to Vippassana Panna or insight wisdom.

I have thus discussed how the form aggregate in the ‘name and form’ aggregation (nama-rupa) as described in the Dhamma can be validated and understood. This is by inferential knowledge. I will through a similar analysis discuss in the next Post,  how the balance of the aggregates can be understood. 

Also I will discuss how the five aggregates manifests as aggregates of clinging (pancha upadana skanda) representing the being that is called I or Me?