What is Vipassana Meditation ?
10 Mar 2020 HYN Himalayan Yoga Academy
Vipassana Meditation–the oldest Buddhist meditation practice
Vipassana, roughly translated as ”Insight” meditation, is known to be the oldest of Buddhist meditation practice, wrote Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, in one of his articles on tricycle.org.
According to Gunaratana, this method of meditation comes directly from Satipatthana Sutta (Foundations of Mindfulness), which is said to have been taught by Buddha himself.
Vipassana is a codified system of training one’s mind and entails a set of exercises that are dedicated towards making one more and more aware of his or her life experiences. The objective of this form of meditation is to learn to see the ”truth of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness of phenomena,” wrote Gunaratana.
Vipassana is a gentle-yet-thorough technique of meditation. According to dhamma.org, it is an observation-based, self-exploratory jounrey that focuses on deep interconnection between the mind and body, which is realised through disciplined attention to the physical sensations.
How To Do Vipassana :
- Ideally, one should practise Vipassana at a very quite place.
- The meditator should sit quiety and peacefully with legs crossed, as mentioned by lionsroar.com. One should sit straight while meditating since an arched back would soon induce pain.
- It is very important for one to relax and let the body be at ease while meditating.
- Once the body feels like it has settled, the meditator should try focusing on his or her object. According to Gunaratana, breathing should be chosen as the primary object of meditation. ”A useful object of meditation should be one that promotes mindfulness. It should be portable, easily available, and cheap. It should also be something that will not embroil us in those states of mind from which we are trying to free ourselves, such as greed, anger, and delusion,” explained the monk in his article.
- The meditator should constantly observe and explore, mentioned wikihow.com. Let the meditation follow its course. It is natural for the mind to wander off and the best way to deal with it is to return to the simple, physical sensation of breath, time and again, advised Gunaratana.
Benefits of Vipassana Meditation :
- It is great wholesomeness, creating goodness every moment in which one commits to practicing or teaching someone else.
- It makes one not negligent, because one is recollecting of both, body and mind most of the time.
- It means the cultivation of morality, concentration and wisdom according to the Buddha’s teaching.
- It means following the middle way, the eightfold noble path.
- It means following the one way, that way which has no other.
- It means cultivating excellence in this life, preparing one for death before one has to die.
- It makes one smart, understanding the fundamentals of reality, and understanding the fundamentals of everyday life better than before.
- It allows one to realize supramundane reality, not being stuck in mere concepts and constructs, which are merely the playground of worldlings.
- It makes people love one another, live in harmony together, be comfortable and friendly with each other, just like close relatives.
Vipasana Dhamma Centers in Nepal
- Dhamma Shringa, Budhanilkantha
- Dhamma Kitti, Kirtipur
- Dhamma Birata, Itahari
- Dhamma Chitawan, Chitwan
- Dhamma Pokhara, Pokhara
- Dhamma Tarai, Birgunj
- Dhamma Janani, Lumbini
- Dhamma Surakhetta, Surkhet
- Dhamma Suriyo, Fikkal, Ilam
- Dhamma Sagar, Lukla
- Dhammāgāra, Kotdanda, Godawari, Lalitpur
Source 2 : https://www.sirimangalo.org/text/benefits-of-vipassana/