Insight Meditation: The Benefits to be Derived from Developing Vipassana

by Sayagyi U Chit Tin[i]

Sabbapapassa akaranam, kusalassa upasampada,
Sacittapariyodapanam, etam Buddhana sasanam.

Not doing any evil, undertaking skilful actions,
Purifying one's mind: this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
Dhammapada v 183;
Digha-nikaya I 49

These verses sum up in a few words what the Buddha taught during the forty-five years after his Awakening. They are part of the original brief instructions for the monks (bhikkhus) which the Buddha Gotama said were given by a former Buddha named Vipassi.[1] It is a resume of the rules to follow and was used when the members of the Sangha, the Community of Bhikkhus, were very pure and did not need detailed rules.

For us today, no doubt, a fuller explanation will be helpful. There are three aspects to the training taught by the Buddha: (l) First, there is morality (sila). This is what is meant by doing no evil. Leading a moral life will be the foundation on which the other steps are built. (2) Developing concentration (samadhi) is the next step. By learning to concentrate the mind we can acquire temporary purity and develop the instrument which is necessary for making significant progress. This is what is meant by undertaking skilful actions. (3) Understanding the true nature of our own minds and bodies is possible through insight meditation. This is true wisdom (panna) and will lead to lasting purity. This is what is meant by purifying one's own mind.

Let us look in more detail at this third step. Our teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, compared concentration of the mind with a powerful magnifying lens. This lens can be used to examine the inherent tendencies which exist within oneself, he said.[2] The meditation student can become sensitive to the processes which are constantly taking place inside his own mind and body. In the terminology of modern-day science, we would say he is put in touch with the sub-atomic reactions that are constantly going on within all living beings. Once the student is engrossed in these sensations, he realizes that his physical body is changing mass, and that the mental awareness of these changes is constantly changing as well. In this way, the student experiences for himself one of the three basic truths that apply to all conditioned phenomena: they are all changing, Anicca. None of them is permanent, eternal.

The other two characteristics of conditioned phenomena are: all conditioned states are unsatisfactory (dukkha), and all phenomena--whether conditioned or unconditioned--are without self (anatta). These three conditions are like three legs holding up a stool. If we can understand one of them, we can understand all three, just as we can make the stool fall down by removing any one of the three legs.

Of these three characteristics, anicca or change is the most appropriate one to try to understand for most people. Our attachment to our ego is so strong, it is very difficult to begin by seeing through the illusion that there is some eternal soul within. There is a risk that we will either play games with mental concepts or that we will fall into the trap of thinking that lack of self means annihilation.

Venerable Ledi Sayadaw of Myanmar pointed out that a full appreciation of unsatisfactoriness, or, as the word dukkha is often translated, suffering, is also very difficult.[3] It is only when the highest level of Awakening, Arahatship, has been attained that dukkha is fully understood.

In several discourses, the Buddha pointed out how understanding impermanence leads to understanding the other two characteristics.[4] He spoke of the mind and body as being impermanent. "Whatever is impermanent is unsatisfactory. Whatever is unsatisfactory is not self."[5] As Sayagyi U Ba Khin points out, we can start with the fundamental concept of anicca:change is taking place at all times in everything that exists, whether animate or inanimate. It follows, therefore, that dukkha,suffering, is innate in everything that is the result of a cause. This is because every part of a living being is made up of minute particles, called kalapas in Buddhism, and they are in a state of perpetual combustion.

Finally, the last characteristic of anatta, no-self, is reached. "As the course of meditation progresses," Sayagyi wrote, "the student comes to the realization that there is no substantiality in his so-called self, and there is no such thing as the core of a being. Eventually he breaks down the ego-centralism in himself--both in respect to mind and body. He then emerges out of meditation with a new outlook--ego-less and selfless--alive to the fact that whatever happens in this universe is subject to the fundamental laws of cause and effect. He knows, with his inward eye, the illusory nature of the separate self."[6]

In Vipassana courses in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, this understanding of the changes taking place within is developed through a very simple technique. Once the students have reached a satisfactory level in concentration, they then go through their bodies systematically, experiencing whatever sensation is present in the various parts of the body when they place their attention there. The method is very straightforward and does not involve imagination, analyzing the anatomy, or provoking sensations. The students simply observe the reality of whatever sensation is present, or, at times, they observe a lack of sensation. With practice, the students are able to feel subtler and subtler sensations, until finally, the successful students will be able to understand the true nature of their mind and body and go beyond the sensations.

The Six Qualities of the Dhamma

It is possible today, to find out for oneself the truth of what the Buddha taught twenty-five centuries ago. This Teaching, the Dhamma, has six qualities which give us a good idea of why it is still so up-to-date and useful to us all today.

These six qualities are:[7]

the Truth, the Dhamma, has been well taught by the Buddha,
it is visible here and now,
it is immediate in its results,
it invites inspection,
it leads forward, and
it can be personally experienced by the wise.

Ashin Buddhaghosa explains these six qualities in detail in his commentary, The Path of Purification.[8] The fact that the Dhamma has been well taught by the Buddha means that it is good in the beginning, the middle, and the end. He showed the life of purity in all its details. The Dhamma can be followed by those who are ready to listen. It is unequivocal and reasonable. Nothing has been left out and nothing remains that should be added. Sayagyi summed up this quality as follows: "The Dhamma is not the result of conjecture or speculation, but the result of personal attainments, and it is precise in every respect."[9]

The Dhamma is visible here and now because it can be seen by those who attain insight into their own minds and bodies. Once we see it truly, it will conquer all the negative forces within that have kept us bound to continued suffering. As Sayagyi said, "The Dhamma produces beneficial results here and now for those who practise it in accordance with the techniques evolved by the Buddha."

The Dhamma is immediate because it bears fruit without delay. If we are only striving for future worldly happiness by doing good volitional deeds, such as being generous, the results may be a long time in coming, but if we work for the true happiness to be gained by insight into the unconditioned state of Nibbana, we will find the results are instantaneous. "The effect of the Dhamma on the person practising it," Sayagyi said, "is immediate in that it has the quality of simultaneously removing the causes of suffering [as] the understanding of the Truth of Suffering [is gained]."

The Dhamma invites inspection. It exists and it is pure. When the Buddha invites us to discover the truth for ourselves, he is not like someone who is empty-handed or who proposes something impure. As Sayagyi put it, "The Dhamma can stand the test of those who are anxious to try it. They can know for themselves what the benefits are."

The Dhamma leads us to final liberation. Thus, it is worthy of our treating it as a shelter that will offer protection if we realize it for ourselves. It leads us on by the Noble Path to Nibbana. "The Dhamma is part of one's self," Sayagyi said, "and is therefore susceptible to ready investigation."

Finally, the Dhamma can be personally experienced by the wise. The key word here is "the wise", for it is only those who work themselves who attain liberation. It is not something someone else can give us. We must work for it ourselves. As Sayagyi points out, by the wise are meant those who attain one of the four stages of Awakening.

The Benefits of Meditation [10]

Practising true Buddhist meditation will begin to give results long before we reach the final goal. And it can be helpful to people from all walks of life and of other religions. As Sayagyi pointed out:

"It is a common belief that a man whose power of concentration is good and who can secure a perfect balance of mind at will can achieve better results than a person who is not so developed. There are, therefore, definitely many advantages that accrue to a person who undergoes a successful course of training in meditation, whether he be a religious man, an administrator, a politician, a businessman or a student."

Sayagyi knew from personal experience that loving kindness reinforced with the power of Truth makes a tangible difference for the better in the domain of human relations.

The most important benefit of true Buddhist meditation is the highest goal of full Awakening, Nibbana. But Sayagyi did not limit his teachings only to people who accepted this as their primary goal. He welcomed people of other beliefs, or who had no belief, encouraging them to make as much progress as possible, and he pointed out that there are "very minor by-products" of meditation which to many will seem major goals.

Today is not the age for showing miracles, Sayagyi said. It is rather a time for people to find out through their own experience how meditation can remove the physical and mental ills they suffer from.

Concentration will help us calm down our agitated, worried minds. It will help us work more efficiently, and enable us to stop being the helpless victims of our own anger, hatred, lust, and strong desires. Learning to control our mind, to have it stay on a subject when we place it there, will enable us to dissolve the darkness clouding our mind and mentally see its inherent luminosity.

Sayagyi pointed out that Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, all have a tradition of working for the inner light that arises when the mind is concentrated and pure. This is usually considered to be extremely difficult, but he found that "under the proper guide, the inner peace and purity of mind with light can be secured by one and all irrespective of their religion or creed."

In Insight Meditation (Vipassana) as taught by Sayagyi U Ba Khin, the student goes beyond concentration. He or she gains a proper understanding of the positive forces associated with good actions and the negative forces associated with bad actions. Through directly experiencing the impermanence (anicca) of the positive and negative reactions which are taking place in our bodies at all times, we come to know nature as it truly is. This direct knowing of inner changes brings into action the sparkling illumination of the power of the unconditioned and unchanging (Nibbana-dhatu). This power can do more than give the temporary purification that comes with concentrating the mind. It can dispel impurities or poisons which are the products of past bad actions and which are the source of our physical and mental ills. Nibbana-dhatu eliminates negative forces just as fire burns up fuel.

Sayagyi had students who suffered from such illnesses as hypertension, T.B., migraine, asthma, thrombosis, etc. Their very first ten-day course was able to give them relief, and some students through continued practice and longer courses were able to root out their diseases altogether. It is not always easy, of course. And upheavals are to be expected. These can grow in intensity, "so much so," Sayagyi wrote, "that one might feel as though his body were just electricity and a mass of suffering." Many are the people who have gone through such experiences and come out purified of the root causes of their suffering.

Sayagyi said that even one of the most dreaded menaces to our health could be overcome through meditation:

I have a firm belief that the Nibbana-dhatu which a person in true Buddhist Meditation develops is power that will be strong enough to eradicate the radioactive poisons, if any, in him.

Sayagyi U Chit Tin

FOOTNOTES:

See D II 49 (DB II 38f.) and Dhp-a III 236f. (BL III 60f.). In BL these verses are part of the "Patimokkha" given by the seven Buddhas preceding Buddha Gotama.
For this discussion, see "Dhamma Texts" by Sayagyi U Ba Khin (Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust, U.K., 1991), p. 68.
See his "Uttamapurisa-dipani" (An Exposition on the Greatest Man). An English translation has been prepared by U Tin U.
See, for example, S III 45 (KS III 39f.) and S IV 1 f. (KS IV 1 f.)
See for example D III 227 (DB III 219), M I 37 (MLS I 47).
"Dhamma Texts", p. 69.
See, for example, D III 227 (DB III 219), M I 37 (MLS I 47).
Chapter VII paras 69-79.
For these quotations on the six qualities see "Dhamma Texts", pp. 64f.
This section is based on "Dhamma Texts". See in particular pages 37, 69, and 77-79.

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