Vipassana Basics: Inaugurate Yourself Today!
This is the third installment in the Vipassana-basics series aimed at interested busybodies who may not yet find the opportunity to go a meditation retreat. It is equally useful for any discerning individuals of all faiths who appreciate the benefits of self-discovery and the true understanding of what goes on around us.
And if you know anyone who still finds it difficult to come to terms with what happened in the recent tsunami disaster, kindly inform them that they will benefit from the series as well.
We started off two weeks ago with the historical perspective of Vipassana meditation and its potentials. That was followed last week by a brief discussion on how queues are forming around the world for Vipassana training. A handful of frequently-asked questions by those interested but still doubtful were then addressed.
This week, it’s about time we delve right into our very first hands-on, learn-as-we-do lesson, drawn primarily from a guidance to first-time meditators as delivered by Rev Acharn Manop Upasamo in a 7-day retreat last year.
Are you ready?
1. How do I start?
Easy as it may sound, all you need to do is to “be in the present,” and keep staying there because that is what Vipassana is all about.
But what exactly is “the present”? Try to go down to the split second if you can. But for starters, let’s just think “here and now,” not five minutes earlier when you were reading the Post’s front page, not one minute later when you pick up a phone call you may be now expecting.
The present of what? Of yourself, of course. Of the state of your body and your mind. Your body and your mind is all the equipment you need to do Vipassana. In what way? How to do that? Even if I can be in the present now, how do I keep being in the present?
We’ll address that in a moment but now there seems to be another pressing question coming up. Some of you have already raised your eyebrows and wonder why something as simple as the present could be so important.
In Buddhism, sufferings only occur when we let our mind slipped into the past or yearn for something in the future. Now, let’s go back to the split-second idea. Try blinking. Now. Can you feel any suffering at the blink of your eyes? Get the picture now? The present comes and goes so fast that if we really put our mind to it, observing it as it comes and goes, we will find that suffering has no place to attach itself to, hence the mind is liberated.
But of course we can not just sit still all day, blinking away. We need to do our daily activities: eating, walking, working, etc. And this is where the beauty of Vipassana is—you can incorporate it into just about anything that you do. Isn’t it nice to know that you are now a few steps away of fine-tuning your mind in such a way that suffering finds it difficult to attach itself to?
We’ll start off with the main activities and go into more details later as we progress more into this year-long series.
2. The 4 Main Activities
When you actually go to a retreat they may call this the four main postures, following what Lord Buddha has observed as the nature of our body. In our life we either find ourselves standing, walking, sitting or lying down. Whatever comes in between is called daily activities, on which we will discuss later.
But aren’t we supposed to focus on our mind to liberate ourselves from sufferings? True. Rest assured we will get to that. The reason Lord Buddha kindly suggested we start off with our four main physical activities is because the body is easier to observe. Of course as we gradually make our progress we could focus more on what goes on in the present state of our mind. Having said that, you are also about to be amazed if not blown away by the fact that just by observing how our body moves, we will also be aware of how our mind works!
Now, what is there to observe about our body? The two basic aspects to start observing are the movement and the stillness. Put your mind to the part that moves as you move it. You may notice that you can observe it better if you move only one part of your body at a time.
Let’s do something very basic together. If you are sitting while reading this, try standing up. Slowly. Did you notice which part of your body moved first? Did you notice that the mind told you which part to lift first, then tilt, push, sway, move, until you get to the upright standing position? Are you sure you got every single little movement covered? Everything?
If you are not too sure, try sitting down and repeating it again.
Now, did you observe every physical movement of your body while you were sitting down? No? If not, we have to go back to our standing position and try sitting down again, don’t we?
This whole exercise is simply to train your mind to pay total attention to your body “in the present.” Another way to put it is to strengthen up your mindfulness the same way athletes pump iron to tone their muscles. As your mindfulness becomes leaner and stronger, so will your ability to stay in the present more efficiently and effortlessly.
From this day on, tell yourself you would start paying attention to every physical movement of your body every time you are about to sit or stand. Make it a habit and your mindfulness will continue to grow and one day it will come automatically to you.
When you are in bed tonight, tell yourself again before you close your eyes that from tomorrow onward, you will observe how your body move during the process of standing and sitting. And the next day when you wake up, give yourself a moment to tell yourself again of this resolution.
Then observe your body as you change from the lying posture to sitting, then again from sitting to standing. What you will start to discover is before your body moves there will always be an “intention” to do it. Small, swift, and elusive as it may be for the first few times you catch it; it is your first reward of seeing your mind at work! Congratulations. Now, the matrix of your mind is about to reveal itself to you, if you just continue to observe it. Try to do this everyday and you will notice for yourself that your mindfulness “muscles” actually grows.
Needless to say, there is an obvious positive side benefit to this: your memory will improve. Honestly. By putting your mind constantly into this Vipassana mental exercise, you decrease your chance of forgetfulness. Of course this is not to say it is a foul-proof technique to prevent Alzheimer’s but it might as well work that way!
Next week, we will learn how to walk all over again. Walk with mindfulness in true Vipassana tradition, of course. In the mean time, happy observing!
This is the third installment in the Vipassana-basics series aimed at interested busybodies who may not yet find the opportunity to go a meditation retreat. It is equally useful for any discerning individuals of all faiths who appreciate the benefits of self-discovery and the true understanding of what goes on around us.
And if you know anyone who still finds it difficult to come to terms with what happened in the recent tsunami disaster, kindly inform them that they will benefit from the series as well.
We started off two weeks ago with the historical perspective of Vipassana meditation and its potentials. That was followed last week by a brief discussion on how queues are forming around the world for Vipassana training. A handful of frequently-asked questions by those interested but still doubtful were then addressed.
This week, it’s about time we delve right into our very first hands-on, learn-as-we-do lesson, drawn primarily from a guidance to first-time meditators as delivered by Rev Acharn Manop Upasamo in a 7-day retreat last year.
Are you ready?
1. How do I start?
Easy as it may sound, all you need to do is to “be in the present,” and keep staying there because that is what Vipassana is all about.
But what exactly is “the present”? Try to go down to the split second if you can. But for starters, let’s just think “here and now,” not five minutes earlier when you were reading the Post’s front page, not one minute later when you pick up a phone call you may be now expecting.
The present of what? Of yourself, of course. Of the state of your body and your mind. Your body and your mind is all the equipment you need to do Vipassana. In what way? How to do that? Even if I can be in the present now, how do I keep being in the present?
We’ll address that in a moment but now there seems to be another pressing question coming up. Some of you have already raised your eyebrows and wonder why something as simple as the present could be so important.
In Buddhism, sufferings only occur when we let our mind slipped into the past or yearn for something in the future. Now, let’s go back to the split-second idea. Try blinking. Now. Can you feel any suffering at the blink of your eyes? Get the picture now? The present comes and goes so fast that if we really put our mind to it, observing it as it comes and goes, we will find that suffering has no place to attach itself to, hence the mind is liberated.
But of course we can not just sit still all day, blinking away. We need to do our daily activities: eating, walking, working, etc. And this is where the beauty of Vipassana is—you can incorporate it into just about anything that you do. Isn’t it nice to know that you are now a few steps away of fine-tuning your mind in such a way that suffering finds it difficult to attach itself to?
We’ll start off with the main activities and go into more details later as we progress more into this year-long series.
2. The 4 Main Activities
When you actually go to a retreat they may call this the four main postures, following what Lord Buddha has observed as the nature of our body. In our life we either find ourselves standing, walking, sitting or lying down. Whatever comes in between is called daily activities, on which we will discuss later.
But aren’t we supposed to focus on our mind to liberate ourselves from sufferings? True. Rest assured we will get to that. The reason Lord Buddha kindly suggested we start off with our four main physical activities is because the body is easier to observe. Of course as we gradually make our progress we could focus more on what goes on in the present state of our mind. Having said that, you are also about to be amazed if not blown away by the fact that just by observing how our body moves, we will also be aware of how our mind works!
Now, what is there to observe about our body? The two basic aspects to start observing are the movement and the stillness. Put your mind to the part that moves as you move it. You may notice that you can observe it better if you move only one part of your body at a time.
Let’s do something very basic together. If you are sitting while reading this, try standing up. Slowly. Did you notice which part of your body moved first? Did you notice that the mind told you which part to lift first, then tilt, push, sway, move, until you get to the upright standing position? Are you sure you got every single little movement covered? Everything?
If you are not too sure, try sitting down and repeating it again.
Now, did you observe every physical movement of your body while you were sitting down? No? If not, we have to go back to our standing position and try sitting down again, don’t we?
This whole exercise is simply to train your mind to pay total attention to your body “in the present.” Another way to put it is to strengthen up your mindfulness the same way athletes pump iron to tone their muscles. As your mindfulness becomes leaner and stronger, so will your ability to stay in the present more efficiently and effortlessly.
From this day on, tell yourself you would start paying attention to every physical movement of your body every time you are about to sit or stand. Make it a habit and your mindfulness will continue to grow and one day it will come automatically to you.
When you are in bed tonight, tell yourself again before you close your eyes that from tomorrow onward, you will observe how your body move during the process of standing and sitting. And the next day when you wake up, give yourself a moment to tell yourself again of this resolution.
Then observe your body as you change from the lying posture to sitting, then again from sitting to standing. What you will start to discover is before your body moves there will always be an “intention” to do it. Small, swift, and elusive as it may be for the first few times you catch it; it is your first reward of seeing your mind at work! Congratulations. Now, the matrix of your mind is about to reveal itself to you, if you just continue to observe it. Try to do this everyday and you will notice for yourself that your mindfulness “muscles” actually grows.
Needless to say, there is an obvious positive side benefit to this: your memory will improve. Honestly. By putting your mind constantly into this Vipassana mental exercise, you decrease your chance of forgetfulness. Of course this is not to say it is a foul-proof technique to prevent Alzheimer’s but it might as well work that way!
Next week, we will learn how to walk all over again. Walk with mindfulness in true Vipassana tradition, of course. In the mean time, happy observing!
