Sri Anand Yoga
Vipashyana - Principles and Practice 1
Vipashyana is an integral part of Sri Anand Yoga SAY. It is done in a SAY way. First let us understand Vipashyana in its pure form. We are basing our understanding of Vipashyana as taught by Shri S.N.Goenkaji. Vipashyana literally means “to see things as they really are”
Important Note : The explanations given here about Vipashyana are only for theoretical purposes for the understanding what is Vipashyana. It is NOT meant for actual practice of Vipashyana. For the purpose of learning the full spectrum of Vipashyana Meditation, the readers are encouraged to attend the 10 day course as taught by S.N.Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
Vipashyana in its pure form
Vipashyana was originally taught by Gautam Buddha. In fact it is the core of his teaching.
As beautifully explained by Shri Goenkaji :
“Observing reality as it is by observing the truth inside—this is knowing oneself directly and experientially. As one practices, one keeps freeing oneself from the misery of mental impurities. From the gross, external, apparent truth, one penetrates to the ultimate truth of mind and matter. Then one transcends that, and experiences a truth which is beyond mind and matter, beyond time and space, beyond the conditioned field of relativity: the truth of total liberation from all defilements, all impurities, all suffering. Whatever name one gives this ultimate truth is irrelevant; it is the final goal of everyone.”
Nature of Mind
इदं पुरे चित्तमचारि चारिकं, येनिच्छकं यत्थकामं यथासुखं।
तदज्जहं निग्गहेस्सामि योनिसो, हत्थिप्पभिन्नं विय अङ्कुसग्गहो॥
-This mind that wanders wherever it wishes, wherever it desires, wherever it sees pleasure, I will first make it steadfast.
I will train it thoroughly like a mahout with a goad, trains a wild elephant.
-Dhammapada 326
The practice of Vipashyana
The practice of Vipashyana involves two stages
Anapana - First Stage or an Introductory Stage - Anapana
Anapana literally means coming and going. It involves the observation of our breath as it comes in and as it goes out of our nostrils. This is done in a non judgemental way. Just the observation of breath is involved. When the air enters our nostrils, it naturally brushes past the skin at the front portion of our nostrils. Generally we ignore this sensation as it has no specific importance in our normal life. In Anapana meditation, we specifically focus our mind on this sensation - the sensation we get from the skin in front of our nostrils (and inside of our nostrils) when the air of the breath comes in when we inhale and also as it goes out when we exhale. It is as simple as that. In fact one is tempted to think that it is too simple to give it any importance in the great practice of Vipashyana.
When we practise Anapana for some time we are able to use our mind as an instrument to probe deeper into our physical body. The time taken for Anapana may vary from 10 minutes to an hour depending on how soon we are able to quiet our mind and focus it on the physical sensation.
Actual Practice of Vipashyana
The term Vipashyana includes Anapana as a preliminary stage. But the real Vipashyana starts after we have completed Anapana. Then we go one step further (or rather deeper) into our physical body. We start from any particular microlevel part of our physical body and singularly focus our attention on that part. We ‘feel’ the physical sensation of that part. Then we move on to the next part in a sequential manner and cover the whole body from top of the head to toe - covering top of the head, forehead, eyes, ears, nose, neck, shoulder, chest, abdomen, stomach, legs etc. Generally we start from top of the head and reach to the toe, part by part, in a sequential manner and then complete the cycle and return to the top of the head. But it is not compulsory that we start from the head. We can start from any part of the body. But the condition is that we should move on sequentially and complete the whole body part by part. It is more convenient to start from head and reach upto toe.
We need to observe our sensations objectively - without any judgments or forming any opinion about it or expecting any particular sensation to arise. We have to remain equanimous with all the sensations which we experience. These sensations can be pleasant or unpleasant or neutral - it does not matter in the practice of Vipashyana. One thing we need to become aware - the impermanence of these observations. We need to keep our attention moving, not staying for more than a few minutes at any one place. The practice should NOT become a mechanical one. We should work in different areas according to the type of sensations we experience. Areas of the body having different gross sensations should be observed separately by moving part by part. Symmetrical parts like both hands, legs etc which have similar subtle sensations may be observed together simultaneously.
The secret behind the process of Anapana
Let us understand the process behind the practice of Anapana - observing breath as it brushes past the front and inside of the nostrils. The purpose of Anapana is to help in having a single point focus of the mind.
The golden question is : Can we then not have this purpose achieved by other concessional practices like chanting of the holy names, visualising sacred symbols, remembering holy persons etc ? To answer this question, we have to understand the mental processes. All the above mentioned methods are dependent on external factors - chanting holy names, visualising, remembering etc. it involves the faculty of mind to imagine something. Here we are controlling mind with mind. Therefore it is a weak method and very much susceptible to diversion of the mind into getting scattered with multiple thoughts.
In the case of Anapana meditation, as taught by Gautam Buddha himself, we are observing a physical sensation which is very much tangible, solid and directly perceptible with our skin. There is no question of ‘imagining’ the sensation. We are just ‘feeling’ the REAL sensation of air brushing in front and inside the nostrils. Therefore it is easy to practise, rather than mentally imagining of holy symbols or chanting names. It is a clever way to gather our scattered mental currents into a physical sensation. And most importantly, it beautifully works. It is also of importance that we are simply observing the sensation without labelling it as a good or bad sensation. There is no judgement involved. Because the very moment we judge, we fall into the trap of mental processes and get distracted from our single pointed observation. Just plain observation as a witness is demanded.
This witness mode or the Sakshi Bhav is most important for Sri Anand Yoga when we have Playful Engagement with Life.
The secret behind the actual practice of Vipashyana
We have seen the secret behind Anapana. Now let us understand the secret behind the actual process of Vipashyana. In Vipashyana, we focus our attention on a particular part of our physical body from inside the body. Having first developed a focus of mind through the preliminary practice of Anapana, we are now able to use our mind as an effective instrument to observe the subtle sensations of our internal parts of physical body thru a witness mode or sakshi bhav. This is not possible when our mind is scattered and drifted - as it ordinarily is.
When we practice Vipashyana a secret process of healing naturally happens. We have developed emotional knots throughout our life. These knots make their station on our physical body at different locations. They then cause all the emotional stress and also physical ailments. These knots get released one by one as we practice Vipashyana. Our physical body as well as the attached emotional knots get healed. Not only they get healed, they also develop a sort of balance and rhythm. We become more peaceful.
This is the Vipashyana in its pure form as taught by Gautam Buddha. In next article we will learn about Vipashyana as adopted in Sri Anand Yoga (SAY). We will call it SAY Vipashyana.
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