Vipassanā Technique Revisited

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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mikenz66
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Re: Vipassanā Techniques Revisited

Post by mikenz66 »

retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:47 am Greetings Srilankaputra,
Srilankaputra wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:42 am Can you give a brief overview of the commentarial interpretations you find questionable pertaining to the topic?
Pertaining to this topic specifically, nothing, since the Burmese Vipassana techniques are not in the commentaries... they are a much more recent invention.

Metta,
Paul. :)
I guess it depends what you mean by "Burmese Vipassana Techniques". The bare bones "technique" part of Mahasi's or Goenka's or the various other approaches is quite simple - sit and do this - walk and do that. But without an interpretive context based on Dhamma, those would be just trivial exercises. And the Burmese interpretive context for learning about the phenomenology of experience definitely makes use of commentarial concepts.

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Re: Vipassanā Techniques Revisited

Post by Spiny Norman »

retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:19 am Greetings Spiny,
Spiny Norman wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 8:55 am Isn't Nanananda's approach also "post-sutta"? Aren't all our modern approaches "post-sutta" in this sense?
What is the Nanananda approach? Aside from the meditation instructions Mike mentioned earlier, his works appear simply about clarifying the suttas and their meaning, by challenging and stripping back some of the commentarial interpretations which had gained prominence over time. I see ven. Nanavira doing a similar sort of thing, albeit in a slightly different way.
Spiny Norman wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 8:55 am What in broad terms would an authentic sutta insight practice look like, in your opinion?
Cultivating the perception of dukkhata, the perception of aniccata, the perception of anattata, and/or the perception of sunnata.

As discussed previously, I think there's also lots of scope for paticcasamuppada to be used to comprehend arising and the arisen.

Metta,
Paul. :)
I think it's inevitable that modern commentaries like those of Nanananda and Nanavira will have implications for one's approach to practice.

Anyway, if we accept that basically it is insight into the 3 marks that needs to be developed, then presumably we need to assess which "sutta methods" are most effective in doing that.
Though I'm not sure how one would assess effectiveness in an objective way. And being able to describe an approach or method clearly doesn't necessarily mean that one is accomplished in it's use.
Last edited by Spiny Norman on Fri May 15, 2020 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Vipassanā Techniques Revisited

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Mike,
mikenz66 wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 10:27 am And the Burmese interpretive context for learning about the phenomenology of experience definitely makes use of commentarial concepts.
I agree with this, and we actually had a conversation about this long ago in 2011... (link) - it's actually interesting to go back now and read it, in this context. I still stand by those words.

I found that post because I was actually searching for the Mahasi comment that I quoted in it, sourced originally from Satipatthana Vipassana which reads...
Mahasi wrote:In reality, single moments of mind arise and pass away continuously, one after another.... These instances of arising, noting and passing away appear like a string of beads. The preceding mind is not the following mind. Each is separate. These characteristics of reality are personally perceptible, and for this purpose one must proceed with the practice of contemplation... Everything comes into existence for a moment and then passes away. Nothing can remain even for the blink of an eye.
This is classic momentariness.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Re: Vipassanā Techniques Revisited

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retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 10:47 am Greetings Mike,
mikenz66 wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 10:27 am And the Burmese interpretive context for learning about the phenomenology of experience definitely makes use of commentarial concepts.
I agree with this, and we actually had a conversation about this long ago in 2011... (link) - it's actually interesting to go back now and read it, in this context.

I found that post because I was actually searching for the Mahasi comment that I quoted in it, sourced originally from Satipatthana Vipassana which reads...
Mahasi wrote:In reality, single moments of mind arise and pass away continuously, one after another.... These instances of arising, noting and passing away appear like a string of beads. The preceding mind is not the following mind. Each is separate. These characteristics of reality are personally perceptible, and for this purpose one must proceed with the practice of contemplation... Everything comes into existence for a moment and then passes away. Nothing can remain even for the blink of an eye.
This is classic momentariness.

Metta,
Paul. :)
It's also classic meditative experience (unless you want the billions and billions thing of the commentaries) of impermanence:
Nanananda - seeing through wrote: As this contemplation of impermanence deepens, as he
sees the incessant process of arising and passing away all the
more rapidly, the latter aspect, namely the aspect of passing
away, becomes more prominent to him. Just as in the case of one
trying to look at a mark in a rapidly turning wheel, the meditator
becomes more aware of the falling aspect. The rising aspect
becomes less prominent. It is the process of passing away, the
process of destruction, that is more striking to him now.
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Mike,

Yes, but dissolution of... ?

Metta,
Paul. :)
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by mikenz66 »

retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 10:58 am Greetings Mike,

Yes, but dissolution of... ?

Metta,
Paul. :)
Some experiential stuff, as far as I can tell.

Exactly how you describe it would of course depend on the particular phenomenological model that you subscribe to.

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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by sunnat »

Kamma is key...

There is the question 'how does this feel?'.

There is feeling of bodily sense doors and feeling of mind sense door.

MN 148. http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books9/Bhikk ... _Sutta.htm

The Blessed One speaks to the bikkhus; to mendicants established in sila (not siimply 'friends', 'students', 'mediators'- but to those with the proper underpinnings of virtue) :

""Bhikkhus, dependent on the mind and mind-objects (eye and image, ear and sound, nose and odour, tounge and flavour, body and touch), mind (eye, ear etc) -consciousness arises; the meeting of the three is mind-contact; with mind-contact as condition there arises [a mind-feeling] felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant. When one is touched by a pleasant mind-feeling, if one does not delight in it, welcome it, and remain holding to it, then the underlying tendency to lust does not lie within one. When one is touched by a painful mind-feeling, if one does not sorrow, grieve and lament, does not weep beating one’s breast and become distraught, then the underlying tendency to aversion does not lie within one. When one is touched by a neither-painful-nor-pleasant mind-feeling, if one understands as it actually is the origination, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in regard to that mind-feeling, then the underlying tendency to ignorance does not lie within one. Bhikkhus, that one shall here and now make an end of suffering by abandoning the underlying tendency to lust for pleasant mind-feeling, by abolishing the underlying tendency to aversion for painful mind-feeling, by extirpating the underlying tendency to ignorance in regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant mind-feeling, by abandoning ignorance and arousing true knowledge - this is possible."

When the feelings are clung to :"When one is touched by a pleasant mind-feeling, if one delights in it, welcomes it, and remains holding to it, then the underlying tendency to lust lies within one. When one is touched by a painful mind-feeling, if one sorrows, grieves and laments, weeps beating one’s breast and becomes distraught, then the underlying tendency to aversion lies within one. When one is touched by a neither-pleasant-nor-painful mind-feeling, if one does not understand as it actually is the origination, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in regard to that mind-feeling, then the underlying tendency to ignorance lies within one." the kamma-fruit of craving aversion and ignorance are the underlying tendencies.

"However, Vipassana can teach us far more than simply learning to be non-reactive in the face of unpleasantness." and pleasantness and neither pleasantness nor unpleasantness.
"As such, all phenomena are unsatisfactory because they cannot be relied upon as a solid basis for lasting happiness." -.?.
Clinging to that which is anicca, constantly changing, is the reason for dukkha, suffering. Bare awareness of anicca evaporates defilements.

"Mahasi’s approach to physical sensations involved consciously (how else?) noting what is observed." - and then returning to the object of meditation, for example the rising and falling of the abdomen. The point being that the mind gets drawn (by habit) to things that happen on the mind body phenomenon and therefore to detach the phenomenon is noted and left. It's not to conrinuously engage in noting. Likewise, once the mind is focused by continually bringing it back to object of meditation (for example breath where it enters and leaves the body) the mind body phenomenon is systematically, equanimously, making neither pleasant, unpleasant nor neutral sensations more important than any other, noted and the awareness returns to the object of meditation, in this case whatever feeling (sensation) that may arise as one progressively moves attention from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. Again attention is habitually drawn to some feeling that arises and again the training is to simply note this, detach, and return to the object of meditation. Over time the underlying tendencies are abandoned.
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

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This is taken from an interview I did with with Nina van Gorkom around 2002 or 2003. I edited it to get to what I thought were major points. I thought some of her comments complement what you wrote retro.

When you write about the development of vipassana, you don’t speak about concentration methods or sitting practice.
Vipassana, insight, is actually panna (wisdom) which has been developed to clearly understand realities as they are, as non-self. It is not some special practice, it is not sitting or breathing. If one wishes to induce calm by sitting one still wants to get something. There is subtle clinging which can pass unnoticed. The aim of vipassana is to have less ignorance of realities, including our defilements, even subtle ones. Therefore it can and should be developed in daily life; any object can be an object for mindfulness and understanding.

But can’t sitting quietly be an assistance for mindfulness to arise?

Even mindfulness is anatta, non-self, it cannot be induced just by concentrating or trying to be calm or by sitting quietly. The conditions for mindfulness to arise are listening to the Buddha’s teaching, discussing, considering and pondering over realities. And it develops by studying realities as they appear in our daily lives. Some people find it difficult to accept that one cannot force sati to arise, and they wonder whether this means idleness. The Buddha taught us to develop all good qualities, such as generosity and metta, along with right understanding. It is understanding, actually, that should be emphasized.

Nevertheless, the Buddha taught concentration practices such as anapanasati--breathing mindfulness. Doesn’t that suggest that they are important?

We read about this in the scriptures because in the Buddha’s time there were people who were able to concentrate on the breath. This is a very subtle rupa, which is produced by citta. It is most difficult to be aware of breath, before one knows it one takes for breath what is something else, air produced by other factors, not breath. The commentary to the Kindred sayings V, The lamp, states that only Maha-Purisas, the great disciples can practice it in the right way. Thus, the Buddha did not teach that everyone should practice it. To those who were gifted, who had the accumulations to do so, he taught it. He explained that there is no self who is breathing, and that breath is only rupa.

How should we practice vipassana?

The situation is not: that a teacher tells you first what to do, that you "practice" together, that you do this, then that, at a certain time, in a special place. There is no rule, there is no special technique. In fact, we don’t use the words practising vipassana, but rather: developing understanding of realities little by little, and that, quite naturally, in daily life. We should see the advantage of understanding different realities, different momentary conditions, to realize that there is no "me" who is developing but that wisdom gradually develops. That this development can only happen if the right conditions are present. It can’t occur because of wanting or forcing or pretending to ourselves that "we" are making progress. However, understanding will gradually grow if there are the right conditions. It is anatta, not controllable by any self.
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Robert,

Thanks for sharing that. Whilst I obviously disagree on what "realities" entails, I think the responses to the first and last questions in particular are very good.

I find it interesting how despite the radically different foundations, what you shared has a lot in common which this, from back on Page 1...

Ninoslav Ninamoli writes that, “Experience as a whole, where the sign of your mind is, is already there, given, regardless of whether you perform certain things or not. Believing that going through the set of motions or things ‘to do’ is the way of seeing the experience as a whole, means not seeing that experience as a whole, and not knowing where to look for it either… Not-knowing that the things are already there, you do a technique, trying to reach those things that are already there. Since the experience as a whole is already there, doing a technique to reach it, means that it is not just redundant, it also implies not-knowing where the experience as a whole is to be found. In this way the (belief in the) technique obscures seeing the nature of the experience as a whole and, as long as you are doing that technique (i.e. maintaining your belief), you put the nature of things out of your reach—you are responsible for your ignorance.”

I wonder what your friends in the Sujin tradition would make of that.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

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retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 12:06 pm Greetings Robert,

Thanks for sharing that. Whilst I obviously disagree on what "realities" entails, I think the responses to the first and last questions in particular are very good.

I find it interesting how despite the radically different foundations, what you shared has a lot in common which this, from back on Page 1...

Ninoslav Ninamoli writes that, “Experience as a whole, where the sign of your mind is, is already there, given, regardless of whether you perform certain things or not. Believing that going through the set of motions or things ‘to do’ is the way of seeing the experience as a whole, means not seeing that experience as a whole, and not knowing where to look for it either… Not-knowing that the things are already there, you do a technique, trying to reach those things that are already there. Since the experience as a whole is already there, doing a technique to reach it, means that it is not just redundant, it also implies not-knowing where the experience as a whole is to be found. In this way the (belief in the) technique obscures seeing the nature of the experience as a whole and, as long as you are doing that technique (i.e. maintaining your belief), you put the nature of things out of your reach—you are responsible for your ignorance.”

I wonder what your friends in the Sujin tradition would make of that.

Metta,
Paul. :)
And after the quote from Ven. Ninoslav you wrote:
Therefore, since Vipassana meditation is about seeing things as they really are, any mindful observation of the present moment must also include awareness and understanding of the active roles of attention, perception, contact, feeling and volition.
One of the things Sujin (Boriharnwanaket) sometimes says is that when trying to be aware of some object we forget about sankhara khandha i.e. attention , perception, contact, volition..and the subtle desire and avijja that is there.
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by Ceisiwr »

Hi retro,

Just some quick thoughts.
By viewing our present moment experience as instructed in the above discourses, we come to see that objects become objects only when we mentally perceive and segregate a part that becomes distinct from the whole. This artificially constructed part is then granted “object” status, and comes to be divorced and differentiated from “the seen”. If however we held true to the Buddha’s instructions to Bāhiya by seeing only the seen, then there would have been no differentiable thing or object discerned apart from the broader field of vision.
Would it be fair to say that a “tree” only becomes a “thing” due to sanna picking up and acknowledging the signs of permanence, beauty and self? When the taints are not present, sanna still picks up the signs of “tree” it’s just not “a thing worth seeing”. That is to say, sanna always works by recognising signs and labelling it’s just the unwholesome nimittas that are the problem. Even the Buddha and Arahants still made use of nimitta, signs and concepts they were just free of the nimittas produced from the taints. So, a tree could still be an object just not a thing which is permanent, beautiful and thought of in relation to the self.
Eye and forms are easy enough to understand, but why is it that eye-consciousness is regarded as something present over and above eye and forms themselves? Nanananda explains here that, “eye-consciousness is the very discrimination between eye and form. At whatever moment the eye is distinguished as the internal sphere and form is distinguished as the external sphere, it is then that eye-consciousness arises.” The matter of contact then appears to relate closely to the issue of bifurcation between subject and object that we discussed earlier when warning about the falsity of “the observer” or “the watcher”. Contact rises not simply from there being eyes and forms, but from the mental differentiation of the two, and the establishment of a subject-object relationship.
But the Buddha and Arahants still experience contact. If they didn’t experience designation and resistance contact then they wouldn’t experience sights, smells, thoughts and nor would they experience vedanā or sanna, but they do. They do experience vedanā and sanna, and they still experience sights and sounds etc. The cessation of contact and feeling then seems to be more along the lines of “behind held in check”, through feeling vedanā detached.
So too, friend, the eye is not the fetter of forms … nor are mental phenomena the fetter of the mind, but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both: that is the fetter there.

“If, friend, the eye were the fetter of forms or if forms were the fetter of the eye, this living of the holy life could not be discerned for the complete destruction of suffering. But since the eye is not the fetter of forms nor are forms the fetter of the eye —but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both is the fetter there—the living of the holy life is discerned for the complete destruction of suffering.

“If, friend, the ear were the fetter of sounds or if sounds were the fetter of the ear … If the mind were the fetter of mental phenomena or if mental phenomena were the fetter of the mind, this living of the holy life could not be discerned for the complete destruction of suffering. But since the mind is not the fetter of mental phenomena nor are mental phenomena the fetter of the mind—but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both is the fetter there—the living of the holy life is discerned for the complete destruction of suffering.

“In this way too, friend, it may be understood how that is so: There exists in the Blessed One the eye, the Blessed One sees a form with the eye, yet there is no desire and lust in the Blessed One; the Blessed One is well liberated in mind. There exists in the Blessed One the ear, the Blessed One hears a sound with the ear … There exists in the Blessed One the nose, the Blessed One smells an odour with the nose … There exists in the Blessed One the tongue, the Blessed One savours a taste with the tongue … There exists in the Blessed One the body, the Blessed One feels a tactile object with the body … There exists in the Blessed One the mind, the Blessed One cognizes a mental phenomenon with the mind, yet there is no desire and lust in the Blessed One; the Blessed One is well liberated in mind.

“In this way, friend, it can be understood how the eye is not the fetter of forms nor forms the fetter of the eye, but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both is the fetter there; how the ear is not the fetter of sounds nor sounds the fetter of the ear…; how the mind is not the fetter of mental phenomena nor mental phenomena the fetter of the mind, but rather the desire and lust that arise there in dependence on both is the fetter there.”
Experiencing forms there is still resistance and designation contact, as per DN 15. The Buddha always states that feeling depends on contact. If there were no resistance and designation contact there would be no feeling or sanna in namarupa. There would be no experience of anything. That happens in the cessation of perception and feeling, but that’s not a permanent state.
The modern conception of karma however, extends well beyond the Buddha’s discourses and into the realms of metaphysics, speculation and retribution. What the Buddha was interested in however, was encouraging people to act in a wholesome way, and to experience the positive benefits that come from positive actions. The fruit of such actions are not arrived at mystically via the equilibrium of cosmic set of weigh-scales but directly and internally within the mind itself as a result of the moral quality or tenor from which the action was undertaken. If we do a good deed, with a heart of kindness, we feel good outcomes as a result. If we spend our time ruminating on our hatred towards someone, with a closed heart then we will experience bad outcomes as a result. Mindfulness of the basic causality behind karma provides insights which encourage us to cultivate wise, generous and open-hearted behaviours. Conversely, if we are mindful of the sufferings associated with a closed heart, or a mind conflicted due to internal struggles, then we will be increasingly motivated to weed out such negative traits from our personality.
It sounds like you are saying that kamma-vipaka is instant?

Metta

:)
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

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Ceisiwr wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 4:40 pm


The modern conception of karma however, extends well beyond the Buddha’s discourses and into the realms of metaphysics, speculation and retribution. What the Buddha was interested in however, was encouraging people to act in a wholesome way, and to experience the positive benefits that come from positive actions. The fruit of such actions are not arrived at mystically via the equilibrium of cosmic set of weigh-scales but directly and internally within the mind itself as a result of the moral quality or tenor from which the action was undertaken. If we do a good deed, with a heart of kindness, we feel good outcomes as a result. If we spend our time ruminating on our hatred towards someone, with a closed heart then we will experience bad outcomes as a result. Mindfulness of the basic causality behind karma provides insights which encourage us to cultivate wise, generous and open-hearted behaviours. Conversely, if we are mindful of the sufferings associated with a closed heart, or a mind conflicted due to internal struggles, then we will be increasingly motivated to weed out such negative traits from our personality.
It sounds like you are saying that kamma-vipaka is instant?

Metta

:)
I wouldn't want to speak for retro, but on this model it doesn't have to be. The open heart or heightened consciousness can remain so, and experiences the next or a future contact as pleasant. People become open and internally harmonious by means of their deeds, and thereafter an open and harmonious person has a happier life because of how they experience things.
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Re: Vipassanā Techniques Revisited

Post by Ceisiwr »

Volo wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:34 am
retrofuturist wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:09 am Well, yes... I would call the "16 steps" of the Ānāpānasati Sutta a technique, if applied consecutively, but it's worth noting that those 16 steps are about samatha, not vipassana. I think there are probably lots of techniques, Buddhist or otherwise, for achieving samatha.

Whilst the subsequent parts of the Ānāpānasati Sutta are about vipassana, I wouldn't call those aspects a technique.
I disagree that 16 steps is a samatha practice. I don't think there are many people who sees them this way. At most it is said that there is a way to practice the first tetrade so that it becomes a samatha.
I practice anapanasati as set out by the Patisambhidamagga where the practice involves both calm and insight:
How is it that (5) he trains thus 'Ishall breathe in acquainted with the whole body [of breaths](6) he trains thus 7 shall breathe out ac- quainted with the whole body [of breaths]'?

[ Analysis of the Object of Contemplation ]

240. Body: there are two bodies: the mental body and the material body. What is the mental body? Feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention, and mentality are the mental body, and also what are called cognizance formations: these are the mental body.

What is the material body? The four great entities and the materiality derived by clinging from the four great entities, in-breath and out-breath and the sign for anchoring [mindfulness], and also what are called body formations: this is the material body.

241. How is he acquainted with these bodies? When he understands unification of cognizance and non-distraction through long in-breaths, his mindfulness is established (founded). By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he is acquainted with those bodies. When he under- stands unification of cognizance and non-distraction through long out- breaths, ... through short in-breaths, ... through short out-breaths, his mindfulness is established (founded). By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he is acquainted with those bodies.

242. When he adverts, he is acquainted with those bodies. When he knows, he is acquainted with those bodies. When he sees,... reviews,... steadies his cognizance, ... resolves with faith, ... exerts energy, ... establishes (founds) mindfulness, ... concentrates cognizance, ... When he understands with understanding,... When he directly knows what is to be directly known, ... When he fully understands what is to be fully understood, ... [184] When he abandons what is to be abandoned, ... When he develops what is to be developed,... When he realizes what is to be realized, he is acquainted with those bodies. That is how those bodies are experienced.

[ The Foundation of Mindfulness ]
243. In-breaths and out-breaths while acquainted with the whole body [of breaths] are a body. The establishment (foundation) is mindfulness. The contemplation is knowledge. The body is the establishment (foundation), but it is not the mindfulness. Mindfulness is both the establishment (foundation) and the mindfulness. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he contemplates that body. Hence 'Development of the Foun- dation (Establishment) of Mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a body' is said.

244. He contemplates: ... [repeat § 197].

245. Development:... [repeat § 198].

[ Training ]
246. In-breaths and out-breaths while acquainted with the whole body [of breaths] are Purification of Virtue in the sense of restraint; they are Purification of Cognizance in the sense of non-distraction; they are Purifi- cation of View in the sense of seeing. The meaning of restraint therein is training in the Higher Virtue; the meaning of non-distraction therein is training in the Higher Cognizance; the meaning of seeing therein is training in the Higher Understanding.

247. When he adverts to these three trainings he trains, when he knows them he trains, when he sees,... [and so on as in §242 up to]... when he realizes what is to be realized he trains.

[ Exercise of Mindfulness and Full-awareness ]
248-51. When he understands unification of cognizance and non- distraction through in-breaths and out-breaths while acquainted with the whole body [of breaths], his feelings are recognized as they arise,... [and so on as in §§199-202 up to the end].

[ Combining the Faculties, Etc. ]
252-64. When he understands unification of cognizance and non- distraction through in-breaths and out-breaths while acquainted with the whole body [of breaths], he combines the faculties, understands their domain, and penetrates their meaning of sameness; he combines the powers ... [and so on as in §§203-15 up to the end]
It’s been abbreviated but it comments upon how the 3 marks are contemplated all the way through. Lots of calm and insight going on at the same time here.
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by Ceisiwr »

When I practice anapanasati I focus attention on the nose. At stage 3, “experiencing the whole body”, I’m aware of the physical body and the mental body. I’m aware of resistance contact. I’m aware of designation contact. I’m aware of the resistance contact of the wind element via the designation contact of vedanā and sanna. I’m aware of the designation contact of vedanā and sanna via the resistance contact of the wind element. I’m aware that resistance contact depends upon designation contact and that designation contact depends upon resistance contact. I’m aware that mind depends upon body and body depends upon mind. I’m aware of the dependence of sanna on vedanā and the wind element and the dependence of the concepts of “breath”, “breathing”, “body”. I contemplate impermanence, suffering, cessation etc in relation to wind element, consciousness element, vedanā, sanna and the concepts of breath, breathing and body. All the while my mind and body becomes calm and tranquil.

That’s just one stage of the practice. For me anapanasati combines both calm and insight throughout.

Metta

:)
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
Spiny Norman
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Re: Vipassanā Technique Revisited

Post by Spiny Norman »

Ceisiwr wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 5:51 pm When I practice anapanasati I focus attention on the nose. At stage 3, “experiencing the whole body”, I’m aware of the physical body and the mental body. I’m aware of resistance contact. I’m aware of designation contact. I’m aware of the resistance contact of the wind element via the designation contact of vedanā and sanna. I’m aware of the designation contact of vedanā and sanna via the resistance contact of the wind element. I’m aware that resistance contact depends upon designation contact and that designation contact depends upon resistance contact. I’m aware that mind depends upon body and body depends upon mind. I’m aware of the dependence of sanna on vedanā and the wind element and the dependence of the concepts of “breath”, “breathing”, “body”. I contemplate impermanence, suffering, cessation etc in relation to wind element, consciousness element, vedanā, sanna and the concepts of breath, breathing and body. All the while my mind and body becomes calm and tranquil.

That’s just one stage of the practice. For me anapanasati combines both calm and insight throughout.

Metta

:)
There seem to be a myriad of approaches to the four tetrads of anapanasati, though broadly it appears to describe a progression from tranquillity to insight.
Buddha save me from new-agers!
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