Vipassana jhanas
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Vipassanā jhanas are stages that describe the development of vipassanā meditation practice as described in the Burmese Theravada tradition. In contrast with the samatha jhanas, the Vipassanā jhanas can be reached while being mindful of the three characteristics.[1] Another term for this is lakkhaṇūpanijjhāna - jhana of the three characteristics. This division has its roots in the Buddhist commentarial text called the Visuddhimagga, which contrasts the samatha jhanas which are strictly based on a very exclusive and focused form of "fixed concentration" (appana samadhi) with "neighborhood concentration" (upacara samadhi) which is a preparatory stage.[2] A commentary to the Visuddhimagga, the Paramatthamanjusa, goes further, describing a form of "momentary concentration" (khanika samadhi) which is able to give rise to all the same jhanic factors present in the samatha jhanas (though it also mentions it is less stable).[3]
Burmese Vipassanā
Burmese meditation teacher Mahasi Sayadaw wrote that "the strength of the momentary concentration is similar to that of concentration which has reached full mental absorption. However, such similarity of momentary concentration with fully absorbed concentration will become evident (only) when the methodical practice of insight reaches its culmination." [4]
Mahasi's student, Sayadaw U Pandita describes four vipassanā jhanas in his meditation text "In this very life":
- The meditator first explores his body, then his mind, discovering the three characteristics. The first jhana consists in seeing these points and in the presence of vitakka and vicara. Phenomena reveal themselves as appearing and ceasing.
- In the second jhana, the practice seems effortless. Vitaka and vicara both disappear.
- In the third jhana, piti, the joy, disappears too: there is only happiness (sukha) and concentration.
- The fourth jhana arises, characterised by purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. The practice leads to direct knowledge. The comfort disappears because the dissolution of all phenomena is clearly visible. The practice will show every phenomenon as unstable, transient, disenchanting. The desire of freedom will take place.
The only further steps are the knowledge of attaining nirvana.
Vipassanā knowledge
This description of vipassanā practice is a way of developing vipassanā knowledges through direct experience. The vipassanā jhanas as taught by U Pandita contrast with the samatha jhanas as described by Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga. According to Buddhagosa's method, jhana practice is separate from vipassanā. One's mind becomes absorbed in fixed concentration on the object and the meditator must come out of jhana to practice vipassanā. However, jhana as taught by U Pandita allows for insight practice while in jhana. The meditators mind does not merge with the object but rather becomes ever more still while the flow of experience is still observable and is analysed in terms of the three characteristics.
Samatha and Vipassanā
According to Sayadaw U Pandita, samatha and vipassanā are not two separate practices. Samatha, or concentration, leads to jhana (mental stabilization). In jhana there is no mental discursiveness, or very little, as the aim is to calm the vibrations of thought and mental activity. At this stage the meditator becomes very peaceful and blissful. All the changes that happen to the ego, and which lead to nirvana, originate in jhana and are experienced through intuition and a connection to a deeper level of awareness that is beyond normal discursive thinking.
Pali canon
One piece of evidence from the Pali canon for the possibility of vipassanā during jhana is the Anupada Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 111) which states:
"For half a month, Sariputta clearly saw insight (vipassanam vipassi) into mental qualities one after another. This is what occurred to Sariputta through insight into mental qualities one after another: There was the case where Sariputta — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Whatever qualities there are in the first jhana — directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention — he ferreted them out one after another. Known to him they arose, known to him they remained, known to him they subsided. He discerned, 'So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish.' He remained unattracted & unrepelled with regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that 'There is a further escape,' and pursuing it there really was for him.
See also
References
- ↑ Ingram, Daniel. Mastering the core teachings of the Buddha, Karnac Books, 2008, pg 246.
- ↑ Shankman, R. The Experience of Samādhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, 57.
- ↑ Shankman, R. The Experience of Samādhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, 57.
- ↑ Mahasi Sayadaw, The progress of insight, 1994.
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