Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom

(Since many like myself seek to further knowledge in the area of meditation, I have included noteworthy passages from this book.  Good luck, faruk):

If I become angry, I am the first victim of my anger.

The habit pattern lies at the root level. The root level is the unconscious mind. It does not listen. It reacts. Whenever it feels something pleasant, it will react with craving, clinging. When it feels something unpleasant, it will react with aversion, hatred. That has become the habit pattern of the deepest level of the mind. And unless we change this deepest level, all other things that we are doing at the surface are only temporary.

You don’t just sit down, meditate, and immediately penetrate to the depth; it’s not possible. You have to go layer by layer, layer by layer, and reach the place where the deep unconscious mind is blindly reacting, all the time reacting: anger, hatred, anger, hatred, craving, clinging. These are the habit patterns. P23

It’s not that after learning Vipassana we will run away from the sensual pleasures- but there will be no attachment to them. If we miss it, we miss it- still we are content. P30

It looks as if one is addicted to alcohol, but no- one is addicted to the sensation that is created by taking alcohol, and one wants that sensation again and again. One has to take something to generate that sensation. Now through Vipassana, one learns that when the sensation comes, one simply observes. I am not reacting, so my attachment to it goes away. P32

The Universal Law of Nature: “Hatred does not cease by hatred; by love alone it ceases. This is an eternal law.” P37

Vipassana means observing the reality objectively, as it is… The technique of Vipassana involves the basic law of nature that whenever any defilement arises in the mind, simultaneously, two things start happening at the physical level. One is that the breath loses its normal rhythm. I start breathing hard whenever negativity arises in the mind. This is a very gross and apparent reality that everyone can experience. At the same time, at a subtler level, a biochemical reaction starts within the body: I experience a physical sensation on the body. Every defilement generates some sensation or the other in some part of the body… I start observing the respirations, the sensations, and I find that the defilement soon passes away… the defilement will no longer overpower you as it did in the past.

In this way, the technique of self-observation shows us reality in its two aspects: outside and inside. Previously, one always looked outside with open eyes, missing the inner truth. Human beings have always looked outside for the cause of their unhappiness. They have always blamed and tried to change the reality outside. Being ignorant of the inner reality, they never understood that the cause of suffering lies within, in their own blind reactions. P 47.

If you learn the art of observing the reality within yourself it will become so clear at the experiential level that the real reason for anger lies within and not outside… Vipassana teaches you not to run away from the reality but, rather, to face the reality and start objectively observing the anger in the mind and the unpleasant sensation in the body. By observing the reality of the unpleasant sensations in the body you are not diverting your attention somewhere else nor are you suppressing your anger to the deeper level of the mind. As you keep on observing the sensations equanimously you will notice that the anger that has arisen naturally becomes weaker and weaker and ultimately passes away. P53

Other explorers of inner truth went still further (in the sense of diverting attention away from anger like through a mantra) in their search. By experiencing the reality of mind and matter within themselves, they recognized that diverting the attention is only running away from the problem. Escape is no solution; one must face the problem. Whenever a negativity arises in the mind, just observe it, face it. As soon as one starts observing any mental defilement, then it begins to lose all its strength. Slowly it withers away and is uprooted. P57

The mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On the one side is whatever thoughts or emotions arise in the mind. On the other side are the respirations and the sensation in the body. Any thought or emotion (whether conscious or unconscious), any mental defilement manifests in the breath and sensation of that moment. Thus by observing the respiration or sensation, I am indirectly observing the mental defilement. Instead of running away from the problem, I am facing the reality as it is. P59

Three steps to the training in Vipassana course:

1. Abstain from any action, physical of vocal, which disturbs the peace and harmony of others. A code of morality is the essential first step of the practice. One undertakes not to kill, not to steal, not to commit sexual misconduct, not to speak lies, and not to use intoxicants. By abstaining from such actions, one allows the mind to quiet down.
2. Develop some mastery over this wild mind, by training it to remain fixed on a single object, the breath. One tries to keep one’s attention on the respiration for as long as possible. This is not a breathing exercise; one does not regulate the breath. Instead one observes the natural respiration as it is, as it comes in, as it goes out. In this way one further calms the mind, so that it is no longer overpowered by violent negativities. At the same time, one is concentrating the mind, making it sharp and penetrating, capable of the work of insight.

These first two steps of living a moral life and controlling the mind are very necessary and beneficial in themselves. But they will lead to self-repression unless on takes the third step:

1. Purifying the mind of defilements, by developing insight into one’s own nature. This, really, is Vipassana: experiencing one’s own reality, through the systematic and dispassionate observation of the ever-changing mind-matter phenomenon manifesting itself as sensations with oneself.

Liberating oneself is not egoism but a responsibility, just as one bathes every morning because one is responsible for keeping one’s body clean. P84

Every meditator has to develop the strength to face the ups and downs of life. For this, it is necessary to meditate one hour in the morning and evening daily, to meditate together once a week, and to take a ten-day course at least once a year. P92

Whatever arises in the mind is called “dhamma.” A sensation arises on the body with whatever dhamma arises in the mind: this is the alw of nature. P95

There are three kinds of wisdom. The first is the wisdom gained by hearing or reading the words of others. The second is intellectual wisdom: to test with one’s reasoning an analyzing faculty whether the received wisdom is rational and logical. The third kind of wisdom, is experiential wisdom. It is wisdom manifested within ourselves, based on our own experience of our body sensations. This wisdom is based on direct experience and therefore is truly beneficial.

Observing the mind-body, we can experience its fundamental nature of impermanence (anicca) and suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) and in the process, its nature of egolessness (anatta) becomes clearer and clearer. P101

When we understand “dukkha” and the root cause of dukkha, we also understand the Noble Path, which destroys all the cravings that cause dukkha, thereby leading to liberation from dukkha. P102

To see that which is apparent, that which is before our eyes, without any defilement in the mind- this is true happiness. P103

The yardstick to measure whether love, compassion and goodwill are truly developing within you is whether these qualities are being exhibited toward the people around you.

When we say that someone is addicted to alcohol or drugs, this is untrue. No one is addicted to alcohol or drugs. The actual truth is that one is addicted to the sensations that are produced by the alcohol or drugs. P111

And what is full enlightenment? It is the realization of truth at the ultimate level by direct experience.

The law of nature is such that the moment you generate negativity in the mind, the mind influences matter, and this reaction which starts within your material structure makes you feel very agitated, makes you feel very unhappy, very miserable. P114

When we talk of addiction, it is not merely to alcohol or to drugs, but also to passion, to anger, to fear, to egotism: all these are addictions to your impurities… you start observing the sensation which has arisen because of the flow of a particular chemical. You do not react to it. That means you do not generate anger at that particular moment…Then whatever action they take is an action: it is not a reaction. P121