Chapter 2—How to begin practicing Vipassana?
A good Vipassana practitioner would start with a right view, which means that whoever has read Chapter 1 and by now can give a similar answer to the question ‘What is Vipassana?,’ as being described in the conclusion of that chapter, can be considered that one has already taken the first step.
Most people perceive Vipassana practice as sitting with the eyes closed, keeping a straight face, or as walking meditation along the monastery wall. That simply represents a minute part of the picture which may stand out, but not the whole scenario. To the expert, true Vipassana may be practiced while putting food in one’s mouth, or right after laughing one’s heart out, or even before one may not be done crying. As soon as one is mindful and truly aware of the ongoing phenomena, as impermanent, uncontrollable as one wishes, at such moment one is in Vipassana.
Just think of the word ‘being mindful,’ what does it remind you of? Please take examples from your own daily life. Some may recollect about being absent-minded while driving, only to be mindful that one is driving just before driving the car down the ditch. One would stop day-dreaming or being obsessed with the thought beyond the road. At this very line of this book, please try to think of the answer to the word, ‘being mindful’ and what it means to you. It may mean being aware that you are reading this book and questioning yourself at this moment.
But as you are mindfully aware that you are driving or are mindfully aware that you are being asked to look back against the stream of your thought, yet you still do not know where to look, in order to realize that it is impermanent and uncontrollable.
So, let us give it a try right now, by using the feeling of not knowing where to look at as a tool. If you are still confused, doubtful, questioning, or trying to find an answer, you should be congratulated, because that is exactly the feeling we want.
The state of being confused and dull, not knowing what to look for, doubtful of what to do, it is called, in Vipassana, one of the ‘hindrances’ –‘Nivarana’ – or mental obstacles as the barrier against our progression. However, the Buddha has provided us a guideline to deal with it. That is to be mindfully aware accordingly that one’s mind is besieged by doubt. While being aware of such doubt, it is the state of starting to be mindfully aware of the true nature of things. That is being aware that there is such a phenomenon existing.
Yet in order to see things as they truly are to free oneself from being besieged by doubt, it is not just simply seeing the sustaining nature of doubt, but one must see the ceasing nature of doubt as well.
The question is how to make the state of doubt disappear. The answer is to take a breath. As soon as you can tell yourself whether you are breathing in or breathing out, which means that at such moment doubt disappeared, being replaced by mindfulness, being aware that one is breathing in or breathing out. When mindfulness slips away from being aware of the breath, doubt or eagerness to know resumes. This is the point to observe the difference between the state of doubt and the state free of doubt.
During the second that you can tell yourself whether you are breathing in or breathing out, you should reflect upon the previous state of doubt, which has tendency towards being oppressed and suffer, is being transformed into a new state, free of anxiety, which has tendency towards being delighted and happy. Simply through realizing the difference between having doubt and temporarily free of doubt can be counted as the initial phase of gaining mindfulness in Vipassana. This is because of the feeling that previously the mind was in one condition, but now the mind is in another condition is basically seeing that the previous state of mind has passed, ended, transformed, and no longer in the present state. And by its nature, whenever the mind sees something disappearing, it will not recognize such thing as an entity.
This is a very interesting point to consider. What does the mind see as a self-existing entity? The answer is the ongoing present state that is appearing at the very moment. For example, when comparing between the state of doubt and the state free of doubt, one would see the nature of the mind that stopped clinging to the state of doubt, which has already become the past, but instead it is clinging to the state free of doubt in the present as a self-existing entity.
If you clearly understand this point, including being able to observe what the present nature of the mind is that we are ‘mistaking’ or ‘not seeing it as it truly is,’ then it means that you understand the principle of Vipassana rather well.
The next step that we need to know is what could be the objects for observation within ourselves? The answer is we can be aware of everything that is a part of our bodies and everything that is a nature of the mind with mindfulness in Vipassana.
But just being told only this much, you could still be confused. You may be confused on how to observe everything within your body and mind. Should you observe it as a whole at once? The answer is that you should analytically observe things separately because there is no such thing as seeing everything all together at once, besides it is impossible. Therefore, you should observe only whatever you can.
Next may be the most crucial question. Which part should one observe first? The Buddha advised one to be mindful with breathing the most. It is because breath is dependable. It can rescue mindfulness, nurture mindfulness, as well as give rise to mindfulness to realize the true nature of things as being impermanent.
As mentioned previously that just simply being aware of breathing in or breathing out, such can be called being mindful. Whenever one is mindful, doubt and distraction are being replaced temporarily. Therefore, it is desirable to establish an aspiration in being aware of breathing in or breathing out as often as one can, in order for mindfulness to conquer the mind, rather than letting doubt and distraction empower the mind.
Whenever the mind is attentively mindful with one’s breath, one would feel that the symptom of ‘disappearing from this world’ is taking a shorter time, and one’s mind would be in the ready state of becoming more and more aware of the subtleties of various aspects of one’s body and mind.
The problem for most people is that one is unable to establish an aspiration or even having difficulty in prompting one’s mindfulness to be aware of one’s breath or the subtleties of various aspects of one’s body and mind. The next chapter will introduce some strategies to overcome this obstacle.
Conclusion
To start practicing Vipassana is not difficult. Once one understood what one should be reflecting one’s mind on for observation, it can be said that one is already on the right track, such as comparing the difference between the state of doubt and the state free of doubt. The energy-saving tool that will bring yourself out of the starting point is your breath. Simply be mindful of your breath for once is like having a dividing wall between the state of doubt and state free of doubt for you to easily visualize. The following chapters will mention about basic strategies to help you to be able to practice Vipassana continuously and we will practice it together while reading this book!
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