Vipassana Meditation

Just another meditation app.

I love trying new apps for meditation because I constantly learn something new, either a new technique or a new perspective. Finding ones that I find effective enough to review is a totally different story. These have to leave a lingering impression, enough that I continue to use it after the review.

This was just another meditation app to experiment with that I discovered soon after first learning to meditate. Being taught a new-to-me technique was not what I expected.

What is Vipassana meditation?

The purpose of this new app was meditation journaling, which is promptly writing down any thoughts, emotions, and reflections from during and after a meditation session. The how-to or what-is video provided introduced me to Vipassana meditation. Looking back on what I’ve learned since, the explanation was a fairly vague variation.

Vipassana translates to insight, or to see things for what they are. Vipassana meditation leads to nothing and everything, the highest form of awareness, mind over matter, complete consciousness. This technique was discovered, practiced, and taught by Gotama the Buddha over 2500 years ago.

Vipassana meditation is the foundation of all Buddhist meditation.

Don’t get too enthusiastic about this post yet. I am not able to teach that.

You have to do what?

To understand true Vipassana meditation, one must be taught by a qualified teacher over a 10-day course, generally held as a meditation retreat. There is a moral conduct to follow, about ten hours of meditating a day, scheduled everything, and no speaking to anyone but your instructor. All matters are given up during this retreat except the basic needs and meditation.

Understandably, a brief post on what this type of meditation is, is not going to teach you insight, but it can certainly set you on the path if you decide to follow.

I need to take a moment for a tiny warning. Please make sure you completely understand all rules, regulations, and restrictions for any retreats. If you have any dietary or disability requirements, ensure the retreat you are registering for is willing and able to cooperate. The biggest warning I have for you kids is to never buy a Vipassana course. Ever. These courses and retreats will always be free because that is the tradition of pure Vipassana. They rely solely on donations of previous students (Please, donate if you are able!).

Can it really be done at home?

To understand true Vipassana, these retreats and courses are crucial. They eliminate all other distractions, set a code to follow, and a detailed timetable. Why is this so significant?

Okay, I may have overstated. This can be achieved if one is wholeheartedly dedicated. Deeply devoted. I am not that one. Vipassana meditation can be learned at home and there are Vipassana teachers that have uploaded instructions for their ten-day courses on YouTube.

The first step is to practice sila, or morality. This step requires you to abstain from speaking lies, killing any living creature (bugs included, seriously), stealing, all sexual activity, and all intoxicants.

The second step is to practice Anapana meditation, which develops samadhi, or concentration. This step teaches you to control your mind, the unruly parts of it.

The third and final step is practicing Vipassana meditation, purifying the mind, leading to panna, wisdom or insight.

What exactly does it mean to attain insight?

Since I haven't achieved this level of insight, my perspective relies on the resources I consulted during my research. I would encourage anyone interested to do further research.

My comprehension on this subject is limited and someone who hasn’t experienced this type of insight would be in the same position. It is one of those things that one needs to experience in order to understand.

Insight is accepting the truth behind perspectives, primarily your own. Understanding matter, the physical, is connected with mind, the beliefs and emotions. Recognizing that mind creates matter as much as matter creates mind. Accepting the truth life is all cause and effect.

Decisions, decisions.

It can be a little disheartening to want to learn something but not having the capabilities to do so or discovering other outcomes that sway your decision to keep learning.

It sounds so bizarre to turn down a free course to attain insight but this was the best choice for me. Vipassana meditation is lessening and then eliminating negative values and emotions such as anger, envy, greed, and ignorance. It also brings a halt to the illusion of obvious truths such as daydreams, fantasies, and visions.

While I can understand the freeing nature of putting a halt to such things, my perspective is that the imaginative brain is replaced with a mindful one instead of encompassing both. While I strive to be more mindful, much of my own creativity originates from those daydreams and visions that occur when my mind wanders. I adore being in a position to create stories.

I suppose my own belief is fairly comparable in that everything is energy. Rage, agony, love, joy, it is all energy and our perspectives are based on how we have learned to react to those energies. The distinction, in my opinion, is that excluding all negative thoughts and emotions creates instability. Our shadow selves deserve to be acknowledged and healed too, not excluded.

Is it possible to truly empathize with others if we remove these energies from ourselves?

I acknowledge that I am fearful of losing qualities of who I am, what makes me who I am, if I were to gain this form of insight.

Discovering what is best for you.

As always, it is ultimately up to you to discover what works and what doesn’t. If insight is what you are seeking, Vipassana meditation is an invaluable solution, proven for thousands of years. It should be understood that we are human and require maintenance. Attaining insight, and preserving it, is a life-long devotion.

True Vipassana is not for everyone but there is still a need to acknowledge and heal negative values and emotions. Other variations of meditations and therapies are accessible to assist in attaining this, several of which are in my lists of topics to write about.

Beyond Little Thoughts

This topic has raised more than a few profound questions for me. If you attain true insight, do you no longer have experiences as they are meant to be? What are the experiences in life intended to feel and look like? What if these negative values and emotions are vital lessons designed to assist us through life? Can one sincerely understand an emotion if they no longer feel it?

To answer these questions, one would need this insight so the true question becomes: Is what you acquire worth what you lose?

Perhaps insight is different for everyone and the path you choose to attain it reflects your perception of it. This path may not be right for me, but I am grateful for everything I have discovered, about Vipassana meditation, insight, and my inner self.

What are your thoughts?