Practical Insight Meditation

The practice of Vipassana or insight meditation was described by the Buddha as the •only way• for the overcoming of all sorrow and grief and for realizing Nibbana, the state of perfect liberation from suffering. The Buddha taught the essence of this practice to consist in the four foundations of mindfulness: mindful contemplation of the body, feelings, states of mind, and mind objects.  

The great Burmese meditation master, the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, helped to spearhead the modern revival of insight meditation. Combining extensive knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures with profound personal experience, he has ordered the various aspects of Vipassana into a clear, simple and direct system that has spread widely in both the East and the West. In the present work • the nucleus of a vast treatise running to almost a thousand pages • the Sayadaw explains in lucid language the key steps in the practice of Vipassana. The first part of his work provides instructions in the basic exercises to be undertaken by a newcomer to the meditation. The second part sketches, with the sure touch of living experience, the progressive stages of insight that unfold as the practice advances towards its goal.  

CONTENTS 

Preface 1

I.BASIC PRACTICE Preparatory Stage 5 Basic Exercise I 7 Basic Exercise II 8 
Basic Exercise Ill 9
Basic Exercise IV 17  


II. PROGRESSIVE PRACTICE 

The Stages of Insight 20 
Analytical Knowledge of Body and Mind 
Knowledge by Discerning Conditionally 
Knowledge of Comprehension 25 
The Corruption of Insight 27 
Mature Insight Knowledge 30 
How Nibbana is Realised 39 
Path Knowledge 39 
Fruition Knowledge 42 
Reviewing 44 
How to Attain the Higher Paths 45 
Advice 49 
A Special Note 49 
Notes 51 
Appendix SS 
Pali Texts Quoted in the Appendix 65 
About the Author 69