As this foundation is set up you are then able to enter into
the field of Samadhi, ‘Mastery of the mind’. Because Vipassana meditation is
based upon observing your own sensations you need to sharpen your mind, so you
spend several days practicing Anapana meditation. This involves observing your
natural breath as it goes in and out of your nose. Because this is something
that is always occurring and is natural it means that your mind is slowly
slowly focused in on observing the reality of the moment in and around the
nose. Of course, every five seconds you mind begins to wander, thoughts of
other things crop up, worries, wishes, angers, none of which are related to the
reality of the moment, but as soon as you realise your mind has wandered you
once again bring it back to the breath, and observation of the reality of the
moment can begin again. Like this, over 4 days you are able to sharpen and
focus your mind and it becomes very aware of sensations around the nose. A
subtler reality, subtler sensations, can be felt that you were never able to
feel before because your mind was constantly thinking of things related to the
past (something which is gone forever) or things related to the future (things
that have not yet occurred). In fact, just try it now; sit back, close your
eyes and focus on your breath going in and out of your nose, try and sit dead
still for 8 minutes, just 8 minutes, and see what occurs in your mind. See how
quickly the mind switches from thought to thought, from desire of something
that you want to happen to annoyance of something that has happened, to this,
to that.
How agitated our minds are, constantly agitated. And how
little control we have over them! We know our minds are very powerful and yet
we have no control of them, its like letting wild beasts flail around at
random. This Anapana meditation helps to take back control of the mind, to calm
the agitation. If you really consider the thoughts that occur in your mind you
will realise that almost every one is something related to the past or the
future, our minds do not want to exist in the present, which is, inexorably,
the only thing that can ever be occurring.
So, after a couple of days you are able to sense all sorts
of tingles, itches, vibrations, buzzes, wetnesses, drynesses etc, that you were
never aware of before. Sometimes we do notice these sensations (the massive
ones at least, like a big itch of a dribble of perspiration) but what do we do
when they occur? Do we acknowledge what is occurring at this moment in the
present? ‘Ah there is a sensation occurring under my nose’? No, we react
blindly, we scratch the itch. And why? Because our minds are concerned that the
itch will continue into the future and we don’t want to be itchy all the time.
We miss the most blatant and obvious truth; that all things arise, stay for a
period of time (be it a million years or a nanosecond) and pass away. It is a
universal constant, everything arises, stays for some time and then passes
away. How on earth can we get agitated or angry or greedy for sensations when
all of them, sooner or later, pass away? It is not a wise thing to do, surely?!
And this is the source of so much misery, because we want pleasant sensations
to remain and so get attached to them, we then become negative when they pass
away, and we want negative sensations to go away immediately and so get
negative when they remain, again, unaware that they always have to pass away
anyway.
So, this then takes us into the field of Panna, wisedom, and
thus into the field of the Vipassana meditation. Here, you start observing the
sensations on all of the body, not just the nose. Having sharpened your mind
with Anapana meditation, it is very good at picking up all sorts of sensations.
When you focus on them you have to try and remain aware that, sooner or later,
they pass away and so, instead of reacting blindly to disliked sensations (like
a lot of pain in your legs as you sit for hours!) or with greed/craving for the
pleasant sensations, you simply remain equanimous, balanced. You learn, through
your own experience and NO ONE ELSE’S that all these sensations pass away, so
no attachment to them need be made. Simple, logical (at least in theory).
As you continue, your perception of sensations becomes
sharper and you begin to feel sublter and subtler ones, vibrations. At times
you are able to perceive the entire outside of your body as it really is, a
constant mass of particles that are vibrating, that are arising and passing
away with great rapidity. Modern molecular physicists will tell you that
everything in the universe is made of particles vibrating. Since 2500 years ago
Vipassana meditators have know this but whats more, they haven’t just known it
through observation of the outside world, the world beyond their sensations,
they have experienced it themselves, that is true Panna, true wisedom, to know
something through your own experience, not through someone else’s, and it is
this that, ultimately, brings harmony.
The Vipassana meditation courses train in ‘pure Dhamma’
(Dhamma being the law of nature), that is, it is purely about sensations and
your own experience, no one elses. This means it is totally universal, anyone
can practise it anywhere and at any time. No sectarianism, no ritual, no God or
scientist to ask for help from, no picture to put on your wall of some special
person, no small figurine to have on the shelf, just ones own mind and body and
hard work with which one finds out more truth.
The final part of the meditation involves Metta Bhavna. This
involves being aware that one must always share any love and compassion and
peace one has found with all other beings and not keep it to oneself. This was
the one thing I found hardest to get into on my 1st course (because you imagine
sending out the good feelings to all other beings, something that didn’t really
fit into my mental paradigm of the way the universe works before), but since,
in my own practise I have found it to be positive and after 10 days of intense
meditation, the feeling that overcame me when we finally practised Metta Bhavna
was unlike anything I have ever known, immposible to describe.