Preface

Vipassana 101 aims at the beginners who start having interest in Insight Meditation.  It can be anyone who does not know anything at all about Vipassana, or Insight Meditation, or anyone who has heard about Vipassana, or Insight Meditation, but does not have a clear understanding of what Vipassana is and how to start practicing Vipassana.

The size of this book may encourage those who have never had any background on Vipassana to be able to read and finish it in a short time.  The job of this book is to jump start your practice in the shortest time.  Or if you have previously started practicing Vipassana a little bit but are still confused, you will be able to adjust your point of view towards Vipassana differently from the general beliefs.  That is to transform something extroverted to be something introverted, from difficulty to ease, from stress to comfort, from being a burden to toying, from doubt to understanding, and from complexity to simplicity.  It will be to the point of beginning to glimpse into what Vipassana practitioners, either in monasteries or in the forest, have experienced, before you even take your eyes off these pages.

Even though the mission of this book is as mentioned above, please understand that the book itself is not capable of making the readers become Vipassana practitioners through reading any lines of this book.  But be assured that once you truly understand ‘Vipassana,’ even if you do not expect anything, you will come to experience the miraculous calmness.  Even without any thirst, you will get to experience the singular taste of peace.

Just to be able to remain calm amidst chaos and agitated stimuli environment, it can be considered a major change of your life, isn’t it?

 

Dungtrin

March 2004

 

Chapter 1—What is Vipassana?

If you would like to get the meaning of Vipassana, it can be answered in various ways.  But if you ask what Vipassana is and would like to get an answer directly probing at the mind, it must be that Vipassana is ‘seeing things as they truly are.’ 

Just try to think about the phrase ‘seeing things as they truly are.’  What is your gut reaction?  What were you thinking of from reading the phrase, ‘seeing things as they truly are’?

This book was translated into English.  You can read English.  This is the fact that nobody can deny.  Therefore, by saying that you are ‘thinking in English,’ it would be correct.  Congratulations to anyone who considered oneself thinking in English.  You understand it correctly.  You are seeing things as they truly are already. 

Yet by asking ‘Are you an American?,’ it may start to get more complex than the previous question, as it depends on your perspective of what nationality you belong to.  If someone forces you to accept that you are an American, while your mind still wants to think that you are not, as you may have a stronger heritage from a certain ethnicity, this means that you need to further discuss the issue.  And no matter how much you can come up with reasons or supporting evidence to confront and back up your own concept, the bottom line is that whatever you believe in will be equivalent to how much reality you would get.

The question is if the fact is linked to the concept, then there would not be any real seeing of things as they truly are, isn’t it?  Doesn’t it mean that we have been living in a self-created virtual reality all along?  Each person is living in each own particular world of virtual-reality, without ever coming across each other.

An argument, without any objective, in what is real and what is unreal would never be conclusive.  Therefore, as one refers to the effort being put into one’s practice to see things as they truly are, one needs to pursue with the next question, ‘What is the purpose of such seeing?’  Certain facts, like ethnicity may simply make one feel that ‘I am different from you’ or ‘I am much better than you.’  Beyond that, things may get carried away to the point of ethnic cleansing, or it may just simply result in racism and the desire to harm them as happening nowadays.

The purpose of Vipassana is to see things as they truly are, in order to free oneself from all sorts of mind-luring attachment, and be liberated from being imprisoned by the dark force of delusion.  We may not realize how dangerous it is this delusion that we are involving with, until we have to struggle through some of the consequence that we have created.  Is it better off if we can realize the truth of life?  For example, we do not need to go to war based on the difference in our beliefs, or we do not have to suffer because of our thoughts.  This filters down to the common daily problems.  For example, by simply leaving all the work behind at the office, one does not have to bring the stress back home.

Now that we get a rough idea that Vipassana is to see things as they truly are in order to free oneself from clinging.  And by freeing oneself from clinging, one does not have to suffer because of insubstantial matters.  Here comes a crucial question on what can one use as the goal in seeing things as they truly are?  It is analogous to knowing that we are going to war to free ourselves from slavery, but who are the enemies?  Where are they?  When will we meet them?

The answer for those who consider practicing Vipassana at home is that the goal of seeing things as they truly are, basically, is everything that we cling to unnecessarily.  What is such unnecessary thing, yet turns around and hurts us as if it is an enemy?  Try to ask yourself whether you have experienced some of these situations.  

Have you ever been cheated by someone for a couple bucks, yet it kept you thinking about it repeatedly?  It can be said that not only you were cheated, but your own thought also stole your happiness.

Have you ever agreed to end your relationship with someone, but you were still jealous of your ex-lover, thinking about the past with regret, concerning how happy he or she is with others?

Have you ever cheered a team, but the other team won, which means you have become a loser as well?  But if you look at it carefully you have not lost or gained anything along with the loser at all.

The above questions are just examples to demonstrate how unbelievable people suffer a great deal from clinging to an insubstantial matter.  But the frightening fact is that each day we may cling to as much as 9 unessential issues out of 10.

Occasionally you may admit to yourself or complain to others that you were so stupid to be obsessed with insubstantial or trivial matters.  Despite knowing that it was stupid, you could not stop thinking about it.  You were unable to control it, and could not be mindful about it.

Just only truly understand Vipassana.  To truly understand the meaning of Vipassana is the initial step.  And the first step is to accept it truthfully through investigation with a simple thought that anything that is not controllable according to our wish cannot be called ours.  For example, when we accept that thought is not ours, we would feel as if we have withdrawn over half of ourselves from suffering rooted in the thought, resulting in weakening of such thought instantaneously.

It is like a single strand of hair obscuring the view of the whole mountain, and it is like a funny story that we do not understand and cannot follow the theme.  As we cannot follow it, we become easy victims of this world.  Most people breathe in and out to serve defilement which is the cause of various degrees of suffering, and may not be able to die peacefully because of the lifelong suffering that erodes one heart.  Until one understands the meaning of Vipassana, and sees that by simply having a different perspective of life, one does not need to go anywhere, and does not need to perform any ritual, yet happiness has already replaced suffering, while one is still breathing, before dying with ignorance, not knowing the source of every new suffering.

Conclusion

Vipassana is to see things as they truly are that everything outside and inside ourselves is impermanent, uncontrollable according to our wish, so we would let go of inconceivable clinging, freeing ourselves from clinging, which overwhelmingly causes us to suffer mentally in things that should not have concerned us.  The job of a Vipassana practitioner is simply to transform oneself into a new perspective, from a demander, a desire-worshipping warrior, and an egoist, to an observer, a knower, and a truth-worshipping warrior in what one is facing instead.

 

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!

 

Chapter 3—Training one’s breath to enhance mindfulness

In this chapter we will enhance our mindfulness to another level by observing the variation of our breath.  You do not have to trouble yourself practicing Yoga.  Simply know how to observe your breath is enough.

Let us do it right now.  Ask yourself whether the very last breath was short or long.  If you could not answer, that means your mindfulness was not embedding with the breath and your breath tended to be short.  It is because your mindfulness was utilized in following your reading of this book.

But at this point, you will see that as soon as there is a prompting message for you to observe, your breath will immediately become longer even though you have not taken your eyes off the page.  This is because when there is something that prompts you to be mindful of your breath, such mindfulness will condition your breath to be longer automatically.  At this point let us observe that, on the contrary, we would only be aware of our breath whenever the breath is long, but seldom aware or even unaware of the breath whenever it is short.

While you are reading this line, are you breathing in long or short?  Long is the feeling you tell yourself that you are drawing a long breath, which may be the same or longer than the previous breath.  Short is the feeling that your breath is shrinking to the point of being difficult to observe.  If you were asked and you drew your breath deeper than usual, it was alright.  But just only once, do not try to breathe deeply consecutively many times, because forcing yourself to breathe deeply or frequently is not to enhance your mindfulness, but instead it will suppress the quality of your mindfulness.

You were aware of your breath whether it was long or short while reading the last paragraph.  Now you may ask yourself once more whether your breath is still prolonged or not while reading this paragraph.  Don’t be sad if your breath is shorter, nor be glad if it is longer, as there is no such thing as right or wrong with this method of practice.  There is only seeing the ongoing phenomenon that one is experiencing truthfully.

You will see that you could take a little break from reading to be aware of your breath, almost without taking your eyes off the pages.  That is when one is aware of one’s breath, mindfulness may temporary disappear from the letters and the meaning of those words for a very brief moment.  But once one is aware of one’s breath, one’s eyesight would refocus on the content and one could understand the meaning of the book continuously like a flowing stream of water.

To be mindfully aware of your breath once in a while does not interfere with what you are doing.  It is not doing two things at the very same time, which may disrupt your mindfulness.  This is because even when working without being mindfully aware of one’s breath, mindfulness of general population is always disruptive.  If you practice by asking yourself with ordinary mindfulness, e.g., by asking whether you are breathing long or short while reading each paragraph, you may set an example of being mindful while working.  And with the very same method, it will even help you to improve the quality of your work by so many folds. 

In this paragraph, you should begin to sense the calmness, and you should be more inspired in being aware of your breath.  Especially, you should be exceptionally aware of the long breath.  And as you are experiencing such exceptional awareness, it would result in your body drawing in longer breaths than usual.  This is the nature of how the mind works.  By simply having a target for your mind to fix on, that target will become more obvious accordingly.  This is because when the mind is inspiring in a certain thing, with time it will be aware of such thing more profoundly and extensively.  Once mindfulness is heightened, it will condition your body to a finer quality accordingly, as you have experienced with the longer breath than usual.

Coming to this paragraph, if your breath becomes shorter, yet you can still be clearly aware that your breath is in a shorter phase.  It means that your mind has become a knower, and an observer of the whole breath body.  It means that while breathing out, you are mindfully aware of breathing out.  Breathing in, you are mindfully aware of breathing in.  Taking a long breath, you are mindfully aware of taking a long breath.  Taking a short breath, you are mindfully aware of taking a short breath.  You will see that the nature of your mind has changed.  That is while breathing, it would be like being inwardly aware of the scope of your body more clearly and extensively.

At this point, please observe that as you are breathing in, your abdominal wall would expand a little.  Then a suitable mindfulness will spontaneously let you know how far you should expand your abdominal wall to make it comfortable while taking a long breath, and how to release the air out of your chest to maintain the same level of comfort.  In this paragraph, please observe how short or long such comfortable feeling would last.  Some may feel comfortable just only while inhaling.  Some may feel comfortable just only while exhaling.  Some may feel comfortable throughout the whole breath from beginning of inhaling until the end of exhaling.  Do not pay attention to how long it would last.  Just clearly be aware of it as it truly is. 

Being aware of the comfort or discomfort as it truly is, you are considered having a clear awareness of something that is subtler than breath.  This is another purpose of Vipassana.  That is to be mindful starting from something tangible to something subtle in order to be able to gain more realization that both tangible and subtle states would not last forever and we should not cling to them.  They are but something to be mindfully aware of.

Even after taking your eyes off this book, you can yet sense that mindfulness remains with you, as it is still anchoring with the awareness of the in-breath or the out-breath, as well as being aware of how long such comfortable feeling would last, which you may measure it by counting the numbers of your breath.  This means that your mindfulness has advanced from seeing physical phenomena according to the true nature to seeing mental phenomena according to the true nature as well.

To practice Vipassana, it is very important that you have to be aware of both physical and mental phenomena.  If you are only aware of physical phenomena, you just realize only a part of the truth, yet not realizing another part of the truth.  On the contrary, if you are only aware of mental phenomena, it will not be enough either, as you have to be aware of physical phenomena as well, in order to thoroughly realize the whole truth.

Good quality Vipassana should happen regularly.  This simply means that it should happen as often as you can, but do not try to force it to happen all the time, especially for a beginner.  That is because it may be an act of suicide on the path of Vipassana from the initial step.  To be aware is as if you were toying with it in your spare time, but doing it frequently as if it were the most favorite hobby of your life.  This will be the underlying force to advance your practice continuously.  You will find yourself beginning to be more inspired with your breath, and be more observant towards your own physical and mental comfort.  It is because realizing with mindful awareness according to the true nature of things through an inward reflection within your body and mind would only result in benefit, and only lessen your habit of harming yourself and others.  If you have not started practicing, you could never picture its outcomes.  Just simply try it, and within a few days, you would realize by yourself how much Vipassana is valuable to your life.

The state of being clearly aware of breathing in or breathing out is neither bored nor uncomfortable.  If practicing while reading this chapter causes you to be bored or uncomfortable, just use this paragraph as a new starting point.  Begin by observing whether you are paying too much intention or having too much expectation to your breath more than just ‘gently be aware, like toying with it’ or not?

The mindfulness level that is right for the natural awareness of the present breath arises from reflection upon ‘being aware according to its capability.’  If you want to be aware more than you possibly could, the result is being uncomfortable, feeling stressful, and being discouraged from pursuing your practice beyond this point.

On the contrary, if you start by gradually developing awareness from the phase suitable to your mindfulness, you will feel comfortable, calm, or even luminous, and having fun, which in turn will encourage you to make more effort to progress further.  Even when you stop reading this book, you still would not want to quit.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have applied the context in this book to prompt you to be mindfully aware of your breath directly.  According to the principle of Vipassana, being aware of your breath is not just a simple recognition that you are breathing, but you should be aware whether you are breathing out or in, breathing a long or short breath, as well.  Most people are aware of only the long breath, but not the short breath.  This chapter has guided you to observe that if you could be aware of your breath even while you are taking a short breath, it will result into a new level of mindful awareness.  Such heightened mindful awareness which is capable of extensive coverage in various phenomena continuously, either long or short, and gross or subtle, is what we really want for advancement to higher levels of Vipassana.

 

Chapter 4—Energy-saving tool for gaining continuity

In order to practice Vipassana continuously, the Buddha advised one to be aware of one’s breath frequently, as breathing is something that must be ongoing 24 hours a day, and it is pure.  The more one is aware of one’s breath, the more mindfulness one would gain.

In the last chapter, you have practiced to be mindful with breathing in real time.  You were reading and aware of your breath at the same time. You have already found out that it was simple because there were messages prompting you inwardly to be aware of what was going on within yourself.

The problem is that after taking your eyes off this book, there will be no messages to prompt you anymore.  You must have enough determination to remind yourself in order to survive safely on the Vipassana path.

Another problem for a beginner is that if one puts too much effort to be aware of one’s breath, one will be stressful, uncomfortable, or even having headache.  Therefore, this chapter will give some strategies to assure that you will start practicing awareness of your breath easily and naturally, including preventing you from being stressful, confused, and discouraged.  That is we will practice being aware of our breath disconnectedly, or being aware of it once in a while.

 

By using an alarm clock

Our present days’ technology, if used wisely, will benefit you in every aspect, practicing Vipassana included.  You may acquire a watch or a small digital clock that you can take with you.  It can also be a clock program on your computer which you can use while you are working.  Set the alarm for every 2 minutes.  Each time the alarm goes off, ask yourself whether you are breathing in, breathing out or stop breathing at the moment.  Be aware of it as it truly is.  Each time the alarm goes off, just be aware of your breath only once.  Do not try to be aware of it more than that.

It is normal for the beginner’s mindfulness to be irregular, but the alarm clock maintains its regularity.  Two minutes intervals are frequent enough to generate mindfulness automatically, yet long enough for not creating stress.  Not very long after you have tried it, you will observe that you can be aware of your breath naturally without focusing, or particularly extracting calmness out of your breath.  The result is that you will realize the true nature of your breath at that moment as it is.

Apart from being aware of breathing in, breathing out, or stop breathing, you should also observe yourself whether you are happy, or unhappy, including the various degrees of happiness or unhappiness, whether it is more or less than those of the previous breathing during the two minutes earlier.  To be able to differentiate happiness and unhappiness between the two intervals will gradually work your mindfulness into the way of Vipassana.

Promise yourself that you will not modify, adjust, or paint the picture of what is happening better than what it truly is, not only the breath but also the degrees of happiness or unhappiness.  If you are stressful, just accept that you are stressful.  If you are comfortable, just perceive it truthfully that you are comfortable.  Emphasize to yourself that Vipassana is seeing things as they truly are in order to realize their impermanence.  It is not seeing only what you love to keep for yourself, and discarding what you hate.

The alarm clock will help to enhance your mindfulness to occur regularly, and help you sprint off the starting point quite swiftly, beyond imagination.  That is, within a day, you will become a new person, stop being obsessed or pondering on insubstantial matters, and begin to pay attention to things that are pure in their nature.  Beginning with being aware once every two minutes will not create any stress, instead it will lead you to a stronger mindfulness.

Please observe that the more regularity you are mindfully aware of your breath, your breath will be longer and more refined, and it will make you become more peaceful.  If you feel that you begin to get used to it, try to adjust the timing from every two minutes to every one minute. When you can be aware once every minute consecutively for half an hour, you may feel that the world is dramatically different and the clock becomes something in excess and no longer necessary.  That is because your mindfulness begins to occur automatically.

 

By using sticky notes 

Write down the phrase ‘be aware of your breath’ on sticky notes and post them on many spots in your bedroom, at least two places or more.  It will be best if you post them on the spots where you frequently, yet unintentionally, look at.

You will find that the note ‘be aware of your breath’ has a great influence upon your mind.  The note not only makes you understand in what you are reading, but also acts as an important order, prompting you to be mindfully aware of your breath.

Don’t forget to ask yourself while you are aware of your breath whether you are comfortable or uncomfortable.  If you are comfortable, acknowledge it as being happy.  If you are uncomfortable, acknowledge it as being unhappy.  Try to compare the difference between seeing each note.  You will find out that your bedroom has been transformed into a massive production line, generating mindfulness so easily in just a few days.

 

By using posture

This topic may be slightly tougher than the previous ones, because there is no external tool beyond your body to help you.  But the good thing is that posture is something already existing within oneself, without any need to buy it from anywhere else.

A simple rule is when changing posture from one position to another, breathe a little deeper than usual and contemplate that this is the nature of breathing in long, and this is the nature of breathing out long.  Do it only once and try not to be aware beyond that.  For the word ‘changing posture’, it means alternating positions between sitting, standing, walking and reclining, including turning oneself, or laying in a certain posture.  For beginners, the finer movement, such as moving arms, legs, hands, feet or head, is considered to be inapplicable, as it might be too subtle.

Once being aware of your breath, you should further ask yourself about your overall feeling physically at that moment whether you are comfortable or uncomfortable.  Just only observe that much.  If you feel indifferent, just take it as being comfortable.  If you feel sluggish, you can count it as being uncomfortable.  Compare the difference between changing posture during comfortable breathing and changing posture during uncomfortable breathing.  Being mindful in such a way, until one is skillful at it will result in more and more awareness of one’s body, having one’s body as a refuge and residence of the mind.

 

By using the strong emotional reactivities

Here we will emphasize on anger and resentment which frequently happen to general people many times a day.  Yet it may be applicable to other reactivities, such as, stress, worries, including having strong sensual desire at an inappropriate moment.

When your mind reacts to things that come in contact with your eyes, or your ears, first of all just accept it as it truly is that there is such an ongoing reactivity. Never try to get rid of it.  Then use your breath as a counter to see how many breaths it would take to calm your mental reactivity.

At the beginning, you will feel incomplete, irritable, and bored like you do not have any mood to count your breath and see how many breaths it would take to calm your mental emotion.  But once you did it, you will see subsequent encounters to be much easier.  When you have a strong mental reactivity, you will start counting your breath automatically.  Upon reaching that point, you will find out that you start to take more interest in your in-breath and out-breath even while there is no mental reactivity.

Conclusion

There are various strategies that can be used as an energy-saving tool to pull mindfulness out of a deep mental trench within our minds.  This chapter only introduces some practical techniques that most people can use and will gain a fruitful result in a short time, as if applying such tool only for a couple days, your mindfulness would occur more frequently until you are amazed how easy it is.

You will see that only being mindfully aware of your breath frequently, no matter from which technique, your life will change from within.  It will affect all of your thoughts and perspective and it will be a stable foundation for you to progress towards advanced levels of Vipassana practice without having any difficulty.

 

Chapter 5—Turning problems into mindfulness tool

Almost everybody has complex problems that cannot be solved.  Here we will not emphasize on the external problems which are the original sources of mental suffering.  Instead, we will talk about ‘mental behavior’ which is an internal problem.  If we can solve the internal problem, no matter how serious the external problem is, it would not cause much mental suffering.  Or even if it is causing a great deal of mental suffering, you will not lose your mind committing seriously bad acts like those who could not see their way out. 

There are 5 types of mental behaviors which can be called ‘mental illness’ as they can cause a great deal of suffering, as well as harm to one’s health, physically and mentally.  They can be arranged in the order of their harmful effects, or even critical danger to the present world, as follows.

1)      Sexually perverted illness—being obsessed with sex, without any restraint, and may potentially commit sexual crime.

2)      Revengeful illness—being rancorous to the point of unconsciously committing shocking homicide.

3)      Easily discouraged illness—feeling depressed and torpid to the point of not wanting to live any longer.

4)      Anxiety neurosis illness—being stressed out to the point of being insane.

5)      Indecisive illness—being uncertain, and sloppy, up to being unable to succeed in any task.

If anybody has one of these illnesses as a nature, one can realize by oneself, even though it has not resulted in the most serious consequence of each type yet, that at least it may have already caused grief and suffering to some extent, on a daily basis or even on a moment-to-moment basis.

The bad habit or mental behavior, that occurs regularly, can never be differentiated into whether it is harming us in the worldly aspect or spiritual aspect.  As long as the mental behavior still remains negative, then the worldly life will go downhill relentlessly, and the spiritual life will not progress any further as well.

If you try to be aware of your breath regularly as stated in the previous chapters until it becomes automatic to a certain level, you will be amazed that all sorts of mental illnesses have subsided without any need for medication, consulting a doctor, or waiting for the external problem to resolve.

However, for an urban population there is an illness that is very difficult to cure.  It is anxiety and stress.  One could not successfully get rid of the storm of distracting thoughts popping up in one’s head, because one needs to work, plus available jobs nowadays are full of all sorts of obstacles.  If the way of thinking while you are working is incorrect, you will never be able to stop distracting thoughts with any kind of tricks.  It is because most of the time of your life is being spent in generating more distracting thoughts.

As already mentioned earlier in this chapter that we are going to observe the bad habits of the mind, as being a problem, now let us talk about using Vipassana to cure stress or anxiety neurosis.  The following technique in theory may seem to be too simple to believe that it would work.  Yet in practice it may seem to be too difficult to do.  So please keep your mind neutral and try to experiment with it many, many times.  You will find out by yourself that you do not need to study complex medical knowledge like a psychiatrist, yet you can resolve stress and anxiety by yourself.  

First of all, you need to seriously explore yourself whether the way you think leads to stress.  In another word, are you ‘stressful from thinking’, or not?  Try to answer the following questions.

1)      Feeling uneasy while thinking, as if the more you think the more pressure you feel.

2)      After finish thinking about an issue, yet you still feel like it is unfinished.

3)      When you try to relax, yet you are still endlessly being obsessed with the thought. 

4)      Even a trivial matter can make you frowningly think or at least make you feel tense.

5)      Being impatient or always over-investing yourself in thinking above and beyond any reason.

After exploring yourself, the more this list is applicable to you, it means the more stress you have.  It does not matter how much it matches you, as the main thing is you have realized that you are still a stressful person whenever you think, or in other words, the way you think is truly based upon a stressful nature.

 

Vipassana principle to solve the stressful thinking habit

1)  First of all, you have to throw away your previous beliefs which you used to think that stress originates from the external encounter, such as pressure in the work place or at home.  Just set yourself into a new perspective.  Make yourself believe that stress only derives from the way you think.  In order to narrow the scope of solving the problems, you need to correct only the nature of your thinking itself.

2)  While you are thinking about something, please observe whether you are stressful or not.  That is feeling dense in your head, your eyebrows wrinkled, feeling tense in your forehead, chest getting tight, stiff in your hands and feet.  Do you have any of the above symptoms, or all of them, or not?  If there is any, stop thinking temporary and turn your interest to being aware of the characteristic of stress, which is happening in your body at the spot where you can perceive most clearly.  Reflect upon it that it was something ‘extra’ from the thought.  Do not try to do anything more than realizing such extra.  Merely observe it.  Then you will see that such extra has spontaneously disintegrated.  It may take a short or long while, but it will eventually disintegrate.  Just only try to do it wholeheartedly.

3)  When you see the state of stress disappear, there will be a light feeling replacing that previous spot of stress, plus being aware of your present posture, such as sitting or standing.  Try to be aware of the state of light physical feeling for a while to differentiate between the state of heavy feeling of the previous moment and the state of light feeling of the present moment.  Reflecting upon the difference between the heavy feeling state and the light feeling state will play a very important role because heavy feeling state and light feeling state are what the mind would remember.  Therefore, when one tries to observe it until gaining the perception capable of differentiating between the two states, the following result is the wisdom to see things as they truly are.  That is heavy state is simply a condition of body and mind.  Light state is also simply a condition of body and mind.  There is no single particular condition that is you yourself permanently.  The more you realize the differences between such conditions, the more you will gain the wisdom to realize that every condition is not your true self-entity.   

 

With only these 3 simple principles, when you are back thinking about your duty again with the more comfortable body and lighter mind, you will see that in the past you were making yourself stressful unnecessarily because we would be best working or solving problems when our body and mind are clear, calm and peaceful.  It is analogous to clearing the street ready for hundreds of speedy caravans of thoughts.

 

Try to practice step by step as advised in the following, as a basic exercise that one can experiment with while reading this book.

1) Observe your reading habit whether you are focusing or feeling comfortable.  If you are focusing, you will see a limited numbers of alphabets.  But if you feel comfortable, without frowning, relaxing your forehead muscles, and keeping your neck and back straight, you can glance wider.  If you know that your reading habit is with focusing, initially, try to observe the nature of staring, and body stiffness, and acknowledge it as a reflection of your mind which is heavily focusing unnecessary.  Just stop reading to observe the residual tension in your mind.  Only a couple seconds, you will feel a little lighter.  Try to memorize such nature to use in further reading.  If you become stressful again, then stop reading again.  If you do it frequently, it will gradually become your new permanent habit, but this cannot be done overnight or in a week.  The comfortable reading habit may be a good start and can be done immediately while you are reading at this very moment!   

2) Walk into a place where there are trees, grass and clear weather.  If the sky is clear, it would be perfect.  And if you can walk bare feet on the soft grass, it would be wonderful.  Then observe yourself while your eyes are looking at flowers, while your ears are listening to the birds singing, while your feet touch the grass, what your mind is thinking.  If it is nothing related to the flowers that you are seeing, the sound of birds that you are listening to, or the grass that you are touching, all of which can be counted as the ‘root’ of stress, without exception even the wish to have your loved one to appreciate the garden together.  If your thought is circling around the observation in the color or the shape of flowers or trees, that is an example of being free of stress.

3) During the day, when you meet anyone, chatting about anything, or being alone and pondering in something, try to observe, observe and observe whether in a moment you are stressful and then think, think and then become more stressful, or free of stress and then think.  Just compare them frequently until you realize that stress is but an existing condition to be aware of.  Free of stress or comfort is but another existing condition to be aware of.  There is no particular condition that is you yourself.  You do not have to bury yourself in such condition forever.  Then it can be said that you know how to practice basic Vipassana.  

 

After practicing for a couple days, try to evaluate by investigating yourself with the following list.  If these conditions appear ‘more frequently’ or even ‘occur regularly’, that means you are free of stress prior to thinking.

1)      Feeling relaxed while thinking, as if the more you think the more you are mindfully aware.

2)      When finish thinking, you feel lighthearted. Your job is finished with nothing left behind.

3)      When you want to rest, you feel free and very comfortable.

4)      Even there is a serious problem to think about, yet your face is relaxed, and your body remains comfortable.

5)      Remain calm while awaiting for a reasonable consequence appropriate to time, and waste very little energy in thinking, yet gaining a perfect result.

 

If you evaluate yourself and find out that you have all these 5 characteristics, try to observe any minute amount of stress or tension that may arise while you are absent-minded, as well as reflect upon any trace of stress that may have sneaked in amidst comfortable body and mind, that it is impermanent.  When you are aware of it, it will disintegrate as a norm.  But once disintegrated, you cannot make it disappear forever, because stress is not you yourself, and you yourself are not stress.

Conclusion

This chapter talks about the huge problem facing mankind of this current era which is stress, though in fact it can be solved easily.  One does not need to attend a training course, nor ask for any remedy from anywhere else.  Simply know how to think, and think proficiently from a relaxing nature.  Within a few days, those horrible solid lumps inside your skull and your chest will dissolve completely.  The important thing is people do not know how to think from a relaxing nature.  Therefore, one adds more stress to it relentlessly.  One day it will explode which is regretful, as Thailand is a Buddhist country, with Vipassana existing, and the principle of Vipassana can help freeing people from stress so easily.

 

Chapter 6—Mental Reactivity

Living in a city, it is hopeless for a person who earns a normal living to be free of mental contact.

Yet such unavoidable mental contact gives us a new hope to use it as a part of the tools for Vipassana because one of the Vipassana principles is to observe that mental reactivity is something that arises temporarily.  It arises and must cease to exist as a norm, uncontrollable for being sustained or expelled according to our wishes, as it is not ours.  It is different from a light bulb that can be turned on and off, as we wish, through a light switch.

Without any mental affliction that creates mental reactivity, it would mean one would lack this part of the tools for Vipassana.  Therefore, instead of being sad and burdened by the mental contact, one should be glad to be an ordinary person who has acquired such a tool.

According to the principle of Vipassana, you have to know that mental reactivity is not something that arises by itself, because it did not exist previously as a self entity, but it results from the interaction between the mind and ‘something else’ apart from the mind.  For example, the letters on this very line can be counted as a kind of mental contact as long as your eyes still keep on glancing and understanding what the book is trying to communicate with you.

You will have a better understanding of the word ‘something else’ apart from the mind, if you realize that even a stream of thought can be counted as mental contact.  This is the truth.  Thought is actually something apart from the mind.  It is perceivable by the mind whether it is clear from thoughts or being stirred by rippling waves of thoughts.

Therefore, even though you step out of your office or are far apart from all of your loved ones or enemies, do not think that there will not be any mental contact to give rise to reaction.  Thought which follows you everywhere is the most frequent encounter to your mind in both positive and negative aspects.  Therefore if you can keep observing the reaction resulting from a thought encountering your mind, it means you have practiced Vipassana most frequently.