Insight Meditation
By the Venerable
Chao Khun Phra Sobhana Dhammasudhi
Meditation master
And
Senior Incumbent Of The Bhuddhapadipa Templ
LONDON
Publish by
The Committee For The Advancement of Buddhist
The Buddhapadipa temple
99 christchurch road
East cheen, London S.W.14
England
PUBLISHER’S NOTES
We are living through a century when scientific discoveries and technical achievements not only come along at a pace that has never been known in history but they enter our daily life and upset our complacency over its meaning and purpose. Formely it was easy to either accept traditional religious concepts or adopt a cynical “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die” attitude with its selfish, egotistical slant.
Nowadays, with high-quality television and satellite communications, human beings can exchange ideas and see what is happening around the world on a panoramic scale. Such everwidening horizons are already affecting our human outlook and creating in the new generation a sense of instability which, in the past, arose only from tragedies such as plagues, invasions and natural disasters. Instead of falling back on superstitious explanation for a philosophy of live we are now faced with technologies which destroy superstition and weaken religion.
Is anything left?
Yes. The human mind does not rest content with masses of information. Nor does it readily accept material prosperity as the acme of existence. Beauty and happiness are ever felt to be needed in human affairs. What then really lies at the heart of our being? Does a proven method exist whereby we can find out?
Again, yes! This book continues the efforts of 2,500 years of Buddhism to tell those who want to see for themselves how it is possible to lay aside concept and preconceptions of mind so as to dwell happily amid the problems of life, resistant to befuddling influences, as a useful member of the community and, eventually, unmoved by the inevitable approach of physical and mental dissolution. Other works recount the friendliness of the Buddha and the kindliness of his way of life, but this book details the practical manner of dwelling in the present without becoming enslaved by circumstances. To quote the Buddha: OPEN ARE THE DOORS TO THE DEATHLESS, LET HIM WITH EARS TO HEAR REPOSE TRUST.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PART I
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Meditation – Mental development to contemplate reality, to remove resentment, making the mind tranquil, discarding certain hindrances, gaining freedom and attaining complete liberation.
CHAPTER I. The Aim of insight meditation
Aims : 1. General; 2. Particular
The meaning of Mindfulness
Mindfulness of body
Mindfulness of feeling
Mindfulness of mental states
Mindfulness of mental contents
Contemplating the five hindrances
Contemplating the five aggregates of attachment
Contemplating the six internal and external spheres of the senses
Contemplating the seven factors of enlightenment
Contemplating the four noble truths
CHAPTER II.four beneficial facrors for Vipassana practice
(a) Sincerity of purpose; (b) Full awareness of observation; (c) clear comprehension; (d) Avoidance of giving way to feelings of elation or dejection.
CHAPTER III. The beneficts of Vipassana practice
Dwelling with contenment in the happiness of truth in the present life. Enjoyment of object through investigation. Acquisition of worldly knowledge. The attainment of perfection. The ten defilements of insight.
CHAPTER IV. Vipassan and the seven stages of Purification
Purification of morality, purification of mind, purification of understanding, purification of overcoming doubt, purification of knowledge with insight into the distinction between path and ‘Not-Path’, purification of knowledge with insight into the way to make progress, purification of knowledge with insight into the noble path.
Vipassana and the thirty-seven elements pertaining to enlightenment
CHAPTER V. The way of practice
Exercises for strict practice. Exercises 1 to 7
General advice for mindfulness practice in daily life
PART II
SELECTED TALKS
The successive way to enlightenment
How to live by the Dhamma
The simile of the cloth
The parable of the watersnake
On beneficial impertubability
Fear and dread
How to remove distracting thought
On an exposition and analysis
How to acquire perfect view
Peace within
On emancipation
The all
Perversion and perfection
The central teaching of the Buddha
Self-protection
The right method
Index