There are many ways to meditate, but without a doubt, the premise and starting point of vipassana is essential. Staying silent, without speaking for ten days can change your life. This is how long a vipassana meditation retreat usually lasts. Without cell phones and in total disconnection.
The first three days we pay attention to breathing. This is how the waves of the mind calm down. From here, you enter into conscious observation, paying attention to the sensations in the body while you confront your fears, points of view and everything that appears throughout long daily meditation sessions that can last ten hours.
You eat and are in a group, but in silence and each one in his or her own area. Working vipassana mindfulness requires discipline. Reading, listening to music, or any type of distraction is not allowed. There can be no physical contact or the practice of any sport.
During certain phases you meditate in aditthana, with the body still, with your eyes closed. At other times you can meditate while walking, but always in silence and in a self-reflective attitude. It is not about thinking but about banishing thoughts to be able to see our essential nature.
This form of meditation is practiced in Southeast Asian countries where Theravada Buddhism dominates, preserving the teachings of Buddha in the Pali Canon. Introspective understanding leads to obtaining insights or revealing sparks about oneself or the situation in which we live. We seek equanimity and seeing things as they are, without clinging to them.
Since its Buddhist ancestry, it may have points in common with Japanese Zen. The development of any meditative form leads us to intuitive knowledge, beyond reason. Through meditation we begin to understand how things truly are, and from there, we understand the cause of our suffering or what gives us happiness. When meditating, one focuses on breathing or feeling the movement of the chest or abdomen as the air enters and leaves.
Thoughts are allowed to pass, but you don’t have to look for the impossible to keep your mind blank. You can mentally label the objects of experience that appear. If they are thoughts, the label is think. If they are physical sensations, we can call them tension, tingling or whatever arises.
Once the meditative practice penetrates us, we enter relaxation resulting from acceptance. We no longer want things to be as we wish. We accept them as they are and learn to see them this way, without wanting to change them. The knowledge that we acquire from the practice of vipassana is intuitive, not conceptual. Vision becomes clear and we experience reality directly. We free our minds and stop making movies.
The obstacles can be many. Discomfort, sleep, despair. Feeling of loss of time… Restlessness, laziness, anger, greed. The mind can set many traps for us, but in the end, meditating is not thinking things. It’s about freeing ourselves. The problem is that while we are cleaning the mind we are aware of each of the stains it contains. When the mind is like a dirty cloth, full of dirt, nothing stands out. Therefore, as we cleanse the mind and it becomes more lucid, the obstacles become evident.
Buddha said that we are what we think. Hence we must pay awareness and attention to our thoughts. Our actions depend on them and they generate our habits that cause a type of behavior, to end up determining our character.
The Dhammapada, which collects a collection of 423 aphorisms of the Buddha, says that “the evil man laments all the time and in all places, and perceiving the impurity of his actions he is overcome by suffering. “The good man rejoices at all times and in all places, and perceiving the purity of his acts he is exalted by his happiness.”
We meditate to sharpen the mind and reach the void where everything is understood.
We learn to see reality as it is, if we are in the present moment. Past and future evade us. Practicing body awareness is one of the easiest ways to be in the everyday present. Emotions or thoughts may be more subtle or abstract. The body takes us to the present state from the obvious.
Live in kindness and love towards all beings. Loving-kindness in Pali is called metta and has to do with generosity of the heart. We seek happiness in a broad sense. Loving kindness softens the mind and heart out of benevolence. We must be less reactive and more warm.
A concept very similar to the previous one that represents one of the bases of Buddhism: karuna, compassion towards all beings and also towards oneself. Self-care and empathy towards others. Feeling that wants to alleviate the suffering and pain of others without putting yourself above them. Shuddering or tenderness of the heart.
It is important to pacify our relationship with our ancestors. Awaken that loving kindness and compassion, whatever the situation. This is not always easy but you have to understand old age, the systemic history of a family and forgive, understand and see from loving kindness. Maintaining a healthy relationship with our parents can be difficult but it is not impossible.
Persisting in goodness and following a correct way of life are other foundations of Buddhism that are perfectly integrated into vipassana. How we make a living is important. Be good, coherent, adopting a fair moral code in all our actions. Avoid harmful actions such as stealing or killing. Be at peace with yourself and help others share that peace.
Learning to die is one of the highest learnings. Sometimes, one meditates by visualizing one’s own death, to understand that when you leave this world everything continues. We are not that important. At the same time, preparing for death is celebrating the present. Do not waste time with regrets or evasions. Being aware of one’s own death helps us place the events of our lives. Remembering death can take us out of the movies of our minds.
From compassion and kindness arises the consequence of seeking the benefit of all. You have to let go of ambition and self-benefit, detach yourself from the ego and open your eyes to others. Understanding ourselves better leads us to understand others better. Meditation is one of the best ways to achieve this.
