Motivation

Insight practices lead to two basic kinds of

insight: relative and ultimate. Relative
insights are what comes from getting to
know our emotions, bodies, thoughts and
hearts at the level of content: the stories, the
specific qualities, the causes, the effects.
These insights can be of great value.
Ultimate insights refer to the stages of
awakening, realiation, enlightenment, or
whatever !ou want to call it. These insights
are not dependent upon the content, stories,
dramas, pains, successes or failures of our
lives. Instead, the! are about some other
aspect of awareness, of being, of
consciousness itself. Ultimate insights cause
permanent changes in the relationship to
realit! and eliminate fundamental levels of
suffering forever. "iscussing ultimate
insights is a ver! difficult thing to do. It
tends to lead to descriptions that sound like
parado#es, fantasies, or nonsense. $owever,
attaining the stages of awakening is highl!
recommended even if the! are hard to
describe. This is definitel! possible with
sufficient effort and skill. The insight
practice presented here are one effective
technique for awakening.
The attainment of both relative and ultimate
insights is the motivation to do insight
practices.
Theor! and %ractice
Concept 1: &ur sensate realit! is the basis of
insight practices. Realit! is made of si# kinds
of sensations: ph!sical sensations, sounds,
sights, tastes, smells, and thoughts. These
e#periences are all we can know directl!.
'hen doing insight practice, realit! is
defined solel! b! what can be e#perienced in
that moment. (orollar!: )ver!thing not
e#perienced in that moment is assumed to
not e#ist at that moment.
Practice: our first goal in insight practice is
to identif! the sensations that make up our
life with attention that is stead! and precise
enough to get to know them ver! well.
In order to do this formall!, clearl! and
consistentl!, we do a practice called
*noting+. 'e make a quiet mental note of
whatever we e#perience. 'e also tr! to sta!
with the sensations of breathing, either in the
abdomen or at the tip of the nose when
possible. If we notice the breath rising, we
note *rising+. If we notice the breath falling,
we note, *falling+. ,imilarl!, we ma! note
*thinking+, *wandering+, *feeling+,
*hearing+, *seeing+, *smelling+, and
*tasting+. 'hen walking, we ma! note the
*lifting+, *moving+ and *placing+ of our feet.
'e ma! also note such e#periences as
*fear+, *happiness+, *pain+, *boredom+,
*restlessness+, *doubt+, *wanting+,
*hunger+, *confusion+, returning after these
to the noting of the rising and falling of the
breath.
Concept 2: The Three (haracteristics of
Impermanence, Suffering and No-self, are
the ke! to deep insights. Impermanence
means that man! sensations arise and vanish
completel! during ever! second of
awareness. ,uffering means that the illusion
of a watcher, observer, or doer, commonl!
called the *self+, is inherentl! painful. -o.
self means that all sensations arise on their
own in a natural causal fashion and are aware
where the! are, requiring no separate agent
or observer at all.
Practice: &nce we have applied the first
concept and gotten to know sensations as
the! are, then we can perceive them come
and go, feel the painful tension inherent in
the illusion of an observer or agent, and
notice that sensations arise over there quite
on their own, not requiring an! observer or
constituting either a self or other. The! are
merel! part of the transient and causal nature
of things.
The simple process of noting clearl! and
consistentl!, sa! at the rate of at least once
per second, can stabilie attention enough
that direct insight into the Three
(haracteristics arises. The corollar! of this is
that while we are lost in the content of our
stories, dramas, thoughts, and concern for the
specifics of what arises, we will not make
good progress in insight. 'hen we focus
instead on the Three (haracteristics of
whatever arises, we will make progress in
insight. ,ta!ing with the sensations of
breathing is ver! helpful in this.
%ractical Instructions
,et aside a defined period of time for
practice, sa! /0 minutes to an hour.
1ind a place to practice that is relativel!
quiet and free from distractions.
(hose a sitting posture that:
!ou can sustain it for the practice period
is not damaging to !our bod!
is stable
allows !our back to be straight
allows !ou to breathe easil!
2ou ma! wish to sit on a cushion 3afu4 in
one of the following positions: cross.legged,
in the 5urmese or friendl! position 3like
cross.legged e#cept that both legs are on the
floor with one foot in front of the other4, or
in half.lotus or full.lotus. 2ou ma! also sit
on a meditation bench or even a chair.
,et a timing device to activate when !our sit
is done. (lose !our e!es.
"edicate !our practice to the wisdom and
benefit of !ourself and all beings.
-ote carefull! and consistentl! for the
duration of the meditation period, focusing
on the breath but noting other things when
these catch !our attention. 5e sure to
carefull! note *wandering+ when the mind
wanders and *thinking+ when thoughts
distract !our attention from the sensations of
breathing. Return !our attention gentl! but
firml! to the sensations of breathing.
Tr! to practice ever! da!, and think about
making time for retreats.
Insight practices lead to a deeper
understanding of life as it is.
%resented here are the basic theor! and
practice of 5uddhist insight practice as found
in the original te#ts, specificall! ,utta 6777,
&ne b! &ne as The! &ccurred, in the Middle
8ength "iscourses of the 5uddha. This st!le
of practice is given particular emphasis in the
5urmese tradition of Mahasi ,a!adaw and
has had a profound impact on 'estern
5uddhism. It is one of the most popular
st!les of insight practice in the world toda!.
It is ver! practical, effective, realit!.based,
non.dogmatic, non.ritualistic and
straightforward.
More information about insight practices
ma! be found at:
www.interactivebuddha.com
This site includes the free on.line book
Mastering the (ore Teachings of the
5uddha, b! "aniel Ingram, and %ractical
Insight Meditation, b! Mahasi ,a!adaw.
There !ou will also find a reading list, links
to other useful websites including retreat
centers and archives of useful writings, a
schedule of classes on meditation, as well as
other meditation groups and supporters in the
8ouisville area. )n9o!:
Contact information
daniel;ingram<interactivebuddha.com
Insight %ractice
Instructions 67
-oting
b!
"aniel Ingram, M"