Vipassana meditation (pronounced Vip- ah-sha-nah), which roughly translates to Insight Meditation, generally allows the meditator to achieve insight into three fundamental teachings of Buddhist philosophy.
The first insight is impermanence
This is not so hard to grasp. Nothing lasts. Everything, including ourselves is in perpetual flux. It is true that we do chase after permanence—we fear and resist change and we wish things would stay the same, especially if things happen to be pretty good right now. Even if things are not that good, we resist change. We are more comfortable with suffering that is familiar to us. Often we resist taking on new suffering or pain, which will eventually lead us to a better place and be better for us in the long run—it’s called growth. So understanding impermanence is important.
The second insight is the universality of suffering
We suffer because of distortions in the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us, which leads us into harmful patterns of self-destructive cravings and behaviors.
The third insight in Vipassana meditation is the idea of no-self
The idea of no-self is particularly difficult to grasp intellectually, let alone experience. But this shouldn’t dissuade you from at least questioning your own concept of self.
The question of no-self: don’t get hung up on concepts
So when the Buddha said, ‘Nothing is to be clung to as ‘I, me, mine,’ perhaps he was suggesting that we stop becoming so attached to what makes us suffer—difficult thoughts and emotions, physical and existential pain, grasping after instant gratification, looking for gratification in material gain and status, etc.
After all, anyone who has examined their own pain in sitting meditation over extended periods has learned by observing and not identifying with pain, and/or difficult emotions, that the power of these elements which cause suffering dissipate and lose their hold over us. Perhaps this is all the Buddha really meant. Presumably, after our consciousness is liberated there does have to be a ‘you’ that has become liberated. Who knows? And, if we become a little more selfless along the way and begin to feel more interconnected with the world around us and others, then so much the better.
Related article: No Self In Buddhism & Science: Tame The Ego, Start Living
The evolutionary basis of our own sense of self-importance
It is true that evolutionary psychology has shown that natural selection has designed our brains so that we have a much-exaggerated sense of our own self-importance. After all, natural selection’s one aim is to get our genes into the gene pool. Natural selection cares nothing for accurate perceptions or our own well-being. This makes the Buddha’s observation of suffering or the fact that anything we crave never creates satisfaction all the more astute and prescient. If a meal produced lasting satisfaction we would simply sit around and be satisfied and not hunt for that next meal. By the time our satisfaction did wear off, it would be too late and we would starve. This, of course, is an over-simplification, but this generally is the argument that evolutionary psychologists make. And it seems to be a valid one.
But does it really matter if we realize a full experience of no-self if we follow the path of Vipassana meditation? Western thinkers and philosophers such as Sam Harris are constantly trying to argue or intellectualize this notion. In the West, we are the children of the European Enlightenment, of the God of Reason and we have a tendency to want to explain, to understand and rationalize everything. Ajahn Chah, a Thai Buddhist teacher, influential in bringing Vipassana Meditation to the West, warned, “Don’t try to understand it or intellectualize it, or your brain will explode”. Perhaps we should take the Eastern Buddhist teachers seriously and not try to intellectualize, but rather experience these concepts for ourselves. Perhaps our brains will explode if we try to ‘grasp’ after these concepts.
Zen and Vipassana meditation
And that is where Zen Buddhism comes in. Zen says let go of all concepts, don’t cling to the sutras and ancient Buddhist scriptures, and simply pay attention to the present moment. The much-beloved Japanese Zen hermit poet Ryokan puts it succinctly:
Where did my life come from?
Where will it go?
Even the present moment
Can’t be pinned down.
Everything changes, everything is empty (selfless)
And in that emptiness, this ‘I’ exists
Only for a little while.
How can one say anything is or is not?
Best just to hold these little thoughts.
Let things simply take their way
And so be natural and at your ease.
— Ryokan
The most important step is that we learn how to just ‘be’ with ourselves. The best way to achieve this is to teach ourselves to sit and be still and observe what is going on inside us and around us. Perhaps then, we will see the world more clearly and more compassionately and ultimately extend that clarity of vision and gentle compassion to ourselves. Once we do that, each and every one of us, we have a chance for a more meaningful and fulfilling existence and perhaps the world around us will become a better place to live.