Lal wrote:
If you have a (preferably short) video on his description of “sankhara,” please post it so that we can get an idea of what he really means.
For those who have taken the 10-day courses in this tradition, the following nightly discourses should be familiar.
These are definitely not short, but I’ll point out a few segments which should be sufficient to get what is meant by sankhara in this technique. I know that when we pick and choose like this then then we are taking things out of context, but you do have the full discourses if you’d like to listen to all of them.
— Day 4:
10 Day Vipassana Course – Day 4 (English)
53:00 “The whole technique is to divide …”
Day 4 is the day one starts on “vipassana“. From about 53:00 on he described the technique of dividing and dissecting bodily sensations, similar to what Jorg pointed out:
“He or she would be able to reduce the coarseness of the sensations, resulting in more subtle sensations that feel more pleasant. This would also result in a reduced feeling of anger”.
He also introduced sankhara here, as mental reaction to different types of physical sensations.
— Day 5:
The first part of this day is again about dividing and dissecting sensations.
15:00 : he introduced the noble truths, as related to this technique
Starting around 39:00, he talked about paticca samuppada, starting with tanha
39:00 : tanha
42:00 : sankhara, avijja
47:00 : where in the chain to break — vedana
48:00 : anicca as the arising and passing away of sensations
59:00 : sankhara
1:00:00 : What full liberation is like, why sensations are the key
— Day 6
21:00 : sankhara as related to the kalapas; 4 types of “food,” two of which are mental: sankhara old and new
key to the technique: stop generating new sankhara (by not reacting to sensations with craving or aversion); then old sankhara arise and pass away.
Full liberation happens when all old sankhara are gone.
Best!