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In a Goenka’s course, there is something that can be characterized as “Briefly noticing /moving on / briefly noticing / moving on”, although this is probably not what Embodied meant.
This technique takes physical sensations as meditation objects. We start from the top of the head (around a 2-in diameter circle), notice any sensations there; then we move attention down the body, in a certain order, part by part (each part around 2,3 inches).
When we notice a sensation in a part, we move on to the next part, and see what sensations manifest in this next part. On and on through the body, round after round.
The point is not to get “stuck” in a particular part of the body, not to linger there, even if it’s a pain. The next time around to that part, that pain may have changed in nature to something else.
A review of the format of the course for a moment: Day 4 introduces “vipassana” (this body sweeping technique), and from this point on, we are encouraged to sit with determination (Adithana). This means sitting for 1 hour without a major body movement. For example, opening the legs while sitting cross-legged is a major body movement; therefore, a pain in the knee will just be observed continually, round after round. Of course, not all students can do this.
“Theory” is that an intense pain may appear so solid, but underneath that is really vibration. When the mind is sharp enough, it can “dissect” the body to feel the subtlest level of body sensations, which is nothing but vibrations, and then go “beyond”.
We were also cautioned not to “look for any vibrations”, because that would be craving. We were told to observe a sensation as it is (yathabhuta), not as we’d like it to be. In a discourse, the teacher has to mention possible “stations” in case some people in the group are experiencing them.
This is a thread about Goenka’s vipassana, so I thought I’d offer one version of “Briefly noticing /moving on / briefly noticing / moving on” as it applies to physical sensations.
I have also heard of this attitude of “Briefly noticing /moving on / briefly noticing / moving on” applied to other meditation objects (such as thoughts), in other meditation techniques.
Best,
LangHello,
I joined the puredhamma.net forum recently, and am happy to come upon this forum. Starting in 2003, I attended courses, read (and reread) Goenka’s discourses and books related to this tradition, got to know many “teachers” well and the training they went through.
I put “teachers” in quote not out of disrespect, since the only teacher was SN Goenka (affectionately known among students as Goenkaji). I’ll elaborate at the end as I describe the format of the course (for those who have not attended one).
I’d like to give a brief description of the technique taught in the course, the rationale behind it (as I understand it), and then I really want to get your take on it as to whether the rationale is sound.
—DESCRIPTION OF TECHNIQUE
Most courses are residential 10-day courses (there are other courses of varying lengths).The course starts on Day 0 with the formalities: taking refuge in the Triple Gems, taking the 5 precepts, and making a formal request to the teacher to teach the technique.
— Days 1-3: “anapana” practice.
I put “anapana” because it is taken as breath meditation here. Goenka calls it respiration – natural, pure, uncontrolled respiration, nothing but respiration.A few points about the “anapana” phase:
— Observation is at the nostrils, of natural respiration (exclusively); no imagination, no inner verbalization (such as a mantra). And also, no controlling the respiration of any kind (such as in pranayama)
— Gradually, observation turns to physical sensations (if any) in the small area below the nostrils, above the upper lip.Attention is kept at the nostrils area to sharpen the mind; the smaller the area, the sharper the mind. The abdomen, for example is too big an area.
This phase is also considered the samadhi part of the eightfold path, along with sila, which is observing the 5 precepts.
— Days 4-9: “vipassana”
In the afternoon of day 4, we switched to “vipassana”, and this is considered entering the part of paññā. In vipassana according to this course, the object of observation is physical sensations (at first on the surface of the body) from the top of the head to the tips of the toes.
One moves his attention in order, from the top of the head, part by small part, to the tips of the toes. The reason for this is to eventually feel sensations, gross and subtle, all over the body. Also, one observes with an attitude of equanimity – no craving for pleasant sensations nor aversion toward unpleasant sensations.
What is the basis for this technique, and how is all this related to tilakkhana?
This is based on the mahasatipatthana sutta, and for practice, kāyānupassī, vedanānupassī, cittānupassī, dhammānupassī are reduced to vedanānupassī, and vedanā is taken to be physical sensations.
For kāyānupassī, observing kaya means observing what arise in kaya, and that is physical sensations. For the other 2 (citta and dhamma), observing physical sensations imply observing (indirectly) citta and dhamma, because of this verse:
“vedanā-samosaraṇā sabbe dhammā”, translated as “Everything that arises in the mind starts flowing with a sensation on the body.”
(See this verse in the satipathanna discourses in below, in the “Sources” section).For this technique, anicca means the arising and passing of physical sensations – pleasant and unpleasant. Gross, unpleasant sensations arise, stay for some time, and disappear. For pleasant sensations, they are ultimately tiny wavelets, bubbles, arising and passing very rapidly. (Just do a search for “wavelets” in the link to the satipatthana discourses).
At this stage, one realizes that there is no “I”, “mine”, “myself” behind these wavelets, and hence anattā (here meaning “egolessness”).
Finally, the mind can be so sharp that it transcends this field of sensations to go “beyond” – to non arising and passing. Nibbana!
This is just a summary of the technique (leaving out many details, even though I’m already long-winded), but I hope I got the gist of it, and now I can’t wait to ask my question (a question also asked of me many times):
Is there potential in this technique in removing defilements? Is there a sound foundation for it in the tipitaka?
— Day 10: metta
Students keep “noble silence” during the course from days 1-9: no talking to each other (asking the teacher questions is ok), no reading, no communication with the outside world. Roughly 10 hours a day are spent in sitting meditation, starting the day at 4:30 am.On day 10, students break silence and learn metta bhavana. On day 11 they leave the course.
—FORMAT OF COURSES
Lal asked whether anapana was brought to the teacher as being other than breath meditation.In the course, meditation instructions are audio from SN Goenka, who is really THE teacher. The people sitting in the front, on the “Dhamma Seat”, are assistant teachers (ATs) who conduct the course by playing the tapes of instructions and answering questions about the technique itself.
These ATs are from various backgrounds (e.g. the AT in my area is Hindu). They answer questions mostly about the technique, with or without mentioning Buddha Dhamma at large. Some even have just canned answers such as: “Just set that aside, just observe sensations with equanimity”, etc. On the question of anapana, all the ATs I personally know take that to mean breath meditation.
The most common course is the 10-day course. Another course is the Satipatthana course (7 days), in which students learn the sutta as explained by SN Goenka. (See the discourses on Satipatthana below). There are longer courses too: 20-day, 30-day, 45-day, 60-day courses. In these courses, oftentimes a third (typically the 1st third) is spent on “anapana”.
—SOURCES
I was a little hesitant to put these links here, since non students are not encouraged to read these without attending the courses (no context), but since these are in the public domain from VRI, I feel better.Discourses on Satipatthana
http://www.vridhamma.org/Printversion/Discourses-on-Satipatthana-SuttaDiscourses in a 10-day course
http://www.vridhamma.org/The-Discourse-SummariesHello,
I have another question that is more directly related to micca ditthi than how I started this thread: the 10 micca ditthi.
In this list, ditthi #5 is: “This world does not exist”.
What does this ditthi mean? Is it possible to believe that this world (and most of us know only of this world and the animal world) does not exist?
Thank you,
LangOMG what an illuminating post. Thank you!
Up to now I have known only of the mundane versions of the 4 “anussati”, all the while misunderstanding asubhanussati as foulness of the body. Also, I still have an ingrained habit of taking sati to be “mere mindfulness”, not as a mindset with tilakkana in the background.
This is after years and years of reading books that describe these terms only in this way. A lot of relearning to do!
Lang
Dear Lal,
Forgive me for shortening things. This series of post is about death awareness based on this link:
https://suttacentral.net/an6.19/en/thanissaro
When I said practicing “swallowing one morsel of food”, I meant keeping the thought that “I may live for just the interval of swallowing one morsel of food, that I might attend to the Blessed One’s instructions”. Similarly, “I may live for just the interval of breathing out without breathing in”, etc. At least that’s how I interpret the practice to be from the link above.
I did not mean being mindful of the act of swallowing, or of breathing. If my interpretation of the death awareness practice is correct, I’d really like to get your take on this question: Can this practice help remove defilements? Or does it just provide motivation for practice?
In responding to the original post in this series, I mentioned the story of the weaver’s daughter, and my impression was that death awareness practice does remove defilements.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/busc/busc13.htm
Best,
LangHi Akvan,
In thinking that mindfulness of death can lead to the sotapanna stage (according to this Dhamapada story), my thought process was like:
For three years, the girl did mindfulness of death as a “formal meditation”, and that made her mind ripe till the point where it took a “push” from the Buddha to the first magga phala. And that “push” from the Buddha (the 4 questions) was also related to death awareness. Of course, it must be assumed that she led a moral life in addition to her “formal meditation”.
Whether or not it leads to the first magga phala, I do believe this meditation can be greatly beneficial, and I’d like to try it. Has anyone here attempted to do this at the “granular” level prescribed here: “… the interval that it takes to swallow having chewed up one morsel of food … for the interval that it takes to breathe out after breathing in …”?
I can see that it’s possible to practice “swallowing one morsel of food” while eating, especially if I’m eating by myself.
For “the interval that it takes to breathe…”, it probably has to be during a formal sitting. Doing this throughout the day is a bit “disruptive” to the task at hand. Maybe we can “lengthen” the practice somewhat, such as:
If we have to read a lot in our work life, perhaps it can be “the interval it takes to finish this paragraph”. Or “the interval it takes to drive to work/home”, etc.
I’m grateful for any input from someone who does this practice regularly.
Best,
LangDear all,
I’d like to get your opinion on this question: Can practicing death mindfulness lead to the sotapanna stage?
I haven’t seen the subject of death mindfulness practice on the puredhamma.net pages, but of course I have not exhausted the site. Elsewhere, I read the story about the weaver’s daughter, and that story gave me the impression that keeping death awareness can take one to the sotapanna stage.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/busc/busc13.htm
Thank you.
On the Welcome page on puredhamma.net, I read that the three main misconceptions prevalent today could be responsible for rebirth in the apayas, not just blocking the path to Nibbana. That gave me the chill and led me to ask the question.
In my circle, Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta are interpreted the usual, “wrong” way; and anapanasati is taken as breath meditation; and nobody knows about the gandhabba.
I do not “teach” anybody. I do call myself Buddhist, and attend vipassana retreats; therefore, occasionally an average person asks me about “Buddhism”. I was concerned about consequences if I gave misinterpretations in what I say, as well as about the “teachers” in my group.
Thank you.
Sadhu! Thank you! That was a big help with the clarification of what cetana means.
I’d like to follow up with a speculation on the weight of kamma of this situation and ask for your comments on my thinking. Assessing this based on the 2 key factors, we have:
1) You pointed out that the dasa akusala involved is micca ditthi. In this case, the “teacher” harms himself because he’s staying in samsara longer until he has correct ditthi.
2) He teaches this to the general public. In his mind, he teaches Buddha Dhamma, or specifically bhavana; but he just calls it “mindfulness meditation” to make it sound neutral, i.e. not connected to a religion, which gives it a wider appeal. Most “students” may not even know the pali terms anapanasati or Kāyānupassanā (mindulness of bodily positions and movements as taught here).
The average student of this person gets a temporary calm from practicing this. So, using factor number 2, can we say that the kamma vipaka of his action, even with micca ditthi in it, is minimal or negligible? There’s no real harm to the student; in fact, some find this calm beneficial.
Respectfully,
Lang
