Promoted by S.N. Goenka, vipassana meditation is getting increasingly popular among people from all strata of society. Based on the Buddha's teaching but eschewing any hint of religion, it is a simple technique for self-purification

WHAT IS VIPASSANA?

An insight into one's own nature by which one may eliminate the causes of suffering

According to S.N. Goenka, vipassana's tireless propounder, it is the technique by which Buddha himself attained enlightenment. By observing the sensations within the body, it is possible to arrive ex- experientially at the Buddha's central truth of the impermanent and impersonal nature of existence (anicca).

"Ultimately, the seemingly solid body is composed of subatomic particles and empty space. What is more, even these particles have no real solidity... They continuously arise and vanish, passing in and out of existence, like a flow of vibrations. This is the ultimate reality of the body, of all matter," says William Hart in The Art of Living, a manual on vipassana.

Starting with the central and universal fact of suffering, the Buddha blazed a clear path through its causes and thence to its solution. Conveyed with admirable clarity by Goenka, one can only wonder at the Buddha's dazzling intuitive and logical prowess that leaves Freud panting pretty close to the starting line.

The mind, says the Buddha, consists of four processes: consciousness (vinnana), perception (sanna), sensation (vedana) and reaction (sankhara). Consciousness is nonjudgmental awareness, until perception interprets the stimuli either negatively or positively. This interpretation produces a sensation within us, which is either pleasant or unpleasant, depending upon our perception. And finally comes reaction, which is the action the sensation provokes. For instance, in conversation with someone, our consciousness first registers a noise, which our perception translates as a compliment upon our appearance. This triggers a feeling of warmth and happiness (sensation) which manifests in a broad smile (reaction).

Over time, our momentary reactions of likes and dislikes cement into craving and aversion. It is this pendulum swing between negative and positive reactions, which Buddha calls attachment which enslaves us to suffering.

The way out, then, is to break the link between action and reaction. It is reaction that triggers off the cycle of birth and death by promoting the flow of consciousness. Overcome reaction, says the Buddha, and you transcend the cycle of birth and death. Since reaction is caused by our ignorance of the fact that we do react, and of the impermanent state of existence, the solution is to become aware of these aspects. Which is what vipassana purports to do, through the observation of the breath and sensations.

Buddha put it thus:

If ignorance is eradicated and completely ceases, reaction ceases;
if reaction ceases, consciousness ceases;
if consciousness ceases, mind-and-matter cease;
if mind-and-matter cease, the six senses cease;
if the six senses cease, contact ceases;
if contact ceases, sensation ceases;
if sensation ceases, craving and aversion cease;
if craving and aversion cease, attachment ceases;
if attachment ceases, the process of becoming ceases;
if the process of becoming ceases, birth ceases;
if the process of becoming ceases, birth ceases;
if birth ceases, decay and mental suffering and tribulation cease. Thus this entire mass of suffering ceases.