The Path of Clear Seeing
यथा भूत दर्शन (Yathā Bhūta Darśana)
Seeing things as they really are
Vipassanā (विपश्यना/Vipassanā) means “insight” or “clear seeing.” It is the Buddha’s core meditation practice for liberation—not through belief, ritual, or devotion, but through direct observation of reality.
The Foundation: Satipaṭṭhāna
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
From the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta:
1. Kāyānupassanā (काय अनुपस्सना) - Mindfulness of Body
- Breath awareness (ānāpānasati)
- Bodily postures (sitting, standing, walking, lying)
- Clear comprehension of actions
- Contemplation of body parts
- Contemplation of elements (earth, water, fire, air)
- Cemetery contemplations (impermanence of body)
2. Vedanānupassanā (वेदना अनुपस्सना) - Mindfulness of Feelings
- Pleasant feelings (sukha vedanā)
- Unpleasant feelings (dukkha vedanā)
- Neutral feelings (adukkha-asukha vedanā)
- Observing each without attraction or aversion
3. Cittānupassanā (चित्त अनुपस्सना) - Mindfulness of Mind
- Mind with desire or without
- Mind with aversion or without
- Mind with delusion or without
- Contracted or scattered mind
- Concentrated or unconcentrated
- Liberated or unliberated
4. Dhammānupassanā (धर्म अनुपस्सना) - Mindfulness of Mental Objects
- Five hindrances (nīvaraṇa)
- Five aggregates (khandha)
- Six sense bases (āyatana)
- Seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅga)
- Four noble truths (ariya sacca)
The Practice: Systematically observe each foundation with bare attention, without judgment.
The Three Characteristics (Tilakkhaṇa)
What Vipassanā Reveals
1. अनिच्च (Anicca) - Impermanence
- All phenomena arise and pass
- Nothing lasts even a moment
- Body: Changing constantly
- Mind: Thoughts flash and vanish
- Feelings: Come and go like waves
Direct seeing:
- Not intellectual understanding
- Actual witnessing of constant flux
- Each sensation: Birth-death-birth-death
- Even “solid” objects: Vibrating, dissolving
When seen deeply:
- Attachment loosens (why cling to what dissolves?)
- Fear decreases (what can harm what doesn’t stay?)
- Liberation glimpsed
2. दुक्ख (Dukkha) - Unsatisfactoriness
- All conditioned phenomena are unsatisfactory
- Pleasure: Contains seeds of pain
- Pain: Obviously suffering
- Neutral: Boring, unstable, leads to other states
Three types:
- Dukkha-dukkha: Obvious suffering (pain, grief)
- Viparināma-dukkha: Suffering of change (pleasure ends)
- Saṅkhāra-dukkha: Suffering of conditioned existence (constant maintaining, defending)
Direct seeing:
- Watch pleasant sensation: Craving arises → tension → suffering
- Watch unpleasant sensation: Aversion arises → tension → suffering
- Watch neutral sensation: Boredom → seeking → suffering
When seen deeply:
- Seeking happiness in phenomena stops
- Peace found beyond phenomena
- Nibbāna glimpsed
3. अनत्ता (Anattā) - Non-self
- No permanent, unchanging self in phenomena
- Body: Not self (can’t control, subject to aging/death)
- Feelings: Not self (arise on their own)
- Perceptions: Not self (conditioned)
- Mental formations: Not self (impersonal processes)
- Consciousness: Not self (depends on conditions)
Buddha’s teaching:
“Whatever is impermanent is dukkha. Whatever is dukkha is anattā. Whatever is anattā is ‘not mine, not I, not my self.’”
Direct seeing:
- Watch thoughts: Do they obey you?
- Watch body: Can you stop aging?
- Watch feelings: Can you prevent their arising?
- All processes: Happening on their own
When seen deeply:
- Identification ceases
- “I-making” and “mine-making” stop
- Freedom realized
The Practice of Vipassanā
Basic Method
1. Samatha (समत) - Calming
- Begin with concentration (e.g., breath)
- Develop basic stability
- Not deep jhāna needed, but some steadiness
- Like calming water to see bottom clearly
2. Vipassanā (विपस्सना) - Insight
- Shift to open observation
- Note whatever arises: “seeing,” “hearing,” “thinking,” “feeling”
- No grasping, no pushing away
- Just watch phenomena come and go
Three modes of noting:
a) Mental noting:
- Silently label: “in-out,” “rising-falling,” “pain,” “thinking”
- Keeps attention sharp
- Prevents mind from wandering
b) Bare attention:
- Pure observation without labels
- More subtle, requires stability
- Direct experiencing
c) Investigative mode:
- Examining: “What is this?”
- Seeing three characteristics
- Understanding causes and conditions
Practical Instructions
Body Scan:
- Sit comfortably, eyes closed
- Bring attention to top of head
- Slowly scan downward
- Note sensations: tingling, pressure, heat, cold, pain, pleasure
- Don’t try to change anything—just observe
- Continue to toes, then back up
- Notice: Sensations constantly changing (anicca)
- Notice: Even pleasant ones create wanting (dukkha)
- Notice: Sensations arise on their own (anattā)
Walking Meditation:
- Walk slowly in straight line
- Note: “lifting,” “moving,” “placing”
- Feel each micro-movement
- When mind wanders, return to sensations
- See impermanence in each step
Daily Life Practice:
- Bring awareness to ordinary activities
- Eating: Taste, texture, chewing, swallowing
- Washing: Temperature, sensation, movement
- Talking: Sound arising, mouth moving, words forming
- Everything becomes meditation
The Progress of Insight (Visuddhi-ñāṇa)
The Sixteen Stages (Ñāṇas)
From Visuddhimagga and Mahāsi Sayadaw’s teachings:
Early Stages:
- Knowledge of mind and body - Distinguishing mental and physical phenomena
- Knowledge of cause and effect - Seeing how phenomena condition each other
- Knowledge by comprehension - Understanding three characteristics conceptually
Middle Stages (The Dark Night):
4. Knowledge of arising and passing - Seeing birth-death of phenomena, blissful
5. Knowledge of dissolution - Only seeing passing, unsettling
6. Knowledge of fear - Fear arises seeing constant dissolution
7. Knowledge of danger - All phenomena seen as dangerous
8. Knowledge of disenchantment - Loss of interest in worldly things
9. Knowledge of desire for deliverance - Strong wish to escape
10. Knowledge of re-observation - Reviewing all phenomena again, difficult
This period can be challenging:
- Depression, anxiety, physical symptoms
- Called “dukkha ñāṇas” (knowledge of suffering)
- Must continue practice, don’t stop
- This is progress, not regression
Later Stages:
11. Knowledge of equanimity - Perfect balance, no preference
12. Knowledge of conformity - Mind conforms to path
13. Knowledge of change-of-lineage - Shift from worldly to transcendent
14. Knowledge of the path - Direct realization of Nibbāna (stream-entry or higher)
15. Knowledge of fruition - Resting in path attainment
16. Knowledge of review - Reviewing what was realized
Not everyone experiences all stages clearly, but this is general map.
The Four Stages of Enlightenment
Progressive Liberation
1. Sotāpanna (सोतापन्न) - Stream-Enterer
- First glimpse of Nibbāna
- Three fetters destroyed:
- Identity view (no permanent self)
- Doubt (complete confidence in path)
- Belief in rites and rituals (understanding practices are tools, not magic)
- Maximum seven more births
- Never reborn below human realm
2. Sakadāgāmī (सकदागामी) - Once-Returner
- Sensual desire and ill-will greatly reduced
- One more human birth maximum
- Close to final liberation
3. Anāgāmī (अनागामी) - Non-Returner
- Sensual desire and ill-will completely destroyed
- No more human births
- If dies, reborn in Pure Abodes, attains Arahantship there
4. Arahant (अरहन्त) - Worthy One
- All ten fetters destroyed:
- Previous three plus:
- Desire for form existence
- Desire for formless existence
- Conceit (“I am”)
- Restlessness
- Ignorance
- Full liberation, no more rebirth
- Complete peace, complete freedom
Each stage irreversible. Once stream-entry achieved, liberation guaranteed.
Common Experiences and Pitfalls
The Ten Corruptions of Insight (Vipassanūpakkilesa)
When practice deepens, these may arise:
- Light (Obhāsa) - Internal lights, visual phenomena
- Knowledge (Ñāṇa) - Thinking you understand everything
- Rapture (Pīti) - Strong pleasant energy, goosebumps
- Tranquility (Passaddhi) - Deep calm, relaxation
- Happiness (Sukha) - Profound bliss
- Resolution (Adhimokkha) - Strong confidence, faith
- Energy (Paggaha) - Abundant vitality
- Mindfulness (Upaṭṭhāna) - Effortless awareness
- Equanimity (Upekkhā) - Perfect balance (this one is actual progress)
- Attachment (Nikanti) - Getting attached to any of above
The danger:
- Mistaking these for enlightenment
- Attachment to pleasant states
- Pride arising
The antidote:
- Recognize these as more phenomena
- Note them: “light,” “bliss,” “pride”
- Don’t grasp, don’t push away
- Continue observing impermanence, dukkha, anattā
Teacher essential here: Easy to be deceived without guidance.
The Role of the Teacher
Finding a Qualified Guide
Why necessary:
- Path has subtle territory
- Easy to get lost
- Teacher recognizes stages, corrects errors
- Provides encouragement through difficult periods
Types of vipassanā traditions:
- Mahāsi Sayadaw method: Noting practice, systematic
- U Ba Khin / S.N. Goenka: Body scanning, 10-day courses
- Pa Auk Sayadaw: Strong samatha first, then vipassanā
- Ajahn Chah / Thai Forest: Awareness in daily life, simple
- U Tejaniya: Relaxed awareness, gentle
Find what suits you. All lead to same destination if practiced sincerely.
Integration with Daily Life
Off-Cushion Practice
Mindfulness in activities:
- Brushing teeth: Feel every stroke
- Driving: Aware of body, seeing, hearing
- Conversations: Notice thoughts arising before speaking
- Emotions: Watch anger arise, peak, pass without acting
The goal: Continuous mindfulness, not just formal sitting.
Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: “Ardent, clearly comprehending, and mindful, having removed covetousness and grief regarding the world.”
World becomes meditation hall.
The Fruit: Nibbāna
What is Realized
Nibbāna (निर्वाण / Nirvāṇa):
- Not annihilation
- Not eternal heaven
- Cessation of craving, aversion, delusion
- Unconditioned, deathless, beyond suffering
- Not describable in words (all words are conditioned)
Buddha’s description:
“There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. If there were not that unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, there would be no escape from the born, become, made, conditioned.”
What remains after Nibbāna realization:
- Peace beyond understanding
- Compassion flows naturally
- Actions continue, but no sense of doer
- Living, but not clinging to life
- Dying, but not fearing death
Arahant’s life:
- May look ordinary
- Inner freedom complete
- Teaching, serving, or silent—all expressions of freedom
For Contemplation
एहि पस्सिको (Ehi Passiko)
“Come and see for yourself”
Buddha’s invitation: Don’t believe because scriptures say so, or teacher says so, or tradition says so. Practice and verify.
Begin now:
- Sit quietly
- Feel breath
- Notice: Each breath is new, previous one gone (anicca)
- Notice: Even this simple observation requires effort (dukkha)
- Notice: Breath breathes itself, where is “I”? (anattā)
This is vipassanā. Not philosophy, not religion. Direct seeing. Try it. Suffering ends not through belief, but through wisdom. And wisdom comes through seeing.
The path is clear. Walk it.