Vipassana Meditation : Lectures On Insight Meditation by Venerable

4. Magga-sacca (The Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering)The Fourth Noble Truth includes advice on how to be mindful of whateverarises in our mind and body as it really is.Patacara, having come to her senses, rightly understood the technique ofmindfulness, applied it to whatever arose in the mind-body processes and towhatever she heard. As her mindfulness gained momentum, her concentrationbecame deeper and stronger. Because her concentration became deep, herinsight and penetrating knowledge of the mind - body processes becamepowerful, and she gradually realized both the specific characteristics andcommon characteristics of mental and physical phenomena. Thus sheprogressively experienced all the stages of insight knowledge while listening tothe discourse, and attained the First Path, Sotapatti-magga. Through her ownpersonal experience of the Dhamma by means of mindfulness meditation, thesorrow, worries and lamentation she had had, totally disappeared from hermind, and she became a 'new woman'. Thus she overcame her worry, sorrowand lamentation by means of mindfulness meditation. So the commentary onthe Maha Satipatthána Sutta mentioned not only the people during the time ofthe Buddha, but also people nowadays can overcome sorrow and worry if theypractice this mindfulness meditation to attain some higher stages of insight.You are also included in those people who can overcome sorrow and worry bymeans of mindfulness meditation.The Fourth Benefit is the cessation of physical suffering.The Fifth Benefit is the cessation of mental suffering.Physical suffering such as pain, stiffness, itchiness, numbness and so on canbe overcome by this mindfulness in meditation retreats as well as in daily life.When you have some experience in the meditation practice, you can overcomeyour mental and physical suffering to a large extent. If you invest enougheffort and time you can exterminate both mental and physical sufferingpermanently when you have attained Arahantship. But during meditation, youcan overcome pain, stiffness, numbness, itchiness and all kinds of unpleasantphysical sensations by observing them very attentively and closely. Therefore,you need not be afraid of pain, stiffness or numbness because these are your'good friends' who can help you to attain the cessation of suffering. If youobserve the pain energetically, precisely and closely, it may seem more severebecause you know it more and more clearly. When you have comprehendedthe unpleasantness of this painful sensation, you will not identify it withyourself because the sensation is perceived as just a natural process of mentalphenomena. You are not attached to the painful sensation as 'I' or 'mine' or'me', or a 'person' or a 'being'. In this way, you can eradicate the wrong view ofa soul, a self, a person, a being, an 'I' or a 'you'.23