Vipassana Meditation : Lectures On Insight Meditation by Venerable

When the root of all kinds of defilements, i.e. sakkaya-ditthi or atta-ditthihas been destroyed you are sure to attain the First Path, Sotapatti-magga. Thenyou can proceed with your practice to attain the three higher stages of the Pathand Fruition. That is why I say that unpleasant physical sensations such aspain, stiffness and numbness are your 'good friends' who can help you to attainthe cessation of suffering. In other words, this numbness or any painfulsensation is the key to the door of nibbána. When you feel pain, you are lucky.Pain is the most valuable object of meditation because it attracts the 'notingmind' to stay with it for a very long time. The 'noting mind' can concentrate onit deeply and be absorbed in it. When the mind is completely absorbed in thepainful sensation, you will no longer be aware of your bodily form or yourself.It means you are realizing the sabhava-lakkhana of the pain or the individualcharacteristic of the painful sensation (dukkha-vedana). Proceeding with thepractice you will be able to realize the common characteristics ofimpermanence, suffering and no-soul or no-self nature of mental and physicalphenomena. Then that will lead you to the cessation of all kinds of sufferings.So you are lucky if you have pain.In Burma, some meditators, having passed the third stage of insightknowledge (sammasana-nana), almost completely overcame all painfulsensations, but were dissatisfied with their practice because they had no painto note. So they folded their legs under themselves and pressed them so thatthey could get pain. They were looking for their 'good friend' who could leadthem to the cessation of suffering.When you feel unhappy, please observe that unhappiness insistently,attentively and very closely as 'unhappy, unhappy'. If you feel depressed, thatdepression must be observed very attentively and perseveringly. When yourmindfulness becomes powerful, the unhappiness and depression will cease toexist. So the overcoming of mental suffering is the fifth benefit of mindfulnessmeditationThe Sixth Benefit is the attainment of enlightenment, the Path and Fruition(magga and phala). When you devote enough time and effort to yourmindfulness meditation, you will attain at least the First Path, Sotapattimagga.This is the sixth benefit of mindfulness meditation.The Seventh Benefit is that you are sure to attain nibbána, deliverance,emancipation through mindfulness meditation.The seven kinds of benefits of mindfulness meditation, which theVipassana meditator can gain through personal experience of Dhamma:1. Purification from all kinds of defilements.2. Overcoming sorrow and worry.3. Overcoming lamentation.24