Vipassana Meditation : Lectures On Insight Meditation by Venerable

easoning, without philosophical thinking and without pre-conceptions. Weshould be very attentive and mindful of it as it really isFor example - look at a watch. When we do not observe a watch attentivelyand carefully we cannot understand it as it is. When we observe it veryattentively and closely, then we see its brand, its design and the figures on it.We come to understand that this is a watch; its brand name is Seiko; it has aninternational time chart etc. However if we do not observe it as it is, if ourobservation is combined with such preconceived ideas as, "I have seen such awatch before and its brand name is Omega", then, as soon as we see thiswatch, we will take it to be an Omega. Why? Because we do not observe itattentively and closely. We have used the preconceived idea when we saw it,so the preconceived ideas lead us to the wrong conclusion regarding thewatch. If we put the preconceived idea aside and just observe it attentively andclosely, we will understand it as it is - this is a Seiko, it is made in Japan, italso has an international time chart. We will understand it as it is because wehad put aside our preconceived idea of "Omega" when we observed it.In the same way, when we want to rightly understand the mind-bodyprocesses in their true nature or as they really are, we must not analyze themor think about them. We must not reason or use any intellectual knowledge, orany preconceived idea. We must leave them aside and pay bare attention towhat is happening to the mind-body phenomena as they really are. The, wecan see our mind-body processes as they really are. When our body feels hot,we should note that feeling of heat as heat. When the body feels cold, weshould note it as cold. When we feel pain, we should note it as pain. When wefeel happy, we should note that happiness. When we feel angry, we shouldnote that anger as anger. When we feel sorrow, we should be mindful of it assorrow. When we feel sad or disappointed, we should be aware of ouremotional state of sadness or disappointment as it is.Each and every mental and physical process must be observed as it reallyoccurs so that we can rightly understand it in its true nature. That rightunderstanding will lead us to remove ignorance. When ignorance has beenremoved, then we do not take the mind-body processes to be a person, a being,a soul or a self. If we take these mind-body processes to be just naturalprocesses, then there will not arise any attachment. When the attachment hasbeen destroyed, we are free from all kinds of suffering and have attained thecessation of suffering. So, mindfulness of mind-body processes in their natureis the way leading to the cessation of suffering. That is way the OmniscientBuddha delivered a discourse on "The Four Foundation of Mindfulness".In this discourse, the Omniscient Buddha teaches us to be mindful ofmental and physical phenomena as they really are. There are many ways bywhich we have to be mindful of the mind-body processes but they can besummarized as follows:1. Mindfulness of bodily process (Kayanupassana Satipatthana)5