Way
forward to Insight (Vipassana) and Tranquility (Samatha) Meditation
Samatha
or Vipassana
Samatha=Tranquility
Vipassana=Insight
Sati
= Awareness
I
found it very difficult to concentrate on the breathing technique or
the Anapana Sati and the Tranquility Meditation is not my kind of
stuff.
Why?
In
medical setting we tend to analyze every bit of physiology and
patho-physiology before arriving at or formulating a plausible
diagnosis.
In
that setting breathing unless abnormal or labored (Asthma, Heart
failure) one is not interesting to medical guys.
Equally
treatment (Morphine) for one can kill an asthmatic patient by
depressing the vital breathing. In an asthmatic, it is the breathing
that is labored.
In
heart failure it is the heart which is failing and the breathing
apparatus is trying to compensate for lack of oxygen.
There
is panic in both conditions and making a correct diagnosis is
difficult (even to an astute physician, if he/she is ignorant or the
patient history).
This
is why medical people keep records and do not get
misguided that they
remember every detail about you.
One
is interested in the triggering or precipitating factor if the
patient history is known.
For
me normal breathing and breathing exercises (mindful breathing) is
bit of an antithesis.
In
addition, there is respiratory acidosis and alkalosis that may
accompany labored breathing or even long period of meditation.
I
prefer normal breathing to altered breathing patterns and be aware of
my presence, if not breathing.
In
this scenario, the preferred practice for me is Insight Meditation.
Insight
means that you have some understanding of the basic problem.
In
that sense the three basic tenets Anitta (impermanence), Dukkha
(suffering) and Anatta (non-self) are important.
The
postulation is that, there are only mental phenomena and no abiding
guy or girl behind these mental formations or Sanskharas.
There
is contact (Passa) that arouse feeling (Vedana) signaling the
perception (Sanna) that concur with the conditional mental formation
(Sanskhara).
These
mental formations that arise and fall, one after the other without a
break drive the beings (Bhava) in all of the endless live formations
(Sansara).
There
are good and bad mental formations.
One
has to have the right knowledge to distinguish good from the bad.
That
right knowledge has to be devoid of Loba (greed or craving), Dosa
(hate), Moha (delusion) the
triad of all the mental formations which are 54 in number.
The
pathway to happiness is by relinquishing, abandoning and extinction
of all evil mental formations.
In
that sense, the path leads to happiness.
That
alone is not sufficient since ultimate goal is balancing all mental
formations, even happy ones (equanimity).
This
is why Samatha guys and girls get attached to the Jhana states both
in Rupa (subtle Form planes) and Arupa (formless planes, mind only)
planes of existence.
There
is a caveat here, these guys and girls live for eons in these planes
and forget the goals they seek for and fall abruptly to lower planes.
Whereas
the Insight guy, live almost a sainthood life (Sovan, Skurudagami,
Anagami) for a shorter life span of the cosmos and attain the goal or
Nibbana, the Samatha guy (no girls in heaven by the way all males)
relish wondering in beautiful abodes.
It
is left to you to decide which path to go by Samatha, the long path
or the Insight the shortcut.
Pick
your choice.
It
is all about, the
good and the
bad, the
knowledge,the
happiness, good life and extinction at the end.
The
extinction part may be difficult, if one does not understand the
meaning and the ultimate goal.
That
is why it is said very few would attain the merit of sainthood or
score the vital goal through a narrow goalpost.
