Vipassana: Theory and Instructions

Henk Barendregt
January 27, 2022

Goal vipassana Diminishing mental suffering, via investigation of mind/body.

Developing resilience against stress, by the connected threefold training
discipline 7→ concentration 7→ insight
Discipline is needed for concentration, which gives temporary resilience. Insight,
needing concentration, develops sustainable resilience. Together these three
enable liberation (aka realization, enlightenment). We describe the method of
Mahasi Sayadaw, influenced by the TWIM method of Bhante Vimalaramsi.

1 Discipline
Craftsmanship discipline: following the exercises at three levels.
1. Exterior discipline: doing exercises with dignified posture, being on time.
2. Interior discipline. Also an interior dignified attitude.
3. Perseverance: not giving in when there is resistance or when one feels sick.

Ethical discipline: five rules of respect for the following.

1. life (no killing/harming living beings, including oneself);
2. possessions (no stealing, or taking that what has not been given);
3. speech (before speaking ask yourself: is it true? is it necessary? can it be
hurting/harmful?);
4. intimate relationships (only with mutual consent and within agreement of
your living situation);
5. body (no drugs, alcohol, tobacco; coffee is allowed).
General attitude. Work with friendly relaxation and patience towards con-
tinuous practice of mindfulness. We will have a good time discovering phenom-
ena and develop curiosity. Teachers available 24h/day, in urgent cases.
As further preparation before one starts to meditate, one first relaxes, as
much as is possible. One also possibly assumes a friendly attitude.

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2 Concentration

Sensory objects One checks sensory input: Seeing, hearing, and sensing (touch).
Attention to the other two physical senses, tasting and smelling, are not used
during sitting meditation; that may be done later during a meal. Input from
one of the senses is called an object.

Attention Being aware, one usually notices that attention changes within a single
sense from one object to another, and also from objects in one sense to those
in another. Effortless attention moves around. In fact the function of attention
in homo sapiens and other animals is to act like a radar, to be on the alert
if a danger or opportunity occurs. It can be observed that this attention can
be directed by our will, by our intention. One can do this within one sense on
various objects. And then we may change and do the same within another sense.
Finally one can check that hopping from one object in one sense to another one
in another sense is something one does all the time.

Meditation object Then one chooses the meditation object. It is the input on
which one exercises concentration, by remaining with that object.

Sitting meditation In the Mahasi style of vipassana meditation that we prac-

tice one chooses the sensations of raising and falling of the abdomen caused
by the breath. Below we will simply call this the cycle of the breath. After
this choice one can settle on the meditation object. In our case the (cycles of
the) breath. First it is good to focus on just one cycle, as fully as possible,
after which one takes a small break. When one is ready one does it again, this
time paying attention that during the full cycle attention is present and on the
breath. There is sitting meditation. One sits (on a chair, a bench, or a pillow),
straight and dignified. One observes the cycle of the breath as explained above.

Qualities To help this full attention one looks at qualities of the breath. Is
it long or short? Is it smooth or undulating (like after crying)? Is it ample
or restricted? These qualities better not be named, but one just can observe
them. In the same way as bicycling taking a turn one doesn’t say, “Hey, now
I’m making an inclination”. One simply does it, and knows that one does it.
An important quality of breath is the following.

Controlled vs spontaneous breath There is controlled breath and spontaneous

breath. The controlled breath can be interrupted easily, the spontaneous not.
Nevertheless the latter can be observed carefully. We can enter it when we are
distracted by another object (like thinking) and return to the breath. Then it is
always spontaneous (but may change to be controlled). The spontaneous breath
already contains the ‘anatta’ (selflessness) experience. Therefore it sometimes
causes fear or gets constricted. At those moments we may switch to the objects
sitting, observing the posture of sitting straight, and touching, observing the

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bodily sensations caused by our bottom touching the pillow, bench or chair.

Naming & counting After being familiar to observing attentively one cycle, one
starts repeating this. One observes the cycles one at the time, on time, all
the time. To be helped in this endeavor, one may use naming saying silently
‘raising’ and ‘falling’, at the right moment. Also one may count the number of
cycles one has observed. But if one forgets observing to count, then one restarts
at the number one.

Noting But if one also wants to develop mindfulness, using language through
naming and counting is only an approximation. A more direct form of attention
is ‘noting’. This is simply the awareness that the sensorial object, with all its
qualities, is present. During noting one may easily loose focus and drift away
towards for example the inner thoughts dealing with one’s personal life. If this
happens often, then one may return to the method of naming.

Ignorance Nevertheless it is natural for the mind to be mindless, absentminded.

To think about our to-do-list. Moreover this happens without us being aware of
it, otherwise our discipline would have returned attention towards the medita-
tion object. This phenomenon, being occupied with something without realizing
this, is called ‘ignorance’. It is important not to become angry or feel guilty. At
some point the meditator will notice to be mindless, being occupied by things
that are not the meditation object.

Relax and resmile Then the exercise requires ‘to recognize, to release, to relax,
and to resmile’. After that one is to ‘return (to the breath) and repeat’. This
list of the six ‘r’ (recognize, release, relax, resmile, return, and repeat) are
emphasized by Bhante Vimalaramsi. In meditation retreats we just mention
the relax and resmile as the main extra ingredients. Practicing this way is an
essential contribution to becoming calm and friendly.
Summarizing, we have now described the ‘Basic Exercise 1 (BE1)’.

Basic Exercise 1
Carefully pay attention to the cycles of breath.
One at the time, on time, all the time.
If one is side tracked, and this often happens before realizing it,
then as soon as one does notice this,
one relaxes, resmiles, and goes back to the breath and restarts.

Walking meditation There is also walking meditation. One stands, straight

and dignified. As preparation one observes the bodily sensations: temperature
warm—cold; touch: hard—soft; movements: air along cheeks, circulation. Pos-
sibly more. When one is ready to observe the movements of the feet one starts.
Right. Pause. Left. Pause.
During the pauses one relaxes and observes every now and then the mind. To

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sharpen focus one may intend to be aware of the exact moment that the foot
leaves the ground and the moment that it returns. Walking meditation is quite
powerful, capable of developing concentration.

Five Hindrances
1. desire;
2. aversion;
3. restlessness;
4. sleepiness;
5. doubt.
The five hindrances have five antidotes. These are the intention to have
1. moderation (against desire);
2. friendliness (against aversion);
3. relaxation (against restlessness);
4. wakefulness (against sleepiness);
5. curiosity (against doubt).
BE1 brings concentration that may be able to counter hindrances by temporary
suppression.

Metta
Another important way to counter hindrances, also temporarily, is to develop
metta ‘loving kindness’ or more simply ‘sincere friendliness’.
May I (you/all sentient beings) be happy,
May I (you/all sentient beings) safe,
May I (you/all sentient beings) healthy,
May I (you/all sentient beings) live a life without hardship.

Buddhist Prayer of Forgiveness

If I have harmed anyone in any way, either knowingly or unknowingly,
through my own confusions, I ask their forgiveness.
If anyone has harmed me in any way, either knowingly or unknowingly,
through their own confusions, I forgive them.
And if there is a situation I am not yet ready to forgive,
I forgive myself for that.
For all the ways that I harm myself, negate, doubt, belittle myself,
judge or be unkind to myself, through my own confusions,
I forgive myself.

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3 Insight through mindfulness
There is a better remedy against the hindrances. If one succeeds to view a
hindrance as a mere mind-state, and not enacted into an impulse, then the hin-
drances become much more manageable. For this change of view insight needs
to be developed. This is done by practicing a variant of basic exercise 1.
Basic Exercise 2 (BE2)
One starts, like in BE1, observing the breath. Often we are distracted
from the breath. This time, however, one also pays attention to what it is
that has distracted us. We say that one has a visitor.
Rather than going back to observing the breath
(after first intending to relax and to resmile) like in BE1,
now we change meditation object and start observing the visitor
for a few but distinct moments. After that one relaxes and resmiles,
and only then one returns to the breath.

Exercises BE1 and BE2 differ. The first difference is that practicing BE2 one
always can observe mindfully what is present in the mind. In BE1 one didn’t
do this, having to return to the breathing. Doing so it turns out that often the
mind is quite busy with engaging itself with 1001 or more objects. Being aware
of this one may diminish this stream by first continuing to practice BE1, so that
a more clear picture arises of what comes and goes. After that one practices
BE2.

Five Helpers
1. Confidence (not dogmatism);

2. Effort, energy (in balance with concentration);

3. Mindfulness (light, friendly);
4. Concentration (without attachment);

5. Knowledge, wisdom (not intellectual).

Visitors All phenomena are visitors. But after having chosen a focus for one’s
practice, this is called the meditation object and all other phenomena the proper
visitors.
There is body, with its five physical senses” hearing, seeing, touching,
smelling, tasting. Then there is the rest, considered as part of mind: feeling
(pleasant, neutral, unpleasant), cognition (thought slice, image), volition (inten-
tion to do something), and consciousness/mind-state. Together these form the
five groups (skandhas) of visitors, from which our world of awareness is built
up.

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Classification of the visitors: the skandhas
1. Body (input through physical senses);
2. Feelings (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant);
3. Cognition (slice of thought: concept, image);
4. Impulse/Volition (intention to act);
5. Consciousness (type).
Basic 2 6 senses 5 skandhas 4 applications of mindfulness All 9 (activity)
Body Ear Body Body Hearing
Eye Seeing
Touch Touching
Nose Smelling
Tongue Tasting
Mind Mind Feeling-tone Feeling-tone Appreciating
Cognition Mind1 : cognition Thinking
Consciousness Mind2 : mind-state Tendency
Volition ‘Mind-object’ Acting

Feeling-tone: unpleasant, neutral, pleasant ({−, 0, +} on a continuous scale).

Cognition: a concept or image, being a slice of a train of thought.
Consciousness: a mind-state; readiness to act in a certain way.
Mind-object: usually given as a list of lists of active mental factors
that influence behavior in a certain direction.

Size of a visitor There is also another classification of visitors. Not according

to type, but to size. A small (S) visitor is one that doesn’t prevent one to
be able to follow mindfully the meditation object. A medium (M) or large (L)
visitor does eclipse the meditation object. The difference between these larger
two visitors (M, L) is that after observing a medium visitor, and relaxing and
re-smiling, one is able to return to the meditation object. From a large visitor
it is not immediately possible to return to the meditation object. Large visitors
are also called ‘mind-objects’. How does one deal with a mind-object? This will
be discussed.
S: those don’t hinder the principal object.
M: eclipses the meditation object;
dissolves when it is named, noted or examined.
L: like M eclipsing the meditation object, but these are sticky.
The L-sized visitors are also called ‘bananas’. They usually form a coalition of
elements of the five skandhas. All hindrances are L-sized visitors.

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4 Liberation

Relinquishing hindrances
For this to happen, an analysis of what is going on, is helpful. “There is desire;
this is the physical (that is somatic) ingredient of it, this is its feeling tone, these
are its accompanying concepts, this is the mind-state, and these are the resulting
actions.” This analytical view is not to be held in an intellectual manner, but in
an experiential manner. Carefully the major substates of the mind-state should
be experienced (not imagined).
Having a clear insight in the dynamical collaboration of the elements of the
skandhas may deconstruct the visitors, driving apart the coalition members.
Concentration makes this process less painful. Notably metta is instrumental:
“May I proceed steadily in the presence of suffering.” One should not start a
meditation session in order to relinquish, otherwise hidden desire is present.
One starts with curiosity and then relinquishment may happen.

Factors of relinquishment

confidence surrender 



effort determination 
mindfulness equanimity joy


concentration calm 


wisdom investigation

In italics are the traditional seven factors of enlightenment. We prefer to display

all eleven: the five helpers, a considerable strengthening of them, and then on
top of these two layers there is the factor joy. These eleven can be developed
and used to relinquish large visitors.

Freedom (enlightenment/realization)
The first level of partial enlightenment occurs when a ‘tree’ that grows certain
types of bananas has been eliminated. That means that a certain type of hin-
drance no longer occurs or reoccurs. A banana tree doesn’t have deep roots.
Relinquishing worldly L-sized visitors is often more difficult. Full enlightenment
occurs when all hindrances have been relinquished.
This is what the teacher Shaila Catherine says about relinquishment and
realization in her book “Focused & Fearless”, Wisdom Publications, 2008.
1. “Letting go in meditation is the relinquishment that involves no loss. Rec-
ognizing impermanence leads to the realization of the pure and ungras-
pable nature of things. Knowing this basic fact of things, one has nothing
to fear. And the extraordinary delight that arises with realization sur-
passes all temporary pleasures, softening any residual fear that may want
to grasp again what can never actually be possessed.” (p49-50)
2. “Awakening is a realization that is utterly unshakable; what’s more, it
occurs to no one, requires no confirmation, and attains nothing.” p20

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Freedom means that not only the hindrances have been relinquished, they also
will not grow again. In principle it can be reached using just BE1, BE2. For this

longer retreats are helpful. The milestones and trajectories of the path

We will present in several ways diagrams of the milestones and major trajectories
of the path.

First description
The most simple way to display the milestones and the path is the following.

0 /o /o /o / 1 /o /o /o / 2 /o /o /o / 3 /o /o /o / !! /o /o /o / 4 /o /o /o / 5

Figure 1: The path of liberation and its milestones

The milestones.
0 Start.

1 Distinguishing controlled from spontaneous breath.

2 Serenity with pride.

3 The three characteristics.

!! Utter urgency & serene confidence.

4 Equanimity.

5 Liberty.
The trajectories.
0 /o /o /o / 1
One starts meditating at 0 and mainly one practices BE1. This temporarily
suppresses hindrances. At 1 one is able to distinguish the natural breath and
proper vipassana starts. As the observation of the natural breath already gives
a glimpse of anatta, non-self, one needs to overcome some hesitation (that in
the body is felt like a restriction of the capacity to breath). This can be done
using BE2.
1 /o /o /o / 2
One distinguishes visitors so that in principle everything can be a meditation
object on which one focuses attention and mindfulness (a friendly ‘knowing’).
One observes whether the visitors are of size S(mall), M(edium) and L(arge).
One makes an intuitive (i.e. non-intellectual) analysis of the visitors and discov-
ers how they are a coalition of forces in the five skandhas. By doing this the

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L-visitors loose power and may melt away. One doesn’t do the practice in order
that hindrances (L-visitors) melt away, but in order to get a clear picture of
what is going on. As beneficial side effect the hindrance may weaken and melt
away. The high-point of this trajectory is that most, or even all, hindrances
have melted away (but may come back). In a temporary state of absence of
hindrances one enters a state of serenity. Usually some pride is developed. This
is very natural: all life is conditioned by vedana (feeling-tone) and being able
to reside in serenity will become a goal and an object of self-identification.
2 /o /o /o / 3
In order to proceed it may be sufficient to note or name this pride to proceed.
Another way consists of looking carefully to details of the raising and falling,
or of the foot steps. Then one suddenly may observe the three characteris-
tics: non-permanence (the usual view of the environment collapses into many
fluctuating phenomena in body and mind), non-self (one is not able to control
what is happening with these phenomena), and suffering (dukkha, the nausea
for emptiness according to the Visuddhimagga). This gives a strong blow to
‘ego’, wrong-view, the illusion that we exist as something substantial and are
in control. But this is not the case: everything is determined by causes and
conditions.
3 /o /o /o / !! /o /o /o / 4
In principle the experience of non-permanence (vibrations) and non-self (uncon-
trollability) do not need to cause suffering. That they do is caused by wrong
view. At milestone 3 one sees that this view is really not valid. But one is not
yet ready to give it up. This causes strong suffering:
• fear (without finding an object of which to be afraid);
• the delusion of danger (if one cannot see something to be afraid of, it is
natural to suspect that there is a lurking danger);
• disgust (one wants to get out of here never to return).
One develops determination to get out of this ‘dark night’. Continuing the
practice one no longer is able to do BE2, as the visitors (fear, seeing danger,
disgust) eclipse the meditation object. One gives up hope. At a certain point
one feels an extreme urgency (samvega) to get out of the situation and gets a
serene confidence (pasada) that this is possible. Then one returns to exercising
BE1 in a reinforced way, possibly by using naming instead of noting. One
practices metta (loving kindness) in order to soften the suffering. One may
make a wish that the hindrances are gone for a split second (this will work as
soon as attention succeeds in observing the breath). One increases the wish:
“May the dukkha be absent for two moments; then three four etcetera. In this
way one reaches equanimity in which the dukkha is absent for most of the time.
This is the state of equanimity.
4 /o /o /o / 5
Now sila (discipline) becomes very important. One needs to continue practice

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without wanting to deconstruct ego. Because like an eye that sees, but cannot
see itself, also ego can undo, but cannot undo itself. One needs to continue, not
by pushing the method, but by continued discipline, which makes it go by itself.
In the tradition it is called “Here we are at the end of vipassana.” One may
deconstruct effort and concentration, while keeping sila. But practice continues.
If vipassana is ‘mature’ the practice continues, using the 11 factors of letting go.
Then at a certain moment the three characteristics appear in such a clear way
that they cannot be avoided and one observes them calmly. Then one intuitively
understands that wrong view was just a misunderstanding. This is the end of
wrong view and ‘one has reached the first path’.

Method 2+2, aka ‘The right effort’

Taking care of (un)wholesome mindstates

{
if not present: sow
wholesome
if present: maintain (and strengthen)
{
if present: diminish (and eradicate)
unwholesome
if not present: prevent
This strategy needs mindfulness for discerning in what
situation one is and needs ‘wisdom’ to come into action.
This may be done as follows.
sowing relax, start the sitting/walking in a clear way
maintaining relax, resmile, repeat; observe details
diminish soak with metta or other forms of concentration
apply investigation (disentangling the coalition)
possibly use autocompassion; humor; patience;
use a wish like ‘may the visitor be away
for one (two, four, eight) split second(s)’.
preventing use disentangled pain/suffering as ‘smoke detector’
Eventually this leads to eradicating unwholesome states, by using the factors of
relinquishment.

The end of vipassana and the final step

When the factors of relinquishment are developed and one feels at ease, one has
reached the end of vipassana. But one is not yet there. Consider these factors as
large visitors, and deconstruct them, while keeping the discipline. If vipassana
is mature, then the rest will proceed by itself. Otherwise, if one continues
active meditation as before, vipassana is based on ‘ego’ and one cannot reach
liberation. The reason is the following.
The eye can see, but cannot see itself.
The sword can cut, but cannot cut itself.
The ego can relinquish, but cannot relinquish itself.

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Further levels of liberation

After having eradicated wrong view, there are still other mental factors that
cause attachment and suffering, the main ones being aversion, desire and igno-
rance. Therefore this path needs to be traversed in total four times to eradicate
all hindrances. The following is a table of the unwholesome mental factors that
are released each of the four times.

Level L-sized visitors eliminated

(i) Streamwinner wrong view, doubt, belief in rites
(ii) Once returner aversion and desire (partly)
(iii) Non-returner aversion and sensual desire (totally)
(iv) Arhant conceit, desire for (non-)being,
sleepiness, restlessness, ignorance

Second description: falling back

4t 4t 4t 3 2
concentration & some w 7 v 6 6v 6v 5u 5u
relinquishment 9y 8x x8 7w
9y
{; :z z: No falling back; restart
<|< | ;{ for further Liberation
}=
~> ~>
@ ? ?
attachment

A vt
q /o /o /o /o Liberation
/o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o / 5
0 −→ 1 Falling back
4
eKK (hesitation) O Relinquishing
KK O Wrong View
KK O
KK Falling back: O
KKcover-up1 diving
KK into O
KK O
KK void
O
KK
KK O
KK 
K
3 /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o / !!
dark night

Figure 2: The path, milestones, tendencies to slide back

Often the path is not traversed in one run: one needs several retreats to
go from 0 to 5 . The reason is that one has multiple occasions to fall back,
intentionally or not. In the following diagram we identify 0 and 1 and there
are three moments in which one can fall or slide back, at milestones 2, 3, and
4. This may make the path considerably longer, depending on the number of
times falling back. The vertical dimension indicates feeling-tone. See Figure 2.

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Third and more complete description

This version now includes a model of samsara, the everlasting cycle of suffering
in ordinary daily life, the left vertical column. See Figure 3.

Explanations of the Dhamma Goose game

1. The left column of four points represent daily life with different levels of
feeling-tone: - -, -, 0, +, ++: very unpleasant, unpleasant, neutral, pleas-
ant, very pleasant. These feeling-tones occur respectively in a trauma(tic
event), in pain, in a neutral situation, in a pleasurable situation, in a sit-
uation that causes bliss. The upwards arrows indicate how in daily life
raising the feeling-tone may happen: therapy, mourning, finding pleasure,
and enjoying intimacy (‘volupté’).

2. The arrows downwards happen because of the conditions of life.

3. There is an important point between 3 and 4 in which one decides

‘enough is enough’ and makes a wish for liberation. It happens at !! as an
essential turing point: there is utmost urgency (samvega) combined with
serene confidence (pasada). This combination enables the practitioner to
continue.
4. The arrow from 3 to 0 can also go to - , + , or ++ .

5. The passage from 4 to 5 is depicted in more detail on page 14. Expla-

nation is given in “The end of vipassana” on page 16.
6. The Blue passage (Jhana path) is not explained at all. For this the yogi is
refered to “A mind without craving” by Dhammācarya Sobhana, employ-
ing the TWIM method by Bhante Vimalaramsi.

1 Here ‘cover-up’ refers to the mechanism of hiding the emptiness of no-self (called ‘Lack’
by the psychiatrist Lacan) by some armored type of personality (with rigid side effects).
2 The putative mechanism of trauma is as follows. The thing that happened is too painful

to accept. Then the person to whom it happened suppresses one of the five skandhas. This
causes the self (collaborating skandhas for a balanced way of survival) to stop functioning.
Then the victim comes into 3 , without insight, and experiences PTSD. One needs to go
back to partial reexperiencing the event. With therapy one may reexperience in such a way
that one is beyond the trauma, by giving it a place. The reason that one needs therapy and
cannot proceed using meditation is that concentration hasn’t been developed.

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 (bliss) ++ 2 JJ /S
LK < J8 J
S K 1 J B
L <| |< JJJJJ
JJJJ 11 JJ J 
M }}= = |< JJJJ 
M ~> JJJJ 11 JJJ
J 
N } JJJJ JJ 
concentration & some
N 11
Samvega?
JJJJ1−4 JJ 
5−8 J
~? > ~>
relinquishment J 
‘Volupté’ OP JJJJ 11
P @ ? Jhana path JJ JJJ Pasada 11 JJ 
J
Q JJJJJ
J J 11
Q

A A @ JJJJ  JJJJ
R JJJJ 11 JJ
R B B J !)  JJ
B
11
 J$ L
(pleasure) +  C Dry path J 4
11  V
C attachment
 r8r
'g 'g 'g
C 11
r r r
LL K 'g 'g 'g D  1
'g 'g 'g D  11 rr rrr
NN M 'g 'g 'g
concentration E
D No falling back; restart  1
'g 'g 'g for further Liberation
1 rr L
Enjoying OP E ` ` _ ^ ^  r rrr11
'g 'g 'g  E a a ] ] r
P Q 'g 'g 'g  F e d c c b \ [ [  Z rr
 r
Y
11
R R Falling back 'g 'g 'g F f e  rr Y X X11
'g 'g 'g F |
h g f rrrr
concentration g ' r 11 W V V 
t th
(neutral) 0 nfM/o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o 7w/ 1
7w 4 11 5
KL MMM
w 7 w 7 w 7 O MMM
M 11 O
M 7w w 7 Falling back  O M
MMM
w 7 w 7  O
MMM 11
7w to samsara (hesitation) M
MN L MMM
N MMM 7w 7w 7w 7w 7w O MMM 11
w 7 M  O MMM 11 L
(diving
Mourning OP
w 7 w 7 7w 7w MMMconcentration O MMM 1
M into
P Q
w 7 7w 7w MMM O MMM 11
R R 7w w 7 MMM void) O M
S 7w 7w 7w MMM O
MMM 11
M& 
(pain) - O light at the end of the D
tunnel, after initially
MMM
K MM  O
L Falling back: MMM O a dark passage
M cover-up MMM O
M O
N MMM
O
N MMM
Therapy OP MMM O
P MMM O
Q MMM O
Q
R MMM
S dissociation & PTSD MMM 
!!
(trauma2 ) - - n . 3 /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o /o Samvega
dark night Pasada
falling back: remembering trauma

Self in Self in Towards Non-self Beyond

Roller Coaster meditation Non-self self
of Samsara

Figure 3: The Goose Game of life, suffering and its release. S: signless state (after anicca);
V: voidness state (after dukkha); D: desireless state (after anatta). L: liberation.
 Three entrances to freedom, inspired by the Abhidhamma1 & Visuddhimagga2
We zoom in on the transitions from 4 or J8 to 5 .

(
∴ ∴
M 0 1

∴
u
2

This loop represents a yogi in samsara, having a cyclic sequence of mind-states together
with their object. There is considerable concentration: the cycle is short (in the
diagram of length 3; length 2 is also possible) and the objects remain similar. The
only notable change that occurs consists of the the varying mind-states. Becoming
mindful of the full cycle the following may happen. First one observes Dependent
Origination and the 3C (three characteristics). Then the following happens.

'
∴ ∴ / anicca resolution
/ signless
L 0 1
OOO
OOO
O'
- calmness
/ desireless / nibbana /o /o /o / freedom
• dukkha
o o 7
oo oo
$ oo
∴
u wisdom
/ emptiness
2
anatta

upacāra anuloma gotrabhū magga phala

access conformity change-of-lineage path fruition

Having circled the loop a couple of times fully mindfully, the mind gets bored and is
ready for a transition. If the focus was on the vibrating object(s) of consciousness, then
one enters through anicca; this is said to happen notably with yogis having a strong
resolution through the signless state. If the focus was on the monotonous samsaric
process, then one enters through dukkha; this is said to happen with yogis having
strong tranquility (calmness) through the desireless state. If the focus was was on the
quasi-deterministic transitions, then one enters through anatta; this is said to happen
with yogis having great wisdom through emptiness. (These three conditions on what
was the focus are hypotheses.) After one of these three possibilities, change-of-lineage
occurs through the mind-state of respectively ‘signless’, ‘desireless’, and ‘emptiness’.
And then one enters in all three cases the state of magga, that has nibbana as object.
Right after (according to the Abhidhamma), or later (according to the early Suttas),
one enters phala.
1 Abhidhammasangaha: Ch. IV, §14.
2 XXI: 67, 70.

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 The information on this page cannot be phenomenologically observed by one hu-
man, as it is stated that everyone has a personal way to enter the four stages of magga.
So this information must have been gathered over many years of experience teaching
the Dhamma.

Quick chart. Summary of the vipassana practice

Basic Exercise 1 (concentration) (BE1)

Carefully pay attention to the cycles of breath and all its experienced qualities.
One at the time, on time, all the time.
If one is side-tracked, often this happens before realizing it, then as soon as one
does notice this, one relaxes, resmiles, and goes back to the breath and restarts.

Basic Exercise 2 (mindfulness) (BE2)

One starts, like in BE1, observing the breath. Often we are distracted from
the breath. This time one also pays attention to what has distracted us. This
is called the visitor. Rather than going back to observing the breath, now we
change meditation object and start observing the visitor for a few but distinct
moments. After that one relaxes and resmiles, and only then one returns to the
breath.

Five Hindrances and their antidotes

Desire Moderation
Aversion Friendliness
Restlessness Relaxation
Sleepiness Wakefulness
Doubt Curiosity

Five Helpers

Confidence (not dogmatism)

Effort (in balance with concentration)
Mindfulness (light, friendly)
Concentration (without attachment)
Wisdom (not intellectual)

Classification of the visitors: skandhas

Body (input through physical senses)
Feelings (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant)
Cognition (slice of thought: concept, image)
Volition (intention to act)
Consciousness (-type, mind-state)

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Size of a visitor
S those don’t hinder the meditation object
M eclipses the meditation object,
dissolves when it is named, noted or examined
L like M eclipsing the meditation object, but sticky

The L-sized visitors are playfully called ‘bananas’. They usually consist of a
coalition of elements of the skandhas. All hindrances are L-sized visitors.

The right effort

Taking care of (un)wholesome mindstates

{
if not present: sow
wholesome
if present: maintain (and strengthen)
{
if present: diminish (and eradicate)
unwholesome
if not present: prevent

Factors of relinquishment

Confidence Surrender 



Effort Determination 
Mindfulness Equanimity Joy


Concentration Calm 


Wisdom Investigation

Global strategy of the vipassana path

After these ‘local’ methods, described above, the global strategy is as follows.
General stances. 1. Rather than looking for pleasant objects to be enjoyed
by our consciousness, we look for improved states of consciousness.
2. Amor fati (Nietzsche) Accept our fate, without becoming fatalistic.
3. Just keep sila, outer/inner discipline, even if you are not feeling well.

The end of vipassana and the final step

When the factors of relinquishment are developed and one feels at ease, one has
reached the end of vipassana. But one is not yet there. Consider these factors as
large visitors, and deconstruct them, while keeping the discipline. If vipassana
is mature, then the rest will proceed by itself. Otherwise, if one continues
active meditation as before, vipassana is based on ‘ego’ and one cannot reach
liberation. The reason is the following.
The eye can see, but cannot see itself.
The sword can cut, but cannot cut itself.
The ego can relinquish, but cannot relinquish itself.

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