Seeing Clearly

To see something clearly depends on certain conditions.

We learn to appreciate what it means to be still. What does that mean? It simply means that you stop moving with the movements of your mind. You stop agitating yourself with that which is agitated in yourself, being confused with that which is confused within you, being unhappy with that which is unhappy inside you. When we reach the place of stopping and being still, the condition of seeing arises naturally in the mind. A seeing mind doesn’t move. It has stopped. It is here, now.

There are many different methods, techniques and teachings of meditation.

Vipassana practice involves exploring the mind and seeing the result of that exploration. It leads to seeing clearly what the Buddha called the three characteristics of phenomena: everything is impermanent, everything is unsatisfactory and everything is ‘not what you are’ (anicca, dukkha, anattā).

Vipassana means being able to see deeply and clearly, to know profoundly. When you see clearly, you have access to the reality of now. This is not something you imagine or have to believe; it is something you see clearly. Vipassana is an invitation to explore: ‘Is this satisfactory or unsatisfactory?’ Maybe you think you find greed or its object extremely satisfactory. On the other hand, maybe you find that the feeling of greed arising in the heart is not so pleasant and restful.

The Buddha invites us to really examine the excitement of this world of desires. He draws our attention to the danger of believing in this world of sensuality and its complexities and to really apply our attention, to question and investigate.

This reflection by Ajahn Sundara is from the book, Paccuppanna—The Present Moment, (pdf) pp. 46-48.