vipassanā
Insight meditation
[ vee-puss-uh-NAA ]
Seeing it in life
Vipassanā bhāvanā observes mental and physical phenomena to penetrate anicca, dukkha, anattā — leading to the supramundane paths.
In short
Direct seeing of the three characteristics.
The analysis
Vipassanā bhāvanā observes mental and physical phenomena directly, as they arise and pass, in order to penetrate the three characteristics. Unlike samatha, which settles the mind on a single fixed object, vipassanā typically attends to whatever is arising in present experience, cultivating discernment rather than stability as its primary aim.
Where it sits
Vipassanā leads to the supramundane path and fruition cittas — it's the practice specifically credited with producing the direct seeing that permanently uproots fetters at each of the four stages.
Watching a wave of anxiety arise, noticing its impermanence as it shifts, its unsatisfactoriness in the resistance to it, and the absence of a findable fixed self experiencing it — rather than getting drawn into its content — is vipassanā applied to an ordinary moment.
Commonly mistaken for
Relaxation or stress relief. Vipassanā's aim is direct insight into the three characteristics, which can be demanding rather than simply calming.
Identical to mindfulness in the general secular sense. Vipassanā specifically aims at penetrative insight into anicca, dukkha, anattā.
Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10); Visuddhimagga XVIII–XXI.
Related terms