Vipassana is one of the India's most ancient meditation techniques. Long lost to humanity.

Vipassana means to see things as they really are; it is a process of self observation. One starts by observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind. With this sharpened awareness one proceeds to observe the changing nature of the body and mind and experiences the universal truths of impermanence, suffering and egolessness. This truth realization by direct experience is the process of purification. The entire path is a universal remedy for universal problems and has nothing to do with any organized religion or sectarianism. For this reason, it can be practiced freely by all without conflict with race, caste or religion.

Vipassana meditation aims at the highest spiritual goals of total liberation and full enlightenment. Its purpose is never simply to cure physical diseases, but as a byproduct of mental purification, many psychosomatic diseases get eradicated. Actually, it is an art of living which eliminates the three causes of all suffering; craving, aversion and ignorance. With continued practice, the meditation releases the tensions developed in everyday life and opens the knots tied by the old habit of reacting in an unbalanced way to pleasant and unpleasant situations and develops positive creative energy for the betterment of the individual and society.

The process of self purification by introspection is certainly never easy: one has to work really hard at it. By his own efforts the student arrives at his own realizations; no one else can work for him. Therefore, the meditation will suit only those willing to work seriously and observe the discipline, which is actually for their own benefit and protection.

Before learning the technique we need to know the science of mind and body and the relation between them.

Mind and body are very closely related to each other. Whichever thought comes to one's mind is represented on the body as sensations. Most of which are very subtle.

Mind is of two parts; conscious mind and sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind is the mind with which we think while awake where as sub-conscious mind is the mind whose presence is felt only when the conscious mind is asleep. It is rather more appropriate to call it a super conscious mind as it is active all the time. When we commit an action 99.99% we add some emotion to it or we do it out of some emotion which results in the development of impressions, these impressions form a barrier between

conscious and sub-conscious mind (sort of communication gap). Mind undergoes 4 processes; perception, evaluation, sensation, reaction.

--- The recognition of the sense objects coming into contact with their respective senses is called Perception.

--- The bifurcation of the sensation observed into likes and dislikes is called Evaluation.

--- The development of sensations on the body as per the evaluation is called sensation.

--- Reaction towards those developed sensations is called reaction.

Reaction is nothing but developing an emotion towards those sensations. When one develops any emotion he or she gets blinded from the reality i.e.it is like wearing colored glasses on and looking around. One will not be able to observe the truth as it is. One needs to separate facts from emotions to know the truth.

Our body is made up of atoms = protons, electrons and neutrons = positive, negative and neutral sensations. It is made up of various chemicals and the information is transmitted in the form of changing electric and chemical mediums which produce very subtle but highly effective electromagnetic fields around us which not only influence the self but also the surroundings and the nature of these radiations depend on the emotions developed.

An impression is nothing but a stored emotion or it is like a seed with a potential to develop into a huge tree and produce 1000 more such seeds of the same potential provided fertile land or breeding ground is given.

An emotion develops out of ignorance of the truths of impermanence, suffering and egolessness at the moment of experience and it also develops out of ignorance of the experience or the sensations developed on our body. When we are ignorant towards any sensation, the old habit pattern of our mind to react towards anything which comes into contact repeats itself towards those particular unattended

sensations, further suppressing it and developing new sensations, thus multiplying the impressions stored.

Now, the cause of suffering -We receive knowledge through three phases: 1] By hearing, reading etc., 2] By thinking and processing, 3] Through direct experience.

The first two phases with regards to self observation come under borrowed knowledge. This type of knowledge just shows us the path to the attainment of original knowledge and encourages us to lead the path, where as the 3rd phase of experiential knowledge is the knowledge acquired by us. The truth for us is the one directly realized at the moment of experience with complete awareness.

For example: - Consider that a friend of yours has gone to some historical site, enjoyed the scenery, came back and vividly described it to all your friends including you at a time.

Would you or all other friends get the exact image in your mind of scenery viewed by the friend who went? And would any two of you get the same image though not exactly the one viewed by the friend who went?

Your answer may be a strict no; the reason for this is the thought process of one's mind depends on the impressions stored in him or her.

Everything which we perceive through our 6 senses: - Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Body, Mind and Perceiving organs are temporary in nature. They keep changing all the time every moment which we are completely unaware of, though we know about it intellectually-through science and common sense, we dont really have any idea about it, as the intellectual knowledge received is just the knowledge of consideration and imagination, this knowledge we believe so, but we do not know in reality. This truth of impermanence is the truth for us, only when we realize it at the moment of experience with complete awareness, doing that moment only. The ultimate cause of suffering is "IGNORANCE"

For example: The scenery seen by the friend is a 'truth' but for us it is just an imagination until we go and see it ourselves. Also the scenery is just the memory for the friend who is back, but for a friend who is still there watching it, will be a truth to that person.

When we experience some unpleasant sensation in our body we try to get rid of it, during which we are unaware of the truth of impermanence lurking beneath it.

It is foolish to develop attachment or aversion towards something which is out of our control and which is constantly changing from one form to another whether useful or useless.

So it is foolish to develop craving or aversion towards anything perceivable by us and also toward the medium perception. It leads to nothing but misery

And also when one is ignorant of a sensation on one's body, the sub conscious mind which understands only one language, the language of direct experience, continues the old habit pattern of reacting towards that particular sensation and developing multiple emotions and thus impressions which further strengthens the barrier between the conscious and the sub conscious minds.

To break this barrier and to get totally liberated from suffering we need to get out of ignorance i.e. we need to be aware of ourselves, the sensations on our body all the time, not just aware but also equanimous. We need to be equanimous towards all types of sensations, not reacting to any of them and realizing the truth of impermanence and the truth that this world is filled with suffering, this leads to liberation from misery.

To get rid of a problem, first we need to accept that there is a problem and then understand its features with attention and then we need to use that problem as an opportunity to develop and hone our skills; the same thing applies to 'self purification'. Use the pleasant and unpleasant experiences as a tool to get rid of the impressions synonymous to those experiences, stored in us. This is done by observing the sensations with detachment or observing them objectively.

The same sensations which had been leading us to deeper levels of misery will now start leading us to liberation from the same misery.

But first of all to dive deep in the ocean to get pearls and other valuables the waves must slow down, the same way one needs to calm down the agitated mind before concentrating and purifying it. This is done by strictly following 5 precepts 1] Abstention from killing 2] Abstention from stealing 3] Abstention from speaking lies 4] Abstention from sexual misconduct 5] Abstention from consuming intoxicants.

By following these precepts one's mind calms down considerably, so as to penetrate deep into the realities within.

MAY ALL BE HAPPY, BE PEACEFUL, BE LIBERATED BE HAPPY! BE HAPPY!! BE HAPPY!!! http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml, http://www.dhamma.org/en/art.shtml, http://www.dhamma.org/en/code.shtml please visit the above links in the order given, for further information, thank you.