Chattha Sangayana CD - Vipassana Research Institute

The Path to Ultimate Reality

•	S. N. GOENKA

Practice of Dhamma  the way shown by the Buddha  will lead one from the superficial level of gross, apparent truth, toward subtler levels, and thence to ultimate truth. In fact, it is quite rightly said.

Paññatti thapetv± visesena pattati'ti Vipassan±

Vipassan± is observation of reality in a special way, in the correct way, by disintegrating the apparent truth.

The first important requirement of Vipassana, therefore, is to dissolve the apparent truth and to penetrate to subtler truth.

Ordinarily, observing things at a very gross apparent level, one is aware primarily of the differences, and therefore draws distinctions, giving labels, and forms prejudices of liking or disliking. One prefers Mr. A to Mr. B, or female to male, or human to non-human, white to black, beautiful to ugly. These are all discriminations based on superficial observation, in which objects are distinguished at the level of appearances.

With the practice of Vipassana, the meditator looks inside and begins to see further, to disintegrate the gross, apparent reality and to reach a subtler level. Possibly one might perceive and identify solid bone or liquid blood, gaseous elements or bodily temperature. But although this is an advance in subtlety of perception, it is still observing apparent reality in a composed shape or form. There is still identification, therefore distinctions persist  likes and dislikes, preferences and prejudices.

The meditator goes further and reaches a level where he observes the sub-atomic particles of which all matter is composed, the kal±pa, and their nature of continually arising and vanishing. Now, whatever he observes within himself, whether solid or liquid or gaseous, he has reached a stage where he perceives it as just a mass of vibrations, incapable of differentiation. Then at last, of necessity, the process of drawing distinctions and giving labels ceases. The meditator has disintegrated completely the apparent reality and experienced the ultimate truth pertaining to matter within the framework of his own body. He has appreciated the ultimate truth of matter: constantly changing, constantly in flux, constantly in a flow. Therefore he desists from preferences or prejudices.

Similarly, with the mind and mental factors, one advances from the gross, apparent truth to the ultimate reality. For example, an emotion arises, pleasant or unpleasant, according to one's past conditioning. This is a mental manifestation of a past sankh±ra, and at once the present mental reaction reinforces and multiplies it. At such a moment, the nature of the mind and mental factors is solidified, intensified, since they are operating at the level of gross, apparent reality.

In this situation, one begins to identify and discriminate between pleasant and unpleasant, good and bad, wanted and unwanted. But whether gross, solidified emotion, or gross, solidified material truth, when one starts to observe it, then it is bound to dissolve, to disintegrate. Just as matter is seen to be nothing but subtle wavelets of kal±pas, so also the gross, intensified, solidified emotion dissolves into subtle wavelets. When that happens, then the emotion can no longer overpower the meditator.

Thus, by his own practice, one comes to see the ultimate reality of mind and matter  as it is truly described by one who has experienced it,

Sabbo pajjalito loko

Sabbo loko paka½pito

The entire universe, mind and matter combined, is nothing but a process of combustion and vibrations.

This truth has to be realized, not merely accepted at the intellectual or devotional level. And certainly one can realize it by the practice of Vipassana meditation.

Vipassana, then, is a technique to disintegrate apparent truth and to reach the ultimate truth of matter, mind, and mental factors, and thereafter to transcend these three, and to reach the ultimate truth of Nibb±na.

This ultimate truth of Nibb±na can be experienced only after one has penetrated to the ultimate truth of mind and matter. So long as a meditator has not dissolved the solidity of mind and matter, he is still dealing with apparent truth; and the apparent truth is bound to keep him in the conditioned world of likes and dislikes, which give rise to attachments and suffering. The more one comes out of attachment, the nearer one approaches the ultimate truth of Nibb±na.

One doesn't have to do anything to create Nibb±na; the only requirement is to come out of illusions about mind and matter. The Nibb±na is there.

In the technique in which we work, one begins with the gross, apparent truth pertaining to the body and the gross, apparent truth pertaining to the mind. And from this starting point, the meditator penetrates further and further in the direction of subtle reality, ultimate reality.

As the process of disintegration continues, he starts experiencing the nature of arising and passing away (udaya and vyaya) which leads him to the realization of total dissolution (bhaªga). This is the free flow throughout the entire physical and mental structure. Even after experiencing this free flow there is every likelihood that from time to time, some deep-rooted sankh±ra of the past will manifest itself in gross form on the mental or physical level. In this situation the meditator must keep on observing equanimously the gross, apparent reality which has again manifested itself, until it dissolves, and once again he experiences a free flow throughout the body of very subtle sensations, without a trace of solidity anywhere. Then again something crops up of a gross nature. But the wise meditator understands that this is how the process of Vipassana works. Old impurities deeply buried in the unconscious mind (anusaya kilesa) must inevitably come up to the surface. When they do so, quite often, they manifest in gross form. If the student maintains equanimous observation of this newly arisen apparent truth, then sooner or later it is bound to get dissolved, and along with it the particular sankh±ra of which it is a manifestation. In this way one keeps on reducing one's accumulation of old sankh±ras, freeing oneself of impurities. This is the path of sankh±ra upekkh±, i. e. one has to maintain equanimity towards every sankh±ra which has manifested itself as a sensation. This leads to total purification and Nibb±na.

The crucial point is that the direction in which a student works must always be from gross to subtle, disintegrating apparent truth and advancing toward the ultimate. From time to time, because of the law of nature, a gross truth manifests itself. The meditator must deal with it in the same way: observing it dispassionately, with penetrating pañña, until he reaches again to the level of subtlety.

The only way one can proceed from gross to subtle is by remaining fully aware of the reality which has manifested at this moment, at the same time maintaining perfect equanimity. Whenever one reacts, by nature the mind becomes gross and incapable of experiencing subtler reality. Whenever one ceases reacting and remains equanimous, by nature the mind becomes sharper, and automatically starts penetrating from the gross to the subtle. This is the essence of the practice of Vipassana.

The difficulty arises when a student starts playing the game of sensations. Experiencing a free flow of subtle vibrations throughout the body, he becomes highly elated and feels that he has attained the final goal, when actually it is still far away. And then, when he again experiences any gross sensation or blind area, he becomes distressed, depressed that apparently he is backsliding in this practice. Equanimity is totally forgotten.

It is very important for every Vipassana meditator to understand that the path will automatically lead him from gross to subtle. After the experience of free flow, if a gross solidified reality manifests, this is certainly not a regress. Whatever impurities there may be in the unconscious depths of the mind must come to the surface  the conscious level  to be eradicated. This is the purpose of the technique. Hence, the arising of such an impurity is actually a sign of progress, provided the meditator remains equanimous.

The yardstick to measure one's progress on the path of Vipassana is not the type of sensation which one experiences. Without any effort on the part of the meditator, the sensations naturally become more subtle the more one practises properly. The yardstick is the degree to which one has succeeded in ripening one's awareness and equanimity. To develop these two qualities is the proper object of one's effort. If a student bears this nature of the technique in mind, he is in no danger of going astray in the practice, and will certainly keep progressing toward the goal. May all the serious students of Dhamma be free from all delusions. May they continue to progress on the path, by remaining aware and equanimous from moment to moment, in order to penetrate the apparent reality and to attain the ultimate truth of Nibb±na.