VIPASSANĀ
THE ART OF CLEAR SEEING
COLOGNE, GERMANY
The soteriological (liberation-seeking) traditions of ancient India collectively believe that human suffering (dukkha) and unsatisfactoriness arises as a result of the misperception (avijjā) into the ultimate reality of our lives. Instead of seeing the world as it actually is, we see the world as we are, or, more specifically, as we have been conditioned. Through no fault of our own we innocently fail to see clearly the truth of existence and in turn give rise to our own self-generated suffering.
The Buddha describes this experience with the metaphor that we have dust in our eyes. The dust being our conditioning and that which prevents the mind from seeing clearly what actually is. The process of seeing clearly and moving beyond the limitations of the conditioned mind is thus of imperative importance to freeing the mind from the repetitive cycles of sorrow, lamentation, mental grief and the myriad expressions of dukkha we experience throughout our human journey.
It is through the art of insight meditation (vipassanā), built upon the four foundations of mindfulness (satipatthānas), that the mind of the Buddha, and myriad human minds since, have been liberated from the unnecessary enslavement to dukkha.
In this four-day intensive we will break down the practice of vipassanā meditation into its four constituent and interrelated foundations (satipatthānas), building the art of liberating insight, systematically, from the ground up.
Practitioners will take away, both, a deep intellectual understanding of the practice of vipassanā meditation as well as an empirical foundation of experiential insights capable of radically shifting out relationship to life, inspiring and motivating each of us to continue upon the Buddha’s liberating path towards the cessation of suffering.
This intensive is open and accessible to all levels of practitioner and is especially geared towards those individuals curious and passionate about gifting themselves their inherent human birthright to be free from suffering.
THE WORKSHOPS
Session 1: Foundation #1 - Contemplation of the Body (kayānupassanā)
In the first foundation of mindfulness the Buddha expounded upon the contemplation of the physical body. Although he taught fourteen different ways in which the body can be contemplated, in this session we will focus upon the most relevant and accessible of these bodily contemplations and the primary object/foundation for our vipassanā practice: the contemplation of the breath.
Developing mindfulness (sāti) of the breath is vital for the development of insight. For it is through the foundation of mindfulness upon the breath that a platform of concentrated stability arises (samādhi), enabling the practitioner to explore and investigate the myriad psychophysical phenomena from a detached and impartial perspective.
Session 2: Foundation #2 - Contemplation of Feeling (vedānanupassanā)
The second foundation of mindfulness is the contemplation of feeling tone, the mental experience of physical sensation. The Buddha taught that physical sensation and the accompanying mental feeling tones are experienced by the mind in three ways: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.
In this session we will integrate foundation #1 and foundation #2, applying concentrated stability (samādhi) to objectively observe the unadulterated expression of bodily sensation, and their accompanying feeling tones, from the refuge of awareness.
Session 3: Foundation #3 - Contemplation of Consciousness (cittānupassanā)
The third foundation of mindfulness is the contemplation of consciousness or more specifically, the study of those mental-phenomena which colour and condition consciousness.
From anger to fear, joy to sadness, this workshop will provide the practitioner, through the integration of foundations 1, 2 and 3, the opportunity to impartially observe and in turn study and see clearly the true nature of all emotionally charged mind-states.
Session 4: Foundation #4 - Contemplation of Phenomena (dhammānupassanā)
The fourth and final foundation of mindfulness is an exhaustive contemplation of sensory-phenomena. In this final workshop we will contemplate what are referred to as the six-internal and six-external sense bases:
eyes / visual objects; ears / audible objects; nose / olfactory objects; tongue / gustatory objects; body / sensations; mind / mental factors.
This final practice will integrate all four foundations of mindfulness, providing the practitioner the opportunity to apply and experience the transformative practice of vipassanā meditation.