The following is a standardized summary of the detailed instructions given to the meditators by Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma(Myanmar).
Breathe normally. Concentrate on the point of doorway of the nose where the moving air strikes the nostrils on the upper lip. Inhale normally and say quietly within your mind, ‘in, in, in’ as long as inhaling continues normally. Whether you feel or don’t feel the strike of air at the tip of your nose, you must keep your attention at that point. At the end of inhale, exhale normally. Say quietly within your mind, ‘out, out, out’ as long as exhaling normally continues. But don’t prolong it!
Whether you inhale or exhale, you must keep your attention to your gateway of the nose and must say ‘in, in, in’ for inhale and ‘out, out, out’ for exhale not loudly but within your mind. Continue the process of inhaling and exhaling in this way.
Be mindful
While concentrating on inhaling and exhaling, your mind may wander. As soon as you become aware of your thoughts, call them by their appropriate names. For example, if you are planning something, say mentally, ‘planning, planning, planning’. If you are solving a problem, say, ‘solving, solving, solving’. If your mind is wandering, say, ‘wandering, wandering, wandering’. If you are meeting somebody during mental wandering, say, ‘meeting’. If during the mental wandering you are talking to somebody, say, ‘talking, talking, talking’. You must call the thoughts by their appropriate names repeatedly, until they disappear.
When these thoughts disappear, concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. While concentrating on this, if you want to swallow your saliva, say, ‘wanting to swallow’. If you swallow it, say, ‘swallowing’. If you want to spit, say, ‘wanting to spit’. If you spit, say, ‘spitting’. After that continue concentrating on inhaling and exhaling.
While concentrating on it, if you want to bend your head, say, ‘wanting to bend’. When you are bending, say, ‘bending, bending’. When you bend, bend slowly. If you want to raise your head, say, ‘wanting to raise’. When you raise your head, do it slowly and say, ‘raising, raising’. After that concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
If a part of your body is aching because of too much sitting, concentrate on that spot and say, ‘aching, aching, aching’. The ache may disappear after some time. If however, you want to change your position, because it grows worse, say, ‘wanting to change’. Call all the movements of your body by their appropriate names. For example, you want to raise your leg, say, ‘wanting to raise’. While you are raising it, raise slowly, while saying, ‘raising, raising’ at every movement. If you want to stretch your leg, say, ‘wanting to stretch’. And as you stretch slowly, say, ‘stretching, stretching, stretching’ at every movement.
If you want to bend your leg, say, ‘wanting to bend’. And as you bend slowly, say, ‘bending, bending’ at every moment. When you want to put it down, say, ‘wanting to put down’. As you put it down slowly, say, ‘putting down, putting down’ at every movement.
As you put down the leg, if a part of it touches something, say, ‘touching’. After that concentrate on your basic inhaling and exhaling.
While you are thus concentrating, you may feel hot in a part of your body. Do as you have done in the case of aching. Make constant effort to be aware. Awareness must not cease even for a moment.
Some people may have very strange experiences. Whenever their concentration deepens, and gains momentum, they have unbearable pains, such as pain just above the abdomen; pain in the flesh as if they have been pierced with a sharp knife; a burning sensation throughout their whole body; itching as if little insects are running to and fro on the body; intense cold throughout the whole body. However these unbearable pains and sensations stop as soon as the meditator increases his effort to maintain awareness. And these pains come back again, as soon as calmness regains momentum.
Develop Concentration
If you have similar experiences, firstly concentrate on these pains. If they do not disappear in spite of the concentration, do not pay attention to them. Just concentrate vigorously on inhaling and exhaling. Do not worry. Do not be afraid. These are just ordinary pains. Due to lack of concentration, one is not aware of them (Some other matters in which one is interested distract one and keep these pains submerged). When these interests are driven away by concentration, the pain becomes conspicuous. Therefore if you come across such experiences, do not stop your practice out of fright. Carry on. The pains cannot endanger you. They will certainly disappear if you persist in your meditation.
While concentrating on inhaling and exhaling, some people find themselves to be swinging inadvertently. If you have a similar experience, just say, ‘swinging, swinging’. while you are concentrating on it. In spite of this concentration, if swinging becomes wilder, either lean against a wall or lie on your bed, while concentrating on it. The swinging will disappear.
Sometimes while you are concentrating, you may have a very queer sensation from head to toe, and you get very easily frightened even by a little harmless noise. This sort of thing usually happens when your concentration is advanced.
If, while you are concentrating, you want to drink water, say, ‘wanting to drink water’. If you want to get up from your seat, say, ‘wanting to get up’. When you are getting up, or doing anything while meditating, do it slowly. You must have awareness of every movement of your limbs. Concentrating on the body that slowly rises up, you must say, ‘rising, rising, rising’ at every moment. If you have stood up, say, ‘standing up’. If you look at the jug, say, ‘looking’ or ‘seeing’. If you want to go to jug, say, ‘wanting to go ’. While you are going, say, ‘going, going’ at every step. Or you may say, ‘left/right’. You must be fully aware of every stage from raising to lowering. If you are walking slowly, say, ‘raising’ when you raise your feet and say, ‘lowering’ when you lower your feet.
Develop mindfulness gradually
During walking, when you can master the two stages of ‘raising’ and ‘lowering’ your feet, pick up one more stage like this: say ‘raising’ as soon as you raise your feet. Say ‘stepping’ as soon as you step. Say ‘Lowering’ as soon as you lower your feet. Remember three stages- raising, stepping and lowering. You must be fully aware of these three stages.
Whenever you see the jug or something else, say, ‘seeing’. If you stand near the jug, say, ‘standing’. When you want to stretch your hands towards the glass, say, ‘wanting to stretch’. When you stretch your hands slowly towards the glass, say, ‘stretching, stretching, stretching’. As soon as your hands touch the glass, say, ‘touching’. When you want to pour water into the glass, say, ‘wanting to pour’. When you pour water slowly into the glass, say, ‘pouring, pouring’.
When you want to bring the glass to your mouth, say, ‘wanting to bring’. As you slowly bring the glass towards your mouth, say, ‘bringing, bringing, bringing’. As soon as the glass touches your mouth, say, ‘touching’. When lips feel cold, say, ‘feeling cold, feeling cold’. While you are drinking slowly, say, ‘drinking, drinking, drinking’. As water is going down the mouth and the throat, your mouth and throat feel cold. You must be fully aware of it and say all the time, ‘feeling cold, feeling cold’. When you are slowly putting the glass or the jug back, say, ‘putting back, putting back’. When you want to drop your hands, say or not, that your ‘wanting to drop’. When you slowly put your hand down, say, ‘dropping, dropping, dropping’. If your hand touches your body, say, ‘touching, touching’. If you want to turn back, say, ‘wanting to turn’. When you turn slowly, say, ‘turning, turning, turning’. When you walk back to your place, concentrate on the steps, just as you did walk towards the jug. When you want to stand, say, ‘wanting to stand’. While you are standing, say, ‘standing, standing, standing’. After standing there for a while, concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
When you want to sit, say, ‘wanting to sit’. When you are walking to the place where you are going to sit, concentrate on your steps, saying the appropriate words, as before. When you reach that place, say, ‘reaching’. When you turn slowly, say, ‘turning, turning’. When you want to sit, say, ‘wanting to sit’. When you sitting slowly, say, ‘sitting, sitting, sitting’. You must be fully aware of every movement of sitting. Just after you have sat, there may be some movements of your hands and legs. Say the appropriate words while you are concentrating on every movement. After that, concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
If you want to sleep, say, ‘wanting to sleep’. When you are lying down on your bed, concentrate on every movement of your body, say, ‘lying, lying, lying’. When your head or body touches the pillow or bed, say, ‘touching, touching’. Just after you have lain on your bed, there may be some movements of your legs and hands. While concentrating on every movement, say something appropriate. After that concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
While you are lying on the bed, you must be fully aware of every movement of your body; all feelings and all bodily reactions that give rise to feelings; all kinds of thoughts appear. When you have nothing in particular to be aware of, then concentrate on breathing: inhaling and exhaling. When you want to sleep, say, ‘wanting to sleep, wanting to slip’. When your eyelids become heavy, say, ‘becoming heavy, becoming heavy’. If your awareness is good, sleepiness may go and you may become fully awake. Then concentrate on your becoming fully awake, say, ‘becoming awake, becoming awake’. After that concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. However sleepy you may be, you must not stop concentrating. It must be carried on at any cost, till you finally fall asleep.
Total awareness
It is not possible to concentrate when you are asleep. However, as soon as you are awake, you must be aware of it, and say, ‘becoming awake’. In the beginning, it will be difficult to be aware of it, so try to be aware of something as soon as you can. If you are thinking, you must be aware of it and say, ‘thinking, thinking’. After that if you work, concentrate on inhaling and exhaling to calm down and your able to work with others.
If you hear a certain sound, say, ‘hearing, hearing’. Then concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
You must be aware of all the movements, such as turning, bending, stretching, and call out each movement appropriately. If you think of the time, say, ‘thinking’. If you want to get up from bed, say, ‘wanting to get up’. Be fully aware of all the movements that lead to your getting up from bed. As you slowly get up from bed, say, ‘getting up, getting up’. While concentrating on every movement of your body, say, ‘sitting, sitting’ as soon as you have sat up. After that concentrate on inhaling and exhaling.
When you wash your face, when you take a bath, when you answer a call of nature, you must be fully aware of everything- whatever you look at, whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever you think, whatever you touch, whatever you pick up, whatever you do, even cleaning and washing in the toilet must be done with total awareness. When you are washing your hands, you must be aware of the movements of the hands. You must be aware of the cold, if the water is cold. You must be aware of the heat, if the water is hot. After washing your hands, when you tidy your dress, you must be fully aware of every movement. When you come out of bathroom, concentrate on every step, as before.
When you are eating, if you see something, say, ‘seeing, seeing, seeing’. When you smash or cut or roll your food, say, ‘smashing’ or ‘cutting’ or ‘rolling’. When you bring food to your mouth say, ‘bringing, bringing, bringing’. If you bend your head say, ‘bending’. If the food touches the mouth, say, ‘touching’. If you open the mouth, say, ‘opening, opening’. When the food is put into the mouth, say, ‘putting’. When you close your mouth, say, ‘closing’. When you drop your hands, say, ‘dropping, dropping’. If it touches the plate, say, ‘touching’. When you raise your head, say, ‘raising’. While chewing your food, say, ‘chewing. chewing’. If you get the taste of food, say, ‘tasting, tasting’. When you swallow, say, ‘swallowing, swallowing’. If the food touches the throat, say, ‘touching, touching’. In this manner, try your best to be aware of everything while you are taking food.
In the beginning, your mind may not find it possible to be aware of everything. Do not be disappointed if you cannot concentrate properly. After you have built up deep concentration, it will be easy to concentrate on many more things than those that have been mentioned here.
Higher Form of Concentration
After a few days, you will think that concentration on rising and falling has become very easy. You may feel that in addition to these two, you can put in one more object to concentrate on. At that stage, you have built up a deep meditation to a certain extent.
You may concentrate on your sitting posture besides rising and falling. Then concentrate on rising, falling and sitting. You must say, ‘rising, falling, sitting’. Just as you are fully aware of rising and falling, while you are saying, ‘rising, falling’, you must be fully aware of sitting, while you are saying, ‘sitting’.
While you are lying on your bed, concentration should be transferred from sitting to lying. In this posture, you must say, ‘rising, falling, lying’. You must be fully aware of lying just as you are full aware of rising and falling.
When your concentration becomes stronger, you may feel like adding one more object for concentration. Then you must concentrate on that part of your body which touches the bed, besides rising, falling and lying. In this case, you must say, ‘rising, falling, lying, touching’. You must be fully aware of all of these four- rising, falling, lying and touching. If you are sitting on a chair, say, ‘sitting’ instead of lying. If it suits better while sitting, you may say, ‘ rising, sitting, falling, sitting’. And while lying you may say, ‘rising, lying, falling, lying’.
While concentrating on one of the above sets of four, if you happen to see ordinary objects such as chairs, beds, tables, and so on in the room, you need not be aware of these ordinary objects.
While concentrating on one of these sets, the sight of such ordinary objects cannot lead your mind astray along some distracting train of thought. However if you intentionally look at some objects, even if they are ordinary, you must be aware of seeing them and say, ‘seeing’.
Be detached
If you see a special sight, such as a man or woman even if you do not look at it intentionally, you must say, ‘seeing, seeing’, many times, before you come back to your normal subject of concentration : inhaling and exhaling.
In the case of sound, the above rules apply too. Pay no attention to ordinary sounds. Go on with your concentration. However if you happen to do so, say, ‘listening, listening’ several times, before you come back to your concentration. When you hear distinct sounds, such as singing, barking of dogs, crowing of cocks, chirping of birds, you must say, ‘hearing, hearing’ several times before you go back to your concentration.
If you are not aware of the fact that you are seeing or hearing, and as a result of this un-awareness, if you do not say, ‘seeing’ or ‘hearing’, the sight or sound may lead your mind astray into a distracting train of thought. Such thoughts may give rise to greed, anger, lust etc. If because of this unawareness, you are thinking or planning or having a feeling of lust, say some appropriate words, as soon as you become aware of any of them, before you come back to your normal concentration. If you do not cut off your train of thought, being aware of it, it is quite possible that you may find it difficult to concentrate.
Sometimes it may happen like this: You will suddenly stand up, forgetting to make a note of your desire to stand up. You suddenly pick up an object from the floor, forgetting to make a note of your desire to pick it up. You lie down suddenly on your bed, forgetting to make note of your bodily movements. You remember, only after you have sat, or picked up the object or lain on the bed, that you had forgotten to make note of your desire to sit; to make note of your desire to pick up or to make note of your bodily movements. As soon as you are aware that you have forgotten to make note of any of these, say, ‘forgetting, forgetting’.
Maintain Awareness
In the beginning, before you acquire deep concentration, you may find this kind of concentration is ridiculous, un-interesting and dull. You must be fully aware of this feeling and say, ‘uninteresting, uninteresting’ and ‘feeling dull, feeling dull’. Sometimes you may doubt if this kind of concentration can lead to the annihilation of all mental defilements and bring insight. Be aware of this doubt and say, ‘doubting, doubting’. Sometimes you expect that your concentration will become good. Be fully aware of it and say, ‘expecting, expecting’. Sometimes you may recall in the afternoon what you experienced in the morning. You may recall in the evening, what you experienced in the afternoon. Be aware of it and say, ‘recalling, recalling’. If you are trying to analyze these past experiences you must be fully aware of it and say ‘analysing, analysing’. You may feel disappointed if your awareness is poor. Be aware of it and say, ‘Feeling disappointed, feeling disappointed’. You become happy, when awareness becomes better. Be aware of it and say, ‘feeling happy, feeling happy’. In this way you must be fully aware of whatever mental state you have.
You must be fully and constantly aware of everything from the time you become awake, till the time you finally fall asleep at night. You must never lapse into unawareness, even for a moment.
In the beginning you may sometimes feel sleepy. You will be required to make great effort to keep yourself awake, every now and then. However your concentration becomes stronger, you will not feel sleepy. You will be cheerfully alert.
Special Note for meditators
When sight or sound or smell or taste or touch or thought comes into contact with your eyes or ears or nose or tongue or body or mind, you must be aware of the contact at once. However, never concentrate on sight, etc. As soon as one of these objects comes into contact with the appropriate sense organ, you must divert your attention from the object to the fact of seeing, hearing etc. Outside objects must be shut off from your consciousness, as far as possible, by means of constant awareness. You have been asked to say for instance, ‘seeing, seeing’ when you see something. When you are saying, ‘seeing, seeing’, you must concentrate on the fact of seeing and not on the object of sight. You must do likewise in the case of other objects. Your mind must stand still on your body and mind. You must not allow it to be distracted by any outside object.
If you faithfully, earnestly and diligently follow the instructions, you will go up one stage of insight after another, until you finally reach the goal.
Vipassana insights
As a result of meditation, the meditator will acquire Vipassana insights that will lead him to the correct path to experience the real fruition of spiritual development. If the meditator does not realize these insights, either the method of meditation or the meditator is at fault.
The meditator should be forewarned that his experiences need not necessarily be on all the four methods of concentration.
For a detailed description of 16 insights that you will experience through the path of Vipassana meditation, you have to click here: sixteen Vipassana insights