Vipashyana

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Kamalashila whose Stages of Meditation describe vipashyana practice

Vipashyana (Skt. vipaśyanā; Tib. ལྷག་མཐོང་, lhaktong, Wyl. lhag mthong) — 'clear seeing' or 'insight' meditation. It is one of the two main aspects of the practice of meditation on the Buddhist path, the other being shamatha, or 'calm abiding' meditation.

Etymology

  • Vi is short for vishesa (Skt. viśeṣa), which means ‘special’, ‘superior’, or ‘particular’
  • Pashyana (Skt. paśyanā) means ‘to see’ or ‘to look’
  • Lhak is ‘unique’ and
  • tong is ‘seeing’.

So, it means ‘to look at things in a very direct and especially clear way’.

Prerequisites for Vipashyana

Kamalashila’s second Stages of Meditation (Skt. Bhāvanākrama) mentions three prerequisites for developing vipashyana:

  1. Reliance upon a spiritual teacher
  2. Genuinely engaging in extensive study
  3. Appropriate reflection

Alternative Translations

  • intense insight (Dharma Publishing)
  • superior seeing
  • superior insight
  • penetrative insight
  • transcendent insight
  • wider vision

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

Edited Teachings of Sogyal Rinpoche

  • Vipashyana—Preliminary Practices, Dzogchenlink January 2004

Further Reading

  • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, 'Shamatha and Vipashyana', in View: The Rigpa Journal, July 2010, pages 18-22.
  • Andy Karr, Contemplating Reality (Boston: Shambala Publications, 2007), chapter 17
  • Sogyal Rinpoche, A Treasury of Dharma (Lodeve: Rigpa, 2005), Part IV 'Meditation'.
  • Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, The Practice of Tranquility and Insight—A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1993).
  • Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso, Mahamudra Vipashyana, trans. Jules B. Levinson, Michele Martin, and Jim Scott (Halifax, N.S.: Vajravairochana Translation Committee, 1993)