The 16 stages of insight

Transcript

Hello friends welcome back I'm Beth here to help you fulfill your potential in meditation as most of you know I don't have just one method that I teach to everybody like one size fits all instead I much prefer to teach people one-on-one and the reason is that you're all different so please use these videos as a guideline and if there's anything that isn't quite working for you or anything that doesn't quite fit then be in touch and I'll be more than happy to discuss those things with you one on one today's video is about the 16 stages of insight in Pali we call these as 16 stages of vipassana and these are 16 stages that lead us to the experience of nibbana so they are very important stages now today I'm just going to give a brief overview of what these 16 stages are and later I will make separate videos on each of these stages and how you practice at that stage so what are these 16 stages of insight well each stage of insight is characterized by what we call in Pali a nyana Nana translates as knowledge so we could think of these as 16 stages of progressively deepening knowledge of reality so the first stage of insight is what Empire we call namarupa parichayanyana which translates as Discerning or defining Nama and Rupa Nama is that which makes up the mind and Rupa is that which makes up the body and the whole of physical reality now the important point with namaroopa parichay danyana is that we are learning to see Nama and Rupa on the level that they are momentarily passing away now for the body and for the physical world what this means is that we are seeing materiality as made up of tiny little particles that are momentarily coming into and out of existence we call these particles calapas and also we are seeing the individual types of materiality that make up those calapas for the mind we are seeing the mind is made up of very many moments arising and passing away one after the other really quickly and also we are seeing the different types of mentality the different types of mental qualities that make up one moment now namaroopa parichay and Yana Discerning and defining materiality and mentality is the foundation for the whole of the rest of our vipassana practice so it's important that we do it well what we're in essence doing in this nyana in this knowledge is learning what the objects of our vipassana practice are so what are we paying attention to when we practice with pasta now we're paying attention to these momentary phenomena of materiality and mentality now the second vipassana the second Insight knowledge is pachya parigaha nyana and this means Discerning the causes of these momentary phenomena so what is causing them to arise now some of the causes will lie in this life and some of the causes will lie in the same moment but some of the causes will lie in past lives and so when we practice Pacha pariga hanyana understanding the causes it's important that we also see the past lives so that we can see the cause and effect relationship of these momentary phenomena over lifetimes the next vipassana is called Sama sananyana and this is where we start to see the three characteristics of all of these momentary phenomena the three characteristics are first of all that all of these momentary phenomena are Anita impermanent secondly they are suffering duka thirdly they are non-self not me not mine and NATA so anicha duka anata in permanent suffering and non-self the next Insight knowledge the next vipassana is and in this knowledge it's called the knowledge of a rising and passing away so at this stage it's obvious that all of these momentary phenomena are arising and passing away but importantly we also need to see that the causes of these momentary phenomena are also arising and passing away so not only are these material particles arising and passing away right now but whatever caused them is also arising and passing away not only are moments of Mind arising and passing away right now but also whatever caused these moments of mind is also arising and passing away so this knowledge really deepens our understanding of the three characteristics of Anita duka anata in permanent suffering and non-self the fifth vipassana the fifth Insight knowledge is banganyana and this is a really powerful Insight knowledge a really powerful stage of vipassana at bangana the wisdom is so sharp that we no longer see the arising stage of the arising and passing away we only see the perishing so in this stage of vipassana wherever we put our attention all we see is Nama and Rupa perishing materiality and mentality perishing and the mind can absorb in that vipassana in that stage of meditation for a long time when the mind has spent a long time in bangana the knowledge of the disappearing or Vanishing or perishing then there will arise bayanyana and these are seeing the danger and the fearsomeness in all of this perishing materiality and mentality and all of this perishing momentary phenomena and when we see the danger and the fearsomeness in it eventually the mind will disenchant nibira means disenchantment we don't want to be with it anymore following that stage of insight there will come a stage called monchito Kama yatanyana and this is longing to be free from all of this perishing longing to be free from all of this momentary phenomena there will then be a knowledge called Patty sankanyana which is a reviewing knowledge and after that reviewing knowledge there'll be a renewed commitment to the practice and what we'll follow is a beautiful stage of meditation called sankaro pecanana is often translated as Equanimity towards all formations and this is a stage of vipassana where everything has become included in our wisdom and everything is the same in its characteristics of being impermanent suffering and non-self and Niche the happiness is perishing the sadness is perishing the hot is perishing the cold is perishing and the individual characteristics of different aspects of reality don't matter anymore because they're all the same in their nature of perishing they're all the same in their nature of being impermanent suffering and non-self so the mind will settle into a deep peaceful Equanimity in which the wisdom is incredibly Sharp now it is based on this Equanimity towards all formations that the mind will incline to nibana in that stage of meditation Equanimity towards all formations there's nothing extra that we can do to nudge the mind to nibbana because we notice that that doing that nudging is also impermanent suffering and non-self and so at that stage we just wait there in Sankara pecanana seeing the perishing of all phenomena and when the wisdom is ripe there will arise two moments anuloma and gotrabbu these are just two moments that prepare the mind for nibana and then we will have maganyana and Jana now these were usually translate in English as path knowledge and fruition knowledge in the past knowledge the mind will experience nibana and certain defilements of mind will be destroyed forever the fruition knowledge follows directly after that and the fruition knowledge enjoys the experience of nibbana now that fruition knowledge might last for a long time or a short time depending on the strength of the attainment and when the Mind exits from that fruition knowledge there will come Pacho akanyana pachawakanana is the final Insight knowledge and it reviews that experience of Nirvana it's essentially the knowledge that says what just happened what was that so those are the 16 stages of insight as I said super important stages for the attainment of nibbana I'll be making separate videos on each of those stages individually and how we actually practice at those stages so if you're interested in the practice then watch those videos if any of this if anything is confusing you if anything isn't working for you then be in touch with me Are we more than happy to discuss those things with you one-on-one as most of you know I do all of my work on a donation basis so I encourage you to support me either through patreon or through my website so that I can continue to make these videos thank you so much for your support wishing you the best with your meditation