Introduction to Vipassana Meditation
It was in 2004, the Shiva Sutra and Buddha Sutra transcendental art were channeled into the black and white drawing in separate large media paper. The time has come now to reconnect properly with its historical context, the Shiva Sutra referred in the Astadhyayi of Panini was popularly known as Shiva Sutra as they said have been revealed to Panini by Shiva. During the 4th century BCE, Panini was born in Pushkalavati, Gandhara (Pakistan). He was a Sanskrit grammarian who gave a comprehensive theory on phonetics, phonology and morphology, Sanskrit was the classical literary language of the Indian Hindus and Panini was considered the founder of language and literature. It is interesting to note that “Sanskrit” means “complete” or “perfect” and it was thought to be a divine language or language of the gods.
Image 1: Hindu Asli (Origin of Hinduism)
A sutra is a Sanskrit word that means “string, thread”. In Indian literary traditions, sutras are genre of ancient and medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The oldest sutras of Hinduism are found in the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of the Vedas. Every school of Hindu philosophy, Vedic guides for rites of passage, various fields of arts, law and social ethics developed respective sutras, which helped teach and transmit ideas from one generation to the next.
Mandala is another Sanskrit word which can be found in Rgveda, a title of the chapters in its book.
Buddha Sutra
In Buddhism, sutra or sutta refers mostly refer to canonical scriptures, many of which are regarded as records of the oral teachings of Gautama Buddha. The Pali form of the word, sutta is used exclusively to refer to the scriptures of the early Pali Canon, the only texts recognized by Theravada Buddhism as canonical.
The Mahayana tradition is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term of classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. Candi Borobudur is the largest 9th century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.
Image 2: Prakrit
The Prakrits became literary languages, generally patronized by ancient Indian kings identified with the Kshatriya Varna of Hinduism, but were regarded as illegitimate by the orthodoxy. Th earliest extant usage of Prakrit is the corpus of inscriptions of Emmperor Asoka (r. 268–232 BCE). Besides this, Prakrit appears in literature in the form of Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhists, Prakrit canon of the Jains, Prakrit grammars and in lyrics, plays and epics of the times. The various Prakrit languages are associated with different patron dynasties, with different religions and different literary traditions, as well as different regions of the Indian subcontinent. Each Prakrit represents a distinct tradition of literature within the history of India and Nepal.
Vipassana
Vipassana or vispasyana in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality, namely as the “Three Marks of Existence”, impermanence, suffering or dissatisfaction, and the realization of Non-Self. It is a Pali word from the Sanskrit prefix “vi-” and verbal root pas. It is often translated as “insight” or “clear-seeing”, in Indo-Aryan language is equivalent to, “see into”, see through or to see” in a special way or seeing deeply.
In Tibetan, vipasyana is lhagthong, it means “super seeing”, a “great vision” or “supreme wisdom”. This may be interpreted as a “superior manner of seeing”, and also as “seeing that which is the essential nature”. Its nature is lucidity - clarity of mind.
Relation with Samatha (Samadhi)
Samatha is a primary meditation aimed at calming the mind, and it is also being used in other traditions, notably Raja Yoga.
Meditation
In Patanjali, the focus of meditation is one-ness with Shiva (God), its goal is achieving the serene blissful feeling of surpassing the duality of perception. The old text in Patanjali provided the insights and expectations in the meditation which will agreed into the excerpted truth in Vipassana, the random pattern movements of the mind are motorized by the (1) instinct, followed by the (2) intuition, (3) knowledge, (4) discriminating the true or false, (5) achieving the truth.
The path of the truth-seekers are motivated in eliminating ignorance (avidya) and suffering (cause and effect). The "Three Marks of Existence" teaches in recognizing that time brought changes (impermanence), the beginning and end brought suffering for those people who are so attached deeply with the present, the lost time of preparation caused dissatisfaction to one's self. The realization of Non-Self relates with the eternity or the eternal self, the essence of life.
Modern practitioners of meditation uses the breathing exercise for relaxation and emotional detoxification. The breathing exercises is closely associated with mindfulness and total awareness of chi or life-force inside and outside the body.
Whereas, the old tradition focuses the consciousness of one-ness with God (universe) in total surrender, to enable the mind find its natural ability to process its instinct and derived the truth by separating illusion which does not exist or recorded in the past nor the present.
Reference: 1. http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/…/sage-panini-sanskrit-li…/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakrit
