The X-Ray Vision of Vipassanā

Ajahn Anan, speaking on 11 June 2022, explains why the mind needs a meditation object (kammaṭṭhāna). He contrasts a conventional knowledge of impermanence, stress and not-self with direct knowing, and describes bringing the mind to the breath at the abdomen, with initial and sustained application of mind, until a contentment arises that differs from the pleasure of praise or gain.

When the mind leaves that state, he says, it has the energy to contemplate. Faith in the Buddha comes first, then personal seeing: he compares vipassanā to x-ray vision into the body’s decay, and to seeing that nothing in the world belongs to us. He closes with the layered teaching given to Yasa (generosity, virtue, seclusion, then the four noble truths) and encourages the listeners to practise.