Author: Dhamma Paññā

The Nine Stages of Liberating Insight a. Contemplation of arising and passing away (udayabbayānupassanā-ñāṇa): seeing the arising of physical and mental phenomena

The Seven Stages of Purification 1. Purification of virtue (sīla-visuddhi): Cleanse your virtues—in thought, word, and deed—in line with your station in

Exercises for Insight Meditation These are techniques for giving rise to knowledge and insight, via the mind, into the natural

The Four Forms of Acumen 1. Attha-paṭisambhidā: acumen with regard to meaning. 2. Dhamma-paṭisambhidā: acumen with regard to mental qualities. 3. Nirutti-paṭisambhidā: acumen with regard to

The Eight Skills 1. Vipassanā-ñāṇa: clear insight into the elements (dhātu), the aggregates (khandha), and the sense media (āyatana). 2. Manomayiddhi: the ability to project mind-made images. 3. Iddhividhi: supernormal powers.

The Three Skills 1. Pubbenivāsānussati-ñāṇa: the ability to remember past lives. 2. Cutūpapāta-ñāṇa: the ability to know where living beings are reborn after death.

Jhāna The highest level of concentration—fixed penetration—follows on threshold concentration. If mindfulness and alertness arise while you are in threshold

Two Kinds of Vision 1. Acquired images (uggaha nimitta): Sometimes when the mind settles down, a vision of one sort or another

The Five Forms of Rapture 1. Minor rapture (khuddakā pīti): Your hair stands on end, and tears come to your eyes, either

On the Meditation Syllable The meditation syllable used as a preliminary basis for concentration—buddho, arahaṁ or whatever—is something that eventually should

Two Levels of Concentration 1. Momentary concentration: the act of the mind’s growing still for a moment, like a person

On the Mind’s Levels of Becoming 1. A mind whose underlying preoccupation is coupled with sadness or pain is bound

Mental Phenomena as a Theme of Meditation Anything not visible to the eye but experienced as a sensation of the

Methods for Attaining Tranquility Use the body as a theme for attaining tranquility as follows: Focus on the properties of

The Two Themes of Meditation 1. Samatha-kammaṭṭhāna : tranquility meditation—techniques for stilling the mind; 2. Vipassanā-kammaṭṭhāna : insight meditation—techniques for developing discernment. The objects

The Six Propensities 1. Rāga-carita: a propensity to passion and longing. 2. Dosa-carita: a propensity to irritation and aversion. 3. Moha-carita: a propensity to delusion and

The Five Hindrances 1. Kāma-chanda: sensual desires; an attraction to sensual objects. For the mind to be attracted to sensual objects, a