The Path of Insight

 

Vipassana and the Birth of Mindfulness

Around the 5th century BCE, in the rich spiritual landscape of ancient India and Nepal, a prince named Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a Bodhi tree in India and resolved not to rise until he had seen clearly into the nature of suffering and liberation. His journey into stillness gave rise to one of the world’s most enduring spiritual traditions: Buddhism, and the foundational meditation practice known as Vipassana, or “insight.”

Body Tree by Neil Satyam. Taken 16 June 2013.

The Buddha did not invent meditation. He was shaped by the yogic and ascetic practices of his time, many of which he studied and mastered before finding them ultimately unsatisfying. What he discovered instead was a middle path: a way of seeing clearly, without force or denial, rooted in present-moment awareness and non-reactivity. This method of meditative observation … later named Vipassana … was revolutionary in its simplicity and depth.

Vipassana means “to see things as they really are.” It is not a practice of mantras or visualisation, but of direct observation of the body, breath, and mind. Through sustained awareness of sensation, thought, and emotion, practitioners begin to see the impermanent, interconnected, and selfless nature of all experience. It is here, in this honest seeing, that the seeds of liberation are planted.

This style of meditation was preserved in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, particularly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand. It would later be reintroduced to the modern world in the 20th century by teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw, S. N. Goenka, and Ajahn Chah, becoming the foundation for what we now call Mindfulness Meditation in the West.

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Meditation Practice: Vipassana (Insight Meditation)

While traditional Vipassana retreats often involve ten days of silent, intensive practice, the essence of the technique can be introduced in small, steady ways.

The heart of Vipassana is noticing what is, without interference or judgement.

Vipassana – to begin again, and again. Each breath, each sensation, each thought, an opportunity to awaken.

A simple practice to begin:

1. Find a quiet seat. Let the body settle. Bring attention to the breath, as it naturally moves in and out.
2. Begin to scan the body, noticing physical sensations … tingling, warmth, tightness, pulsing. Not naming or changing, simply noticing.
3. As thoughts arise, acknowledge them gently – “thinking” – and return to the sensations of the body.
4. Keep awareness anchored in the present moment, noticing each shift and change as it happens.

This is a practice of bare attention, noticing impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and not-self (anattā). Over time, this clarity, non-judgment and non-reactivity begin to transform the way we relate to ourselves and the world.

“Vipassana is a process of self-purification by self-observation.”
– S. N. Goenka

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Type of Meditation: Vipassana / Insight Meditation
Root Tradition: Theravada Buddhism
Key Region: India, Sri Lanka, SE Asia
Rough Timeframe: 500 BCE – Present