Prof. Lin Chong-an: Essentials of Śamatha and Vipaśyanā in the *Yogācārabhūmi·Śrāvakabhūmi*, Part 2 — The Four Types of Vipaśyanā (Insight)
(2) The Four Types of Vipaśyanā (Insight)
(2) The Four Types of Vipaśyanā (Insight)
◎ Meditation cannot do without vipaśyanā.
◎ Vipaśyanā is insight, and it comes in four kinds.
[The Four Types of Vipaśyanā]
◎ What are the four types of vipaśyanā?
When a bhikṣu relies on inner śamatha, they are able to correctly investigate, thoroughly investigate, broadly search, and broadly examine all dharmas. These are called the four types of vipaśyanā.
I. Correct Investigation
What is meant by "correct investigation"?
It means: with respect to the objects of purifying conduct, the objects of skillful means, or the objects of purifying defilements, one correctly investigates their exhaustive nature (sarvākāratā).
II. Most Thorough Investigation
What is meant by "most thorough investigation"?
It means: with respect to those very objects, one most thoroughly investigates their suchness (tathāvatā).
III. Extensive Searching
What is meant by "extensive searching"?
It means: with respect to those very objects, through conceptual attention joined with wisdom, one grasps their characteristics and searches them broadly.
IV. Extensive Examination
What is meant by "extensive examination"?
It means: with respect to those very objects, one carefully and precisely investigates and examines them broadly.
◎ This same vipaśyanā, through the differentiation of its objects by three gates and six aspects, should be understood to have many further distinctions.
◎ What are the three gates of vipaśyanā?
I. Vipaśyanā that follows only the characteristic; II. Vipaśyanā that follows searching; III. Vipaśyanā that follows examination.
○ What is meant by "vipaśyanā that follows only the characteristic"?
It means: with respect to dharmas one has heard and retained, or to the dharmas of instruction and guidance, on the ground of concentration one applies yoniso manaskāra (rational attention), briefly attending without deliberating, measuring, inferring, or examining. This is called vipaśyanā that follows only the characteristic.
○ If one then deliberates and investigates those dharmas, this is called vipaśyanā that follows searching.
○ If, having examined those dharmas, one reviews and observes them again as they have been set forth, this is called vipaśyanā that follows examination.
◎ What is vipaśyanā with objects differentiated by six aspects?
It means: when searching, one searches six aspects — I. meaning, II. thing, III. characteristic, IV. class, V. time, VI. reason. Having searched, one then examines more closely.
I. Searching the Meaning
What is meant by "searching the meaning"?
It means correctly searching: such-and-such words have such-and-such meaning. This is called searching the meaning.
II. Searching the Thing
What is meant by "searching the thing"?
It means correctly searching the two kinds of things, internal and external. This is called searching the thing.
III. Searching the Characteristic
What is meant by "searching the characteristic"?
It means correctly searching the two characteristics of all dharmas: first, the specific characteristic (svalakṣaṇa); second, the general characteristic (sāmānyalakṣaṇa). This is called searching the characteristic.
IV. Searching the Class
What is meant by "searching the class"?
It means correctly searching the two classes of dharmas: first, the dark class; second, the bright class.
One searches the faults and dangers of the dark class, and the merits and virtues of the bright class. This is called searching the class.
V. Searching the Time
What is meant by "searching the time"?
It means correctly searching the three times — past, future, and present: searching that such a thing existed in the past, that it will exist in the future, that it exists in the present. This is called searching the time.
VI. Searching the Reason
What is meant by "searching the reason"? It means correctly searching four kinds of reasoning:
I. Reason of dependence; II. Reason of function; III. Reason of valid proof; IV. Reason of natural suchness.
○ Through the reason of dependence, one searches the conventional as conventional, the ultimate as ultimate, and causes and conditions as causes and conditions.
○ Through the reason of function, one searches the functions of all dharmas: that such-and-such dharmas have such-and-such functions.
○ Through the reason of valid proof, one searches the three pramāṇas (means of valid cognition): I. āptāgama (trustworthy teaching); II. anumāna (inference); III. pratyakṣa (direct realization).
That is, one correctly searches: does such-and-such a meaning have the support of a trustworthy teaching? Is it attainable through direct realization? Should it be inferred?
○ Through the reason of natural suchness, one should generate faith and understanding in dharmas as they truly are — their established dharma-nature, inconceivable dharma-nature, and abiding dharma-nature — and should not conceptualize or discriminate about them.
This is called searching the reason.
◎ This vipaśyanā of six differentiated aspects, together with the three gates of vipaśyanā mentioned above, briefly encompasses all vipaśyanā.
◎ Question: For what reason is this vipaśyanā of six differentiated aspects established?
Answer: It is established on the basis of three kinds of awareness. What are the three?
I. Awareness of word and meaning; II. Awareness of the extent of things; III. Awareness of things as they truly are.
○ Through searching the meaning, the awareness of word and meaning arises.
○ Through searching the thing and its specific characteristics, the awareness of the extent of things arises.
○ Through searching the general characteristics, class, time, and reason, the awareness of things as they truly are arises.
◎ A practitioner of yoga has only this much as the object of knowledge — namely, the word-and-meaning, and the exhaustive nature and the suchness of all knowable things.
[Appendix]
Question: At what point can one say that śamatha and vipaśyanā turn together equally and simultaneously, thereby being called the path of unified practice (yuganaddha-mārga)?
Answer: When one has attained the ninth of the nine abidings of mind — that is, samāhita — and uses this consummate samādhi as a basis to cultivate superior wisdom in the contemplation of dharmas, the path then turns spontaneously through contemplating dharmas, without effort and without applied striving. Vipaśyanā becomes pure and luminous, regulated and sustained by śamatha, turning in the manner of the path sustained by śamatha. At this point it is called the equal and simultaneous operation of śamatha and vipaśyanā, the two together.
This is called the path of unified practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā (yuganaddha-mārga).