EXERCISE 10 - Vipassana, or insight meditation

1. The posture is the same as for tranquility meditation. Your eyes are not focused on the floor, but directed straight ahead into the distance. This will include your peripheral vision.
2. As you breathe, notice whatever enters your attention visually. Remember the exercise with the book cover? That focused on one object. Now you are simply experiencing whatever you can see.
 3. Don't become fascinated with what you see. Simply remain aware. You will find that your mind wanders from one thing to the next: the texture of the carpet, the color of the wall, the light coming in the window, the picture on the wall, the leg of a chair— whatever is there to be seen.

This meditation helps you to become aware of your surroundings, and to appreciate the detail and richness around you.

We seldom take the time to view the world in this kind of intense way. As you learn to do this, you will find that your day-to-day environment seems brighter and more interesting.


Trungpa Rinpoche adds this about vipassana:

This basic form of meditation is concerned with trying to see what is. There are many variations on this form of meditation, but they are generally based on various techniques for opening oneself. The achievement of this kind of meditation is... what one might call "working meditation" or extrovert meditation, where skillful means and wisdom must be combined like the two wings of a bird. This is not a question of trying to retreat from the world.