Page 94 - Dhamma Practice

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To Wilfully Contemplate with Non-self and Minor Bodily Movements
Dhamma greetings to all practitioners. Today is the fourth day of our vipassana practice. I am glad that everyone is still here. I am even gladder that everyone is making progress. Now we are able to relate our vipassana experience well. Well in what way? In the sense that we are able to describe the emergence-cessation phenomenon, to describe changes in the phenomena and the natural conditions that emerge, clearly. Another question that we practitioners should know or should examine is to know exactly why we practice vipassana.
The way to contemplate—as I have taught since day one—is to take the feeling of “us” out off our body. Extinguish the feeling of “us”. This is important—we must contemplate all phenomena with a sense of “non- self”, or with an unburdened mind. How good does this feel? We must be able to tell ourselves how it is good. That is one thing. The way to examine whether there is still self or non-self is to observe the phenomenon that emerges. For example, as we experience the inflate- deflate phenomenon—that phenomenon and that mind that experiences—are they one of the same or are they different? When we sit, the body that sits and the mind that experiences—are they one of the same or are they different? This is how we observe.