ON UNDIRECTED INSIGHT AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONCENTRATION AND INSIGHT

ON UNDIRECTED INSIGHT AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONCENTRATION AND INSIGHT

“…when you meditate you can’t sit down and say, 'Okay, this particular session I’m going to understand dependent co-arising. I'm going to understand my childhood hang-ups.' That doesn’t get you anywhere. Just tell yourself, 'For this breath I’m going to be right here. I’m going to be mindful. I’m going to try to settle down with the breath as well as I can.'

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There are parts of the meditation you can will, which is why the Buddha talks about them. For example, the type of awareness you have: You can will to be aware of the whole body as you breathe in; you can will to be aware of the whole body as you breathe out. You can will to let the breath grow calm. You can will to focus your attention on pleasure or rapture or wherever you want to focus it in regard to the breath. Those are things you can will.

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That’s the difference between concentration and insight. Concentration is a matter of using your will. It’s fabricated, as the Buddha says. But insight is something you can’t will. Even though you tell yourself 'I’m going to be very carefully noting this and noting that,' that’s a very precise form of concentration. It’s not vipassana; it’s not insight.

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The insight is the understanding that comes when you suddenly see things right in front of you, and many times it’s not what you were told you were going to see. And the real test as to whether it’s genuine insight is if it brings the mind to peace. Even when it’s genuine insight, you have to let it go when it has done its work and just go back to the technique. If it’s something that really makes a big difference in the mind, it can’t help but make a difference in the mind. You don’t have to memorize it, you don’t have to jot it down, you don’t have to try to make yourself see things in that light from then on in. That’s a false kind of insight, in which your perceptions cover up the possibility of any new insight’s arising right after them.

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So whatever comes up in the practice, you take note of it and let it pass. If it’s important, it’ll shift the ground under your feet. If it’s not, then why bother with it? Just let it go. Your one job is to stick with the basic steps of the practice…”

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Excerpt from “Undirected Insight”
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You can read the complete talk here:
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ePubDhammaTalks_v1/Section0003.html