The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
24 December 2025
Q: What is the best way to practise vipassanā?
Than Ajahn: Vipassanā means the development of wisdom (insight), to see the true nature of things.
Before you can develop vipassanā, you have to develop samatha or samādhi first because the mind that is not calm will not have the ability to see things as they are.
The mind that is still clouded with delusion will not be able to see that everything is impermanent, everything is bad for the mind, everything hurts the mind, everything is not under your control. So, you have to first clear the cloud of delusion by practicing samādhi.
Samādhi is the practice of calming the mind.
You should first meditate to make the mind becomes calm and peaceful. Once the mind becomes calm and peaceful, the mind will be clear like a glass that has been cleaned then when you look at things, you’ll look at them in their true way, you look at them exactly for what they are.
Before you develop vipassanā, you’ll have to develop samādhi first by using mindfulness.
You need mindfulness to stop your mind from thinking.
If you don’t have mindfulness, you will not be able to stop the mind from thinking. When you cannot stop the mind from thinking, then the mind cannot be still, calm and peaceful. So, you have to first learn how to develop mindfulness.
Mindfulness is developed using the 40 objects of meditation. We call them, ‘kammaṭṭhāna.’ In Thailand, we recite a mantra ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho,’ continuously all the time during our waking hours, from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep.
Then, we can prevent the mind from thinking. We only stop reciting when we have to think. If we don’t have to think, then we should not let the mind think aimlessly.
We stop thinking by reciting the mantra. For example, you should not let the mind think when you are preparing yourself to go to work, such as when you’re taking a bath, washing, brushing your teeth, dressing, eating. You stop thinking by reciting the mantra, ‘Buddho, Buddho, Buddho.’
If you don’t like to use the mantra, you can use another method that is by concentrating on your body movement. Keep watching what your body is doing at that moment. If you keep focusing your mind on the action your body is doing, your mind can’t go think about other things. If your mind goes to think about other things, it means that your mind is not focusing on the action you are doing. So those are the ways to build up your mindfulness. Once you have mindfulness, then you can sit and meditate to make the mind becomes calm.
When you sit, you are mindful of the breath.
You are watching your breath: watch when the breath comes in, watch when the breath goes out. Watch it at one point, usually at the tip of the nose. And if you can watch your breath and focus on it, you will not think about other things. If you think, you should ignore it.
Come back to your breath. If you can persist, eventually your mind will stop thinking. Your mind will become calm, peaceful and clear.
When you withdraw from that state of meditation, your mind will still be clear. Then, you can develop vipassanā. Teach your mind to look at everything as impermanent.
Everything comes and goes. Everything rises and ceases. Everything is not under your control. You cannot control it. You cannot stop it from coming or going. The only thing you can do is to accept it for what it is. If you can accept it, you won’t be hurt. You will only be hurt if you resist it. When you resist something, you become stressful and unhappy. But if you accept it, you become calm and peaceful. This is the practice of vipassanā.
“Dhamma in English, Jun 19, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
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