Ask A Monk: Samatha and Vipassana
Why Buddhism Stack Exchange recommends it
Buddhism Stack Exchange answerers link it as a short, clear explanation of the difference between samatha and vipassana whenever questions about ordering or combining them come up.
Recommended by 3 people across 4 different months, 2014 to 2019.
What it is
A 12-minute Q&A from the 'Ask A Monk' series in which Theravada monk Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu answers a viewer asking how samatha (tranquility) and vipassana (insight) meditation differ and which should come first. He explains the two as distinct practices, tied to concepts versus ultimate realities as meditation objects.
What people said
Recommends Aung Ko Ko · 2016-02 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “How to balance samatha and vipassana practice?”
Should one practice vipassana every day in a formal sitting? No, you should practice Vipassana in all of your postures. Formally, there are four meditation postures (sitting/walking/standing/lying). You can read more about postures here: Postures for Meditation [LINK] . If so, how long should it be compared to samatha meditation, should it be practiced right before/after (not asking which comes first!) samatha or at anytime during the day? Samatha and Vipassana are totally different. You might want to watch this: Ask A Monk: Samatha and Vipassana [this video] . See also: Vipassana Instructions [LINK] .
Recommends ruben2020 · 2017-10 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “Which is the easiest of the four paths for a novice lay practitioner?”
In the Yuganaddha Sutta (AN 4.170) [LINK] , there is described the four paths stated below. Insight refers to vipassana [LINK] and tranquility refers to samatha [LINK] . Development of tranquility before development of insight Development of insight before development of tranquility Tranquility developed in tandem with insight Mind's restlessness concerning the Dhamma well under control (I guess this is "dry insight") Of these four paths, which is the easiest, smoothest and most pleasant to a novice lay practitioner? And why? Or is this question invalid, because meditation, insight and jhana is not suited to the lay practitioner? Please provide quotes to support your answer from the Buddha's
Recommends Murathan1 · 2019-02 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “How do visualisation meditation practices relate to insight?”
I don't know so much about Tibetan Buddhism but I just wanted to share some informations about visualisation and related meditation methods. Ven. Yuttadhammo talks about Samatha and Vipassana meditation: [this video] Visualisation is a Samatha meditation object. If a person can completely focus his/her mind to that concept(visualisation) then the mind enters to a trance state and become tranquil, peaceful. Also the person then naturally is capable to have magical experiences like seeing the past lifes, astral projection, reading other people's minds, seeing the future etc. If the person decides to look to the nature of the reality with that clear and sharp mind then gaining insight and letting go
Recommends Murathan1 · 2019-03 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “Choosing Between Mindfulness and Compassion Meditation”
My limited knowledge about compassion meditation is that it does/can generate some type of meditative concentration. Here is a little explanation of compassion meditation: [LINK] Mindfulness gradually grows awareness(which leads to more tranquilty in a person but only after attaining high enlightenment stages it becomes permanent) and during the path it temporarily generates mind states with high awareness too. For the first question, I think this part of the video(6:40-7:38) can be helpful: [this video] Mindfulness is the only way to gain insight, purify the mind and achieve enlightenment. If you wish you can mix your mindfulness practise with Samatha, compassion meditation or other types of med
Cites samnish · 2014-06 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “In meditation, should one pursue tranquility first, prior to looking for insight?”
According to my understanding, the goal of the meditation is to see the ultimate reality of the world and understand the world as it is. So both of the techniques are required to understand the reality and they are inter related . Although the purpose and the results of Samatha(tranquility) and Vipassana(insight) meditation are different, we need both to reach our final goal. I think as a beginner we can start with any technique based on the status of our mind as at the beginning of the meditation. For example there are some days, that our mind is so peaceful, calm, and focused. So we can directly start the "Vipassana" meditation. In the other hand if the mind is restless and unsettled, we c
Cites tkp · 2015-03 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “What determines whether a style of meditation can or cannot lead to insight?”
On [this video] @Yuttadhammo seems to say that tranquility meditation requires focus on a concept and as a result -- i.e. because a concept is not "real" -- that meditation cannot lead to insight. And, by way of contrast, he says that the rise and fall of the abdomen can lead to insight because the abdomen (and its rise and fall) is real. Is that -- the nature/reality of the meditation object -- the primary difference between meditation intended to achieve tranquility and that intended to achieve insight? But if so, how does that tally with Y's answer [LINK] to this question [LINK] . There, he notes that the Visuddhimagga allows for insight to be achieved by scrutinising “mentality” (nāma). But h
Cites Sankha Kulathantille · 2018-05 · Buddhism Stack Exchange · on “How do I practise meditation according to the Satipatthana Sutta?”
@Val separating them is very useful to point out what you are doing wrong. Pure tranquility will never lead to understanding reality. Here's a related video [this video] . Dhammanupassana includes all the other 3 but you are looking at them as phenomena. Ex: Desire, aversion are part of the five hindrances and Vedana comes under the five aggregates.