-By Vipassana Research Institute
The Pāli term 'vedanā', rendered in English as 'feeling' or 'sensation', is derived from the root 'vid', which means 'to experience'. When an object comes in the range of a sense organ, a simple contact is thereby established with the mind, which experiences that object as sensation or vedanā. Therefore, the key to direct experience (paccanubhotipaccanubhoti) is vedanā, since through it we actually encounter and experience the world. As stated in the Pāli texts:
Vedayati ti vedanā, sā vedayita lakkhaṇā, anubhavanarasā...1
That which feels the object is feeling (vedanā); its characteristic is to experience, its function is to realise the object….
It follows that in order to realise anything at the experiential level, one has to work with vedanā.
The Buddha described vedanā in various ways. In the Bahu-Vedaniya Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya,2 he mentioned and analysed several types of sensations by groups: two types, three types, five, six... eighteen, up to one hundred and eight varieties.3 However, when defining it more precisely, he spoke of vedanā as having both mental and physical aspects. Without mind, matter alone cannot feel anything. It is the mind that feels, but what it feels has an inextricable physical element: the sukha-vedana (pleasant sensations), dukkha-vedana (unpleasant sensations) and adukkhamasukhavedana (neutral sensations).
For the actual practice taught by the Buddha, it is this physical aspect of vedanā which is of particular importance, since it is the most direct and tangible way to experience the anicca (impermanence) of ourselves, and so to develop wisdom. Anicca is a fact to be realised not by merely relating it intellectually to the outside world. Rather, it must be experienced internally. We must experience ourselves as we really are—each a transitory phenomenon, changing every moment. This experience of anicca at the level of sensations results in the gradual dissolution of attachment and egotism. Describing the importance of the physical aspect of vedanā for the realisation of nibbāna (liberation), the Buddha said:
Yathāpi vātā ākāse, vāyanti vividhā puthū; Puratthimā pacchimā cāpi, uttarā atha dakkhiṇā. Sarajā arajā capi, sītā uṇhā ca ekadā; Adhimattā parittā ca, puthū vāyanti mālutā. Tathevimasmiṃ kāyasmiṃ, samuppajjanti vedanā; Sukhadukkhasamuppatti, adukkhamasukhā ca yā. Yato ca bhikkhu ātāpī, sampajaññaṃ na riñcati. Tato so vedanā sabbā, parijānāti paṇḍito. So vedanā pariññāya, diṭṭhe dhamme anāsavo; Kāyassa bhedā dhammaṭṭho, saṅkhyaṃ nopeti vedagūti. 4
Just as in the sky different winds blow from east and west, from north and south, dust-laden or dustless, cold or hot, fierce gales or gentle breezes—many winds blow. So also within the body arise sensations, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When a meditator, striving ardently, does not lose his constant thorough understanding of impermanence even for a moment, such a wise person fully comprehends all sensations. Having thus comprehended sensations, within this life he becomes freed of all defilements (and becomes an arahant or vedagu). Such a person, who is vedagu (one who completely understands the sphere of sensations), being established in Dhamma, after death attains the indescribable state beyond the conditioned world because he knows sensations thoroughly (their arising and passing away and also the state beyond sensation).
Again emphasising the fact that the sensation manifests in the body, he said:
Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, āgantukāgāraṃ, tattha puratthimāyapi disāya... pacchimāyapi disāya... uttarāyapi disāya... dakkhiṇāyapi disāya āgantvā vāsaṃ kappenti. Khattiyāpi... brāhmaṇāpi... vessāpi... suddāpi āgantvā vāsaṃ kappenti. Evameva kho, bhikkhave, imasmiṃ kāyasmiṃ vividhā vedanā uppajjanti. Sukhāpi... dukkhāpi... adukkhamasukhāpi vedanā uppajjati. Sāmisāpi sukhā... sāmisāpi dukkhā... sāmisāpi adukkhamasukhā vedanā uppajjati. Nirāmisāpi sukhā... nirāmisāpi dukkhā... nirāmisāpi adukkhamasukhā vedanā uppajjatīti. 5
Suppose, meditators, there is a public guesthouse. People from the east, west, north, and south come and stay there. People who are Kshatriyas, Brahmins, Vaishyas and Shudras come and stay there. In the same way, meditators, various sensations arise in this body; pleasant sensations, unpleasant sensations and neutral sensations arise. Pleasant sensations with attachment, unpleasant sensations with attachment, and neutral sensations with attachment arise. Likewise, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral sensations arise without attachment.
The above passage clearly describes the process of Vipassana, whereby through observation of sensations in the body (kāyasmiṃ), a person can be fully liberated from suffering. First, it describes different types of sensations (pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral) which a meditator easily understands and experiences by practising Vipassana. By constantly observing the sensations in the body, one experiences the characteristic of arising and passing away. This objective, unremitting observation is sampajañña (constant thorough understanding of impermanence).
According to the Buddha, one who practises sampajañña is a wise person, knowing experientially how sensations arise and pass away within the body as a result of the repeated contact of sense objects. This person knows that when one begins to relish the pleasant sensations and abhor the unpleasant sensations, misery is generated and multiplies. Without sampajañña, one remains unaware of the deeper unconscious level of the mind. It is in the darkness of ignorance that an unconscious reaction begins towards the sensations. This momentary liking or disliking soon develops into craving or aversion, the reaction repeating and intensifying innumerable times before it bursts forth into the conscious mind. If importance is given only to what happens in the conscious mind, then because of one's ignorance of the underlying reality, one becomes aware of it only after the reaction has occurred repeatedly. One allows the spark of sensation to ignite into a raging fire before trying to extinguish it, resulting in unskilful physical and vocal actions. By practising sampajañña, one learns to observe the sensations within the body objectively, permitting each spark to burn itself out without starting a conflagration. By observing the physical aspect of vedanā, one becomes aware of the reality that the vedanā that has arisen is impermanent. With this understanding, one remains equanimous and prevents any reaction from occurring. Constant observation of vedanā in this manner by anicca-bodha gives rise to detachment. With this attitude, one can prevent not only fresh reactions of craving and aversion but also eliminate the very habit of reacting and thereby gradually come out of suffering by transcending all the sensations and becoming what the Buddha calls a 'vedagu':
Sabbavedanāsu vītarāgo, sabbaṃ vedamaticca vedagū so.6
One who is completely detached from vedanā and has gone beyond the entire (field of) vedanā (to reach vedanā-nirodha) is called vedagū.
Emphasising the arising of sensation in the body which results in the attainment of nibbāna, the Buddha said in the Paṭṭhāna:
Kāyikaṃ sukhaṃ...phalasamāpattiyā upanissayapaccayena paccayo. Kāyikaṃ dukkhaṃ... phalasamāpattiyā upanissayapaccayena paccayo. 7
Pleasant bodily sensation is the cause for the arising of pleasant sensation of the body, unpleasant sensation of the body, and attainment of fruition (nibbāna) in relation to the strong dependent condition. Unpleasant bodily sensation is the cause for the arising of pleasant sensation of the body, unpleasant sensation of the body, and attainment of fruition (nibbāna) in relation to the strong dependent condition.
This shows that the Buddha gave foremost importance to sensation for the realisation of the ultimate truth. As he himself said:
Ajjhattañca bahiddhā ca, vedanaṃ nābhinandato; Evaṃ satassa carato, viññāṇaṃ uparujjhatī. 8
Without relishing sensations inside or outside, for one who dwells objectively in this way, consciousness ceases.
Feeling the same pleasant or unpleasant sensations in the body, an ignorant person reacts to them and multiplies his or her saṅkhāra. In contrast, a Vipassana meditator with the wisdom of sampajañña emerges from the old habit pattern and becomes fully liberated. Thus our bodies bear witness to the truth. By observing sensations, we can advance from merely hearing about that truth to experiencing it directly for ourselves. When we meet it face to face, we become transformed by the truth, and faith arises in us, based not on blind belief but on experience.
Notes: (All references are to the VRI edition.)
- Dhammasangani Aṭṭhakathā, 1,
Kāmāvacarakusalapadabhājanīya Dhammuddesavāro Phassapañcamakarāsivaṇṇanā
- Majjhima Nikāya 2.88
- Saṃyutta Nikāya 2.4.270 Vedanāsaṃyuttaṃ, Aṭṭhasatasuttaṃ
- Ibid. 2.4.260
- Ibid. 2.4.262
- Suttanipāta, 534 Mahāvaggo, Sabhiyasuttaṃ
7.Paṭṭhāna 1.1.423 Kusalattikaṃ Pañhāvāro Paccayānulomaṃ Vibhaṅgavāro Upanissayapaccayo
- Suttanipāta 1.1117 Pārāyanavaggo, Udayamāṇavapucchā