Introduction to Insight Meditation is an essential and straightforward introduction to Insight Meditation as taught within the tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This book was written at and published by the Amaravati Monastery in England. The purpose of Insight Meditation is not to create a system of beliefs but rather to give guidance on how to see clearly into the nature of the mind. In this way, one gains a firsthand understanding of how things are, without reliance on opinions or theories, a direct experience. The term `Insight Meditation’ (samatha-vipassana) refers to practices for the mind that develop calm (samatha) through sustained attention and insight (vipassana) through reflection. A fundamental technique for maintaining attention is focusing awareness on the body. The guide begins with some advice on this.
From the book:
Focus attention on the breath, which you will now be using as the means of spreading kindness and goodwill. Begin with yourself, with your body. Visualise the breath as a light, or see your awareness as being a warm ray, and gradually sweep it over your body. Lightly focus your attention on the centre of the chest, around the heart region. As you breathe in, direct patient kindness towards yourself, perhaps with the thought, `May I be well’, or `Peace’. As you breathe out, let the mood of that thought, or the awareness of light, spread outward from the heart, through the body, through the mind, and beyond yourself. `May others be well’.
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