Practice of Vipassana leads to realisation of human potential

Rohan Lalith Jayetilleke

The greatest obstacle in the harmonious development of human personality is one’s negative mental conditioning. This negative mental conditioning is unhealthy and creates sudden impulses of reaction in one and prevents good qualities to surface.


This sudden impulsive mindset remains dormant in the deepest level of the mind and the Buddha describes it as Anusayakilesa. These Anusayakilesa of the sub-conscious mind (bhavanga) have to be completely eradicated, if one is to realise human potential in its true and healthy manner. The practice Vipassana, as taught by the Buddha, never taught by any other religious teacher, is to achieve this objective.

With the gradual eradication, by the meditator, starting the practice, the meditator observes the changes occurring in his or her habits. This with the total uprooting of anusayakilesa, the mind is progressively reconditioned. Thus the entire potentiality of pure mind arises, which otherwise would continue to be latent in deep rooted consciousness to surface whenever emotions and impulses create attachment (upadana) to sense pleasures, resulting in restlessness, aversion, enmity and ignorance to act indiscriminately.

The only methodology to avert these conditions is to practise Vipassana, which makes one to realise the latent potential and this potential is kept under check by one’s own illusions and defilements. The full and complete human consciousness is realised on the total elimination of defilements (kilesa). The Buddha explaining this says: “Pakati pabbhasaram idam cittam: Agantukehi malehi upasankittham” (In true sense the nature of this consciousness is pure self-luminous, with the incoming of the defilements it becomes defiled).

The sub-conscious mind is directly linked with one’s bodily sensations, namely, pleasant bodily sensations (sukkha-vedana), unpleasant bodily sensations (dukkha-vedana) and neither pleasant nor unpleasant bodily sensations, viz. neutral sensations (adukkhamasukha vedana) or (Upekkha-vedana). As taught by the Buddha, besides these three there are pleasant mental feelings (somanassa-vedana) and unpleasant mental feelings (domanassa-vedana). The sub-conscious mind, based on these qualities, accumulates and multiplies more and more impulses and reactions, without one’s own knowledge and finally one is in a deep gorge of suffering.

The Dhammapada gives a lucid explanation on this matter. “Manasa ce padutthena bhasati va karoti va; Tatonam dukkhamanvet cakkam va vahato padam” (if one speaks or acts with defiled mind, because of that immediately suffering follows one, even as the wheel follows the hood of the draught-ox) (Dhammapada gatha).

In the time of the Buddha there was no writing. In modern times writing has become the best exponent of propagating wisdom as well as evil thoughts. If a Buddhist in addition to speaking, writing highly critical and abusive of other religions, especially Christianity, accusing them of ‘unethical conversions’ is creating his own bad kamma, that will deny him or her hereafter human existence, but in the plane of existence of serpents, with venom, it is always ready to attack another for no reason, for it always lives in fear.

A Buddhist need not try to reconstruct society, but follow the Noble Eightfold Path, for Buddha Dhamma, is a way of life for an individual and not something one needs to extol, abuse other religious persuasions and try to eliminate at least to a certain extent the three main defilements (kilesa), attachment to sense pleasures (kamatahan), attachment to continued existence (bhavatanha), and attachment to emancipation (vibhavatanha).

India being a multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural country from time immemorial, even King Asoka (269-232 BC) in hid Rock Edict XII, Greek version at Kandhar, Afghanistan says, “King Devanampriya Priyadarshi honours all the religious persuasions and their clergy and the laity. He honours them with various gifts and honours as much as the increase in essence of all religious persuasions.

The increase in essence is manifold. But its root is the restraint of speech in that there should be no enrolment of one’s religious persuasion and no disparagement of another’s religious persuasions on improper occasions. At each proper occasion, it must be moderate. Nevertheless, the religious persuasions of others should be respected in every way. So doing, one promotes one’s own religion and supports other’s religion.

Doing anything else, one injures one’s own religion and also does disservice to the other’s religion. Whoever extols one’s religion and disparages another’s religion entirely through deception to one’s religion thinking, “We add lustre to our own religion” injures his one religion very severely again by doing so. Mutual contact or restraint also is commendable. Let all listen to and be willing to listen to one another’s “Dharma”.

Vipassana is a gradual process, as rightly explained by the Buddha as: “Maya anupubba sankhar an am nirodho akkhato” (I have shown a step by step extinguishing of mental conditioning) (Samyuttanikaya). Each step, however, is taken by observing sensation (Vedana).

The Buddha explains: “Tassa kaya ca sukkhaya ca vedanaya aniccanupassino viharato vayanupassino viharatao, nirodhanupassino viharato, patinissagganupassino viharato yo kaya ca sukhaya ca vedanaya raganusayo, so pahiyati” (As the meditator abides observing the impermanence of pleasant sensation in the body, their waning, fading away, ceasing and observing the relinquishing of them, his underlying conditioning of craving for pleasant bodily sensations is removed).

In the same way, the Buddha explains, by observing unpleasant sensations one uproots totally the underlying conditioning of aversion; and by the observing of neutral sensations, the underlying conditioning of ignorance (moha) too is uprooted. Thus sensations are the implements by which one can free oneself of conditioning of attachment or craving (tanha) and reach liberation from suffering, and reach a state of pure consciousness. With a mind free of negative impulses and reaction, there arises in the meditator Infinite Loving-kindness (metta), Compassion (Karuna) Sympathetic Joy (Muditha) and Equanimity (Upekkha). These are the Four Sublime States of mind, known as Brahamavihara, in which Brahma, the higher beings dwell.

Thus it would be seen Vipassana is the best tool to recondition one’s mind for a harmonious life in this existence and the qualification to shroten one’s sojourns in Samsara and extinguish the forces of rebirth and reach deathlessness or put a stop to sojourns in Samsara once and for all.

Thus Nibbana is not a blissful state as such but extinguishing attachment to sensations (upadana) and putting an end to suffering one encounters in any living existence be as a human or an animal. Thus Vipassana leads one to realise one’s own human potential to overcome unhealthy negative mental conditioning and resultant reactions, harmful to one’s own life and those of other’s in the community.