Someone on a discussion forum wondered if practicing samatha (serenity) meditation would lead to a self-anesthetized state that would lead one to neglect vipassana (looking at the activity of the mind to produce an understanding of the origination and cessation of unpleasant emotions). They asked if anyone experienced that.
This is approximately how I replied:
That is not my experience. Observing the breath to produce tranquility does not distract me from vipassana it enhances my practice of vipassana. If you try to stay self-anesthetized 24 hours a day you will inevitably fail and you will notice what upsets you and you will notice how you get back to the anesthetized state - you will observe the origination and cessation of dukkah (unpleasant emotions) - this is the essence of practice. You can't escape it. The deeper the anesthesia, the more subtle the disturbances you will notice. The anesthesia is not putting you to sleep, it is actually making you more aware (of subtle mental activity) by turning down the volume of the activity of (the noise in) your mind.
(The pitfall that I find can happen is that one can be suppressing thoughts and feelings by concentrating too hard or by trying too hard to self-anesthetize. The sign that this is happening is that meditation makes one tense and irritable. It can be a bit tricky to find the right balance between relaxation and allowing yourself to be aware of unpleasant thoughts and emotions (dukkha). You think you are relaxing but the result is the opposite. If that is not happening you are probably okay. Finding the balance is complicated because you don't want to suppress but you don't want to wallow in self-pity or train yourself to be unhappy, or create a jhanna like amplification of unpleasant emotions by focusing on them too intently. If you can relax while noticing unpleasant emotions that is probably the right way to do it.)
Self-induced anesthesia is a pretty good description of what the sutras call for (see below). The point is that when you are calm you can observe better the activity of the mind - the origination and cessation of dukkha - because the mind is calm (Dukkha = stress).
What I find is that when my mind is calm and peaceful and I am in a pleasant relaxed mood (the result of samatha meditation) then I notice very easily anything that disturbs that state (the origination of dukkha) and I notice what brings me back into that state (the cessation of dukkha), when I am meditating and during daily life. The "self-induced anesthesia" provides a neutral background against which it is easier to see the origination and cessation of dukkha.
Here is an excerpt from the Anapanasati Sutra translated by Thich Nhat Hanh in his book "Breathe You are Alive": It shows that self-induced anesthesia is exactly what one should be doing:
8. I am breathing in making and making the activities of the mind in me calm and at peace.This article (below) also discusses the relationship between samatha and vipassana.
...
10. I am breathing in and making my mind happy and at peace.
https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/onetool.html
One Tool Among Many
The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice
by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
...
But if you look directly at the Pali discourses — the earliest extant sources for our knowledge of the Buddha's teachings — you'll find that although they do use the word samatha to mean tranquility, and vipassana to mean clear-seeing, they otherwise confirm none of the received wisdom about these terms. Only rarely do they make use of the word vipassana — a sharp contrast to their frequent use of the word jhana. When they depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying "go do vipassana," but always "go do jhana." And they never equate the word vipassana with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassana, they almost always pair it with samatha — not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may "gain" or "be endowed with," and that should be developed together.
You cannot really separate samatha and vipassana. Whenever you are meditating on the breath and your mind wanders for a moment or you notice a thought arising - you are observing the activity of the mind. You can't escape vipassana unless you have perfect concentration and your mind is perfectly still. The very fact of thoughts arising while you try to focus on the breath is a repeated reminder that you don't control your mind, that your mind is not "yours". You realize that other people experience the same thing - they don't control their mind - this understanding gives you compassion and reduces your ego. Even if you are not aware of that angle, it works on you unconsciously producing changes you might not be aware of.
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