Shamata and Vipashyana

 Taking refuge may sound like a huge commitment, but it is merely appreciating what is being taught.
That very appreciation can take us all the way, by sustaining us.

Shamatha and Vipashyana – Definitions and context.

Shamata
Shamatha is meditation practice to calm the mind, resting free from disturbing thoughts.

Shamata with support is the practice of calming the mind while concentrating on a mental or material object, or simply using the breath.

Shamata without support is resting undistractedly without an object to meditate upon.

Simply put: in with support we use the breath, and without support we use the gap between the breaths which expands…although we are still breathing!

This practice serves as a prelude for Mahamudra and Dzogchen, and should not be mistaken for Mahamudra and Dzogchen, as there is still an ‘I’ present. This is a duality but a perfect beginning. Before we can drop something, we have to recognise the thing we are dropping.

Vipashyana (insight into emptiness)

Vipashyana at the shravaka level means insight into impermanence, suffering and egolessness. At the Mahayana level, it means insight into the emptiness of all phenomena, the perceiver as well as the perceived. At the inner Vajrayana level, this insight is equal to thought-free wakefulness that is the direct remedy against basic ignorance and the root of samsara.

Shamata and vipashyana are the foundations to Dzogchen.