Vipassanā

Clear seeing, insight, penetrative understanding. Vipassanā (Pāli, equivalent to vipaśyanā in Sanskrit) is the meditation that develops direct understanding of the three characteristics: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (dissatisfaction), and anattā (no-self).

Vipassanā is not visualization or relaxation. It is the systematic observation of experience moment by moment, seeing how phenomena arise and pass without identifying with them. It is practiced after establishing samatha (calm), which stabilizes the mind like a lake without ripples allowing one to see the bottom.

Two wings of the bird:

• Samatha — Calm, concentration, stabilization of the mind
• Vipassanā — Clear seeing, understanding, penetration into the nature of phenomena

Without samatha, vipassanā is superficial; without vipassanā, samatha doesn’t lead to liberation.

In the Dhammapada, the wise one (pandita) is who practices vipassanā: seeing things as they are (yathābhūta ñāṇa), not as one would like them to be.

In classical yoga, vipaśyanā appears as the discriminative vision (viveka) that distinguishes between puruṣa and prakṛti. The structure is parallel: a calm mind (samatha/śamatha) allows clear vision (vipassanā/viveka).