The Vipassana Retreat

　　6. The Mind”s Latent Tendencies

　　The question exists as to why it is that many long-term meditators still experience difficulty with negative emotions, when you might suppose that after many years of practice they would have at least come to terms with psychological problems.

　　You might suppose that perhaps they haven”t practiced deeply or intensively enough to affect the deep-seated problematic behaviour patterns. So maybe they are better off doing some psychotherapy or having counselling to get some insight into their problems. If that is the case, then it is rather ironic, when you consider that many Buddhist meditation techniques are being incorporated into psychotherapies, such as cognitive training and mindfulness practices.

　　To understand the problem as to why long-term practitioners are still having to deal with psychological difficulties we have to make the distinction between mental disorders, that is, clinical conditions such as psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and, on the other hand, unwholesome behaviour or negative predispositions that are detrimental to oneself as well as harmful to others with whom one is in relationship with.

　　Then, being clear that we are dealing with the mind”s unwholesome predispositions and not clinical conditions, we need to examine them in depth and learn how to work with them from the point of view of meditation practices, especially Vipassana meditation.

　　Unfortunately it is not uncommon that many people experience these ingrained unwholesome patterns of mind that are harmful to their wellbeing. However, while we have to acknowledge that it is not an easy matter, it is possible through Vipassana meditation to detoxify the mind just as it is possible to detoxify the body.

　　These mental poisons or pollutants of the mind are known in Buddhist teachings as the Three Poisons of greed, hatred and ignorance. Often they are expanded to a set of seven that includes sensual desire, aversion, wrong view, doubt, conceit, craving for existence, as well as ignorance. Then they are referred to as the latent tendencies (anusaya) or predispositions to negative patterns of mind. These latent tendencies lie dormant in the mind and are the source of one”s addictions and deep clinging, holding the mind in a state of attachment and, as a result, in suffering.

　　As a meditator, I personally became acutely aware of these hidden tendencies of the mind during a year”s intensive Vipassana retreat in Burma in 1986 when, in spite of sustained attentiveness and without consciously controlling or suppressing the mind, unwholesome material kept surfacing, for example, anger would continually flare up month after month even though I was in silence and was not relating with anyone except the teacher. Although, when the mind was powerfully concentrated these anusayas – or dormant tendencies - that had been manifesting were suppressed. But that was not the desired outcome, as I was trying to follow the “pure” Vipassana approach that avoids the blocking effect that results from fixed concentration.

　　I would say now though that strategically it is useful, even necessary, to use the inhibiting effect of one-pointed concentration to help pacify the mind during Vipassana meditation, as long as it doesn”t interfere with the cathartic effect that comes with pure moment to moment awareness. One needn”t be afraid of any turbulence that arises in Vipassana, as it is an essential part of the cleansing and healing process that purifies the mind and insights into the three marks of existence, of change, distress, and impersonal mental processes.

　　Now, can I ask you to do some radical reflection on these latent tendencies, as an understanding of them is crucial in dealing with the ongoing difficulties tha…

《The Vipassana Retreat: 6· The Mind’s Latent Tendencies》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…