The Stages of Vipassanā

Before enlightenment can be attained, mahā-kusala citta which is ñāṇa-sampayutta (accompanied by paññā), has to consider and investigate the characteristics of all kinds of nāma and rūpa over and over again, life after life. In this way, understanding of realities can grow. When paññā has become keener and more accomplished, mahā-kusala citta accompanied by paññā that is vipassanā ñāṇa, insight wisdom, can arise. The kind of paññā that is vipassanā ñāṇa can clearly realize the characteristics of nāma and rūpa through the mind-door, in accordance with the stages of insight that are successively reached. There are several stages of insight that have to be reached before enlightenment can be attained.

The first stage of insight is Knowledge of the difference between nāma and rūpa, nāma-rūpa-pariccheda-ñāṇa.

Mahā-kusala citta ñāṇa-sampayutta arises and clearly distinguishes the difference between the characteristic of nāma and the characteristic of rūpa as they appear one at a time. The objects constituting “the world” appear as devoid of self. At that moment there is no attā-saññā, wrong remembrance of self, which used to remember or perceive realities as a “whole”, conceived as “the world”. This is the beginning of right remembrance of the realities which appear as anattā. Satipaṭṭhāna should continue to be aware of all kinds of nāma and rūpa, in addition to those realized at the moment of vipassanā ñāṇa. When there is awareness of realities, paññā should consider again and again anattā-saññā penetrated at the moment of vipassanā ñāṇa. Otherwise attā-saññā, which has been accumulated for a long time in the cycle of birth and death, cannot be eradicated.

The second stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Discerning conditions for nāma and rūpa, paccaya-pariggaha-ñāṇa.

When the moments of vipassanā ñāṇa have fallen away, the world appears as it used to appear, as a “whole”. The person who develops satipaṭṭhāna clearly knows the difference between the moment of vipassanā ñāṇa and the moment that is not vipassanā ñāṇa. When vipassanā ñāṇa has fallen away, ignorance and doubt about realities can arise again, since these defilements have not been eradicated. When the first stage of insight has been reached, there is full comprehension of what has been known, ñāta pariññā. Paññā realizes as they are the characteristics of realities that appear at the moments of vipassanā ñāṇa. Then there is no ignorance and doubt about those realities. The first stage of insight is only a beginning stage that can lead to the following stages of insight, which penetrates the characteristics of nāma and rūpa more and more.

When satipaṭṭhāna continues to be mindful of the realities that appear and investigates their characteristics, there can be more understanding of their conditions. When one object appears at a time, paññā can realize that nāma, the element that experiences, arises because of conditions, that it is conditioned by that object. If there were no object appearing, nāma could not arise. Thus, whenever there is nāma, there must be an object experienced by nāma. When one object at a time appears, paññā can understand that the dhammas that arise are dependent on conditions. In this way, paññā can see more clearly the nature of anattā of all dhammas and thus there will gradually be more detachment from the inclination to take objects for self. When the factors of the Eightfold Path, cetasikas included in saṅkhārakkhandha, have been developed to a higher degree, they can condition the arising of the second vipassanā ñāṇa. This is paccaya-pariggaha-ñāṇa, which directly understands the dependency on conditions of nāma and rūpa at the moment they arise. Thus, there is awareness and direct understanding of the arising of realities such as hearing, sound, pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling or thinking. All these dhammas, each arising because of its own conditions, are realized one at a time, as clearly distinct from each other. They are realized as devoid of self.

Vipassanā ñāṇa clearly knows the characteristics of the realities that naturally appear and it knows them through the mind-door. Vipassanā ñāṇa discerns the characteristics of the different objects as clearly distinct from each other and it realizes them as non-self. When vipassanā ñāṇa has fallen away, the world appears as it used to appear, as a “whole”.

The third vipassanā ñāṇa is Comprehension by groups, sammasana ñāṇa.

This is the paññā that clearly realizes the rapid succession of nāmas and rūpas as they arise and fall away. When this stage of insight has not yet arisen, one knows that nāma and rūpa arise and fall away very rapidly, but the rapid succession of nāmas and rūpas as they arise and fall away does not appear. At the first stage and at the second stage of insight, paññā penetrates the characteristics of nāma and of rūpa, one at a time, as distinct from each other, but it does not yet realize their rapid succession as they arise and fall away.

The first, the second and the third stages of insight are only beginning stages, they are called “tender insight”, taruṇa vipassanā. They are not “insight as power”, balava vipassanā, that is, insight which has become more powerful at the higher stages. At the stages of tender insight, there is still thinking of the nāmas and rūpas that are realized. However, although there is thinking, different dhammas are not joined together into a “whole”, into “the whole world,” as one was used to doing.

Since there is still thinking of the nāma and rūpa at the three beginning stages of vipassanā, paññā is called “cintā ñāṇa”, “cintā” meaning thinking or consideration. Some people may have misunderstandings about the stages of insight where there is still thinking. They may believe that there is already “tender insight” when one considers and notices characteristics of nāma and rūpa and has more understanding of them. However, so long as vipassanā ñāṇa has not arisen yet, one cannot penetrate the nature of anattā of vipassanā ñāṇa. One cannot understand that vipassanā ñāṇa, which clearly realizes the characteristics of nāma and rūpa through the mind-door, can arise at any place, at any time, and that it can take as object whatever reality appears.

Someone may erroneously believe, when he is aware, when he is considering and noticing the characteristics of nāma and rūpa, that he has clear understanding of them and that he has already reached the first stage of insight, knowledge of the difference between nāma and rūpa, nāma-rūpa-pariccheda-ñāṇa. A person can have such misunderstanding because he does not yet know that vipassanā ñāṇa must appear as anattā, as not self, just as the other types of nāma that appear. When vipassanā ñāṇa arises, characteristics of nāma and rūpa appear through the mind-door. The rūpas that are sense-objects are experienced through the corresponding sense-doors and after each sense-door process, the object is experienced through the mind-door. However, when there is no vipassanā ñāṇa, the mind-door process does not appear; it is, as it were, concealed by the cittas that experience sense objects in the sense-door processes. At the moments of vipassanā ñāṇa, rūpas appear very clearly through the mind-door, and at that moment the mind-door conceals, as it were, the sense-doors. Then the situation is opposite to the moments when there is no vipassanā ñāṇa.

Some people believe, when they consider nāma and rūpa and know that this nāma is conditioned by that rūpa and this rūpa is conditioned by that nāma, that the second stage of insight has already arisen, namely the direct understanding of conditionality, paccaya-pariggaha-ñāṇa. However, when the first stage of insight, nāma-rūpa-pariccheda-ñāṇa, has not arisen yet, the following stages of insight cannot arise either. When the first stage of insight has arisen, one will not erroneously believe that there is vipassanā ñāṇa when there is no vipassanā ñāṇa. When vipassanā ñāṇa has arisen, one understands its nature of anattā. One realizes that it has arisen because of the right conditions; one knows that the factors of the eightfold Path were developed to such degree that that stage of insight could arise. Vipassanā ñāṇa can only arise when the right conditions have been cultivated, that is, the development of satipaṭṭhāna, which studies, investigates and notices the characteristics of nāma and rūpa as they naturally appear in daily life over and over again, so that paññā can become keener.

Someone who does not even know the difference between the characteristics of nāma and rūpa may mistakenly believe that he has reached the third stage of insight, the stage of comprehension by groups, sammasana ñāṇa. He may think that he can experience the arising and falling away of nāmas, one after the other, and that that is the third stage of insight. However, if someone has not developed satipaṭṭhāna and has not been aware of the characteristics of different kinds of nāma that appear, he does not realize nāma as the element which experiences. He may believe that he experiences the arising and falling away of nāma, but he does not clearly know what nāma is. He confuses nāma and rūpa, he does not know that nāma is entirely different from rūpa.

A person who is impatient wishes vipassanā ñāṇa to arise soon. He will try to do something other than being aware of the characteristics of nāma and rūpa that naturally appear and have arisen because of appropriate conditions. It is impossible to hasten the development of paññā. Paññā can only grow gradually and there is no other condition for its growth but the development of satipaṭṭhāna in our ordinary daily life. If someone tries to do something else, he will go the wrong way and the wrong cause cannot bring the right result. If someone hopes for a quick result of his practice, it is the wrong path; he does not understand what the right Path is. Lobha-mūla-citta accompanied by wrong view motivates the development of the wrong path and this will lead to the wrong release, not the right release that is freedom from defilements.

The fourth vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa, udayabbaya ñāṇa.

Vipassanā ñāṇa of the third stage realizes the rapid succession of nāmas and rūpas as they arise and fall away. However, at this stage paññā is not yet keen enough to see the danger and disadvantages of the arising and falling away, so that there can be detachment from them. The immediate arising of a new dhamma after the falling away of the former dhamma covers up the danger of the arising and falling away. Paññā should become keener so that the following stages of insight can be reached. At the fourth stage, paññā can penetrate more clearly the arising and falling away of each kind of nāma and each kind of rūpa separately. One should not try to do something else but continue to consider the characteristics of nāma and rūpa. One should be steadfast in the development of paññā.

All kinds of nāma and rūpa can be object of understanding, no matter whether they are kusala dhammas or akusala dhammas, no matter of what degree of kusala or akusala they are or through which doorway they appear. The fourth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa, udayabbaya ñāṇa, knows more precisely the arising and falling away of each kind of nāma and of rūpa as it appears one at a time. This stage of insight can arise when “full understanding of investigation,” tīraṇa pariññā, has become more accomplished. Full understanding of investigation is the kind of paññā that considers and clearly understands the characteristics of all kinds of nāma and rūpa as they appear through the six doors. So long as this is not the case, there are no conditions for the arising of udayabbaya ñāṇa.

The person who develops the right Path knows that nibbāna, the reality that eradicates defilements, cannot be realized if understanding of conditioned realities has not been fully developed. First, the paññā should be developed which clearly understands the characteristics of nāma and rūpa as they naturally appear in daily life. It is impossible to realize nibbāna if paññā does not penetrate thoroughly and precisely the characteristics of all kinds of nāma and rūpa that appear through the six doors.

The characteristics of nāma and rūpa that appear through each of the six doorways are different from each other. If paññā does not precisely understand the difference between the characteristics of nāma and rūpa as they appear through the six doorways, the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa cannot be realized. Then, ignorance, doubt and wrong view about realities cannot be eradicated.

The fifth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of dissolution, bhaṅga ñāṇa.

Even though the fourth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa clearly realizes the arising and falling away of one characteristic of nāma and of rūpa at a time, clinging to them is still very persistent. Clinging to all realities has been accumulated for an endlessly long time in the cycle of birth and death. Ignorance and clinging to the concept of self are like firmly implanted roots that are hard to pull up. Paññā has to be developed more thoroughly through satipaṭṭhāna. There must be awareness and investigation again and again of the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa which was already realized at the fourth stage of insight. Paññā should investigate more thoroughly the falling away of the nāmas and rūpas that appear. Then it can be seen that dhammas that fall away cannot be any refuge. Through the development of satipaṭṭhāna, paññā becomes keener and more accomplished so that there are the right conditions for the fifth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa, knowledge of dissolution, bhaṅga ñāṇa. This stage of vipassanā clearly realizes that nāma and rūpa that arise and fall away cannot be any refuge, that they cannot give any security. Then there is the beginning of the third pariññā, “full understanding of abandoning,” pahāna pariññā. This pariññā can lead to higher stages of paññā, to paññā that begins to detach from clinging to the idea of self, being or person.

The sixth stage of insight is Knowledge of terror, bhaya ñāṇa.

When the knowledge of dissolution, bhaṅga ñāṇa, has fallen away, the person who develops vipassanā realizes that defilements are still strong, that there are conditions for their arising to the extent they have been accumulated. He carefully considers the characteristic of dissolution of nāma and rūpa, but the clinging to the concept of self is still firmly accumulated. This kind of clinging can be eliminated by seeing the danger and unsatisfactoriness of the dissolution of nāma and rūpa. Paññā should continue to consider the characteristics of nāma and rūpa and thereby realize more and more the danger and disadvantage of the dissolution of realities. When paññā has become more accomplished there can be the right conditions for the arising of the sixth stage of insight, knowledge of terror. This knowledge sees the danger of nāma and rūpa while it clearly realizes at that moment the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa.

The seventh stage of insight is Knowledge of danger, ādīnava ñāṇa.

Knowledge of terror, bhaya ñāṇa, sees the disadvantage of the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa, but when this knowledge has fallen away, clinging to the concept of self can still arise; it has not been eradicated. The person who develops satipaṭṭhāna understands that the danger and disadvantage of nāma and rūpa that arise and fall away should be realized more deeply and under various aspects. In that way the inclination to take nāma and rūpa for self will decrease. When sati is aware of the characteristics of the realities that arise and fall away, paññā becomes keener and sees more clearly the disadvantage of the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa. Paññā becomes accomplished to the degree that it conditions the arising of knowledge of danger, ādīnava ñāṇa. When this knowledge arises, it clearly realizes the danger and disadvantage of nāma and rūpa that arise and fall away.

The eighth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of dispassion, nibbidā ñāṇa.

When the danger of all conditioned realities is realized, they seem to be like a building that has caught fire. The clinging to life becomes less when one clearly sees the futility of the nāma and rūpa that appear. Then there is knowledge of dispassion, nibbidā ñāṇa.

The ninth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of desire for deliverance, muccitukamyatā ñāṇa.

When paññā realizes more and more clearly the futility of the nāma and rūpa that appear, and it becomes more detached from them, paññā wants to become liberated from nāma and rūpa that arise and fall away. The paññā that wants to be liberated is knowledge of desire for deliverance, mucitukamyatā ñāṇa.

The tenth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of reflection, paṭisaṅkhā ñāṇa.

When desire for deliverance has become stronger, paññā will be inclined to consider over and over again the three general characteristics of conditioned dhammas: impermanence, dukkha and anattā. When paññā clearly realizes the characteristic of impermanence of all conditioned dhammas that arise and fall away, it sees them as completely devoid of any security, as fleeting, unenduring, changeable, unstable and as no refuge. When paññā clearly realizes the characteristic of dukkha of all conditioned realities that arise and fall away, it sees them as continually oppressive, as something threatening from which there is no escape, as something incurable, as danger, as something unattractive, not worth clinging to. When paññā clearly realizes the characteristic of anattā of all conditioned realities that arise and fall away, it sees them as empty, void, as something that cannot be owned, as beyond control. The paññā that clearly realizes the three characteristics of all conditioned dhammas, saṅkhāra dhammas, is knowledge of reflection, paṭisaṅkhā ñāṇa.

The eleventh stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Knowledge of equanimity about conditioned dhammas, saṅkhārupekkhā ñāṇa.

When the paññā that clearly realizes the three general characteristics of all conditioned dhammas has become more accomplished, there will be less inclination to take conditioned dhammas for permanent, for happiness or for self. Thus, there can be more equanimity towards conditioned dhammas. The person who develops vipassanā knows that so long as nibbāna does not appear and paññā can, therefore, not penetrate its characteristic, he should continue to investigate whichever of the three general characteristics of conditioned realities appears as object. The paññā that leads to equanimity towards the conditioned dhammas that arise and fall away is knowledge of equanimity about conditioned dhammas, saṅkhārupekkhā ñāṇa. This knowledge is the insight that leads to attainment of what is supreme; it leads to emergence. It is the paññā which conditions someone to leave the state of an ordinary person, and this occurs when the magga-citta, path-consciousness, arises.

The twelfth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Adaptation knowledge, anuloma ñāṇa.

Adaptation knowledge, or conformity knowledge, is the vipassanā ñāṇa that arises in the process during which enlightenment is attained, the magga-vīthi. This kind of knowledge conforms to the clear understanding of the noble Truths. Adaptation knowledge is the three moments of mahā-kusala cittas accompanied by paññā arising in the magga-vīthi. They are: parikamma or preparatory consciousness, upacāra or access and anuloma or adaptation. These three cittas have as their object one of the three general characteristics. They realize the conditioned dhamma appearing at that moment either as impermanent, or as dukkha or as anattā. Adaptation knowledge adapts or conforms to detachment from the objects that are conditioned dhammas.

For the person who is keen (tikkha puggala), that is, who has keen paññā and can realize the Noble Truths rapidly, there are two moments of adaptation knowledge, because he does not need preparatory consciousness, parikamma.

The thirteenth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Change-of-lineage knowledge, gotrabhū ñāṇa.

This knowledge succeeds the anuloma ñāṇa, which includes three moments of citta for the person who realizes the Noble Truths more slowly than a person with keen paññā, and two moments for a person with keen paññā. Change-of-lineage knowledge is mahā-kusala citta ñāṇa-sampayutta and this citta has nibbāna as object. It is repetition-condition, asevana-paccaya, for the succeeding magga-citta of the stage of the sotāpanna, which is lokuttara kusala citta. The magga-citta has nibbāna as object and eradicates defilements.

In the process of cittas, all seven javana-cittas usually have the same object, but it is different in the case of the magga-vīthi. The cittas that are parikamma, preparatory consciousness, upacāra, access, and anuloma, adaptation, have as object one of the three general characteristics of conditioned realities. The following cittas in that process, the gotrabhū, change-of-lineage, the magga-citta and the moments of phala-citta (two or three moments), have nibbāna as object. Gotrabhū is mahā-kusala citta that has for the first time nibbāna as object. It is, as it were, “adverting” to the magga-citta of the stage of the sotāpanna that succeeds the gotrabhū and has nibbāna as object. The “Visuddhimagga” (XXII, 11) states that this citta, since it can only realize nibbāna but not dispel defilements, is called “adverting to the Path.” We read:

“For although it is not adverting (āvajjana), it occupies the position of adverting; and then, after as it were giving a sign to the path to come into being, it ceases.”

The path-consciousness that succeeds it can then, while it experiences nibbāna, eradicate defilements.

The “Atthasālinī” (II, Book I, Part VII, Ch I, the first Path, 232, 233) and the “Visuddhimagga” (XXII, 8-10) use a simile for anuloma ñāṇa and gotrabhū ñāṇa. A man went out at night in order to look at the moon. The moon did not appear because it was concealed by clouds. Then a wind blew away the thick clouds, another wind blew away the medium clouds and another wind blew away the fine clouds. Then that man could see the moon free of clouds. Nibbāna is like the moon. The three moments of anuloma ñāna, adaptation knowledge, are like the three winds. Gotrabhū ñāṇa is like the man who sees the clear moon in the sky, free of clouds.

As the three winds are able only to disperse the clouds covering the moon and do not see the moon, even so the three moments of anuloma ñāṇa are able only to dispel the murk that conceals the Noble Truths but they cannot experience nibbāna. Just as the man can only see the moon but cannot blow away the clouds, so gotrabhū ñāṇa can only experience nibbāna but cannot dispel defilements.

The fourteenth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Path knowledge, magga ñāṇa.

When gotrabhū has fallen away, it is succeeded by the path-consciousness of the sotāpanna and this citta transcends the state of the ordinary person and reaches the state of the noble person, the ariyan. This citta eradicates defilements in accordance with the stage of enlightenment that has been reached.

The fifteenth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Fruition knowledge, phala ñāṇa.

When the magga-citta of the sotāpanna has fallen away, it conditions the arising of the succeeding citta, the phala-citta. The phala-citta, which is lokuttara vipākacitta, immediately succeeds the magga-citta without any interval. Lokuttara kusala citta is kamma-condition for the vipākacitta which follows without delay, without there being other cittas in between, and therefore it is called “without delay,” akāliko. Thus, lokuttara vipākacitta is different from other kinds of vipākacitta. The lokuttara vipākacittas, which are two or three moments of citta arising in the magga-vīthi and succeeding the magga-citta, perform the function of javana. Thus, they perform a function different from the functions performed by other types of vipākacitta.

The sixteenth stage of vipassanā ñāṇa is Reviewing knowledge, paccavekkhaṇa ñāṇa.

When the magga-vīthi-cittas have fallen away, they are succeeded by bhavanga-cittas and then mind-door process cittas arise. These cittas review the enlightenment that was attained. In one process cittas review the magga-citta, in one process the phala-citta, in one process the defilements that have been eradicated, in another process the defilements which are still remaining and in another process again nibbāna.

The person for whom the magga-citta and the phala-citta of the stage of the arahat have arisen, does not have to review the remaining defilements since the magga-citta of the arahat has completely eradicated all defilements.

Summarizing the vipassanā ñāṇas, they are:

• Knowledge of the difference between nāma and rūpa,

  nāma-rūpa-pariccheda-ñāṇa,

• Discerning conditions for nāma and rūpa, paccaya-pariggaha-ñāṇa,

• Comprehension by groups, sammasana ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of arising and falling away, udayabbaya ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of dissolution, bhaṅga ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of terror, bhaya ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of danger, ādīnava ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of dispassion, nibbidā ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of desire for deliverance, mucitukamyatā ñāṇa,

• Knowledge of reflexion, paṭisankhā ñaṇa,

• Knowledge of equanimity about conditioned dhamma, saṅkhārupekkhā

  ñāṇa,

• Adaptation or conformity knowledge, anuloma ñāṇa,

• Change-of-lineage knowledge, gotrabhū ñāṇa,

• Path knowledge, magga ñāṇa,

• Fruition knowledge, phala ñāṇa,

• Reviewing knowledge, paccavekkhaṇa ñāṇa.

Vipassanā ñāṇas have been classified here as sixteen. However, in some texts they are classified as nine, that is, when the classification begins with the first principal insight (mahā-vipassanā), Knowledge of the arising and falling away (uddayabbaya ñāṇa) and ends with Adaptation knowledge (anuloma ñāṇa). These nine stages of vipassanā ñāṇa which do not include the three beginning stages of “tender insight” are “vipassanā as power,” balava vipassanā.

Sometimes vipassanā ñāṇas are classified as ten, when the classification begins with the third stage of tender insight, Comprehension by groups (sammasana ñāṇa) and ends with Adaptation knowledge.

The exposition of all the different stages of insight, from the first stage up to adaptation knowledge, arising before the attainment of enlightenment, shows that the development of insight is a long process. Very gradually, insight can become keener and more accomplished, so that adaptation knowledge can arise and conform to the realization of nibbāna.