Vipassanadhura: the Two Duties of a Monk

Vipassanadhura is the duty of insight meditation, one of the two duties of a monk, alongside ganthadhura, the duty of study

Vipassanadhura is the duty of insight: the work of training the mind until it sees body and mind as they really are. Dhura literally means the yoke or shaft of a cart, the load an ox pulls forward, and so a task or responsibility. In the Dhammapada commentary the Buddha tells a monk that there are two duties in this teaching: ganthadhura, the duty of study, and vipassanadhura, the duty of insight. A monk gives himself mainly to one or the other, according to his abilities and circumstances.

What vipassanadhura means

The commentary defines the two briefly. Ganthadhura (gantha means a book or text) is learning the Buddha's word as far as your understanding allows, one collection, two, or the whole Tipiṭaka, then keeping it in memory, explaining it and reciting it. Vipassanadhura is living lightly, delighting in secluded lodgings, fixing attention on decay and passing away in one's own body and mind, and developing insight without a break until arahantship.

So vipassanadhura is both a way of living and an inner work. On the outside it is simplicity: few belongings, a place that supports meditation. On the inside it is watching the arising and passing of body and mind without a gap, not meditating now and then when there is time. Taking up vipassanadhura means making the growth of wisdom the main work of your life. The method itself is vipassana meditation based on the foundations of mindfulness.

Where it comes from: the story of Cakkhupala

The pair of duties appears in the first story of the Dhammapada commentary, the story of the elder Cakkhupāla, told as the background to the first verse of the Dhammapada. A wealthy man of Sāvatthī named Mahāpāla heard the Buddha teach and decided to go forth. After ordaining he asked the Buddha how many duties there are in this teaching. When the Buddha answered that there are two, ganthadhura and vipassanadhura, he said he had gone forth in old age and could not fulfil the duty of study, so he would take up vipassanadhura. He received a meditation subject and went to practise in a remote place.

For that rains retreat he resolved not to lie down, using only three postures: standing, walking and sitting. He developed an eye disease but would not give up his resolve. In the end his eyes failed at the same time as his defilements ended, and he became an arahant who was blind, the one the text calls Cakkhupāla. Later, walking in meditation, he trod on insects he could not see, and some monks blamed him. The Buddha said he had no intention to kill, so there was no fault, and when he told of the old deed behind the monk's blindness he spoke the first verse of the Dhammapada.

The verse says, in short, that mind leads all things: if you speak or act with a corrupted mind, suffering follows you, like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox pulling the cart. So the story teaches two things at once: the firmness of one who takes up vipassanadhura, and that the intention in the mind decides what counts as kamma. It is an example of one monk's resolve long ago, not advice to refuse medical care; anyone practising today should look after their health and accept treatment as usual.

Ganthadhura and vipassanadhura compared

The two duties are not rivals. They do different parts of the same work. The differences in brief:

• Main work: ganthadhura is learning, remembering and teaching the Dhamma; vipassanadhura is practice, watching body and mind until they are seen as they are.
• What it gives: study keeps the teaching accurate and passes it on; vipassanadhura leads to clear seeing and to freedom in the practitioner's own heart.
• Where: study usually happens where there are teachers and texts; insight suits a quiet place, though it can be practised anywhere there is mindfulness.
• The risk: the Dhammapada likens someone who recites much but does not live by it to a cowherd counting other people's cows. A practitioner with no grounding in the teaching may mistake unusual experiences for the path; see the imperfections of insight.

The commentaries divide the true teaching into three: pariyatti, learning; paṭipatti, practice; and paṭivedha, penetration. Ganthadhura looks after learning, vipassanadhura is the practice, and penetration is the fruit at the end. Learning is the map and practice is the journey. A map that is never used takes no one anywhere, but travelling without one, it is easy to get lost. So most who take up vipassanadhura learn enough to understand the principles and spend most of their time practising.

What a meditation teacher is

A vipassanācariya is a teacher of insight meditation; ācariya here means one who guides practice. In Thai, phra vipassanachan means a monk in this role, and there are lay meditation teachers too. The teacher's work is to give a subject that suits the student, listen to reports of practice (interviews, called sop arom in Thai), point out where the student has gone astray or needs more effort or less, and warn when the student starts clinging to lights, colours or blissful states during sitting. A good teacher does not do the work for you, but helps you carry your own vipassanadhura in the right direction.

What to look for in a teacher

The Buddha did not teach people to trust a teacher just because he is their teacher. In the discourse to the Kālāmas he said:

Mā bhabbarūpatāya, mā samaṇo no garūti.
Yadā tumhe, kālāmā, attanāva jāneyyātha,

Don't go by the seeming competence of the speaker, nor by the thought, 'This ascetic is our teacher.' But when you know for yourselves, Kālāmas,

AN 3.65

The discourse goes on: when you know for yourselves that something is unskilful, blamed by the wise, and leads to suffering when done, give it up. The same test applies directly to choosing a meditation teacher. Things to look for:

• Keeps the precepts visibly and lives simply.
• Teaches in line with the discourses and can explain why, rather than leaning only on personal experience or claims of power.
• Does not demand large sums, sell attainments, or promise results within so many days.
• Does not use the names of the stages of insight as a reward or a hook, or encourage students to grade themselves by them.
• Welcomes questions and doubt, and does not tie students to the teacher personally.
• Takes safety seriously and asks about physical and mental health before intensive practice.

Intensive practice is not a treatment for mental illness; anyone with a history of serious mental illness should talk to a doctor and an experienced teacher first.

How a lay person takes up vipassanadhura

Although the two duties were taught about monks, a lay person can take up vipassanadhura as far as their life allows, without ordaining or moving to a forest. The Buddha stated the aim of this work at the start of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta:

Ekāyano ayaṁ, bhikkhave, maggo sattānaṁ visuddhiyā,
sokaparidevānaṁ samatikkamāya, dukkhadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamāya,
ñāyassa adhigamāya, nibbānassa sacchikiriyāya,
yadidaṁ cattāro satipaṭṭhānā.

Mendicants, this is the direct path for the purification of beings, for getting past sorrow and lamentation, for ending pain and sadness, for finding the true way, and for realising nibbāna: the four foundations of mindfulness.

MN 10

A lay person can begin vipassanadhura one step at a time:

• Make conduct the base, at least the five precepts, because a mind with nothing to regret settles more easily.
• Practise every day for 20 to 30 minutes, walking first and then sitting; the steps are in how to do vipassana.
• Begin each session with a request for a meditation subject, to set what the sitting is for.
• When you can, practise for several days in a row, such as a vipassana retreat, with a teacher to guide you.
• Keep a small share of the duty of study alongside, such as reading the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta a section at a time and trying what you read.

In everyday life

A lay person's vipassanadhura is not only on the cushion. During the day, try being aware in small tasks: washing dishes, walking to the bus, waiting in a queue. Know that you are standing, that your foot touches the ground, that the mind is irritated. When a strong emotion comes, see it as a feeling that arises and passes, without following it or pushing it away. Practising like this, a little but steadily, is carrying vipassanadhura forward one step at a time, like an ox pulling a cart at a steady pace rather than running and stopping.

Based on: Dhammapada commentary, story of Cakkhupāla Thera · Dhammapada, Chapter of Pairs (Dhp 1–20) · Kesamutti Sutta (to the Kālāmas) (AN 3.65) · Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10)