The Ten Imperfections of Insight (Vipassanupakkilesa)

The ten imperfections of insight: good experiences in vipassana practice that can be mistaken for the goal

The imperfections of insight (vipassanupakkilesa) are ten experiences that tend to appear just when vipassana practice starts to work: light, sharp understanding, rapture, calm, happiness, strong faith and others. They feel like the reward of practice, and some meditators take them as a sign of awakening when they are only halfway along. The word joins vipassanā, insight, with upakkilesa, something that clouds or corrupts. This page lists all ten and explains when they come, why they mislead, and what to do when they arise.

What the imperfections of insight are

The Visuddhimagga describes them in its chapter on the fifth purification, knowing and seeing what is and is not the path. The Paṭisambhidāmagga in the Pali Canon names the same ten when it explains the phrase 'a mind seized by restlessness about the Dhamma' from the Yuganaddha Sutta (AN 4.170). There Venerable Ānanda speaks of a monk whose mind is seized in this way, until it settles, becomes still and unified within, and the path arises. So from the start the texts point to the way out: the mind settles back into its noting instead of running after what appears.

Most of the imperfections of insight are not bad things. Light, rapture and calm are fruits of stronger concentration and mindfulness. The Visuddhimagga explains that the first nine are called imperfections because defilements can latch on to them, not because they are unwholesome. Only the last, nikanti, attachment, is a defilement in itself as well as a place for defilement to take hold.

When they appear

They arise in the early part of the knowledge of arising and passing away, number four of the 16 stages of insight. When a meditator first sees mind and matter appearing and vanishing clearly, the mind becomes so bright and light that it feels like the best time in their practice. The Visuddhimagga says these experiences do not come to someone who has given up the work or practises wrongly, nor to a noble disciple who has already seen the truth. They come to one who practises rightly and steadily. Their arrival is a sign that practice is on track, and at the same moment the time to be most careful.

The ten imperfections of insight

1. Obhāsa, light: a radiance born of the insight mind. It may light only the place where one sits or seem to fill the room, and the meditator may think: such light has never come before, so this must be the path.
2. Ñāṇa, knowledge: sharp, quick understanding. Whatever one examines seems perfectly clear, until one feels one has understood the whole teaching.
3. Pīti, rapture: goosebumps, waves of thrill, a feeling of lightness as if floating, or joy that fills the body. The texts describe five kinds, from a slight shiver to rapture that suffuses the whole body.
4. Passaddhi, tranquillity: body and mind are calm, light, soft and supple, with no tiredness or heaviness. Long sittings feel effortless.
5. Sukha, happiness: a refined happiness that floods the body, perhaps unlike anything felt before.
6. Adhimokkha, resolve: a powerful faith. One wants to bring everyone to practise, to give lavishly, or to tell others what one has found.
7. Paggaha, exertion: well-balanced energy, neither slack nor strained, that keeps going without fatigue.
8. Upaṭṭhāna, established mindfulness: mindfulness so firm and close that it needs no effort; whatever arises is known at once.
9. Upekkhā, equanimity: the mind is even toward everything, and noting runs by itself, quickly and smoothly.
10. Nikanti, attachment: a subtle liking that clings to insight adorned with the light and the rest. It is so quiet that it is hard to recognise as a defilement at all.

Why good experiences become a trap

The trouble with the imperfections of insight is not the light or the rapture but grasping at them. The Visuddhimagga says a meditator can grasp these experiences in three ways: by craving, relishing them; by conceit, measuring oneself by them; and by wrong view, taking them as self. Underneath all three lies the main error, taking what is not the path to be the path. The three match the pattern the Buddha points out in the discourse on not-self.

Yaṁ panāniccaṁ dukkhaṁ vipariṇāmadhammaṁ,
kallaṁ nu taṁ samanupassituṁ:
etaṁ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attāti?
No hetaṁ, bhante.

Whatever is impermanent, suffering and bound to change: is it fit to be regarded as 'this is mine, this I am, this is my self'? No, sir.

SN 22.59

The commentaries explain that 'this is mine' is grasping by craving, 'this I am' is grasping by conceit, and 'this is my self' is grasping by view. When light appears and the meditator thinks 'my light', 'I have reached this level', or 'this light is awakening', they are doing exactly what the discourse warns against. What follows is predictable: noting stops, they sit waiting for the light to return, tell others they have attained something, or stop listening to their teacher. Practice stalls right there, while the real progress lies further on.

How to handle the imperfections of insight

The Visuddhimagga says that a wise meditator, when light appears, reflects: this light has arisen; it is impermanent, produced by conditions, and bound to cease. They see it through the three characteristics like any other mind and matter, and do the same with all ten. Handling the imperfections of insight in practice comes down to a few plain rules:

• Note it as it is. Seeing light, know 'seeing'; with rapture, know 'rapture'; liking it, know 'liking'. Use the same short labels as in noting meditation, then go back to the main object.
• Neither chase nor push away. Do not try to bring the light back or to get rid of it; both are wanting.
• Do not conclude that you have attained anything, and do not rush to tell anyone except your teacher.
• Keep effort even. Do not push harder because you think you are close, or ease off because you think you have arrived.
• Keep ordinary routines: eat and sleep enough. If you cannot sleep for several nights, or feel excited beyond control, ease off and talk to your teacher.

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 before starting.

Knowing the path from what is not the path

When the meditator sees clearly that the light and the other nine are not the path, and that the path is insight free of these imperfections that keeps seeing arising and passing away, that understanding is the fifth of the seven purifications, purification by knowing and seeing what is and is not the path. After it the knowledge of arising and passing away matures without these obstacles, and practice moves into the nine insight knowledges, the sixth purification.

The lesson of the imperfections of insight reaches beyond meditation stages. Daily life has its stretches when everything goes well and the mind wants to stop there. Someone who has seen these imperfections for what they are knows that even the best states arise and pass and do not belong to anyone. Knowing this does not make happiness smaller; it removes the fear of losing it.

Based on: Visuddhimagga, by Buddhaghosa · Paṭisambhidāmagga · Yuganaddha Sutta (AN 4.170) · Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (SN 22.59)