by Sayagyi U Goenka
There are seven bojjhaṅgas (factors of enlightenment) that have to be developed to reach the final goal of full liberation. They are:
1. sati (awareness);
2. dhamma-vicaya (investigation of Dhamma);
3. viriya (effort);
4. pīti (rapture);
5. passaddhi (tranquillity);
6. samādhi (concentration, absorption) and
7. upekkhā (equanimity).
The first bojjhaṅga is sati, awareness. Without it, further steps on the path cannot be taken. Sati, the objective observation of reality, is the most important factor because it must be continuously present from moment to moment with every other factor. For the Vipassana meditator, sati is the continuous awareness of the arising, passing bodily sensations (Sampajañña). Sampajañña becomes the sati (object of awareness).
Dhamma-vicaya is the second bojjhaṅga. The word caya or cayana means “to integrate.” Apparent, consolidated, integrated, illusionary truth creates delusion and confusion resulting in wrong decisions and actions.
Vicaya or vicayana means to divide, dissect, disintegrate, separate (at the level of bodily sensations), which is what Vipassana intends you to do.
To become a factor of enlightenment, dhamma-vicaya must become an experiential investigation— the direct experience of the phenomenon of arising and passing away of sensations. Pativedhana: piercing, penetrating Panna - dividing, dissecting, disintegrating, dissolving at the level of sensations, you reach the stage of total dissolution. You witness the solidified, material structure, the body, as actually nothing but subatomic particles, kalapas, arising and passing.
Similarly, the mind and mental contents manifest as very solidified, intensified emotions - anger, fear, or passion - which overpower you. Vipassana, pativedhana, helps you. With pativedhana - the piercing, penetrating panna - you divide, dissect, disintegrate to the stage where this intense emotion is nothing but wavelets. The whole material and mental structures and the mental contents are nothing but wavelets, wavelets, anicca, anicca.
Then the reality about this "I" or "mine" or "myself" becomes clear. They are just conventional words. There is no "I" to possess this mind-matter structure, this impermanent material and mental phenomena. Mere mind and matter constantly interact, constantly influence each other, and become a cause for the arising of each other, resulting in currents, cross-currents, and under-currents going on in what you call "I".
Anatta (no "I") becomes clear at the experiential level.
The third bojjhaṅga is viriya (effort) as in sammā-vāyāmo in the Noble Eightfold Path. Great effort is required, but the effort is not to react, to let things just happen. Even if you have been victorious in a thousand battles against a thousand warriors, this inner battle of non-reaction is more difficult because the old habit is to do something, to react. Some pressure is necessary to drill a hole in a precious gem, but too much pressure will break it. It is a middle path. Great effort or viriya is needed to keep the mind from wandering away, to be with the continuous awareness of arising, passing sensations (Sampajañña) - with equanimity.
As you keep practicing with sati, dhamma-vicaya, and viriya, the impurities go away, and you experience the fourth bojjhaṅga, pīti: rapture. You have to be careful. If you develop attachment to this free flow of pleasant vibrations throughout the body, if you look for it and cling to it, it is no longer a bojjhaṅga. If the understanding of anicca remains—that this is still the field of mind and matter, of arising and passing—then pīti becomes a factor of enlightenment.
After this, the meditator experiences passaddhi, the fifth bojjhaṅga: a state of deep tranquility and calmness. The mind becomes extremely peaceful, quiet, and tranquil. Again the meditator may have the false impression that this deep peace, never experienced before, is liberation. Just as pīti, can become a bondage if not used properly, in the same way, passaddhi can also become a bondage. You understand that it is only a midway rest-house: the final goal is still far away. You can check that the six sense doors are still functioning: open your eyes, or listen. You are still in the field of arising and passing. You have not transcended the field of mind and matter.
Thoroughly examine this passaddhi, this deep, tranquil, calm experience. Although difficult to grasp, a subtle oscillation remains, and this sensation is called adukkhaṃasukhaṃ (neither pleasant nor unpleasant). In pīti, the experience was pleasant; now it is just peaceful, and the danger is that anicca is not experienced. Detachment from craving towards pleasant sensation or aversion towards unpleasant sensation is much easier than detachment from this feeling of peace. You must be very attentive, with a very sharp mind, feel the subtle oscillation, check the six sense doors, and keep understanding that this experience is anicca. If you are aware of the very subtle oscillation, arising and passing, then it becomes a bojjhaṅga and gives you the strength to move further. Your experience grows.
There is often a question about adukkhaṃasukhaṃ or neutral sensations. The Buddha did not mean the initial, surface sensations which are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. That is totally different and causes craving and aversion because people get bored with it, lose interest, and want something else. Their experience has become stale. They want something more or new, something they don’t have. This is their old habit pattern.
The next enlightenment factor is samādhi—concentration or absorption. Sammā-samādhi takes us beyond all the planes of existence and results in full liberation from the bondage of birth and death, and from every type of suffering. It is practiced with sampajañña, the awareness of the mind-matter phenomenon and the realization of its nature of arising and passing of sensations within. With the practice of sammā-samādhi (with sampajañña), one after the other, the meditator attains the fruit of sotāpanna, sakadāgāmī, anāgāmī, and arahant. Thus, samādhi becomes an enlightenment factor.
Upekkhā—equanimity is the seventh factor of enlightenment. Like sati, it must be present from the beginning to the end, at every step. Whichever other factor is being developed, awareness and equanimity must always be present.
When the bojjhaṅgas are practiced properly, they increase and become perfect; when each bojjhaṅga is perfect, enlightenment is perfect. This is the whole process of Vipassana.
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