Manual of Insight

This is one of the best books available for serious students of Mindfulness, IMHO.The Manual has credibility: Mahasi Sayadaw's methods helped train many prominent Western Buddhist practice leaders, and even today many Burmese meditation schools are respected as possibly the most serious Vipassana schools. The book begins with a deceptively easy style -- simply noting and attending to the simple act of breathing -- but before you know it, you are investigating some of the most subtle activities of the mind.The Manual suggests remembering to be aware during the day, and cultivating a persistent habit of observing one's reactions and choices, and I thought it helped me do just that. The Manual also suggests one does not need to be "Enlightened" to experience glimpses of Nibbana. I first read this book during an on-line class from Wisdom, with a trained instructor familiar with Burmese Vipassana. I suggest using this method if it is still available, both because of the book's depth and because the organization is not always easy to assimilate. If you don't use this manual in conjunction with someone who knows something about the method, don't be discouraged if you find yourself sort of lost.I would suggest scanning a chapter, and then a section, before you read more attentively, so you will have a better appreciation of the overall direction of the section you are reading, and not get too bogged down in detail.May this help your studies go well.

“Although mindfulness in its secular applications has tremendous benefits, it’s helpful to remember that the original teachings of the Buddha are about liberation ….”(Introduction to the text at xvii). And it’s helpful knowing that’s the goal of this 710 page missive. Here’s a master’s approach to a path for the practitioner who wants to closely follow the original teachings of the Buddha. The Burmese monk Mahasi Sayadaw is legendary in the Theravada tradition. To have this foundational work available in English is an extraordinary opportunity for anyone wanting a serious spiritual practice. At a time when much of today’s Buddhist literature comes from sources from the second and third turning of the wheel, Mahasi Sayadaw draws directly from the original Suttas taken as the words of the Buddha.How has Mahasi Sayadaw laid out the path? It begins with conduct. It stands to reason: You can’t be poisoning the ground while planting seeds. It’s difficult to make progress when your day to day conduct conflicts with the beliefs you are trying to implement. After that it’s about wisdom and means, meditation. After the initial discussion about purification of the mind and reality, the text turns to meditation as means, encompassing the four foundations of mindfulness, mindfulness of breathing and insight meditation, all based on key suttas from the days of the Buddha. These are supplemented with information packed appendixes with inserted folio. There’s an amazing English-Pali, Pali-English Glossary that follows.It’s always great to see a book published as a sturdy hardback fit for the ages. It’s a text to be read and pondered over time, a text to be kept close and turned to again and again. If Buddhists started leaving books in hotel rooms this would likely be the book, a Theravadan Bible for a practice leading to awakening.

It's a jewel of a book, but absolutely not suited for beginners to meditation. It's technical, not easily accessible, and not exactly easy to read either. I would recommend several years of practice before you try reading it. The book gives an overview of a particular style of meditation, and the various stages of progress, culminating in enlightenment. It's essentially a roadmap and 'how to' guide for experienced meditators. The author was a Burmese monk and his particular style of teaching has strongly influenced many Western Vipassana/Insight Meditation teachers, in particular those at Spirit Rock and IMS. It's likely one of the best books on (a sub-strand of) Theravada Buddhism. Next to the Pali canon itself, I'd consider it 'essential' reading for experienced practitioners.

I bought this book because my teachers were behind getting it translated and Mahasi Saydow is the "grandfather" of the tradition I practice in. I expected it to be very heady and a difficult read, but just the opposite is true. Sayadow composed these instructions for lay people in Burma, people who generally had very little education. The result is a very clear and easy to understand teaching style (understanding is one thing, but putting the instructions into practice "successfully" is something completely different). If you can do what he says in this book, you will have lived the Holy life and your journey through samsara will be complete, may your practice be fruitful!

A fantastic resource for those into meditation, using 'noting'. The pdf can be found for free. But if you like books to reference, or to be free of electronics while you silently consider a passage, before continuing, it is a very worthwhile purchase.

This book is a serious treatise. It is competent and written well enough to get it's point across. I have been lost a few times by the very academic style of writing as well as abstract descriptions. Wisdom publications and Amazon have few of these advanced vipassana books. Yet Buddhism is not a religion of the book, so keep meditating. Bottom line is this book is an introduction to the Burmese Monastic Buddhism at the academic level. Please check out dhammadownload.com to realize how many advanced books are not published or not available in print. If mindfulness by Joseph Goldstein was a difficult read this book is not for you.

I found it quite difficult to follow in the beginning but I kept with it, kept reading as as I progressed into the book more and more words made sense to me and my understanding became aware. Don’t give up. Just read through. This book is the kind of book that you read through and then when finished re-read again.