"Go With the Wisdom Practice."
Steve Smith was one of the first Western practitioners to get a chance to ordain and meditate under both Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Pandita, which he discussed in our recent podcast interview. In the following excerpt, he describes a critical moment when he received a change in meditation instructions from U Pandita, and its implications.
“I returned to the simplicity of moment-to-moment attuning to the breath of the body, arising phenomena through the sense doors, observing what was happening and how it was behaving, and changing.”
“I became accustomed to two weeks of Brahma Vihāra practice to set the tone and foundation of concentration - kindness, compassion, empathy, equanimity - then to come out and intersperse. Resting in the Brahma Vihāras. Coming out of them, watching them dissolve, and then observing phenomena as they arose and passed away through the six sense doors. And this kind of became the style of practice. I developed and was leaning on leaning back on.
But this one retreat, everything was kind of fuzzy and mentally energetic. I couldn't do it. I would try to do the Brahma Vihāras again and again over a week or so. This was a two or three month retreat with U Pandita. And it just wouldn't take.
Finally, during an interview, U Pandita said, ‘Drop the Brahma Vihāras for this retreat. The wisdom practice of vipassanā is calling and is stronger than concentration practice. Go with the wisdom practice.’ So, then everything was quite smooth. After that, I dropped the Brahma Vihāras and I just returned to the simplicity of moment-to-moment attuning to the breath of the body, arising phenomena through the sense doors, observing what was happening and how it was behaving, and changing.
Or seeming not to change. Or arising and passing, or streaming along at such a velocity that it was nearly impossible to catch, except during a relaxed moment of insight.”