Interview with Visu

Q: How did you come to practise meditation?
A: In 1982, when I was 28 years old, I had reached a crisis in my life. I was working as a journalist in Penang, Malaysia, as a chief reporter and assistant news editor. My marriage had broken down. Professional success and worldly and sensual pursuits did not make me happy. I was losing my confidence and ability to work and write, and had no ambition anymore. I felt lost and dying inside.
Around this time a journalist friend of mine had resigned and become a Buddhist monk. I had read about Buddhism before, but never practiced. Now I started to read a lot of books and began to heartily embrace the Buddha's teachings like The First Noble Truth of Suffering. Even though there is happiness in life, that happiness is unsatisfactory, because it is subject to change and impermanence. The uprooting of craving and ignorance, the attainment of Nibbana, the ending of rebirth, all that made a lot of sense to me. I had suffered and came to see why, because of craving and delusion.
Immediately I took up meditation and loved it. My monk friend gave me simple instructions how to stay with the rising and falling of the abdomen. I would sit at times for two hours, enduring pain and mosquito bites, but refusing to get up from my meditation seat.

Q: How and when did you decide to become a monk?
A: After some time I felt I wanted to deepen my meditation and to practise full time. 1983 I took a year no-pay leave from my company. Ven. Sujiva ordained me as a novice monk and I joined him in his hermitage in Kota Tinggi, Malaysia. I was very happy practicing meditation and studying the Dhamma. I did return to work, but my mind had changed and I decided to resign from my job. After serving as lay attendant to Ven. Sujiva and caretaker of the hermitage for a year I decided to become a bhikkhu, a fully ordained monk. In Penang the late Burmese Sayadaw U Wayarmeinda ordained me. 

Q: When did you go to Burma and how did it help your practice?
A: I stayed in Burma from 1987 to 1991 including 9 months in Thailand. In Burma I practised intensively at the Mahasi Meditation Centre for 16 months, first vipassana for 11 months followed by 5 months of samatha practice, doing the brahmaviharas and kasinas. My teachers were Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, and Sayadaw U Jatila. In my second period in Burma I spent more time studying the Dhamma, Pali, and Burmese.

Through my long-term stay in Burma I was able to further and deepen both my meditation practice and my conviction and understanding of the Dhamma, like the truths of impermanence, suffering and not-self.
In addition, my exposure to traditional Theravada cultures in Burma and Thailand provided me with a solid base in later years as a teacher and enabled me to better understand the differences in cultural approaches to the Dhamma practice, say between the East and the West.

Q: Why are you particularly promoting Metta meditation and what are its benefits?
A: The benefits of Metta, often translated as lovingkindness or goodwill, are manifold. It can be a powerful practice to attain deep states of concentration or samadhi. Our mind becomes very peaceful. This concentration serves as a good base for vipassana meditation, too.

The most wonderful aspect of Metta is that we develop a heart of love. Metta is the antidote to hatred and anger. We become more patient, kind, understanding and forgiving. Metta ennobles our lives. It is conducive to improving our relationships with others and with ourselves. Metta can also help in reducing depression and unhappiness and make us happier human beings. It can have a great transforming effect on our minds. Futhermore, a total of 11 benefits of metta are listed in the Buddhist texts, including being able to sleep easily, being dear to others, being protected from harm, having a radiant complexion, and dying peacefully.
Besides metta, one should also practise the other three brahmaviharas (divine abidings) of compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity.

In an intensive retreat setting we are generating thoughts of goodwill all day long in sitting and walking meditation. In our daily practice we can incorporate Metta in our meditation sittings, as often and as long as we like.  And of course in our daily life we can radiate Metta to anyone anywhere at any time.

Q: What is the difference in effect in practising metta meditation for a week and practising vipassana meditation for a week?
A: Metta promotes love, friendliness, kindness, patience, tolerance, goodwill, and opens our heart. And through repeating the Metta phrases we gain calm and peace of mind. One should leave the retreat feeling joyful, lighter and happier, filled with lovingkindness, goodwill and benevolence towards all beings.

Vipassana brings about deep insight into the three characteristics of existence – impermanence, suffering, and not-self - in a way which is very liberating for the mind. We come to understand how much additional suffering is caused by the unskillful mental factors of greed, hatred, and delusion, which we strive to weaken and uproot. When one leaves a vipassana retreat one should come to have a better understanding of the nature of existence and be able to maintain a more equanimous state of mind.

Both Vipassana and Metta are paths to happiness. While vipassana is our main practice we regard metta as an indispensable supplement to vipassana. Vipassana can appear to be rather ‘dry’ at times while metta can be seen as giving the ‘moisture of love’ to the vipassana practice. Vipassana sees beings as merely the five aggregates, as empty phenomena, while Metta sees these five aggregates as beings that need love and kindness.

The Buddha did not teach only vipassana. He also emphasized the practice of metta and other meditation subjects.  In an intensive metta retreat we usually include an hour sitting of vipassana, and in an intensive vipassana retreat we include an hour radiating of metta.
For a balanced practice there is great need, use and benefit for both vipassana and metta, and not one to the exclusion of the other.