These days, there’s a growing interest in gaining insight. Overall, this is a positive trend. For a long time, many in the West doubted whether awakening was a realistic goal, thinking maybe they were too messed up or that the modern world wasn’t conducive to it. However, over the years, more practitioners have had insightful experiences, encouraging others to believe not only in the possibility of awakening but also in their own capability to achieve it. This is fantastic news! But is there a downside?
One concern I’ve noticed lately is that many people set narrow goals for themselves. Often, the ultimate aim of practice is seen merely as gaining insight into non-self. While that’s crucial, having insights alone doesn’t make you the kind of person the Buddha suggested as an ideal. The Buddha’s vision of an ideal person includes not only insight but also being an all-around excellent human being.
In a conversation about the ideal person, the Buddha mentions qualities like calmness, being free from craving and attachment to preferences, and being free from fear, anger, and pride. He also talks about being restrained in speech, having no longings about the future or regrets about the past, being honest and transparent, free from envy, and refraining from insults. Moreover, the ideal person does not think of themselves as superior, inferior, or even equal to others.
The Buddha also describes this ideal individual in terms of gentleness, kindness, and compassion, encouraging us to act in ways that avoid causing harm to others, even indirectly, and to be good friends to each other. This is where our practice should lead, and this is the goal we should orient our lives around.
The Buddha’s goal is not just about losing the delusion of self or gaining insight; it’s also about cultivating ethical, skillful qualities and positive emotions. This is why the Buddhist path usually begins with training in ethics, followed by meditation (including cultivating kindness and compassion), and finally culminates in developing insight.
For a small number of people, insight experiences can be upsetting or even devastating, leading to a loss of meaning and a sense of despair. These cases are rare, and I don’t personally know anyone for whom this was more than a temporary disorientation before the positive aspects of insight became apparent. In instances where insight has led to long-term problems, there seems to have been a narrow focus on mindfulness and insight, with a lack of emphasis on loving-kindness and compassion meditation. Many meditation teachers tend to ignore these potential problems, but fortunately, they are being studied, and we hope to learn more about them over time.
Modern neuroscience shows us that as we learn a new skill, our brain physically changes, much like a muscle grows with exercise. The goal of practice isn’t just about cognitive insight into impermanence or non-self; it also involves strengthening our “muscles” of kindness and compassion. Developing insight removes certain barriers to skillful qualities and helps diminish some unskillful ones, but it takes effort to bring about real growth.
I encourage you to develop these qualities both during meditation and in daily life. If we do this, insight, when it comes, is more likely to be an astonishing, liberating, and joyful surprise, rather than a disorienting, upsetting, or painful shock to the system.