Logical Analyses of Vipassanā Meditation

What is it about?

In this paper we propose logical analyses of Vipassanā Meditation as modus ponens or universal instantiation, as based upon identification, analysis, and interpretation of the meditation as a (spiritual) thought experiment (like e.g. huàtóus and kōans in Chan and Zen). The analyses consist in completing the unfinished enthymematic argument of the Sutta-nipāta by explication of hidden major. We speculate the thought experiment inference might be brought about by a faculty like mindfulness. The thought experiment analyses link the meditation to global cross-cultural theories and arguments in philosophy as Ibn Sīnā’s Flying Man and, notably, René Descartes’s Cogito. Last, we will give some indications how Vipassanā Meditation may be explained with help of western theories of consciousness.

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Why is it important?

KEYWORDS Vipassanā Meditation; kōan; huàtóu; thought experiment; enthymeme; modus ponens (instantiation); mindfulness (sati)