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A Map of the Journey: A Journey Through Vipassanā from the Very Basics of Meditation Practice to the Attainment of the First Glimpse of Nibbāna and Beyond
A Map of the Journey by Sayādaw U Jotika is a nearly 400 pages long introduction to insight meditation. A Map of the Journey is an orginial, never previously published work. It is a transcript of a series of eleven preparatory talks given by Sayādaw U Jotika of Burma prior to a meditation retreat held in Australia. This book gives a thorough background to the Path with much detail about the various insight stages. The Sayādaw illustrates this with many stories from his own practice and from his many teachers.
- GenresBuddhism
370 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2005
6 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Sayādaw U Jotika
23 books12 followersBorn into a non-Buddhist family in Moulmein, Myanmar (Burma) on August 5, 1947. His parents were U Sattar and Daw Tin. He received his basic education at a Roman Catholic missionary school. During his younger days, he didn't believe in any organized religion although he studied and exposed himself to many different religions, as well as western philosophy and psychology.
He graduated as an Electrical Engineer in 1973 from Rangoon Institute of Technology. He became very interested in Buddhist meditation. He discovered that life was unsatisfactory and majority of the people devoted their precious time mainly in gathering wealth, enjoying sensual pleasures, fame, power and position.
Thus, he decided to leave behind his family and became a "Samenera" (Novice) at the age of 26. He was ordained as a "Samgha" in 1974 at Taung Pu Lu Tawya, Meiktila with Ven. Taung Pu Lu Sayadaw as his preceptor. He practiced meditation under the guidance of the late Ven. Taung Pu Lu Sayadaw for (3) years. He continued to practice meditation with Htantabin Tawya Sayadaw for (15) years.
Ven. Jotika visited Melbourne in 1977 and again in 1998. He was in the United States in 1983-84 for about (16) months, conducting Dhamma talks in Santa Cruz, New York, Boston and Washington. He had visited Singapore several times on Dhamma Duta missions as well.
He has established a monastery in a rural environment overlooking a great lake near Pago, (50) miles north of Yangon. His Dhamma talks and books are in great demand in Myanmar as well as with overseas Burmese. He has published about (13) titles so far. One of his popular Dhamma book in English is "A Map of the Journey"
He graduated as an Electrical Engineer in 1973 from Rangoon Institute of Technology. He became very interested in Buddhist meditation. He discovered that life was unsatisfactory and majority of the people devoted their precious time mainly in gathering wealth, enjoying sensual pleasures, fame, power and position.
Thus, he decided to leave behind his family and became a "Samenera" (Novice) at the age of 26. He was ordained as a "Samgha" in 1974 at Taung Pu Lu Tawya, Meiktila with Ven. Taung Pu Lu Sayadaw as his preceptor. He practiced meditation under the guidance of the late Ven. Taung Pu Lu Sayadaw for (3) years. He continued to practice meditation with Htantabin Tawya Sayadaw for (15) years.
Ven. Jotika visited Melbourne in 1977 and again in 1998. He was in the United States in 1983-84 for about (16) months, conducting Dhamma talks in Santa Cruz, New York, Boston and Washington. He had visited Singapore several times on Dhamma Duta missions as well.
He has established a monastery in a rural environment overlooking a great lake near Pago, (50) miles north of Yangon. His Dhamma talks and books are in great demand in Myanmar as well as with overseas Burmese. He has published about (13) titles so far. One of his popular Dhamma book in English is "A Map of the Journey"
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 19, 2013
This book, which is a compilation of preparatory talks given by Sayadaw U. Jotika to participants in a vipassana retreat, comments on the stages of insight-knowledge from an experiential angle, giving advice on how to develop them in practice. The Sayadaw very wisely gives great emphasis to developing and achieving the first and second vipassana insight-knowledges. Often, vipasanna teachers, if they point the student to the stages of insight-knowledges at all, tend to rush through the stages because of the lack of time in retreat. Students do not benefit by such haste. There is no way to progress to higher insight-knowledges unless the foundation is firm. It is therefore very useful for students to understand that there are superficial and mature realizations of the same insight-knowledge, and that a mature understanding of the first and second insight-knowledges is already a very profound achievement. In this way, they will have patience, and develop their practice slowly, methodically and steadily. A good, solid foundation will later enable students to enter Nibbhana with certainty and stability. Attention to such careful progression, sensitive to the deep and profound inner meaning of the levels of insight-knowledge, is what Sayadaw U. Jotika bequeaths to us in this book.
This book is available for download on the internet for free. I recommend it highly to anyone who is going into retreat, bewteen retreats, or coming out from retreat. As the transcribers Anna Muresu and Leslie Shaw write in the Introduction, it will be your good friend, kalyaana-mitta, in your journey, especially if you do not have a teacher near to guide you. Even if you a teacher, this book will be your kalyaana-mitta. It will point you in the right direction.
This book is available for download on the internet for free. I recommend it highly to anyone who is going into retreat, bewteen retreats, or coming out from retreat. As the transcribers Anna Muresu and Leslie Shaw write in the Introduction, it will be your good friend, kalyaana-mitta, in your journey, especially if you do not have a teacher near to guide you. Even if you a teacher, this book will be your kalyaana-mitta. It will point you in the right direction.
November 14, 2014
I kept this book beside my bed for a long time. It was not because it was hard to read, but I was sort of not wanting to finish reading it. That said about how I enjoyed the book.
The book is the speech script of Burma monk Sayadaw U Jotika talking about the Vipassana meditation practice. I just wish that I had read this book before my Vipassana meditation last year. It would probably have saved much of my "suffering" during the practice.
It is very easy to read and follow the concept flow. So much clarity and wisdom. I recommend it to anyone who wants to practice meditation.
The book is the speech script of Burma monk Sayadaw U Jotika talking about the Vipassana meditation practice. I just wish that I had read this book before my Vipassana meditation last year. It would probably have saved much of my "suffering" during the practice.
It is very easy to read and follow the concept flow. So much clarity and wisdom. I recommend it to anyone who wants to practice meditation.
January 26, 2015
You'd never think I thought this book was so "meh" with the amount of quotes I've listed, but it's true. Jotika is opinionated, arrogant, and far too colloquial to be called "venerable", and I hope he isn't. However, here are some quotes:
Don’t be too proud of being a man and don’t be unhappy about being a woman. Nobody is better. It is your practice, it is your understanding, and it is your heart which really counts.
Just wake up and grow up!
Your rebirth depends on the quality of your mind, the quality of your consciousness.
Between what we need and what we want there is a very big gap. What we want is limitless, what we really need is very little.
When you think one thought you can see that it affects the whole body, every cell in your body participates with the thought. Body and mind participate, they work together; we can never separate body and mind.
If you can become so sensitive up to the level that every thought affects your body, you’ll be very weary of thoughts. You’ll not let them come in. You’ll be more mindful and there will be less and less negative thoughts.
If you don’t think and don’t worry, the mind becomes very sharp using the minimum amount of energy.
That’s why you experience light sometimes, sometimes very sharp insight, sometimes a lot of joy, tranquility, happiness, bliss, a lot of confidence, energy, etc. These are all very good. There is nothing wrong with it, but if you get attached to any one of these, it becomes impurity. Light itself is not impurity. Clear insight is not impurity. They are pure, very good. But only when you become attached to them, they become impure.
Some people don’t sleep at all, and they can meditate all day and night. When you lie down to sleep, don’t plan to sleep, but be mindful as much as possible and when you fall asleep it is ok.
The mind becomes very tranquil and relaxed, and after a while it becomes unconscious. When you become too relaxed you become unconscious. Sometimes it is just real sleep!
A meditator can change the unconscious mind, which is a very strange idea for most psychologists. That is how this meditation influences people’s personality. There is no other way as effective as meditation to do this. A lot of mental sicknesses, neurosis, just disappear; you don’t have to do anything about it.
You can see that every moment is birth and death. There is nothing you can keep, and there is nothing you can hold on to, because things are arising and passing away so quickly.
Even wisdom is impermanent, even awareness is impermanent.
An electron is just a theoretical model; something disappears and something arises.
Not being afraid is very important. Real insight has no fear.
There is no safety.
In some cases people get so fed up with this watching of the phenomena of arising and passing away, that they think it would be nicer not to watch it anymore.
One very interesting and surprising thing is that when the potential Buddhas come to this tenth insight, they will stop here, they won’t go on. And the ability to stop here is really amazing, that one will stop there and not cross over. Because an Arahant does not become a Buddha!
We don’t need to be depressed and give up. Never give up.
The first thing necessary to overcome anything is to look at it very carefully, to understand it very deeply, completely and then to overcome it. We cannot run away. Running away it is not overcoming. There is no place to hide, nowhere to go.
We need a lot of courage to change. Without changing how can we really grow! If we want to stay the same we cannot grow.
If we really want to be free we have to really look deep inside, what am I doing and with what motivation? Are my precepts, behavior and motivation pure? Is my mind clear and pure? Am I brave enough? If we are worthy of it, we will get it. So we need to live our lives in such a way that we are worthy of it.
Well prepared is half done.
Only thinking makes the past come into the present. We imagine the past and make it as if it is in the present, make it real. If we don’t think about it, it’s not real anymore, it’s not there, and it is only a memory.
Real life is in the present. Life is not just an idea or a concept, but it is our sensations, our perceptions here and now.
We must be diligent today, to wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?
If we live in mindfulness night and day it means that mindfulness becomes our home.
Buddha said even if you die, keep working, work hard, even if your body is reduced to skin and bones, work hard.
If you are in the right mood, in the right frame of mind, things are very easy.
So it’s very important to feel that we are helping each other, supporting each other. So every day for a few moments in our sitting we radiate our kindness, loving thoughts, understanding, forgiving, making each other feel very safe and secure so that you don’t feel judged.
When you complete it you feel the completion. It’s very important to make it complete.
Don’t be too proud of being a man and don’t be unhappy about being a woman. Nobody is better. It is your practice, it is your understanding, and it is your heart which really counts.
Just wake up and grow up!
Your rebirth depends on the quality of your mind, the quality of your consciousness.
Between what we need and what we want there is a very big gap. What we want is limitless, what we really need is very little.
When you think one thought you can see that it affects the whole body, every cell in your body participates with the thought. Body and mind participate, they work together; we can never separate body and mind.
If you can become so sensitive up to the level that every thought affects your body, you’ll be very weary of thoughts. You’ll not let them come in. You’ll be more mindful and there will be less and less negative thoughts.
If you don’t think and don’t worry, the mind becomes very sharp using the minimum amount of energy.
That’s why you experience light sometimes, sometimes very sharp insight, sometimes a lot of joy, tranquility, happiness, bliss, a lot of confidence, energy, etc. These are all very good. There is nothing wrong with it, but if you get attached to any one of these, it becomes impurity. Light itself is not impurity. Clear insight is not impurity. They are pure, very good. But only when you become attached to them, they become impure.
Some people don’t sleep at all, and they can meditate all day and night. When you lie down to sleep, don’t plan to sleep, but be mindful as much as possible and when you fall asleep it is ok.
The mind becomes very tranquil and relaxed, and after a while it becomes unconscious. When you become too relaxed you become unconscious. Sometimes it is just real sleep!
A meditator can change the unconscious mind, which is a very strange idea for most psychologists. That is how this meditation influences people’s personality. There is no other way as effective as meditation to do this. A lot of mental sicknesses, neurosis, just disappear; you don’t have to do anything about it.
You can see that every moment is birth and death. There is nothing you can keep, and there is nothing you can hold on to, because things are arising and passing away so quickly.
Even wisdom is impermanent, even awareness is impermanent.
An electron is just a theoretical model; something disappears and something arises.
Not being afraid is very important. Real insight has no fear.
There is no safety.
In some cases people get so fed up with this watching of the phenomena of arising and passing away, that they think it would be nicer not to watch it anymore.
One very interesting and surprising thing is that when the potential Buddhas come to this tenth insight, they will stop here, they won’t go on. And the ability to stop here is really amazing, that one will stop there and not cross over. Because an Arahant does not become a Buddha!
We don’t need to be depressed and give up. Never give up.
The first thing necessary to overcome anything is to look at it very carefully, to understand it very deeply, completely and then to overcome it. We cannot run away. Running away it is not overcoming. There is no place to hide, nowhere to go.
We need a lot of courage to change. Without changing how can we really grow! If we want to stay the same we cannot grow.
If we really want to be free we have to really look deep inside, what am I doing and with what motivation? Are my precepts, behavior and motivation pure? Is my mind clear and pure? Am I brave enough? If we are worthy of it, we will get it. So we need to live our lives in such a way that we are worthy of it.
Well prepared is half done.
Only thinking makes the past come into the present. We imagine the past and make it as if it is in the present, make it real. If we don’t think about it, it’s not real anymore, it’s not there, and it is only a memory.
Real life is in the present. Life is not just an idea or a concept, but it is our sensations, our perceptions here and now.
We must be diligent today, to wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?
If we live in mindfulness night and day it means that mindfulness becomes our home.
Buddha said even if you die, keep working, work hard, even if your body is reduced to skin and bones, work hard.
If you are in the right mood, in the right frame of mind, things are very easy.
So it’s very important to feel that we are helping each other, supporting each other. So every day for a few moments in our sitting we radiate our kindness, loving thoughts, understanding, forgiving, making each other feel very safe and secure so that you don’t feel judged.
When you complete it you feel the completion. It’s very important to make it complete.
October 3, 2023
Almost a good book..
August 1, 2021
This book is very good and I have got a lot of knowledge for the life.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews