vipassana

In Buddhism, any method of meditation designed to give insight into the true nature of life, the reality beyond a person's ‘clinging’ to normal everyday existence. One practice involves reflecting on the reality of death by thinking of the impermanence of all things. Another is to focus on the six elements in turn: earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness. With each element, the meditator imagines the element in nature, and then in his or her own body, and thinks of how that part of the body will return to its natural state one day, and therefore cannot be thought of as a separate ‘being’. In this way a person may discard the illusion that they have a separate, unchangeable existence.