seeing defilements

[befriend]

as I understand it vipassana metaphorically is like taking a jar with dirt on the bottom and stirring it up, so one can see the defilements and let go of them? and samatha is just the settling of the dirt to the bottom of the jar where one temporarily suppresses the defilements and enjoys the bliss of a temporary wholesome mind. so my question is when we stir up the defilments how do we deal with them? im referring to the mahasi Burmese method. excuse me if I am misinterpreting this, but I think this is the teaching. metta, befriend

[Mkoll]

Hi befriend,

I can't answer your question directly because I'm not familiar with the Mahasi method. But I'll say a word on similes.

Similes are excellent at encouraging comprehension of a concept. They literally illustrate it and as they say, a picture tells a thousand words. How much more so does a story of pictures as a good simile provides?

However, similes have their limits. As they are stories, their relevance to reality is always restricted. In the end, reality has to be faced directly without any middleman.

Good luck in your practice.