The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2654 page)

 
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see
A
GA
.

 
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(P
li),
vipa
yan
(Skt., ‘see clearly’, ‘penetrate an object thoroughly’). Insight into the truths of impermanence (
anicca
), suffering (
dukkha
), and no-self (
an
tman
); the form of
meditation
which has the personal apprehension of these specific truths of Buddhism as its object. Together with tranquillity (
samatha
) it represents the twofold dimension to Buddhist meditational practice. But it is superior to the latter because it is concerned with that aspect of meditation which is distinctively Buddhist, and because it alone produces the form of understanding, prajña, through which liberation takes place. It is the central focus of meditational training in
Therav
da
Buddhist centres.