Beginning Meditation/Concentration/Mindfulness/Wisdom

1. Beginning Meditation


People use meditation for various purposes. It can be practiced as a stress reducer, a healer, a transformative tool, a scientific experiment, an art, a skill, a life style, as well as many other reasons. In its deeper aspects, meditation leads the mind internally into dimensions that not only change your life, but open up possibilities that rarely are options for non-meditators.
 
Meditation in deeper stages go beyond what you can observe. The observer disappears. That means that the ego (I am) disappears. Although nothing seems to happen in these unobservable moments, deep within the mind, and actually beyond the mind at the level of pure awareness, inexplicable changes take place that are then intuitively integrated into daily life. In other words, you change, and the changes are for the better. Less karma is made as your window to the world and beyond opens wide.
 
Meditation is not so much about how we start or finish or about setting or attaining goals, but more of a steady process, a consistent effort every day, day in and day out, moment to moment where  unexpected insights, some seemingly insignificant, some obviously powerful, compound each other and combine to shift consciousness in surprising and meaningful ways.   

The main problem in the beginning, however, is the endless stream of thoughts that seem impossible to calm down. Trying to meditate in this state of mind is like trying to tame a wild horse. Without tying it down in some fashion, training the horse would not be possible.

So to start with, we have to tie the mind down.

In beginning meditation, we tie the mind down by substituting our normal, numerous thoughts with one stronger thought. There are four strategies to do this, and we will use all four.
 
The first is the use of Mala Beads; a simple, circular string of 108 beads. These are available on the internet for a few dollars or at Rocksprings at no charge. You can easily make your own as well. In tangent with the Mala beads, we will use a counting technique.

In addition, because Western minds are very hyperactive, we will use a mantra. This is the basis of TM meditation - a word or phrase that is repeated silently in the mind. Buddhists may want to use the mantra ‘Bu-dho,” but any word or phrase will work. “Om Mani Padmi Hum,” is also a good general mantra.

And finally, to make sure that we have the mind tied down tight, we will incorporate a fourth strategy, which is mindfulness of breathing. We will be doing all four at once.

1. We have to take one step at a time, however, so we will begin with a simple exercise with the Mala Beads. Sit in a comfortable position. If you can sit in a meditation posture, this is best, but a chair is okay too. Hold the mala beads in your right hand. Hang the mala on the middle finger, using the thumb to rotate the beads. The index finger never touches the mala. Begin your meditation at a small bead next to the large one. This large bead is never passed over, so if you wish to do more than one round, turn the mala over and begin again, moving in the opposite direction. Now simply move each bead as you count each 108 beads. Go at a pace of about one second per count. Repeat this until you are confident that you can count all the beads every time without losing track of the count.

2. Now repeat step 1, but count in a sequence as follows: 1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2, 6,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6,7. You should end up on this count of “7” when you get to the last small bead. This is a test to see if you counted correctly without missing a count. Repeat this until you are confident that you can count all the beads every time without losing track of the count.

3. Now we will incorporate our mantra. Before counting per step 2, silently repeat your mantra. “Bu-dho, (1), Bu-dho, (2), Bu-dho, (3), etc. Repeat this step until you are confident that you can count all the beads every time without losing track of the count or the mantra.

4. In this final step, we will incorporate mindfulness of breathing into the other three steps.

      First of all, it is important when practicing mindfulness of breathing that you breathe from your abdomen rather than from your heart or chest. Breathing from the heart of chest promotes shallow breathing which in turn causes stress, whereas breathing from the solar plexus promotes calm and peace. Practice this a few times. Take deep breaths and expand your lower diaphragm rather than your chest. If you have trouble with this, lie on your back and put your hand on your stomach – and breathe deeply. You will feel the stomach expand. This is where you want to always breathe in and out. Regardless of what area of the body you might use later to concentrate on the passage of your breath in and out of the body, i. e., the nose tip, in front of the eyes, heart or forehead, the breathing itself should always be from the abdomen. Now we will incorporate our breathing with our mantra, our counting and our mala beads.

Take a few deep breaths to establish your breathing in the solar plexus area. When you breathe out, let your body relax. Now let the body breathe naturally. To incorporate your mantra, silently repeat to yourself, “Buuuuuuu” as the body breathes in naturally. Hold the syllable for the entire in Breath. As the body breathes out naturally, repeat “dhooooooo” and hold the syllable for the entire out breath. At the very end of the out breath, count as in step 2. So it would be: In breath; “Buuuuuu” out breath; “dhoooooo -1. In breath; “Buuuuuu” out breath; “dhoooooo -2 and so on.

Repeat this for 108 breaths or the string of mala beads. It should take nine or ten minutes breathing normally. Repeat this step again and again until you are confident that you can count all the beads every time without losing track of either the count, the mantra, or the in and out breaths. Take your time to get this right, don’t hurry. Go slowly; practice each step carefully as your time permits. Then, after a week, a month, a year, or whenever you feel ready, you can go on to general concentration section below.

2. Concentration


STEP 1. Thought Awareness

In order to establish a firm foundation in your meditation, begin by practicing simple "thought awareness." Just sit quietly and watch your thoughts. Don’t try to think, and don’t try not to think, just observe the normal activities of the mind.

We have all kinds of thoughts constantly - thoughts about what we did yesterday, what we will do tomorrow or next year, how much longer the meditation session will last, what we will do after meditation, should I scratch that itch, why am I swallowing so much! All these thoughts can make meditation a real chore.

When thoughts steal your attention, i.e., you become involved in them rather than watching them come and go, you lose your awareness. When this happens, be kind to the thought that stole your attention - but not too kind.

Allow each thought to have its space without angrily pushing it away. At the same time however, shift your focus from the content of the thought, or what you were thinking about, to the feeling or process of the thought. What you will discover is a tension in the brain when you are thinking, even thinking so called happy thoughts. The feeling is subtle, similar to a tight band around your head, but the tension can be observed with some practice.

Since thought is a conflict solver, whenever you are thinking you are naturally in conflict! Thinking how to balance your checkbook, what you have to do tomorrow or even thinking about how you can get people to like or respect you - this is all conflict. Fear of running out of money, becoming unpopular or disrespected, getting something you crave but can't have or putting up with something you dislike and can't get rid of - these are objects of thought where thinking tries to resolve the situation by figuring out every little detail.

So while we are practicing, we no longer participate any further in a thought once we realize that we are thinking. We stop trying to figure things out or indulging in the content of our thoughts regardless of how important it seems that you must solve whatever conflict the thought is trying to resolve or the plans it is trying to complete.

When you continue to think - after you are mindful that you should be meditating - that is not good meditation. On the other hand, noticing thoughts, gently letting them be and returning to your mindfulness of thought awareness - this is good meditation, even if you have to do it a million times!

Noticing how mind works

When you find yourself caught up in a thought and then successfully let go of the contents of the thought, take one more step: Take a moment to realize the attachment you have for this particular thought (Every thought seems very real and important to you).

Then notice how that attachment causes stress, and how the more important a thought seems, the more stress it causes.

This noticing and realization comes about by experiencing the feeling of stress or tension that the thought causes in our brain. Once we experience that tension, we will automatically releases it and let go of the tight grasp the thought has on our mind.

This is how you begin to acquire wisdom about how the mind works. You will also discover a lot about your attachments and aversions, and exactly what they are.

In addition, you may discover how a “self” is fabricated from thought by associated mental processes, and that our 'self' is nothing more than a series of processes that come and go, always in constant flux. In essence, we are nothing, but to understand that at a level deep enough to gain the complete freedom of enlightenment that the Buddha promised requires much insight and wisdom.

After practicing this way for some time and discovering these predictable processes, we can eventually let go of our assumed self-importance – the root cause of our stress. Instead of merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic by endlessly thinking in the same patterns, we begin to understand thought itself, and get a glimpse of the subconscious iceberg below!

This is how vipassana (insight) is developed within the tranquil jhana (concentration) practice, and how mindfulness meditation develops.

So to recap: When your mindfulness remembers that you are thinking about something instead of simply being aware of the thinking mind, there is a tendency to quickly push the thought away, hating it, considering it to be a hindrance to your meditation and then quickly jumping back to your object of meditation, which in this case is simple awareness of thinking.

Instead of quickly pushing the thought away, however, take a moment and apply your mindfulness to the grasping, the feeling of tightness that the thought has caused the mind. Don‘t think about the content of the thought itself, just the process as you notice the feeling in the mind that the thought has caused.

The thought seems very important to the mind because something either has to be resolved or we are trying to think how to position ourselves so that we are more liked, admired, respected, secure, happy, etc.

So, the mind is either trying to solve a conflict or trying to build the idea of “me “ and “mine” - reinforcing the “I” thought. But you don’t have to think about all of this or try to figure it out. Simply notice the tension in the head that thought creates.

Then release that tension. Release the grasp that the mind has on that particular thought. You will feel your temples and eye muscles physically relax when you do this.

Next, allow the mind to expand, releasing itself from the confines of the brain. Imagine it expanding as far as it likes, out into unlimited space.

Now take a deep breath, and as you exhale relax the body, let the arms fall from the shoulders, relax the face and abdomen.

Then, happily notice this uninterrupted awareness of the mind without thoughts, as long as you can.
Again, here’s what you do when you find the mind is distracted in thought:

A. Apply your mindfulness to the grasping, the feeling of tightness
B. Then release that tension.
C. Then allow the mind to expand
D. Now take a deep breath, and as you exhale, relax the body and go back to your meditation object.

Insight into how the mind works is not a result of the brain trying to figure all of this out. Insight comes as a flash after which increased understanding prevails. No need to keep reading more books or practicing anything other than keeping your mindfulness and awareness as an anchor, watching thoughts come and go. You are now an observer, not a doer. Eventually, if one wants to go deep into jhana and vipassana practice, the controller, the doer, must go.

All the wisdom of the universes and beyond is inside the mind. All you have to do is calm the mind and then direct it toward avenues other than those which you have been traveling all your life until that innate wisdom has a chance to surface.

What we are doing is giving the mind a vacation from the constant barrage of thinking. Just as a vacation for the body rests and rejuvenates it so that it can again work hard, a vacation from the constant fog of thinking by the mind enables it to see clearly with increased insight and creativity.

Practice Step 1 until your thoughts slow down to the extent that you can catch each and every one and -

A. Apply your mindfulness to the grasping, the feeling of tightness
B. Then release that tension.
C. Then allow the mind to expand
D. Now take a deep breath, and as you exhale, relax the body, and go back to calmly watching your thoughts.

Then go on to step 2, but don't hurry step 1!

STEP 2. Gaps between thoughts

As you practice, thoughts settle down and become less frequent. You will then notice gaps between your thoughts. These are brief moments where there is anticipation of what comes next, but with nothing really happening as if the mind suddenly has become empty of thoughts and you find yourself very still and ready to ambush the next thought that comes your way. You become aware of your awareness.

Keep practicing like this until the periods between thoughts lengthen, and as they do, converge or focus your attention at a point in space about three or four inches in front of your closed eyes, or in front of your chest or heart, whichever seems more natural for you. This may happen spontaneously. This sensation should feel very spacious and empty, perhaps like a large, white blank screen, and at the same time very comfortable and secure. Many monks describe this experience as a "dropping" into the heart area or in front of the chest or heart area but my experience is a convergence to a point 3 or 4 inches in front of my eyes. After your pure awareness of this convergence maintains itself for about five minutes, you may go to step 3, which again may happen naturally as well.

STEP 3. Noticing the body breathing in the silent gaps between thoughts as the mind is converged.

At some point within these gaps between thoughts, and as the mind converges in front of the eyes or chest and simply because nothing else is going on, the mind will become of your awareness itself! You will be aware of the totally empty awareness that you are experiencing. Then, at some point, pure awareness will begin noticing that the body is breathing. It will notice the in breaths and the out breaths.

It may notice this breathing anywhere in the body, perhaps the cool air moving back and forth past  a point inside the nose, or at the nose tip or upper lip, but wherever you notice the physical sensation of breathing,  it is important that you actually breathe from your abdomen rather than from your heart or chest. Breathing from the heart of chest promotes shallow breathing which in turn causes stress, whereas breathing from the solar plexus promotes calm and peace.

Practice this a few times. Take deep breaths and expand your lower diaphragm rather than your chest. If you have trouble with this, lie on your back and put your hand on your stomach – then breathe deeply. You will feel the stomach expand. This is where you want to always breathe in and breathe out. Regardless of what area of the body you might use later to concentrate on the passage of your breath in and out of the body, i. e., the nose tip, in front of the eyes, heart or forehead, the physical  breathing itself should always be from the abdomen.
 
Stay with this awareness of breathing in and breathing out as a background of the converged and completely aware mind. The main point of mindfulness is a focus and convergence in front if the eyes or chest, being aware of your awareness, but there is always in the background a recognition of each in breath and each out breath. Keep doing this focusing, with breath awareness in the background, until the mind can remain mindful for about 20 uninterrupted minutes with no or few thoughts. Then move on to STEP 4.

STEP 4. Now we will begin following the Buddha’s actual instructions on mindfulness of breathing, or the Anapanassati Sutta.

“There is the case where a monk having gone to the wilderness to the shade of a tree or to or an empty building sits down folding his legs crosswise holding his body erect and setting mindfulness to the fore.”

Get into the best posture that you can handle, one that you will be able to maintain for the entire length of your meditation period without moving. The best position for concentration is the full lotus posture where you place your right foot on top of your left thigh, and your left foot on top of your right thigh (typical yoga posture). However, this is only for very flexible people! Keep in mind that all meditation positions have to be worked at for some time to become comfortable, and in the meantime there will be some pain.

Another good position is the half lotus, where the right foot is placed on the left thigh. Most statues and pictures of the Buddha depict this position.

Burmese style is also very good where the feet are not placed on top of the thighs but laid out in front of them. There are pictures of these sitting positions under the “Fundamentals of Buddhism” tab.

Sitting on a chair is good as well, just sit with your back straight but relaxed, and don‘t lean back. Remain upright and alert.

The important thing with all of these postures is to be able to completely forget about the body and apply the mental factors of convergence and breath awareness. This means being able to sit comfortably, upright and stable for long periods of time where you are involved only in your concentration and breathing. The deeper the mind converges in concentration, the less the body will fidget until you will be able to sit for very long periods with no pain or discomfort whatsoever.

Now, put your mindfulness to the fore - three or four inches in front of your eyes or chest - and with each in breath and out breath in the background go to Step 5.

STEP 5. Detailed breath awareness

" Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.”

Simply know detailed aspects of each in breath and out breath as you are breathing - whether it is long or short, shallow or deep, fast or slow, or calm or stressful. You can become aware of the length of the breath by how long it takes to inhale and exhale. One way is to see if the inhales and exhales are equal, or whether one is longer than the other. Another way is to see how calm and relaxed the breath can become. If you notice your breathing is tight and constricted, try to loosen or relax it. Play with the breath and see how many subtleties you can detect.

Do this until you can notice the beginning, middle and end of each in breath, and the beginning, middle and end of each out breath for about 20 minutes without intervening thoughts.

STEP 6. Body awareness

“He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body‘”. He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.’”

Here we will begin two exercises which will open and familiarize us with the energy centers of the body (and all the while remembering to keep our convergence, our awareness of our awareness in front of the eyes or chest, and the in breaths and out breaths in the background). The in breaths and out breaths become our anchor, our “go to” guy when we find ourselves losing our awareness of that mindfulness that the Buddha said is to take priority over everything else.

The first exercise harmonizes the body and can protect it from illness. The second harmonizes both body and mind and keeps the meditation practice stable and balanced.

Begin with a deep inhalation at your tailbone and visualize it moving up your spine to the top of your head (in a seemingly counter intuitive fashion). Then let the exhale fall over your chest like a waterfall and around the pelvic area before you begin another circling inhalation at your tailbone. Do this three times. Be sure to relax your body fully on the out breath - allow you arms and face to fall. Relax the belly, let it hang out! This is the first exercise, which takes about 30 seconds.

After your three circling breaths, the second exercise involves putting your attention on the energy centers of the body, or the ‘chakras:’ This one takes about a minute:

Calmly breathe in and out two times from the forehead area just between and above the eyebrows. Imagine this forehead area, as well as all the organs in this area, opening and expanding.

Now do the same at the throat - the hollow area below your Adam’s Apple - breathe in and out two times and imagine this area and all the organs in this area opening and expanding.

Now do the same at the heart - the center of the chest.

Next the solar plexus, or an area 2” above your belly button.

Next the pubic area.

Then the tailbone area.

And finally bring the breath around the back to about 2” above the top of the head.

1. Forehead
2. Throat
3. Heart
4. Solar plexus
5. Pubic area
6. Tailbone
7. Top of head

STEP 7. Tranquilizing the body

“He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication (breath).' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication (breath).”

Now simply be aware of the in breaths and out breaths from that focused area in front of the closed eyes or chest. As you are doing this, occasionally think “Easy, calm, relaxed,“ and your breath will calm by itself.

If the meditation is done properly with the correct emphasis on ‘relaxed,' and with consistent effort, the mind will increasingly calm down until the sensation of breathing becomes very refined and almost unnoticeable. All that the mind will feel is an awareness of being totally aware and still. Many other things can happen as well, as the mind begins to explore amazingly interesting regions it never knew existed.

Do this for as long as you can until the breath either disappears or becomes almost unnoticeable from your convergent point in front of the eyes or chest. At any time, a bright light (nimitta) may appear in this area. If the light is stable and reoccurs regularly, and is near to you, a few inches away, not far, use this as your focal point of convergence. Be aware that you are aware of it.

STEP 8. First jhana

"He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.'

Step 8 is really not a step but a result of Steps 1 through 7. Now your mind is catching on to deeper mental states and becomes engrossed! This is the beginning of deep shifts in consciousness and understanding. This is the beginning of the jhanas.

There is nothing you can do to directly bring these on. As a matter of fact, trying to bring them on will ruin them because they are very subtle states, and any “doing” by the meditator will evaporate them. The mind alone decides when it is ready for them.

All you can do is the above practices wholeheartedly and see what happens, not expecting or anticipating anything. Then, when the mind begins to drop into jhanas, let it drive the car. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery. The mind itself will find its way through all of the jhanas if you can learn to let it lead without your "self" doing anything. Just be aware and take no action whatsoever.

When the mind is ready to go into these deeper states, it will do so by itself, as was stated. You must let go of all control now. Don’t do anything except be mindful and aware. Allow the mind its space to follow its instincts. Trying to do anything except be aware at this level will stop all progress. The thinking, intellectual mind is much too gross to live in the same world as jhanas.

The first indications that the mind is going into beginning jhanic stages are physical feelings of “rapture.” Initial feelings of rapture are usually physical, and can include, but not limited to, goose bumps, hair standing on end, extraordinary feelings of freedom or release, and many more.

In the beginning, the problem is that when one is not accustomed to this rapture, there is a tendency to think, “Wow! What was that?" Then of course, that grossness of mind will immediately take the mind out of jhana, and you will spend the next three months (or years) thinking about the rapture and trying to duplicate the experience instead of letting go and doing the indirect practice that originally brought it on.

So it takes some experience before you can relax into the joy that rapture provides.

Once you can relax into that joy, still always keeping the focal point either at the bright light (nimitta)or in front of the eyes or chest and the breath in mind in the background but with complete awareness of what is happening, mind will want to go into deeper stages than merely rapture which it begins to see as too coarse for the sensitive states that will follow. This is the point where the mind will begin to slide into second jhana. The mind has to make this determination, not "you." Your only job is to completely "be with" any experience that arises and neither hold on to it, think about it, nor push it away. Just be.   

At this stage in your practice a good teacher with experience in jhanas becomes invaluable, just because it is not easy to know which way to go in practice when certain things come up. There might be a hundred different ways for the mind to go, with only one being the way towards enlightenment. Visions, lights, nimittas, effort, mindfulness, view - all these things and many more need to be explored and understood.

Now, on to mindfulness! Keep in mind that the level of concentration developed above directly influences the level of mindfulness that will be developed below. They both go hand in hand.

3. Mindfulness

Once the mind is trained in the above concentration meditation to the point where the mind can remain fairly stable and focused, mindfulness meditation should be practiced as often as possible. The Buddha said if one could remain completely mindful for seven days continuously, one would become enlightened!

To begin practicing mindfulness, we start by being alert and directing our attention to our surroundings, inner feelings, whatever comes up. It is a practice where you direct the mind to the present happenings rather than allowing the mind to drift in thought. But mindfulness (sati) according to the Buddha, must be accompanied by (sampajhana), which is an intuitive understanding that; whatever comes into your mindfulness or attention is not permanent, not stable, and always arises and passes. The Buddha always used these terms together; sati and sampajhana. Sati is directing your attention, sampajhana is understanding the observation in light of its impermanence. Sampajhana occurs when the mind is not only mindful of each moment, but aware that it is mindful - aware of the awareness itself.

True sampajhana is not 'remembering' to see the impermanence per se, that would be “sati,” or directing the mind toward something, which in this case is impermanence. True sampajhana is understanding at an intuitive level beyond intellectualism or thinking that “this too arises and passes.”   

So what does "completely" mindful mean? Basically it means keeping one's mind in constant meditation without thought. This means operating at a strictly insightful level of "just seeing" rather than an intellectual level of "figuring things out." This requires practice and is best accomplished in a setting where life is very simple, such as a quiet, natural setting. Once the mind catches on how to remain in the present moment in a quiet setting, it can slowly introduce itself to a busier setting and retain that same momentary awareness without the endless procession of redundant, unnecessary thoughts that lead to stress.

An example would be driving a car. You are focused completely on the activity of driving. You are aware of the road behind, the road ahead, the sides of the road, your speed, your gauges, other drivers, your mirrors. There is no thinking about whether the road is good or bad, or if other drivers are rude or courteous - what is, is. You are not thinking about yesterday, or work, family, plans or past experiences. You are right there, totally completely driving. Sampajhana would be being aware that you are being mindful of driving.

Your previous practice with concentration meditation is what enables the mind to remain concentrated completely in the present without the need to drift into the past or future, or into judgments or fabrications. The insight of the moment replaces the fog of intellectual thought and imaginings. Sampajhana comes in when intuitively you understand by pure awareness that all you observe - everything - is merely temporary phenomena and therefore not real in the sense of permanence. It will all change.

Likewise, when walking in the forest you are choicelessly aware of all your surroundings - aware of the trees, the rocks, the animals. You do not direct your attention to any particular thing, or think that "This tree is nice or that this one is bad - or that this rock is unusual and I would like to keep it or wonder where it came from or how old it is.

You try not to allow your present moment awareness to be high jacked by thinking. We have relied on thought for perhaps our entire lifetime to get us by, and it will naturally take some time and practice to begin trusting in our insight instead. Sati (mindfulness) would be the thought that, "I should be choicelessly aware, and then remember to direct the mind toward that goal.  Sampajhana is when you intuitively understand, discern, without thinking about it. Seeing in an intuitive flash that the green leaf in the branches of a tree soon will become the brown leaf you see on the ground, which in turn will soon become dust that that the rains will melt into the earth. And you are aware at even a deeper level that you are understanding these things. And sampajhana will understand that there is no you to understand, only the understanding itself which will in turn arise and pass away.    
 
Begin by keeping your mind inside the body. You become aware of the different feelings and emotions that occur inside. Directing the mind toward these things inside the body and mind would be sati. After observing them from a strictly non-judgmental point, the intuitive understanding that they all arise and pass away would be sampajhana, and at an even deeper level, you would be aware that you understand.   

If, for example, your attention goes toward a tree, you do not think about the tree but rather look inside yourself and observe what you are feeling - uplifted, neutral, curious, puzzled? - whatever you are feeling. Then, you do not investigate that feeling or think about it, you just become aware of it until it passes. You understand that all feelings arise and pass. Keep watching your emotions and states of mind arise and pass rather than thinking about or analyzing all the different inside and outside objects that come into your sense fields. Do not allow the mind to daydream and imagine - stay with what is happening at each exact moment - arising and passing. Be aware that you are being aware.

Excessive thinking, analyzing, planning and general worrying is the cause of stress. We have to learn to use thought in the proper way, and not be used by thought. The proper way would be to use thought to solve an immediate problem but not allow thought to project future problems or past problems. When we solve a problem, we stay entirely focused on the problem itself, like driving a car, and not worry necessarily about the results.

Why worry about whether or not you will get to your destination safely if that worry itself takes your attention off the road for a moment just as deer jumps out and causes you to swerve? Where is the real work being done? It can only be done in this very moment, never in a projection. Worry only takes attention and energy away from the present, where the work has to be done and where it will be done most creatively and effectively without the intervention of analytical thought. Einstein once said that the Theory of Relativity came to him in an insightful flash and had nothing to do with figuring it out.

In Buddhism, thought (sankhara) is believed to be the basis of our stress. Our endless wants and the subsequent projections and goals to satisfy these wants (kilesa), especially trying to secure ourselves way out into the future. This causes undue worry because even the best laid plans have a way of exploding in our faces even after many years of intense effort to get what we want.

There is, however, the reality of making a living and providing for ourselves. This is the reality of material existence. But to dedicate every waking moment to this material security when only a portion of our time is required usually indicates a mind that is not satisfied with a simple life and desires much more pleasure.

This is how kamma is made. How our minds become insecure and stressful. We don't have the insight to see clearly regarding what needs to be done - no more, no less, - and instead strive to accumulate as much as possible, trying to fill an empty hole inside that can never be filled by material possessions, worldly status or power. This hole can only be filled by the confidence that results from the power of insight and moment to moment awareness and mindfulness.

It is sampajhana, however, that finally relieves our stress when we intuitively understand that everything arises and passes regardless of how we try to hold on or how we try to control things. Then we can do our best, each moment to moment, and not worry about the results.  

Now, a few words about the difference between mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness is something you do. It is done by a self, an ego. There has to be both a subject (the one being mindful) and an object (that which you are mindful of). Mindfulness stands between subject and object.

Pure awareness, on the other hand, has no subject or object. Nobody is there to see anything; there is just the seeing itself. While mindfulness requires action, awareness is non-action.

So in life we go from being unconscious of what we are doing (subject and objects all mixed up and confused), to being mindful of what we are doing. Mindfulness comes between subject and object and thereby we become conscious.

Then, this activity called mindfulness leads to non-activity, which is pure awareness where the doer, or the one who acts, disappears. Mindfulness is the segway between unconscious action and pure awareness.

Pure awareness operates beyond the confines of the physical, however the physical mind can be conscious of it even though awareness transcends mind. Between this pure awareness and the world lies consciousness, that which restricts mind to the world. So the mind can be conscious, but mind cannot be aware. Awareness lies beyond mind.

When mind becomes involved, consciousness arises and always stands between subject and object, which means that mind is therefore always dualistic by nature. When we are conscious, there is the thought of “I am.”

So, first we use consciousness to become aware of our actions, or to become conscious of our actions. Then, as a result of that consciousness, we subsequently become mindful. So we are in essence trying to become more conscious of our actions. This is the practice, whereby the result is mindfulness, and the more you practice, the more mindful you become.

Then, this resulting mindfulness leads to awareness, which is the end of spiritual achieving, the end of practice, nothingness. Here, the act of trying, trying to be mindful or trying to be conscious all ends. The “doer” disappears and consciousness becomes unstructured, a choiceless awareness. And, since awareness does not rely on consciousness, awareness is there both in life and in death. It is consciousness on top of this that introduces ego.

Awareness is not a separate phenomenon from existence however, as the Buddha said, awareness is subject to birth and death as well and falls under the realm of samasara, that which is impermanent. Only Nibbana transcends this. So while awareness moves from lifetime to lifetime, it is the final snuffing out of awareness, and everything else subject to existence, that leads to Nibbana, the complete freedom of nothingness.

 

4. Wisdom

This exercise will utilize all that you have practiced above to help instill the deeper aspects of meditation:

Mindfulness, consciousness, and pure awareness

 
1.  Direct your attention to a candle flame – mindfulness remembers to direct your attention to the flame, and consciousness captures the flame.

2. Now mindfully remember to direct your attention not only to the flame, but both to the space between you and the flame, and to yourself, becoming conscious of all three. So we have the object (the flame), the subject (you), and the barrier between you and the flame, which is space. Two separate dualisms with space between. Be very conscious of all three. 

3. Now close your eyes. With the flame gone and no object to become conscious of, mindfully direct your consciousness to just the awareness that is present - without a subject, object, or space between. This awareness will feel like an expansive, empty, bright, pregnant nothingness – a non-dualism.

4. Now remain in this pure awareness as long as you can without directing the awareness toward anything. You disappear. Rather than ‘you’ being conscious of the awareness - you, consciousness, and space all dissolve into just this pure awareness.

Mindfulness directs your consciousness to this awareness, but pure awareness is not mindfulness. Consciousness holds the mind on this pure awareness, but pure awareness is not consciousness.
Mindfulness involves a doer, and consciousness involves a physical sense organ and an object. Pure awareness, in contrast has the capacity to operate without consciousness or a doer. Pure awareness is just being with no action.

Within pure awareness there is nothing, just being. However, as soon as consciousness seeps into awareness, for example the thought that 'I am being aware of awareness,' awareness stops momentarily and thought takes over. Consciousness is the bridge between pure awareness and existence. Consciousness is what brings existence into being, and existence is what brings consciousness into being. They are self-reinforcing. 

Pure awareness can operate without life as we know it. Pure awareness is the force that travels between lifetimes transporting the kamma from entity to entity. This awareness is what the physical mind can tap into during meditation, and with practice the mind can remain completely aware of the pure awareness with no intervening thoughts or physical senses intervening. However, mind cannot explain or describe the experiences or outcomes of this meditation because the transformation of being, resulting from mind dwelling in pure awareness, occurs at unconscious levels.

This is now your practice to be done 24/7. Sit in meditation with this practice as often and as long as you can, and when not sitting, try to keep this awareness as pure as you can. Spend as much time as possible in quiet natural surroundings. This will help. As the Buddha said, if you can do this for seven days, uninterrupted, you will become enlightened.