Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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10 the ‘ego’, for the maintenance of which all religious methods seem to aspire. In the turmoil of daily life with its increasing material activity and mental unrest the need for peace and calm is felt more and more. Peace is sought to replace the unceasing conflict caused by ambition and competition. Meditation classes and meditation centres can now be found in many parts of the world, in the ‘mystic east’ as well as in the materialistic west. And with those institutions there are naturally to be found many self-styled meditation-masters who have acquired some book-knowledge on the subject and now cater to the demand for tranquillity, just what the doctor would prescribe for a patient on the brink of a nervous break-down. A searching mind will seek repose in its agitation, a pacification in its conflict, a calming down in its passion, a sense of security in its doubts. Tranquillity is the object of search, and this search may cover many activities and many methods. There are tranquillisers in the form of pills and drugs which transport the restless mind into a haven of hallucination, only to return with an increased aftermath of dissatisfaction, unrest and conflict. There are spiritual tranquillisers which take the mind away from its problems by focussing on spiritual values. These are found in all religions, which have their own methods, ways and objects, to reach their individual goals by different means. But the search is the same: a search for peace in security, safety for continued existence of a ‘self’. Such search is motivated as an escape from unrest, insecurity and conflict and is therefore conditioned by choice, by volition with obvious distortions to suit individual needs and tastes. It is the striving for self-protection and self-projection which distorts, disturbs and disfigures the present moment with its actual need for developing into a psychological greed for continued existence. It is the awareness of such tendencies which can prevent the building-up of further resistance. This awareness (sati) is mentioned in Buddhist literature in very many connections, as attention, mind-
11 fulness, meditation, application of mind, and we shall consider their various functions and aspects, as a mental factor, as a recollection, as a step on the path, as a factor of enlightenment, culminating in contemplation with application to transcendence even of ‘divine states’ (brahmavihāra). There is first of all that step (aṅga) on the noble eightfold path (ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga) usually referred to as right mindfulness (sammāsati). Then the term sati is found among the facets of insight (sambojjhaṅga), heading the list of seven. As alertness sati is one of the 25 ‘lofty mental factors’ (sobhana sādhāraṇa cetasikā), always skilful (kusala), in the composition of a morally good thought. Further, we meet with sati as a controlling faculty (indriya) and as a moral force (bala). And again as representative cognition or memory in the various forms of remembrance in concentration (anussati-bhāvanā). We shall have to go into all these details to discover what it is to be aware, and in that process perhaps become awake. The chief source of information is, of course, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Discourse on the Application of Awareness, as it is found in the Majjhima Nikāya 1 . According to the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism 2 , ‘awareness is mindfulness (sati) of things and events as they occur. It is not purposeful, not discriminative, not descriptive, but just alertness, watchfulness; fact-finding, but not fault-finding . . . Such a watchful alertness will note the arising of a new state of mind without trying to suppress it. In such awareness a new state of mind will not have the opportunity of taking subconscious roots, as the motive will stand revealed even before the completion of the thought.’ Such awareness, if complete, is a state of being awake, a supreme comprehension of the nature of all experience with its three characteristics of impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) and 1 no. 10 2 II, p. 468
Page 3: Copyright Notice This work is licen
Page 6 and 7: 4 Awareness of Perceptions . . . .
Page 9: From the publisher Henry Van Zeyst,
Page 14 and 15: 12 insubstantiality (anatta). The l
Page 17 and 18: Awareness, the Beginning of Enlight
Page 19 and 20: 3 more important than the understan
Page 21 and 22: 5 continuance in impermanence, conf
Page 23 and 24: 7 Awareness is not Consciousness Aw
Page 25 and 26: 9 When there is no Awareness We are
Page 27 and 28: 11 not come through exertion, does
Page 29 and 30: Mindfulness as Recollection However
Page 31 and 32: 15 the Buddha is seen as the perfec
Page 33 and 34: 17 with good conduct, for they are
Page 35 and 36: 19 understanding of the degree of d
Page 37 and 38: 21 as change in evolution. And to s
Page 39 and 40: 23 our craving for continuity, this
Page 41 and 42: 25 observation leads to a feeling o
Page 43 and 44: 27 of the eye, the flexibility of t
Page 45 and 46: 29 awareness. When consciousness ce
Page 47 and 48: 31 thing to be talked about as an a
Page 49 and 50: 33 an escape is only more conflict.
Page 51 and 52: Applications of Awareness Awareness
Page 53 and 54: 37 Here is a sensation which is con
Page 55 and 56: 39 as a soul to carry and to carry-
Page 57 and 58: 41 (saññā) ideations or mental f
Page 59 and 60: 43 an entity, free from the opposit
Page 61 and 62: 45 Attachment to rules and rites (s
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47 is thus made an object for striv
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49 mind, such as the five hindrance
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51 cur, a revelation not through di
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53 of achieving, but just melts awa
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55 which prevent the mind to be at
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57 bare attention, not with the int
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59 of a search for happiness contai
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61 ery experience is fresh, in whic
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that craves for continuance, of all
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66 Originally, in the early suttas,
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68 the conflict, and conflict is mi
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70 mind again. ‘What is felt is p
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72 counter-balance to delusion (moh
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74 be able to get rid of the deprav
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Awareness in Reaction Methods How c
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79 of, will be there. But that is n
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81 past. Clinging to the past has f
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83 denial or to a spiritual ideal,
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85 When the mind is totally open an
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87 happens to a watcher who is foun
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89 now projected into the future as
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91 property, who set fire to my hou
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93 experience. When no answer is so
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95 there is freedom to see, to unde
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97 what it is, and not where it com
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Awareness in Meditation Stillness o
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101 future, based on a dead memory.
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103 neither the ‘self’, nor the
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105 truth; becoming as ‘self’,
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107 to become perfect. Awareness do
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110 is the wide vista for all to se
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112 truth in spheres where sense-pl
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114 has no entity, no conflict can
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116 all know what is right; and yet
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118 true relationship, as all conta
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120 is in loving, the thought of lo
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122 loving; and that moment is alwa
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124 Compassion is frequently seen a
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126 should not be a barrier of dist
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128 is the food on which the ‘I
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130 Sympathy Sympathetic joy (mudit
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132 no preoccupation, no pettiness,
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134 not ‘mine’, but which is al
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136 through mind-control or substit
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138 am that projection, that ideal,
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About the Author Henri van Zeyst wa
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Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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