Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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8 Unconditioned, there is no conflict, no opposition, no ‘self’. And where there is no ‘self’, there is no problem. In consciousness I am conscious of ‘self’ as a past reaction in awareness there is no thought of ‘self’, there is no discursive process, there is no return to memory, but just awareness of what is being experienced. And that awareness dissolves all bonds of the past. Then there is freedom here and now. It is, therefore, the consciousness of thought which is blinding with its volition, which makes it dependent on the authority of the past and which projects it into a desire for continuance to find a security which is not to be found in the present. In being aware of this activity of thought, all volition and projection will stop; and therewith craving and clinging become impossible. Thus, consciousness of thinking can only lead to a continuation of a delusion of ‘self’, whereas awareness of the void of such projection will bring this process to an end. Can the ‘self’ become ‘no-self’? Such question is obviously formulated in ignorance, for it is still the ‘self’ that wants to become its ideal. Only in stilling all consciousness there can be awareness in which there is no striving for attainment of an ideal. And consciousness is still, when there is awareness of what is. To be aware at a conscious level of the movements of thought, that is of the arising of fear, of pleasure, of desire, is to be aware of the contents of consciousness, of the incidents and accidents. There is no consciousness apart from its contents, for consciousness is not a mirror in which these movements are reflected. It is what thought has made it, in attachment and dislike, ambition and frustration, impulse and desire, hope and fear, knowledge and belief. It is with that total of contents that further impressions are absorbed, which modify or strengthen one’s loves and hates. The awakening of this intelligent awareness is the freedom from all stages of capturing in reception, perception and conception (pañc’ūpādānakkhandha) which is the deliverance of insight.
9 When there is no Awareness We are not aware continuously. There are long periods during which we are inattentive. When we are aware, there is no desire, no choice, no division, because there is no thinking about it, but just being aware. But, when we are inattentive, we say things which are not true, we are nervous in our reactions, we feel insecure, we lose our temper, we are in conflict and feel all the things which divide. We do not want those things to happen, and therefore we are trying to be aware to become aware all the time. But trying to achieve total awareness in resistance to inattention is not awareness at all. A thinker, who believes himself to be aware of his thought, is only aware of his reactions which have adopted thoughts as his thoughts, an identification, which involves memory, a registration which aims at projection into a future, without awareness of the present. To be aware of the fact of inattention is awareness. And in that, all striving ceases, all nervous reactions stop, the quest for security has come to an end. For, the moment one becomes aware of inattention, it is over. And thus there is no need to strive and struggle to become aware all the time. When one is aware of one’s inattention, the conflict is finished. In the awareness of inattention the whole movement of thinking changes. In non-awareness, thought brings up the memory of and thereby establishes a thinker causing division and conflict. But the moment there is awareness of this inattention to what is, the whole manufacturing process of self-consciousness comes to a stop, without division, without thinker, without conflict. For the truth which sees and understands the false as false is a direct awareness without goal or prejudice. And in that truth there is freedom, emancipation, deliverance, because it holds no conflict and no thought of ‘self’. When the mind is silent and not disturbed by thinking about a technique of searching for an object one does not know, in that silent awareness there is a direct understanding of what is, of the
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 12 and 13: 10 the ‘ego’, for the maintenan
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: 7 Awareness is not Consciousness Aw
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
Page 63 and 64: 47 is thus made an object for striv
Page 65 and 66: 49 mind, such as the five hindrance
Page 67 and 68: 51 cur, a revelation not through di
Page 69 and 70: 53 of achieving, but just melts awa
Page 71 and 72: 55 which prevent the mind to be at
Page 73 and 74: 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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