Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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14 3.) Recollection of the Order of Buddhist monks in so far as they have attained the four stages of sainthood and the fruits thereof (Saṅghānussati) 4.) Reflection on one’s own virtue and morality (sīlānussati) 5.) Reflection on one’s own degree of detachment (cāgānussati) 6.) Reflection on the reward in celestial spheres following a life of virtue (devatānussati) To these six another four are frequently added, which, however, are not strictly speaking forms of recollection (anussati), but forms of awareness (sati) as they are being discussed here at present. They are: 7.) Mindfulness of death (maraṇasati) 8.) Mindfulness of the body (kāyagatāsati) 9.) Mindfulness on breathing (ānāpānasati) 10.) Contemplation on peace (upasamānussati) which leads to the fading away of defilements 5 . For the sake of completeness we shall now slightly expand on each of these ten ‘recollections’, which are mentioned among the forty recommendations or objects for concentration (kammaṭṭhāna), although they are not all equally effective 6 . Recollection of the Buddha Recollection of the Buddha (Buddhānussati) and his nine good qualities is found very often in the Suttas as a stanza of praise, in which 5 A.I, 30 6 Ency. Bsm. I, 778
15 the Buddha is seen as the perfect one (Arahant) who has no defilements, who has perceived for himself the reality, unconditioned by memory and tradition, and who has been able to awaken in others that flame of intelligence which lies dormant and forgotten in everything that is. Thus he is fully awake (sammā-sambuddha), where others are asleep in ignorance or groping for truth in delusion. He is perfect in wisdom and conduct (vijjā-carana-sampanno), for in kindling the flame of intelligence he does not cause the fires of lust and desire to burn and consume. His going is good (sugato) as he has opened up the way to understanding, a way that does not lead to a goal of achievement in some distant future. Indeed, he has understood the world and sees it for what it is (lokavidū). Seeing its value in the light of impermanence and conflict, there is no selfish desire; and so he is free. With this supreme intelligence and awakening to the truth, he is indeed a matchless guide, compared to a charioteer and tamer of the human heart, who can guide and steer to final victory (anuttaro purisa-dhamma-sārathi), a teacher of life in nature and super-nature (sattha devamanussānaṁ). He is truly a Buddha, an enlightened one, a shining light for everyone to see, yet not to blindly follow and adore. He is no God, and can bring no salvation; but free from all creation, from all beliefs, from all aspirations and desires, unconditioned by traditions and ritualistic acts of worship, he shows the way to be enlightened, each one for himself. In that light of understanding there is the freedom of deliverance, the awakening from a dream, an awareness that all conflict is due to selfish aspiration, that all striving is self-projection, and therefore, that there is freedom and deliverance in the understanding of the void of conflict, when conflict is experienced in impermanence. Recollection of the Buddha’s Teaching Recollection of the Buddha’s teaching (dhammānussati) is an awareness that his teaching is not asking for adherence to a set of dogmas,
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 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: Mindfulness as Recollection However
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
Page 75 and 76: 59 of a search for happiness contai
Page 77 and 78: 61 ery experience is fresh, in whic
Page 79: 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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