Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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Awareness of Perceptions
Perception is the reaction to the contact of sensation; and it is awareness
of this thought (cittānupassanā) which now forms the next step
in awareness.
Just as sensation (vedanā) is the reaction to contact (phassa),
so perception (saññā) is the reaction to sensation (phassa-paccayā
vedanā, vedanā-paccayā taṇhā). Perception is a thought (citta) in
formation, a thought being conditioned, composed, when ideas are
formed, when there is a directive of a ‘self’ in formation. Not all
sensation must lead to craving, for sensation is not a cause, but
only a condition (paccaya) to the arising of such thought, which is
a reaction.
Now it is awareness to the arising of such thought in formation,
when it is still perception, which can prevent perception (saññā)
becoming a mental formation (saṅkhāra) with greed and hate and
delusion, with action and reaction, with will and purpose. It is
awareness of the nature of thought which perceives the formative
process, and sees perception as perception, and thereby ends the
process. ‘The object of observation is here the condition and the
level of mind or consciousness, in general, as it presents itself at the
given moment’ 10 .
Thus, this contemplation of the process of minding is a most effective
way of ‘self’-examination, for in it is exposed not the nature
of ‘self’, but its absence in reality. The ‘self’ is there only in thought
formation, as a reaction to an immediate state of awareness. Thus
are bared all selfish motives hidden in the unconscious. It is clear
that in this contemplation there must be a perfect degree of openness,
a readiness to discover, a vulnerability to disclose, to expose
and thus reveal the actual process of self-projection. That such revelation
may reveal the actual process of self-projection. That such
revelation may reveal the total absence of any permanent entity
10 Nyanaponika Thera: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, 1962, p. 71