Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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68 the conflict, and conflict is mind-made. Only in seeing the conflict as mind-made there is awareness of the meaning, the making, the ceasing of conflict. And in that awareness is the ending of delusion. Awareness is then an awakening which recognises the delusive nature of the reactions of a ‘self’. It is in awareness that ignorance ceases, as awakening is the end of the dream. Ignorance (avijja) is conditioned by lack of mindfulness (sati). Through improper attention the mind is blinded as to the real nature of conflict; it does not penetrate to discover the source of this conflict; and thus it is opposed to taking the necessary steps for the removal thereof. And so, in direct awareness it is possible to see the ‘self’ as the cause of this conflict between the actual ‘self’ and the ideal ‘self’. The ideal is discarded by the actual, and the actual is seen as impermanent, that is, without identity or entity. Thus, in awareness there is also discarded the root of delusion, the root of ignorance, which is always present in a mind full of greed and full of hate. Agitation (uddhacca) and worry (kukkucca) arise in a mind which searches for satisfaction in security. Thus, seeing the characteristics of a searching mind, there is rest in awareness which does not know the excitement of the achievement of a goal, nor the depression of disappointment. Counterbalance to Delusion Awareness is then the moral counterbalance to delusion (moha). As mental alertness it prevents forgetfulness, which is psychologically a form of protest, a subconscious expression of a suppressed dislike. It thereby discards all distorted views (vipallāsa), and sees directly the body as impure (asubha), sensations as conflicting (dukkha), perceptions as fleeting (anicca) and all things as ‘base’-less (anatta). Awareness (sati) is often closely aligned with memory (smṛti).
69 But memory is a process of grasping the past (atītaggahaṇa), yet it does not grasp it as such: it does not recognise the link with the past, but sees the past when being brought forward as part of the present. Hence follows attachment. Awareness, on the other hand, sees the past as past, attachment as clinging, and thereby recognises the past as representative cognition. The past does not exist in awareness, but awareness recognises the past as a reaction, whereas memory makes the past live again in the present, which is delusion. And so, while memory is a kind of imagination, a kind of image forming, a kind of dream, awareness sees that process as the past, and is free from it, and awake. Awareness is even more than being awake, for in awareness is seen not only the action, but also the action in reaction. And it is that understanding which not only awakens but also enlightens. Perception must become full conscious awareness, before it can grow into insight. The knowledge born from perception (saññā) is based on sense-impressions. It is the knowledge of the empiricist, who only relies on his physical experiments. But this kind of knowledge has only some relative value, useful maybe, but not ultimate. Then there is knowledge which is born from reflection, which is consciousness (viññāṇa), based on reasoning. It is the knowledge of the philosopher, who works with definitions, abstractions and concepts, who builds up an idealised doctrine with systematised speculations. While science is experimenting with life, playing with life, philosophy is arguing about life, talking about life. Each has its methods and its own end in view. And that end is now for them more important than the problem of life which is conflict. Intuition is the synthesis of both, sensuous in perception and conscious in reflection. Thus, intuition (paññā) is a unique experience, which cannot be produced, cannot be staged, cannot be repeated; for, he who sees just sees and no delusion can becloud his
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Copyright Notice This work is licen
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4 Awareness of Perceptions . . . .
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From the publisher Henry Van Zeyst,
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10 the ‘ego’, for the maintenan
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12 insubstantiality (anatta). The l
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Awareness, the Beginning of Enlight
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3 more important than the understan
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5 continuance in impermanence, conf
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7 Awareness is not Consciousness Aw
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9 When there is no Awareness We are
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11 not come through exertion, does
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Mindfulness as Recollection However
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15 the Buddha is seen as the perfec
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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
Page 82 and 83: 66 Originally, in the early suttas,
Page 86 and 87: 70 mind again. ‘What is felt is p
Page 88 and 89: 72 counter-balance to delusion (moh
Page 90 and 91: 74 be able to get rid of the deprav
Page 93 and 94: Awareness in Reaction Methods How c
Page 95 and 96: 79 of, will be there. But that is n
Page 97 and 98: 81 past. Clinging to the past has f
Page 99 and 100: 83 denial or to a spiritual ideal,
Page 101 and 102: 85 When the mind is totally open an
Page 103 and 104: 87 happens to a watcher who is foun
Page 105 and 106: 89 now projected into the future as
Page 107 and 108: 91 property, who set fire to my hou
Page 109 and 110: 93 experience. When no answer is so
Page 111 and 112: 95 there is freedom to see, to unde
Page 113 and 114: 97 what it is, and not where it com
Page 115 and 116: Awareness in Meditation Stillness o
Page 117 and 118: 101 future, based on a dead memory.
Page 119 and 120: 103 neither the ‘self’, nor the
Page 121 and 122: 105 truth; becoming as ‘self’,
Page 123: 107 to become perfect. Awareness do
Page 126 and 127: 110 is the wide vista for all to se
Page 128 and 129: 112 truth in spheres where sense-pl
Page 130 and 131: 114 has no entity, no conflict can
Page 132 and 133: 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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