Let's now go step by step into the practice of awareness of awareness.
We begin,
As always,
By settling the body in its natural state,
Imbued with the three qualities of relaxation,
Stillness,
And vigilance.
And as you settle your respiration in its natural rhythm,
Let your awareness permeate this whole field of tactile sensations,
Having as the object of your mindfulness the field of the body and whatever bodily events,
Whatever tactile sensations,
Arise within that field.
And to the best of your ability,
Maintain an ongoing flow of unwavering mindfulness,
Listening to this field and its contents without distraction and without grasping.
And let your eyes be gently open,
Your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you.
And direct your attention to the foreground of the mind.
There is a space of the mind,
And then there are the events taking place within that space,
Thoughts,
Images,
And so on.
For the time being,
Focus your attention brightly on the thoughts,
Images,
Other mental events taking place within the space of the mind.
Observe their nature without reaction,
With bare attention.
Sustain your mindfulness without distraction,
Without grasping.
And shift your attention now to the background,
Which is also the space of the mind that is left over during the intervals between thoughts,
Between mental images.
The stage of the mind that is present between thoughts,
The space of the mind out of which thoughts emerge,
In which they are present,
And into which they dissolve.
Shift your attention now to the space of the mind.
Now withdraw your awareness even from the space of the mind,
Which itself is an object.
Withdraw your awareness from all objects of the mind,
From all appearances to the mind.
And let your awareness rest in its own place.
Simply being aware of this ongoing flow of awareness,
Of knowing.
Appearances of course continue to arise,
The eyes are open,
So visual impressions continue to arise,
Sounds arise,
Tactile sensations,
But don't give your attention,
Don't deliberately direct your attention to any object of the mind.
Let appearances arise,
Let them be.
But let your interest be centered just in awareness itself.
As a preliminary exercise,
You may find it helpful to maintain a peripheral awareness of the in and out breath,
And during the course of inhalation,
Draw your awareness right in upon that which is aware,
Right in upon the observer.
And during exhalation,
Deeply relax,
Let go,
Let your awareness come out into space,
Releasing and releasing,
And yet at the same time sustaining the awareness of awareness,
Even as you deeply relax.
Again invert your awareness during inhalation,
Drawing it in,
In,
Without grasping onto any subject,
For none is to be found,
And then during exhalation,
Release all thoughts,
Release your awareness out into space,
Without grasping onto any object.
And throughout this whole cycle of the in and out breath,
To the best of your ability,
Maintain the awareness of awareness,
This ongoing flow.
