This meditation is where we put the practice together.
The different elements,
The different aspects of experience.
We're aware of them all in an open,
Spacious awareness.
And we're aware of all not by trying to capture all the elements or reach out into our experience.
But having the information that allows us to recognise,
Notice what's happening.
And to do that in awareness.
As always,
Letting awareness be natural.
There's nowhere to get to or to come back to.
We're just continuing the practice of mindful awareness,
Moment by moment.
Again and again,
Settling back into this moment and this moment.
And from this present moment,
Noticing what is arising again and again.
You might not even think of being aware,
But when you are present,
What do you notice?
Noticing the objects of experience and the awareness,
The mind that's noticing.
Settling into a broad,
Open,
Expansive field of sensation.
Visual sensations,
Sound sensations,
Seeing visual objects.
Are you present?
Are you aware?
Just checking every now and again.
Not jumping on your experience,
But in a light,
Interested way.
You're not trying to catch yourself out or make awareness happen.
You might ask the question,
Am I aware?
As a way of helping the mind return to the present.
As a way of helping grow awareness.
Supporting the growth of awareness in a relaxed,
Open way.
Also aware of any thoughts and images in the mind.
And if it's helpful,
You can give a gentle label.
Perhaps noticing different emotions or moods.
And just recognizing,
Ah,
Sadness is here.
Disappointment is here.
Joy is here.
Being known by awareness.
Whatever is happening,
Can it simply be known in awareness with some degree of acceptance?
The practice can seem complex.
Because the mind is complex and quick and full of many objects.
But actually,
There are three simple things that we can know and that we can cultivate.
Firstly,
We maintain Right View,
The wisdom perspective.
We check the mind every now and again to see if Right View of objects is there working in the mind.
The wisdom perspective is simply a helpful framing of our experience so that it can be known more clearly.
So that the biases of greed,
Aversion and delusion can be known more clearly in the mind.
So recognizing that whatever happens through the senses are simply objects arising within the moment.
When water rises,
The different objects are not so important.
So knowing of these aspects of experience in the present moment with Right View is what matters.
Right View doesn't prioritize certain experiences or certain moments,
But simply recognizes whatever's happening in the present moment.
Right View recognizes that each moment is new.
Each moment brings a new mind,
A new awareness to experience.
This moment has never happened before.
So this experience of the breath,
Of sound,
Can never be the same old breath,
Same old dog barking,
Car starting.
It's always new,
Always fresh.
Right View recognizes all experience naturally arising,
Disappearing without any personal control.
Things arise due to their past conditions,
A natural process,
Process of nature.
Physical processes are nature.
Mental processes are also nature.
Not me.
Not mine.
Objects are arising on their own terms,
Dependent upon the conditions that brought them into being.
So we maintain Right View by thinking in the right way about our experience.
So every now and then we just check to see if there's some degree of Right View,
Dharma perspective working in the mind.
Secondly,
We need awareness in the present moment.
We need to be here,
Practicing,
Noticing,
Letting the awareness be relaxed and letting it be quite simple,
Even though what it's observing may be quite complex.
See how awareness comes and goes in the present moment.
Arising,
Re-arising.
Feel into its quality.
See if you can notice the difference between the mind when awareness is present and when it's absent.
Sometimes we can catch the moment when we re-awaken into awareness.
It's like waking up from sleep.
There's some residue in the mind of that unaware state.
This can be known and we can see the qualitative difference between unawareness and awareness.
We check every now and again to see if awareness is present or to notice the presence or absence of awareness.
And through this checking we encourage the growth of awareness.
Awareness or mindfulness arises on the basis of conditions that support it.
And one of the conditions that supports mindfulness is previous moments of mindfulness or awareness.
Through remembering awareness,
Checking for awareness,
We are helping it become a stronger force in the mind.
Remembering awareness,
Checking for awareness,
Helps us strengthen our sense of purpose.
Connecting with why we're meditating.
Why be aware?
And the third thing we do is to maintain awareness through as many moments as we can.
Through interest comes continuity and awareness becomes stronger.
And looking to do this in a relaxed,
Open way.
Not trying to string moments of mindfulness together.
Creating the conditions that help awareness be there more of the time.
Interest.
Being engaged.
Looking to be present.
And being curious about the process of our minds.
What happens when you bring mindfulness to any experience?
What do you notice?
Whatever quality of mind we have,
We bring it to the experience in the moment.
But with a positive quality like awareness,
Can you notice what that brings to the mind?
Recognize the qualities of awareness.
And recognize moments of joy,
Interest,
Expansiveness,
Loving-kindness and many others as helpful to growing awareness and wisdom.
Investigate with curiosity anything that arises.
Boredom,
Resistance,
Impatience,
Wanting,
Searching.
Whatever it is,
It can be known and transformed in awareness.
Boredom,
Resistance,
Impatience,
Loving-kindness,
Loving-kindness,
Wanting.
.
.
Nature arising in the body or in the mind.
It's arising on the basis of its own causes and conditions.
Nothing to do with whether we want it to or not.
When those causes and conditions change,
When the fuel runs out,
Then those objects change.
And it's the same with the degree of continuity of awareness that we have.
It comes because the conditions support it,
Not because we will it,
We want it to happen.
Recognising the wisdom in the mind that's able to accept with ease that things happen on the basis of causes and conditions.
Recognise too the mind that at times takes things personally.
Identifies with experience as mine,
As me,
As something that I want or don't want.
And noticing the thoughts,
The emotions,
The contractions that go along with that sense of taking things personally.
Self-referencing perspective.
And recognising that knowing this is already some degree of right view,
Dharma perspective.
The more receptive we are,
The more we're able to see just what's happening.
Experiences,
Reactions to those experiences.
The receptivity allows us to know things as natural phenomena.
Nature arising,
Objects doing their job.
Craving wants.
Aversion pushes away,
Contracts,
Destroys.
Simply knowing this as the nature of craving or aversion.
And knowing too the nature of generosity,
Love or joy in the mind and body.
Recognising their qualities and the effect they have on the mind and body.
Recognise too whether the experience is pleasant or unpleasant.
It's all simply to be known,
Not held onto,
Not rejected but recognised for what it is.
Fragments of experience that come and go.
Continuity brings the ability to recognise the awareness more clearly.
And to stay with the awareness.
Knowing its qualities,
Recognising how it feels and investigating its own nature.
Recognising the objects being known and the mind,
The awareness that is knowing.
And how the knowing and what's known are happening all the time.
Each moment brings new awareness,
New object.
So the three jobs in the meditation to maintain right view.
To be aware in the present moment.
And to maintain awareness through as many moments as you can.
Don't try to do anything.
Don't try to prevent anything happening.
But don't forget to be aware,
Be present and alive to the object and the knowing of it.
Don't try to be aware of it.
.
