Disentangling Awareness

The Buddha MN10: "They live independent, not clinging to anything within the world." 

In this lesson we will cover how to develop insight by observing the functioning of your five sensoury fields and how the mind, constructs reality around those five fields. This investigation will allow you to observe the anatta (autonomous) nature of your six senses and their conditionally constructed (sankhara) nature.

Meditation Type: Vipassana (insight)

Daily Meditation

You continue to practice daily nirvikalpa samadhi and the first four sukha-vedana jhana using piti-sukha that arises in the development of nirvikalpa samadhi as an object.

Instructions

• Systematic Disentangling of Awareness

Meditation

• Meditation Skill 44: Remember Awareness
• Meditation Skill 45: Mindfulness of Seeing
• Meditation Skill 46: Mindfulness of Hearing
• Meditation Skill 47: Mindfulness of Smelling 
• Meditation Skill 48: Mindfulness of Tasting
• Meditation Skill 49: Mindfulness of Touching 

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Meditation Skills 44-51 develop higher levels of nirvikalpa samadhi, until at will, you can disentangle awareness from itself, to bring cessation to all sensory fields. This practice is tied in with what the Buddha called indriya-samvara (calming of the going-out of awareness to the senses). 

This whole process is done through gradual relaxing of all sensory engagement, until this tendency for awareness to engage, ceases. It is important to note, that this final stage requires significant fading and uprooting of the meditative hindrances, especially in regard to habitual attraction and aversion towards vedana (pleasant and unpleasant feeling tone). Therefore, basis in samadhi, insight and softening are required.  

The five sense fields are the doorway between our awareness and the world. The world that we know can only be experienced through five doorways: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. These five doors are always present. The experience of the doors are always right here, right now. Any of these five doors can be used during seated mindfulness meditation, and they can also equally be used during everyday life.

Because these five doors can only be experienced right now, the experience of them is an anchor, a reference point, to the present. While the mind travels between three different realities - the reality of the past, the reality of the present, and the reality of the future - the experience of our body and the experience of the five sense doors can only be experienced in the present.

So using them during formal meditation training and for mindfulness in everyday life - literally coming to your senses - will anchor you in the present, anchor you in reality, protect you from the ups and downs in life, and provide an anchor for training the mind. During meditation for example you can the sense door of smell as an anchor. 

Because smell is always present, you can use incense or oil to bring you into presence. you begin your meditation by being aware of that sense of smell - without commentary, without thinking about it. While holding presence within your body, it anchors your awareness, it holds you right here right now. And it dissolves past and future.  

You do not need to understand what a sensory experience is or where it is or how it is that it came to be. As a meditator when being mindful of any of your senses, what is important is two things: Observing your awareness of the sense experience. Observing your relationship towards the sense experience. The true importance of sensory experience such is: Sensory experience is always present, here, now.  Attraction and aversion are found in relationship towards sensory experience.

     Once you can be aware of the five sense fields, you can then shift your attention towards the sixth sense field, mind. What you will start to notice is that mind has its own sensory input, and functions in the same way as the other five sensory fields. Seeing experiences that arise within the mind as just sensory data, will allow you to separate the awareness of these experiences, from the experiences themselves. You will then be able to make the awareness that arises with each sensory contact, your object of meditation.

This process of being aware of being aware, will allow you to notice the relationship between the present awareness, and the sensory object. You will then be able to apply your softening skill to the relax the habitual 'going out' of awareness to its object, dissolving habitual attraction and aversion. This leads to a calming of the functions of the mind and a disentangling of awareness from sensory experience. With repeated practice, awareness is conditioned to disentangle from the sensory fields, and the tendency towards habitual attraction and aversion, fades.

Purpose:

• Perceive awareness as separate from sensory experience.
• Develop the ability to be aware of being aware.
• Develop the skill of remembering to remember.

Benefits:

• Separation of awareness from sensory experience.
• Cultivation and strengthen of the mindfulness factor.
• Develops the ability to hold all six sense doors within one field of awareness.
• Weakens engagement of awareness with experiences that arise within the field of the six senses.

Summary: 

In this meditation, you change your focus from experiences that arise within the field of awareness, to the observation of awareness itself. To do this you withdraw your attention from external objects and become mindful of mindfulness itself by focusing on 'remembering to remember awareness'. Whenever you become distracted during mindfulness meditation it is because you have literally 'forgotten' what you are aware of. This gap of forgetting is then filled by your mind with your habitual patterns. To establish mindfulness, the aspect of 'remembering to remember' is cultivated. 

How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by grounding awareness within your body.

Instruction:

• Meditation is practiced in a seated position.
• Then bring awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits in meditation and observe awareness of your body as a separate experience. 
• Soften / relax into this awareness of awareness. 
• Next, ground awareness within your breathing. 
• Then bring awareness to the experience of your body as it breathes and observe awareness of your breathing as a separate experience. 
• Soften / relax into this awareness of awareness. 
• Next, ground awareness within your senses. 
• Then bring awareness to the experience of your senses and observe awareness of your senses as a separate experience. 
• Soften / relax into this awareness of awareness.

The Six Stages of Insight:

1. Ground awareness within the experience of your body.
2. Observe awareness as being a distinct experience separate from the experience of your body.
3. Ground awareness within the experience of your breathing.

4. Observe awareness as being a distinct experience separate from the experience of your breathing.

5. Ground awareness within the experience of your senses.

6. Observe awareness as being a distinct experience separate from the experience of your senses.

Investigation:

Be curious about awareness as an experience in and of itself. Take interest in habitual forgetting and remembering during meditation and its relationship towards the fading of awareness of awareness due to the weakening of the resolve to remember-to-remember the present experience.

Purpose:

• Apply the three pillars of MIDL: Flexible attention, softness, stillness.
• Develop understanding of the relationship between the mind and the eye.
• Decondition habitual attraction & aversion towards sight.
• Disentangle awareness from the six sense fields – sight & mind.
• Mature the Noble Eightfold Path: 

(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)

Benefits:

• Lowers habitual attachment to visual sights.
• Deconditions habitual patterns based on sight.
• Disentangles visual awareness.
• Develops equanimity in regard to sights.

Summary:  

In this meditation, you develop your sensitivity to movements of attention towards the experience of the sense door of sight by rotating between closed and open eyes. Learning to observe awareness of seeing creates a grounding for mindfulness within daily life and also the ability to observe attraction or aversion as they arise towards what is seen. This sensitivity allows you to soften into your relationship towards what is seen, deconditioning any habitual attraction or aversion through mindful non-participation.

Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.

The Nine Stages:

 1. Ground your awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.

2. Bring awareness to closed eyes and observe visions and light; soften this looking.

3. Gradually open eyes and observe the sensory world appear.

4. Observe eyes focusing in on the place in front of you; soften that looking.

5. Slowly look around the room and observe habitual focusing of the eye in terms of attraction and aversion; soften that focus.

6. Soften habitual focus until you can experience the difference between looking and seeing. .

7. Slowly close your eyes and observe the visual world disappear again.

8. Allow the mind to gradually come to rest within stillness.

9. Bring awareness to your eyes as they open and maintain softness of seeing.

How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits. Next bring awareness to your eyes and observe and visual experience that arises like images or light. Use some slow softening breaths to soften any interaction with them. Next slowly open your eyes and observe the visual world appear. Observe any commentary that arises. Focus on one spot and soften / relax the looking until you are just seeing. 

Slowly look around the room and observe how your eyes automatically focus on different objects. Notice any attraction towards some sights and aversion towards others. Soften / relax this attraction or aversion. Soften / relax the effort of looking into the knowing of seeing. Next, close your eyes and observe how the visual world disappears. Do other senses then become dominant? Observe the mind create any imagery or commentary and soften into it until your mind is disentangled and becomes still.

Slowly open your eyes, observe the visual world appear again. Soften looking into pure seeing and carry this off the meditation cushion into your daily life until you forget to do it.

Investigation:

Be curious about habitual movements within the focus of your eyes. Observe and soften any attraction or aversion. Notice the relationship towards sight and commentary, also between sight and the speeding up of the functions of the mind. Take interest in the difference between looking and seeing. Be curious in regard to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world.

Purpose:

• Apply the three pillars of MIDL: Flexible attention, softness, stillness.
• Develop understanding of the relationship between the mind and the ear.
• Decondition habitual attraction & aversion towards sound.
• Disentangle awareness from the six sense fields – hearing & mind.
• Mature the Noble Eightfold Path: 

(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.) 

Benefits:

• Lowers habitual attachment to sound.
• Deconditions habitual patterns based on hearing.
• Disentangles awareness from sound.
• Develops equanimity in regard to sounds.

Summary: 

In this meditation, you develop your sensitivity to movements of attention towards the experience of the sense door of hearing. Learning to observe awareness of hearing creates a grounding for mindfulness within daily life and also the ability to observe attraction or aversion as they arise towards what is heard. This sensitivity allows you to soften into your relationship towards what is heard, deconditioning any habitual pattern of attraction or aversion through mindful non-participation.

Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position. It is helpful to meditate in a place with sound or to put on some quiet music in the background. Play games with this and do not always put on pleasant music or expose yourself to only pleasant situations. Learn to soften into habitual discomfort.

The Seven Stages: 

1. Ground your awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.

2. Observe the flow of change within sound as it comes into you and soften listening.

3. Develop mindfulness of breathing, observe sound draw your attention away and soften that pull.

4. Come out of formal meditation and strike a bell, observing the sound. Observe mind create the idea ‘a bell’.

5. Soften any movement of attention towards the sound of the bell.

6. Soften any attraction or aversion towards the sound.

7. Align awareness with the flow of the sound.

 How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits. Next bring awareness to the change and flow of sound around you. Repeat this same practice but using your breathing as a grounding point for awareness. When the formal seated practice is over, make a sound with a bell or something similar. 

This is used as a way of observing the relationship between the mind and sound but also as a way of developing the skill of softening habitual interaction with sound. Ring the bell and observe in these ways: the sound striking the ear, recognition of ‘the bell’, awareness going out to the sound, the flow of change within the sound. Soften your relationship towards these four observations. Learn to bring this observation into daily life by intentionally entering noisy areas and softening against it.

Investigation:

Be curious about habitual movements within the focus of the ear towards sounds. Observe and soften any attraction or aversion. Notice the relationship towards hearing and commentary, also between hearing and the speeding up of the functions of the mind. Take interest in the difference between hearing and listening. Be curious in regard to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world. 

 Purpose:

• Apply the three pillars of MIDL: Flexible attention, softness, stillness.
• Develop understanding of the relationship between the mind and the nose.
• Decondition habitual attraction & aversion towards smell.
• Disentangle awareness from the six sense fields – smelling & mind.  
• Mature the Noble Eightfold Path: 

(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)  

Benefits:

• Lowers habitual attachment to smell.
•  Deconditions habitual patterns based on smelling.
•  Disentangles awareness from smell.
•  Develops equanimity in regard to smell.

Summary: 

In this meditation, you develop your sensitivity to movements of attention towards the experience of the sense door of smell. Learning to observe awareness of smell creates a grounding for mindfulness within daily life and also the ability to observe attraction or aversion as they arise towards what is smelt. This sensitivity allows you to soften into your relationship towards what is smelt, deconditioning any habitual pattern of attraction or aversion through mindful non-participation.

Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.

The Seven Stages:

1. Ground your awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.

2. Observe the fragrance contact your nose, its change in experience between the in and out-breath.

3. Develop mindfulness of breathing, observe the fragrance draw your attention away and soften that pull.

4. Notice the fragrance fill and leave your body with each breath.

5. Soften any attraction or aversion towards the smell.

6. Align awareness with the flow of the smell.

7. Align the smell and the length of each breath as one. 

How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits. Burn some incense / oil and notice the fragrance arise within your nose as smell. Become sensitive to the change of the strength of the fragrance depending on in and out-breaths. Learn to align the fragrance and the expansion and contraction of the breath as one. Allow the presence of your sense of smell to hold your awareness present. Observe the relationship between your mind and the pleasure of the fragrance.

Investigation:

Be curious about habitual movements within the focus of awareness towards smell. Observe and soften any attraction or aversion. Notice the relationship towards smelling and commentary, also between smelling and the speeding / slowing up of the functions of the mind. Be curious in regard to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world.