Condition The Mind Section
Contains: Mastery 6, Skillset 9, Meditation Skills 39-43
MEDITATION SKILL 43
Cultivate Gratitude
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
Simple Instructions:
Offer gratitude by reflecting on simple things in your life that you have to be grateful for, encourage the grateful feeling.
Purpose:
Benefits:
"While forgiveness is concerned with healing your relationship towards the past, gratitude is concerned with establishing awareness within the present experience through removing longing for the future. When gratitude is not present we lose sight of what is important within our life and start focusing on how we feel things should be. This creates a divide between reality and our desires causing suffering to arise within our life."
Summary:
In this meditation, you intentionally bring awareness towards the simple things within your life in order to cultivate a sense of gratitude. While forgiveness is concerned with healing your relationship towards the past, gratitude is concerned with establishing awareness within the present experience through removing longing for the future. When gratitude is not present we lose sight of what is important within our life and start focusing on how we feel things should be. This creates a divide between reality and our desires causing suffering to arise.
Instruction:
Meditation is practiced in any posture.
The Four Stages:
Step 1: Reflect on Small Things in Life
Sit down and reflect on small things in your life you have to be grateful for. Your house to keep you dry, clothing, food to eat, water to drink. Simple things that you may have taken for granted.
“Thank you for all that I have in my life”
“Thank you for my ( _ _ _ _ _ _ )” “I am so blessed.”
“Thank you for my ( _ _ _ _ _ _ )” “I am so fortunate.”
Keep gently repeating these phrases to yourself, in no hurry, and really mean it. Smile when you say it. The key is to develop the feeling of gratitude that comes from this reflection.
Step 2: Reflect on People in Your Life
Now reflect on people within your life that you are grateful for.
“Thank you (insert name) for loyalty and friendship.”
“I really do appreciate having you in my life.”
“Thank you (insert name) for all you have done for me.”
“I am blessed to have you in my life.”
Keep focusing on them in your mind allowing the feeling to grow.
Step 3: Allow the Feeling to Grow Within
Next send your thoughts of gratitude out into your neighborhood, suburb, city, state, country and beyond.
“Thank you for all that I have in my life, I am truly blessed.”
How Often?
Practice daily on waking or before falling asleep. Look for opportunities to reflect on and express what you are fortunate to have within your life.
Investigation:
Observe the relationship between discontent and constant rumination in regards to the future. Observe your mind obsessing on complaining about what is happening now. Notice to correlation between this habitual complaining and your state of happiness. Observe the contentment that arises within your mind when you are focused on what is right instead of what is wrong within your life. Observe how focusing into the future causes disharmony within your life while focusing on what you have to be grateful for creates harmony.
Skillset 10 Disentangling Meditations
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 regards to habitual attraction and aversion towards vedana (pleasant and unpleasant feeling tone). Therefore, basis in samadhi, insight and softening is required.
Senses as an Anchor
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.
How to Experience Your Senses
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:
The true importance of sensory experience such is:
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 '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 practce, awareness is conditioned to disentangle from the sensory fields, and the tendency towards habitual attraction and aversion, fades.
Disentangle Your Awareness Section
Contains: Mastery 7, Skillset 10, Meditation Skills 44-51
Simple Instructions:
Holding your meditation gently in mind, focus on the 'remembering to remember' to be aware of the experience.
Purpose:
Benefits:
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.
Instruction:
Meditation is practiced in a seated position.
The Six Stages:
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.
How Often?
Practice daily for 1 week by grounding awareness within your body. 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.
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.
Simple Instructions:
With eyes open, ground awareness in your body as it sits. Observe the doorway of sight as your eyes move and focus.
Purpose:
(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)
Benefits:
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 regards to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world.
Simple Instructions:
Ground awareness in your body as it sits. Observe the doorway of sound as sound strikes your ear.
Purpose:
(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)
Benefits:
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 regards to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world.
Simple Instructions:
Ground awareness in your body as it sits. Observe the doorway of smell as fragrance contacts your nose.
Purpose:
(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)
Benefits:
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 regards to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world.
Simple Instructions:
Ground awareness in your body as it sits. Observe the doorway of taste as taste strikes your tongue.
Purpose:
(Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness & concentration.)
Benefits:
Summary:
In this meditation, you develop your sensitivity to movements of attention towards the experience of the sense door of taste. Learning to observe awareness of taste creates a grounding for mindfulness within daily life and also the ability to observe attraction or aversion as they arise towards what is tasted. This sensitivity allows you to soften your relationship towards what is tasted, deconditioning any habitual pattern of attraction or aversion through mindful non-participation.
Instruction:
Meditation is practiced in a seated position.
The Eight Stages:
1. Ground your awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.
2. Bring to mind pleasant foods and observe the relationship to the tongue, other senses and the mind.
3. Bring to mind unpleasant foods and observe the relationship to the tongue, other senses and the mind.
4. Soften into any attraction or aversion that arise.
5. Open your eyes and mindfully eat some pre-chosen food.
6. Chew each bit of food at least 20 times while mindfully observing.
7. Swallow only after flavour has dissolved.
8. Soften into any attraction or aversion you experience towards this process.
How Often?
Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits. Bring to mind first pleasant then unpleasant foods. Observe any mental experiences that arise at your tongue, but also those that arise within the other senses such as images or feelings. Soften into any attraction or aversion you feel. Next open your eyes and mindfully eat a chosen food, chewing it at least 20 times before swallowing. Observe how attraction for the food fades in relationship to the fading of the flavour of the food. Mindfully swallow and experience the food move down your throat, into your belly before taking the next bite.
Investigation:
Be curious about habitual movements within the focus of awareness towards taste. Observe and soften any attraction or aversion. Notice the relationship towards tasting and commentary, also between tasting and the speeding / slowing up of the functions of the mind. Be curious in regards to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world. Observe all your senses interact with food and the relationship between attraction / aversion and the presence of taste.
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