Meditation on Mindfulness & Awareness

Shamatha and Vipassyana: Two Foundational Buddhist Meditations

There are many many thousands, maybe millions of types of meditation. The one we are going to do today will be familiar to many of you, because it's so foundational to many other types of meditation.
In Sanskrit, this meditation is called "Shamatha/Vipassyana"

Shamatha is sometimes translated as "Calm Abiding" but it's more broadly known as "Mindfulness" - the basic and very non-religious ability to place your attention on something and hold it there.
Lots of beings have this ability - monkeys cracking nuts with rocks, octopuses opening jars, leopards pursuing gazelles - a base level of mindfulness is a prerequisite to survival. If you ever watch a bird eat seeds on the ground, you can see their attention goes from pecking the next seed to looking for danger and back again.
For humans, with our big brains and comfortable lifestyles, we have the luxury of spending our attention lots of ways. Think of mindfulness practice as investing a little bit of that attention now, so that it grows and gets stronger in the future. A lot like going for a jog... we use our time and our muscles to improve our experience now and in the future.
That's Mindfulness.
Awareness meditation, Vipassyana, is the other side of that same coin. If Mindfulness is holding your attention to something as if you were jogging down an icy path, Vipassyana is opening up and sensing the whole world on a warm sunny day.
Vipassyana is about seeing reality... what's actually there. Some people have translated the word as "Clear seeing" because the meditation is wide, expansive, and shockingly accurate. It's a view from the top of a mountain or a skyscraper on a cloudless day.
But crucially, we aren't seeing what we hope to see... we are seeing and experiencing what's actually there.
We are going to start with a few minutes of guided Mindfulness meditation, and then, for contrast, we will switch of a few minutes of Awareness meditation.
As I said, these are only two of the very many meditation techniques out there, but they have stood the test of time for thousands of years, so they are always good to start with, return to and finish with.
(Mindfulness practice is body centered, with guided meditation starting with toes/legs, some time in hips/base, growing up spine, heart opening, shoulders relaxing, jaw, mouth, cheeks, some time on eyes, forehead, skin on top of head, golden string top of head, hanging off golden string).
Drop the technique, dedicate the merit, close.

Going Deeper: Open Awareness Practice (Vipassyana)

Last Time we talked about Shamatha, or Calm Abiding or Mindfulness. This morning we are going to focus on the other side of the coin, Vipassayana.

Shamatha is about developing the muscle of mindfulness. We are building the capacity to place our attention onto something and hold it there with a light and gentle touch. At times thoughts or emotions are overwhelming and we can't find our object of meditation no matter what we do. Other times it feels easy and peaceful. Either way, the practice of #shamatha is to work with the balance between our experience being too tight or too loose.
#Vipashyana is different. The practice is based on appreciation. Nothing is hassling us. We are tuning into the phenomenal world and just experiencing what is there.
If Shamatha is climbing up a steep icy path to the top of a hill, concentrating on where you put each foot so you don't slip, Vipashyana is being at the top of the hill, appreciating the wind, the view, the warmth of your heart and the burning in your legs.
But Vispashyana is not just for the beautiful views on top of the hill. We are able to see the uniqueness of every moment, every day. Even the repetitive chores of the day - doing the dishes, taking out the trash, thinking the same thoughts over and over again - they are unique. This uniqueness and appreciation is why Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche refers to Vipashyana as "Art in Everyday Life."
Here's a quote from The Path of Individual Liberation page 344. "You may have attended..."
So let's try it.
Take your seat. Remember your motivation. Body breaths to ground your awareness. Tune into the breath and the permeability of it. Notice how air comes into your body, your body does it's magic with it, and then it goes out again. At a very basic level, we really are all connected to the world.
Awareness practice is open eyes, soft gaze, gentle seeing, hearing, hanging feeling of body. Space. Letting awareness expand. Relaxing. Seeing what's there. Feeling what is there. No need to respond to it. Fall open to the world....
If you find yourself swept away from your world by thoughts, that's fine. Appreciate your mind, the things it can come up with. Appreciate your awareness for bringing you back to the present moment.
You may find an edge of your awareness. You may feel fear about what lays beyond. That's fine. It could be your intelligence letting you know you aren't ready to open up that much. Or you could feel curious about the edge. Instead of pushing through the edge of awareness, just relax. Open the permeability of your boundary and let the outside in.

Shamatha and Vipassyana: Two Foundational Buddhist Meditations

There are many many thousands, maybe millions of types of meditation. The one we are going to do today will be familiar to many of you, because it's so foundational to many other types of meditation.

In Sanskrit, this meditation is called "Shamatha/Vipassyana"

Shamatha is sometimes translated as "Calm Abiding" but it's more broadly known as "Mindfulness" - the basic and very non-religious ability to place your attention on something and hold it there.
Lots of beings have this ability - monkeys cracking nuts with rocks, octopuses opening jars, leopards pursuing gazelles - a base level of mindfulness is a prerequisite to survival. If you ever watch a bird eat seeds on the ground, you can see their attention goes from pecking the next seed to looking for danger and back again.
For humans, with our big brains and comfortable lifestyles, we have the luxury of spending our attention lots of ways. Think of mindfulness practice as investing a little bit of that attention now, so that it grows and gets stronger in the future. A lot like going for a jog... we use our time and our muscles to improve our experience now and in the future.
That's Mindfulness.
Awareness meditation, Vipassyana, is the other side of that same coin. If Mindfulness is holding your attention to something as if you were jogging down an icy path, Vipassyana is opening up and sensing the whole world on a warm sunny day.
Vipassyana is about seeing reality... what's actually there. Some people have translated the word as "Clear seeing" because the meditation is wide, expansive, and shockingly accurate. It's a view from the top of a mountain or a skyscraper on a cloudless day.
But crucially, we aren't seeing what we hope to see... we are seeing and experiencing what's actually there.
We are going to start with a few minutes of guided Mindfulness meditation, and then, for contrast, we will switch of a few minutes of Awareness meditation.
As I said, these are only two of the very many meditation techniques out there, but they have stood the test of time for thousands of years, so they are always good to start with, return to and finish with.
(Mindfulness practice is body centered, with guided meditation starting with toes/legs, some time in hips/base, growing up spine, heart opening, shoulders relaxing, jaw, mouth, cheeks, some time on eyes, forehead, skin on top of head, golden string top of head, hanging off golden string).
Drop the technique, dedicate the merit, close.

Going Deeper: Open Awareness Practice (Vipassyana)

Last Time we talked about Shamatha, or Calm Abiding or Mindfulness. This morning we are going to focus on the other side of the coin, Vipassayana.

Shamatha is about developing the muscle of mindfulness. We are building the capacity to place our attention onto something and hold it there with a light and gentle touch. At times thoughts or emotions are overwhelming and we can't find our object of meditation no matter what we do. Other times it feels easy and peaceful. Either way, the practice of #shamatha is to work with the balance between our experience being too tight or too loose.
#Vipashyana is different. The practice is based on appreciation. Nothing is hassling us. We are tuning into the phenomenal world and just experiencing what is there.
If Shamatha is climbing up a steep icy path to the top of a hill, concentrating on where you put each foot so you don't slip, Vipashyana is being at the top of the hill, appreciating the wind, the view, the warmth of your heart and the burning in your legs.
But Vispashyana is not just for the beautiful views on top of the hill. We are able to see the uniqueness of every moment, every day. Even the repetitive chores of the day - doing the dishes, taking out the trash, thinking the same thoughts over and over again - they are unique. This uniqueness and appreciation is why Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche refers to Vipashyana as "Art in Everyday Life."
Here's a quote from The Path of Individual Liberation page 344. "You may have attended..."
So let's try it.
Take your seat. Remember your motivation. Body breaths to ground your awareness. Tune into the breath and the permeability of it. Notice how air comes into your body, your body does it's magic with it, and then it goes out again. At a very basic level, we really are all connected to the world.
Awareness practice is open eyes, soft gaze, gentle seeing, hearing, hanging feeling of body. Space. Letting awareness expand. Relaxing. Seeing what's there. Feeling what is there. No need to respond to it. Fall open to the world....
If you find yourself swept away from your world by thoughts, that's fine. Appreciate your mind, the things it can come up with. Appreciate your awareness for bringing you back to the present moment.
You may find an edge of your awareness. You may feel fear about what lays beyond. That's fine. It could be your intelligence letting you know you aren't ready to open up that much. Or you could feel curious about the edge. Instead of pushing through the edge of awareness, just relax. Open the permeability of your boundary and let the outside in.