excerpt from
Mindfulness in Plain English
by
Venerable Henepola Gunaratana
Mindfulness is the
English translation of the Pali word 'Sati.' Sati is an
activity. What exactly is that? Well, this is one of
those questions without a precise answer, at least not
in words. Words are devised by the symbolic levels of
the mind and they describe those realities with which
symbolic thinking deals. Mindfulness (Sati) is
pre-symbolic. It is not shackled to logic. Nevertheless,
Mindfulness can be experienced - rather easily - and it
can be described, as long as you keep in mind that the
words are only fingers pointing at the moon. They are
not the thing itself. The actual experience lies beyond
the words and above the symbols. Mindfulness could be
described in completely different terms than will be
used here and each description could still be correct.
Mindfulness (Sati) is a
subtle process that you are using at this very moment.
The fact that this process lies above and beyond words
does not make it unreal - quite the reverse. Mindfulness
is the reality which gives rise to words - the words
that follow are simply pale shadows of reality. So, it
is important to understand that everything that follows
here is an analogy. It is not going to make perfect
sense. Please don't sit around scratching your head and
trying to figure it all out. In fact, the meditational
technique called Vipassana (insight) that was introduced
by the Buddha about twenty-five centuries ago is a set
of mental activities specifically aimed at experiencing
a state of uninterrupted Mindfulness or Sati.
When you first become
aware of something there is a fleeting instant of pure
awareness just before you conceptualize he thing, before
you identify it. That is a stage of Mindfulness (Sati).
Ordinarily, this stage is very short. It is that
flashing split second just before you focus your eyes on
the thing, just before you focus your mind on the thing,
just before you objectify it, clamp down on it mentally
and segregate it from the rest of existence. It takes
place just before ,you start thinking about it - before
that little 'yak, yak' machine inside your skull says,
"Oh, it's a dog." That flowing, soft-focused moment of
pure awareness is Mindfulness (Sati). In that brief
flashing mind- moment you experience a thing as an
un-thing. You experience a softly flowing moment of pure
experience that is interlocked with the rest of reality,
not separate from it. Mindfulness is very much like what
you see with your peripheral vision as opposed to the
hard focus of normal or central vision. Yet this moment
of soft, unfocused, awareness contains a very deep sort
of knowing that is lost as soon as you focus your mind
and objectify the object into a thing. In the process of
ordinary perception, the Mindfulness (Sati) step is so
fleeting as to be unobservable. We have developed the
habit of squandering our attention on all the remaining
steps, focusing on the perception, cognizing the
perception, labeling it, and most od all, getting
involved in a long string of symbolic thought about it.
That original moment of Mindfulness just gets lost in
the shuffle. It is the purpose of the above mentioned
Vipassana (or insight) meditation to train us to prolong
that moment of awareness.
When this Mindfulness
(Sati) is prolonged by using proper techniques, you find
that this experience is profound and it changes your
whole view of the universe. This state of perception has
to be learned, however, and it takes regular practice.
Once you learn the technique, you will find that
Mindfulness has a number of interesting characteristics.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MINDFULNESS (SATI)
Mindfulness (Sati) is
mirror-thought. It reflects only what is presently
happening and in exactly the way it is happening. There
are no biases.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
non-judgmental observation. It is that ability of the
mind to observe without criticism. With this ability,
one sees things without condemnation or judgment. One is
surprised by nothing. One simply takes a balanced
interest in things exactly as they are in their natural
states. One does not decide and does not judge. One just
observes.
It is psychologically
impossible for us to objectively observe what is going
on within us if we do not at the same time accept the
occurrence of our various states of mind. This is
especially true with unpleasant states of mind. In order
to observe our own fear, we must accept the fact that we
are afraid. We can't examine our own depression without
accepting i fully. The same is true for irritation and
agitation, frustration and all those other uncomfortable
emotional states. You can't examine something fully if
you are busy rejecting the existence of it. Whatever
experience we may be having, Mindfulness just accepts
it. It is simply another of life's occurrences, just
another thing to be aware of. No pride, no shame,
nothing personal at stake - what is there, is there.
Mindfulness (Sati) is an
impartial watchfulness. It does not take sides. It does
not get hung up in what is perceived. It just perceives.
Mindfulness does not get infatuated with the good stuff.
It does not try to sidestep the bad stuff. There is no
clinging to the pleasant, no fleeing from the
unpleasant. Mindfulness sees all experiences as equal,
all thoughts as equal, all feelings as equal. Nothing is
suppressed. Nothing is repressed. Mindfulness does not
play favorites.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
nonconceptual awareness. Another English term for Sati
is 'bare attention.' It is not thinking. It does not get
involved with thought or concepts. It does not get hung
up on ideas or opinions or memories. It just looks.
Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not
compare them. It just observes everything as if they
were occurring for the first time. It is not analysis
which is based on reflection and memory. It is, rather,
the direct and immediate experience of whatever is
happening, without the medium of thought. It comes
BEFORE thought in the perceptual process.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
present-time awareness. It takes place in the here and
now. It is the observance of what is happening right
now, in the present moment. It stays forever in the
present, surging perpetually on the crest of the ongoing
wave of passing time. If you are remembering your
second-grade teacher, that is memory. When you then
become aware that you are remembering your second-grade
teacher, that is Mindfulness. If you then conceptualize
the process and say to yourself, "Oh, I am remembering",
that is thinking.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
non-egoistic alertness. It takes place without reference
to self. With Mindfulness one sees all phenomena without
references to concepts like "me", "my" or "mine". For
example, suppose there is a pain in your left leg.
Ordinary consciousness would say, "I have a pain." Using
Mindfulness, one would simply note the sensation as a
sensation. One would not tack on that extra concept "I".
Mindfulness stops one from adding anything to
perception, or subtracting anything from it. One does
not enhance anything. One does not emphasize anything.
One just observes what is there - without distortion.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
goal-less awareness. In Mindfulness, one does not strain
for results. One does not try to accomplish anything.
When one is mindful, one experiences reality in the
present moment in whatever form it takes. There is
nothing to be achieved. There is only observation.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
awareness of change. It is observing the passing flow of
experience. It is watching things as they are changing.
It is seeing the birth, growth, and maturity of all
phenomena. It is watching phenomena decay and die.
Mindfulness is watching things moment by moment,
continuously. It is observing all phenomena - physical,
mental or emotional - whatever is presently taking place
in the mind. One just sits back and watches the show.
Mindfulness is the observance of the basic nature of
each passing phenomena. It is watching the thing arising
and passing away. It is seeing how the thing makes us
feel and how we react to it. It is observing how it
affects others. In Mindfulness, one is an unbiased
observer whose sole job is to keep track of the
constantly passing show of the universe within. Please
note that last point. In Mindfulness, one watches the
universe within. The meditator who is developing
Mindfulness (Sati) is not concerned with the external
universe. It is there, but in meditation, one's field of
study is one's own experience, one's thoughts, one's
feelings, and one's perceptions. In meditation, one is
one's own laboratory. The universe within has an
enormous fund of information containing the reflection
of the external world and much more. An examination of
this material leads to total freedom.
Mindfulness (Sati) is
participatory observation. The meditator is both
participant and observer at one and the same time. If
one watches one's emotions or physical sensations, one
is feeling them at that very same moment. Mindfulness is
not an intellectual awareness. It is just awareness. The
Mirror- thought metaphor breaks down here. Mindfulness
is objective, but it is not cold or unfeeling. It is the
wakeful experience of life, an alert participation in
the ongoing process of living.
Mindfulness is an
extremely difficult concept to define in words - not
because it is complex, but because it is too simple and
open. The same problem crops up in every area of human
experience. The most basic concept is always the most
difficult to pin down. Look at a dictionary and you will
see a clear example. Long words generally have concise
definitions, but for short basic words like "the", "is"
or "but", definitions can be a page long. And in
physics, the most difficult functions to describe are
the most basic - those that deal with the most
fundamental realities of quantum mechanics. Mindfulness
is a pre- symbolic function. You can play with word
symbols all day long and you will never pin it down
completely. We can never fully express what it is.
However, we can say what it does.
THREE FUNDAMENTAL ACTIVITIES
There are three
fundamental activities of Mindfulness (Sati). We can use
these activities as functional definitions of the term:
(1) Mindfulness reminds us what we are supposed to be
doing; (2) it sees things as they really are; and (3) it
sees the deep nature of all phenomena. Let's examine
these definitions in greater detail.
Mindfulness (Sati)
reminds you what you are supposed to be doing. In
meditation, you put your attention on one item. When
your mind wanders from this focus, it is Mindfulness
that reminds you that your mind is wandering and what
you are supposed to be doing. It is Mindfulness that
brings your mind back to the object of meditation. All
of this occurs instantaneously and without internal
dialogue. Meditation is not thinking. Repeated practice
in meditation establishes this function as a mental
habit which then carries over into the rest of your
life. You should be paying bare attention to occurrences
all the time, day in, day out, whether formally sitting
in meditation or not. This is a very lofty ideal towards
which those who meditate may be working for a period of
years or even decades. Our habit of getting stuck in
thought is years old, and that habit will hang on in the
most tenacious manner. The only way out is to be equally
persistent in the cultivation of constant Mindfulness
(Sati). When Mindfulness is present, you will notice
when you become stuck in your thought patterns. It is
that very noticing which allows you to back out of the
thought process and free yourself from it. Mindfulness
then returns your attention to its proper focus. If you
are meditating at that moment, then your focus will be
the formal object of meditation. If you are not in
formal meditation, it will be just a pure application of
bare attention itself, just a pure noticing of whatever
comes up without getting involved - "Ah, this comes
up... and now this, and now this... and now this."
Mindfulness (Sati) is at
one and the same time both bare attention itself and the
function of reminding us to pay bare attention if we
have ceased to do so. Bare attention is noticing. It
re-establishes itself simply by noticing that it has not
been present. As soon as you are noticing that you have
not been noticing, then by definition you are noticing
and then again you are back to paying bare attention.
Well, that all sounds very involved, but there is
nothing complex about it. It is just the words. It is
just a thing you will learn to do by feel, the way you
play baseball. Mindfulness creates its own distinct
feeling in consciousness. It has a flavor - a light,
clear, energetic flavor. Conscious thought is heavy by
comparison, ponderous and picky. But here again, these
are just words. Your own practice will show you the
difference. Then you will probably come up with your own
words and the words used here will become superfluous.
Remember, practice is the thing.
Mindfulness (Sati) sees
things as they really are. It adds nothing to perception
and it subtracts nothing. It distorts nothing. It is
bare attention and just looks at whatever comes up.
Conscious thought loves to paste things over our
experience, to load us down with concepts and ideas, to
immerse us in a churning vortex of plans and worries,
fears and fantasies. When mindful, you don't play that
game. You just notice exactly what arises in the mind,
then you notice the next thing. "Ah, this... and this...
and now this." It is really very simple.
Mindfulness (Sati) sees
the true nature of all phenomena. Mindfulness and only
Mindfulness can perceive the three prime characteristics
that Buddhism teaches are the deepest truth of
existence. In Pali these three are called Annica
(impermanence), Dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), and Anatta
(selflessness - the absence of a permanent, unchanging,
entity that we call soul or self). These truths, by the
way, are not presented in Buddhist teaching as dogmas
subject to blind faith. The Buddhists feel that these
truths are universal and self-evident to anyone who
cares to investigate in a proper way. Mindfulness is
that method of investigation. Mindfulness alone has the
power to reveal the deepest level of reality available
to human observation. At this level of inspection, one
sees the following: (a) All conditioned things are
inherently transitory; (b) every worldly thing is, in
the end, unsatisfying; and (c) there are really no
entities that are unchanging or permanent, only
processes.
Mindfulness works like
an electron microscope. That is, it operates on so fine
a level that one can actually see directly those
realities which are at best theoretical constructs to
the conscious thought process. Mindfulness actually sees
the impermanent character of every perception. It sees
the transitory and passing nature of everything that is
perceived. It also sees the inherently unsatisfactory
nature of all conditioned things. It sees that there is
no sense grabbing onto any of these passing shows. Peace
and happiness just cannot be found that way. And
finally, Mindfulness sees the inherent selflessness of
all phenomena. It sees the way we have arbitrarily
selected a certain bundle of perceptions, chopped them
off from the rest of the surging flow of experience and
then conceptualized them as separate, enduring,
entities. Mindfulness actually sees these things. It
does not think about them, it sees them directly.
When it is fully
developed, Mindfulness sees these three attributes of
existence directly, instantaneously, and without the
intervening medium of conscious thought. In fact, even
the attributes which we just covered are inherently
arbitrary. They don't really exist as separate items.
They are purely the result of our struggle to take this
fundamentally simple process called Mindfulness and
express it in the cumbersome and inherently unsuitable
thought symbols of the conscious level. Mindfulness is a
PROCESS, but it does not take place in steps. It is a
wholistic process that occurs as a unit: you notice your
own lack of Mindfulness; and that noticing itself is a
result of Mindfulness; and Mindfulness is bare
attention; and bare attention is noticing things exactly
as they are without distortion; and the way they are is
Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta (impermananent,
unsatisfactory, and self-less). It all takes place in a
flash-bang. This does not mean, however, that you will
instantly attain liberation (freedom from all human
weaknesses) as a result of your first moment of
Mindfulness. Learning to integrate this material into
your conscious life is another whole process. And
learning to prolong this state of Mindfulness is still
another. They are joyous processes, however, and they
are well worth the effort.
MINDFULNESS (SATI) AND INSIGHT (VIPASSANA) MEDITATION
Mindfulness is the
center of Vipassana meditation and the key to the whole
process. It is both the goal of this meditation and the
means to that end. You reach Mindfulness by being ever
more mindful. One other Pali word that is translated
into English as Mindfulness is Appamada, which means
non- negligence or an absence of madness. One who
attends constantly to what is really going on in one;s
mind achieves the state of ultimate sanity.
The Pali term 'Sati'
also bears the connotation of remembering. It is not
memory in the sense of ideas and pictures from the past,
but rather clear, direct, wordless knowing of what is
and what is not, of what is correct and what is
incorrect, of what we are doing and how we should go
about it. Mindfulness (Sati) reminds the meditator to
apply his attention to the proper object at the proper
time and to exert precisely the amount of energy needed
to do that job. When this energy is properly applied,
the meditator stays constantly in a state of calmness
and alertness. As long as this condition is maintained,
those mind-states called 'hindrances' or 'psychic
irritants' cannot arise - there is no greed, no hatred,
no lust or laziness. But we are all human and we all
goof. Most of us are very human and we goof repeatedly.
Despite honest effort, the meditator lets his
Mindfulness slip now and then and he finds himself stuck
in some nasty, but normal, human failure. It is
Mindfulness that notices that change. And it is
Mindfulness that reminds him to apply the energy
required to pull himself out of the soup. These slips
happen over and over, but their frequency decreases with
practice. Once Mindfulness has pushed these mental
defilements aside, more wholesome states of mind can
take their place. Hatred makes way for loving kindness,
lust is replaced by detachment. It is Mindfulness which
notices this change, too, and which reminds the
Vipassana meditator to maintain that extra little mental
sharpness needed to keep these more desirable states of
mind. Mindfulness makes possible the growth of wisdom
and compassion. Without Mindfulness they cannot develop
to full maturity.
Deeply buried in the
mind, there lies a mental mechanism which accepts what
the mind perceives as beautiful and pleasant experiences
and rejects those experiences which are perceived as
ugly and painful. This mechanism gives rise to those
states of mind which we are training ourselves to avoid
- things like greed, lust, hatred, aversion, and
jealousy. We choose to avoid these hindrances, not
because they are evil in the normal sense of the word,
but because they are compulsive; because they take the
mind over and capture the attention completely; because
they keep going round and round in tight little circles
of thought; and because they seal us off from living
reality.
These hamperings cannot
arise when Mindfulness is present. Mindfulness is
attention to present time reality, and therefore,
directly antithetical to the dazed state of mind which
characterizes the impediments. As meditators, it is only
when we let our Mindfulness slip that the deep
mechanisms of our minds take over - grasping, clinging
and rejecting. Then resistance emerges and obscures our
awareness. We do not notice that the change is taking
place - we are too busy with a thought of revenge, or
greed, whatever it may be. While an untrained person
will continue inn this state indefinitely, a trained
meditator will soon realize what is happening. It is
Mindfulness that notices the change. It is Mindfulness
that remembers the training received ad that focuses our
attention so that the confusion fades away. And it is
Mindfulness that then attempts to maintain itself
indefinitely so that the resistance cannot arise again.
Thus, Mindfulness is the specific antidote for
hindrances. It is both the cure and the preventive
measure.
Fully developed
Mindfulness (Sati) is a state of total non-attachment
and utter absence of clinging to anything in the world.
If we can maintain this state, no other means or device
is needed to keep ourselves free of obstructions, to
achieve liberation from our human weaknesses.
Mindfulness is non-superficial awareness. It sees things
deeply, down below the level of concepts and opinions.
This sort of deep observation leads to total certainty,
a complete absence of confusion. It manifests itself
primarily as a constant and unwavering attention which
never flags an which never turns away.
This pure and unstained
investigative awareness not only holds the fetters at
bay, it lays bare their very mechanism and destroys
them. Mindfulness neutralizes defilements in the mind.
The result is a mind which remains unstained and
invulnerable, completely unaffected by the ups and downs
of life.
[California Buddhist
Vihara Society, 4797 Myrtle Drive, Concord CA 94521,
USA]
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