Awareness is your
refuge: awareness of the changingness of feelings, of attitudes, of moods, of
material change and emotional change: Stay with that, because it's a refuge
that is indestructible.
Mindfulness is
ordinary. It's just being aware of the
movements of your body -- sitting, standing, walking, lying down, breathing --
or being aware of your mood or mental state.
I can be aware when
stupid thoughts enter consciousness, or intelligent ones. There's a discerning that is not judging.
I have found it
helpful just contemplating the difference between analytical thinking and
intuitive awareness, because there is a huge difference between the use of the
mind to think, to analyze, reason, criticize, to have ideas, perceptions, views
and opinions, and intuitive awareness, which is non-critical. Intuitive awareness is an inclusive
awareness.
Consciousness is
like a mirror; it reflects. A mirror
reflects -- not just the beautiful or the ugly but whatever is there: the
space, the neutrality, everything that's in front of it.
When you're
identified on the level of "I am the body and I am my feelings, thoughts,
and memories," you're always limiting, binding yourself to unsatisfactory
conditions.
We usually become
our thoughts if we're not aware.
Personality is not
something to get rid of but to know.
One of the problems
with Westerners is that we're complicated because of our lack of faith. Our identities get so complicated in so many
ways, and we take everything personally.
If we feel stress or
discomfort, just receive it rather than think you have to get rid of it. It's like learning just to receive, noticing
the way it is without reacting in a habitual way.
By no longer wanting
recipes or formulas or certainties for meditation, the more you meditate, you
can understand right view as uncertainty, not knowing. Uncertainty is no longer something resisted
or rejected or a source of suffering; it is just the way it is.
Ignorance means
being caught in the habit, never questioning, never looking, never using
awareness. We become creatures of habit,
programmed like a computer, we become fixed in our ways of looking at things.
Awareness includes
emotional states, no matter what they are.
Intuition… is
nonverbal and non-thinking.
Emotions are often
ignored or rejected and not appreciated; we don't learn from them, because
we're always rejecting or denying them.
A person is a
creation of the mind, to which we remain bound if we don't awaken. If we just operate within the emotional
conditioning that we have, then we see it in terms of "This is happening
to me," or "I am good…bad…" It is very important to recognize
and to know that the world is the world.
It's a very strong experience, because having a human body is a
continuous experience of being irritated.
Don't trust in your
views and opinions about anything -- about yourself, about Buddhism, about the
world -- for these views are often very biased.
We get very biased views about each other: racial prejudices, class identities,
ethnic biases, and feelings of social superiority. These are not to be trusted.
Of course things
come up because we aren't used to being that way, and then we feel restless.
Repressed emotions can start rising up into consciousness; fears and
resentments and things like that will come.
So don't feel discouraged by what comes up in your consciousness,
because it is the way it is.
Non-suffering
doesn't mean you don’t have any more physical pain or discomfort. It means not attaching, not resenting, not
wanting something else, but being mindful of the reality of now as it is
happening.
You can't get more
simple than mindfulness because it is not anything you can create. It's a matter of paying attention and being
present, it's not a complicated technique or a complexity.
The freedom from
suffering that the Buddha talked about isn't in itself an end to pain and
stress. Instead, it's a matter of
creating a choice. If you're willing to
learn from the suffering in life, you'll discover the unshakability of your own
mind.
