HOW TO BE AWARE By Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Sayadaw U Tejaniya offers many pointers on how to be aware—that is, to be knowingly aware that awareness is always at work, always gathering “data” (one of Sayadaw’s favorite metaphors) that eventually coheres into wisdom.

Below, Sayadaw explains three ways to be knowingly aware from the moment we wake until the moment we fall asleep each day:

“JUST LIGHT AWARENESS"

When you are aware of your awareness, the mind is not focusing on objects; it is just lightly touching them. With gentle awareness, you can do all the thing that need to be done with just a light recognition at the back of the mind all of the time.

The main problem meditators have with practicing light or gentle awareness is they have no patience; they just don't trust it. They then go back to putting in a lot of effort, but that doesn't last long. They find they can’t function properly, and start doubting how they are going to live their lives if they have to be aware with that much effort.

When awareness becomes strong enough, it seems to back away and then to see itself. It's very natural. But if you think, "Oh, this is good," then you get excited and there is craving, which disturbs the mind. It's all natural cause and effect. When there is enough stability again, awareness will naturally back away, and be aware of itself.

With gentle awareness, although not continuous in the beginning, it soon gains momentum to become natural and continuous. It really feels like you're aware while doing everything; that you are actually living in this awareness. That is when I understood the true nature of vipassana meditation and started to believe it possible to become enlightened in daily life.

YOGI:

How do I keep up mindfulness in a job that demands that I'm fast and efficient, on deadline?

SAYADAW:

While you are working, just try to be aware as much as you can. Try to be aware of how you feel, and what kind of mind states you experience. But don't try to focus; do it loosely, lightly. If you make too much of an effort to practice, you won’t be able to do your job properly. If you focus too much on the job, you won't be able to be mindful. You need to find the right balance.

The reason we practice light awareness is so we can do it all day long, every moment. If we expend a lot of energy trying to be mindful, we will quickly run out of steam. So we need to know how to maintain our energy, using only what is necessary.

You do not need to know every detail of your experience. Just be aware and know what you are aware of. Be natural and simple. There is no need to slow down unnaturally. When you are truly aware, you are not focusing, yet you are aware of the objects. Practicing in this way, the mind will stay fresh.

TAKE A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW

We have a strange misconception that we need to keep the mind on one object for it to be calm, stable, and still. That's not really true. If we are doing it right, it should get to the point where, when awareness is expanded, we know both the main object, and other objects. We feel clear, as if we have a birds-eye view.

Only the kind of wisdom that has an expansive, aerial, bird's-eye-view of both mind and objects happening together, and their processes, is able to

understand cause-and-effect relationships. Wisdom further builds up and strengthens with each new understanding that completes the picture.

The stand of wisdom is always a distant stance. It's either watching from the side, or the back, or from an overview. It's always a broader perspective, it's never involved. Wisdom doesn't step in; it steps away.

Initially, you won't be aware of many things at once because awareness is not expanded, it hasn't been built up. You haven't developed the habit of being constantly aware. But as awareness develops and becomes sharper, you might notice that awareness seems to expand and to receive a lot more, much more easily. You naturally become conscious of many things at once.

When I went to Hong Kong, a lot of the yogis do tai chi in the morning, and I would practice with them. I loved it! Every moment there are so many things to be aware of at the same time. You can’t focus. That's perfect for vipassana. You move the hands and the legs and you know them both at the same time—that's awareness is doing its work. You're aware, and you can't focus too much, so you relax.

Once I was talking to my teacher and I was very involved while talking to him. At one point he suddenly said, "So-and-so is coming." And I was shocked. How did he know? Then I heard the sound of a car running outside, and I realized my teacher had already heard the car. It struck me then that he had a bird's-eye view of everything going on. He would never get so involved in something to the exclusion of everything else. He knew everything that was going on in his environment.

YOGI:

Is there a risk that we will lose human spontaneity when we are being aware by stepping back all the time?

SUT:

When you become skillful, you become more spontaneous. Maybe we misunderstand "stepping back.” It doesn't mean "distancing from;" it means not being attached with. When there is wisdom, wholeseome states are able to arise with great energy. So, all wholesome states will be more present. If you love, you will really love, not with a grasping love or a controlling love, but with a real giving love.

SEE BEFORE YOU LOOK

We tend not to understand what seeing is. The instant tendency of the mind is to think of what is being seen—"I see a picture of the Buddha," "I see the floor." But seeing, that's a different thing. In general, like when you are walking, you're not necessarily looking at anything. But, seeing is happening. You can choose to be conscious of it.

Try practicing sitting meditation with your eyes open. Seeing can be one of the objects of meditation, it's a very obvious object. Seeing is happening. Can you choose not to see when your eyes are open? The recognition that seeing is happening might come again and again; that's all you need to do.

We all know how to be aware of hearing, right? Does that seem easier? Why have we never noticed seeing? If we are not proficient at being aware of all our sense doors then we can't really say that we are completely proficient at meditation.

Seeing and thinking are very similar in nature. When we think, we get involved in our thoughts very easily. We identify with them and with our thinking. It's the same with seeing. When we see, when we have our eyes open, immediately our attention is with the concepts outside. It is the mind's habit to take those as objects and to be “out there," rather than to be aware of the seeing.

In the practice of being aware of thinking, you make yourself conscious that you are thinking. You remind yourself, "thinking is happening, thinking is happening," again and again, until you can view thinking objectively, and not identify with the thinker. You can apply the same pattern to seeing, reminding yourself, "seeing is happening, seeing is happening.” In this way you are able to step away a little bit and stop identifying with the see-er.

Our minds are used to focusing. We are very skillful at it because we do it all the time. The problem is that we don't recognize that we are focusing. We are trying to meditate but we don't really understand what meditation is.

Instead of trying to understand how the mind is working, how the mind is paying attention, we go out to objects. We look at the objects and think this is meditation. The mind is expert at taking concepts as objects, so it focuses on them, and we forget what we are supposed to take as meditation objects. So, don't look at anything. Be aware of seeing, and be aware of your awareness.