"You not know your 'I'.." (Gurdjieff)

"You not know your 'I', not one second in all your life. Now I say, and you try. But very difficult. You try to remember to say 'I am' every hour. You not succeed, not important, you try."

(Gurdjieff, Essays & Reflections)

Habit & insight. Nididhyasana.

Post by James Swartz (according to Vedanta) on the notion of why insights into nonduality tend to be short-lived (due to habitual ignorance)- 

"NIDIDHYASANA:

Because the ideas that reality is dualistic, the manifest universe (i.e., apparent reality) is real, and that one is the limited person one appears to be are so deeply ingrained in one’s psyche, it takes time and effort to remove its stain. For this reason, one has to continuously dwell on the teachings of Vedanta and apply them to each and every thought, circumstance, encounter, interaction, event, and experience of one’s life. While self-realization may be a “one-off” in that there is a moment when you “see” who you really are, self-actualization (i.e., the full assimilation of that knowledge, which allows one to live as the limitless self within the context of the limited body-mind-sense complex inhabiting an apparent reality characterized by limitation) takes time to establish. This is the third phase known as nididhyasana." (ShiningWorld)

No such thing as awareness? Awareness just a construct? A new fad in spiritual circles.

I recently saw a re-posting by Scott Kiloby (article below) on challenging the idea that 'awareness' and 'consciousness' are not 'real', but just mere constructs. This thrust is doing the spiritual circuits these days, with a number of teachers coming out in an attempt to challenge the notion that awareness-is-all etc. (which was popular during the last few decades thanks to Neo-Advaita type popularity in spiritual satsang circles).


This idea (that awareness/consciousness is just a construct and not real or the basis of all) has actually been around for a little longer, like 2500 years, in Theravada/classical Buddhism. Some teachers like to think that they're being all innovative etc., in challenging this notion, or getting their readers to challenge the idea that awareness-is-all. Their students then get all cocky and run around the Internet challenging others to 'find awareness' or 'find consciousness' etc.. like it was an item one finds in the pantry.


What I'd like to ask these teachers though is this--> Are you then substituting yet another speculation for the 'awareness-is-all' belief-- ie. that awareness is just an empty construct? Or that reality doesn't consist of just awareness?
Because it certainly seems so. Nowhere on these blogs, posts and rantings, can I find any hint that this idea should be actually investigated via direct, clear, practical means, other than reasoning things out (which gives a temporary ok-ness to one's intellect). These teachers are also entirely missing the point that the 'awareness' teachings that make use of the word 'awareness' ALWAYS imply that awareness is not an object, not findable, etc. etc., and that 'awareness' is a pointer for use with very specific practices that lead to the unshakeable experience of what 'awareness' or 'not-awareness' actually IS. The awareness teachings (with the exception of Neo-Advaita) are not attempting in any way to posit a theory of the universe whereby one goes around sheeping the idea that 'awareness is all' and behaving in certain ways that affirm that belief.


So perhaps teachers that are proudly attempting to blow away the notion of 'awareness' should instead focus their efforts on guiding students (and likely themselves) into using 'awareness' as a practical pointer for self-inquiry, or not using 'awareness' at all, but engaging in other deep contemplative practices (such as Insight, vipassana etc), and thus doing away permanently with their own egoic identifications that lead one to posit the above philosophical nonsense (and also make a profession / living out of 'teaching' others what 'reality' is, an how students can deal with their 'problems' etc. via paid-for seminars and workshops etc.)


This post might appear a little inflammatory, though the point needs emphasising that 1. awareness isn't an object 2. awareness teachings aren't attempting to define a new theory of how the universe operates and is put together 3. awareness teachings make use of very specific practices that lead to results beyond intellectual philosophising, beliefs and speculations.

Taken from http://kiloby.com/what-if-awareness-isnt-real/

Scott Kiloby:

What if awareness isn’t real? A recent scientific study found that awareness or consciousness is a construction of the mind like everything else – like the self, our world views, all of it.

This latest scientific discovery is not particularly groundbreaking. In fact, postmodern philosophical explorations in the last century have essentially obliterated inherent metaphysical notions like awareness or spirit. They have torn these notions to shreds in so many ways and from so many angles that it is embarrassing in those circles to posit such notions. Whatever we think is pregiven as a reality is exactly not that. It is a construction. This has been dealt with so directly that there are now things like non-metaphysical nonduality and post-metaphysics popping up. Yet, most of the spiritual community is ignorant of what science is currently saying and what these postmodern explorations have uncovered about how our minds conceive – essentially “make up” – everything, even our most profound metaphysical notions. Even though our spiritual circles are slow to see this, we have all already seen it, yet we often turn a blind eye to it. For example, those who follow certain regional traditions and teachings tend to see what those teachings and traditions teach and nothing more. For example, a Buddhist is not going to find Union with Christ. A Christian is not going to realize nirvana. True nature is realized only by those who follow teachings that say that there is a true nature and that this is what you are. I found this out long ago when I would meet with people who had experiences of the dropping away of everything. They didn’t follow any teachings. When I suggested they were seeing their true nature, they looked at me as if I had just said “You are a squirrel.” Even when they began to call their realization “true nature,” they did so by taking that on as a conception, a context for what had been seen. And that’s the mind, through and through.

Awareness gets thrown around as if it is the final realization, as if everything is just awareness. But look around – nothing in the universe is labeling itself awareness. Labeling happens through the mind. And to say that we have to be aware in order to even see a universe is still the mind, for it posits a division between what is aware and what one is aware of. All divisions are of the mind. They are constructions.

The perennial philosophy itself, which is the notion that there is one pregiven reality that we all come to see, regardless of our particular tradition or spiritual view, has been obliterated also. If there is one pregiven reality, why is everyone still arguing about it? Is reality arguing with itself? How would that happen anyway if there is one reality? Why do Buddhists, Advaitists, Scientists and Christians still assert that whatever they are realizing is what everyone else is realizing as one fundamental truth? Could it be that what they are realizing is only what their teachings and traditions make room for? Could it be that the notion of one fundamental truth is just another way the ego wants to be right? If so, that has nothing to do with a pregiven, nonconceptual reality. That is all about self.

Is this the end of metaphysical notions like awareness? I say “no.” It just means it is time for a change in how we view these things (or non-things). Setting up the notion of awareness can be helpful on one’s path to freedom. It provides a way to identify less with thoughts and other arisings that come and go. But inevitably, many land on that conception as a final realization, still dividing the universe in two, between awareness and all that other stuff that comes and goes.

We often hear that all there is, is Oneness. But did you know that many schools of Buddhism do not posit Oneness as a final insight. Instead, they say it is empty too, like everything else. It is a construction.

Wow, this sweeps the proverbial rug out from under us. It calls on us to look at our reality differently – to stop taking the words of spiritual teachings, science and religion on face value. It calls on us to look at our conceptions, no matter what they are and no matter how profound they appear to be.
But isn’t this what freedom is about anyway? Isn’t it about not getting cozy within mental prisons that create more divisions and, instead, letting the fire of freedom burn everything up?

If you are willing and ready to let that fire burn it all up, nothing that is said here will offend you. Instead, it will excite you at the possibility of going deeper then where you are currently landing in your conceptions of reality. If this offends you, and you wish to argue with me, be prepared. I’m not defending a view here. I’m merely inviting you to examine your own. You’d only be arguing with yourself. Apparently, that’s what reality does.

The mind. Seek it.

The "I am" focus.

A lot of people spend years trying to figure out what the "I am" focus is all about. Nisargadatta mentions he spent three years or so focusing on it, and was liberated. Others have talked about it, via self-inquiry, Gurdjieff work, and even through Zen kian use.

It's really nothing more than going back to the idea of focusing on one's apparent personal sense of self, consciousness, wakefulness etc. Just the sense of being awake that happens every morning as opposed to deep sleep or unconsciousness. It's like focusing on the TV screen rather than the images, assuming we were a TV set. 

The practice is very simple. Sticking with it for days, weeks, months and years is the hard part, and VERY few have the tenacity to do so- hence Nisargadatta's insistence that only a few in a hundred thousand (later revised to a few in a million) would really understand it and arrive.

Zen - Zazen (1) - Breath Counting 1

About Susokukan

(A Breath counting Meditation)

　　The foundation of Zen practice lies in samadhi and without it, true attainment of the goal will be unrealizable. This truth is applicable not only Zen, but also to anything in the secular world as well. The important standard to cultivate the samadhi power is just this breath-counting meditation.

　　Koun-an Roshi practiced breath-counting meditation for at least one hour every day from his days of High School until his death, fulfilling the advice of a famous leader in Sendai.

　　Koun-an Roshi wrote that "this very breath counting meditation is the final destination of Zen practice as well as the first step of it," in his book titled "A Guide to Breath counting meditation."

　　Students should masticate exactly the extremely heavy meaning involved in this one phrase.

◆ Procedure of Zen Meditation

(1)　After finding an adequate place and time, you need a "Futon" (a Japanese cushion to sit on). You need two ordinary flat, thick cushions. First place one cushion on the floor, double the other cushion in two and put it on the former, then seat you on the folded cushion. In the case of the ordinary cross-legged form of sitting, unless you bend your back and lean forward, you may tumble over backwards. The cushion lying under the buttocks will shift the weight of upper half of your body forwards and you can stabilize your whole body. Therefore the height of the second cushion is to be suitably adjusted to each sitter.

zabuton zabuton

　　When you feel most stable, the height is just suitable for you. Do not take this matter lightly as the cushion height is decisively important for the right posture in Zazen. It is shown by the fact that most of those who take training in Zazen have their own cushions. Now prepare yourself to feel as if you were a five-storied pagoda (the Gorin-no-To) rising from the cushion. Then swing the upper halves

(2)　There are two methods of cross-legged sitting; one is "Kekkafuza" (full-lotus) and the other "Hankafuza (half-lotus). The former is the method in which you draw your right foot on to the left thigh, and then draw up your left foot on to the right thigh. It is the regular posture, but it sometimes gives pain to those who have fat bodies or short legs. In such cases, Hankafuza is acceptable. The Hankafuza posture is formed when you draw up either foot onto the opposite thigh. In this posture, the upper half of your body is apt to lean sideways and you will have to leave the stabilizing job to the foot lying underneath. In either posture, the important point is to make a regular triangle with the three points, the two kneecaps and coccyx. The triangle has a downward slope to the front and, in this posture, when you straighten your spine, the perpendicular line to the floor from the center of gravity of the upper half of the body naturally falls on the center of the triangle thus gives the sense of stability I referred to before. When you do not feel this sense of stability in the Zazen posture, the perpendicular line I mentioned above falls on at the wrong point. If so, you should not hesitate to adjust the height of the cushion under the buttocks. If you fail in this, you will also fail to do Zazen long enough for its effect to be felt.

seiza

Kekkafuza seiza

Hankafuza

(3)　 One of the worst results could be the uncontrollable swaying of your trunk during Zazen due to an unbalanced state of muscles or something of that nature. There have been many schools of so-called Seizaho (Meditative posture), but the reason why most of them have not become popular is the absence of balance in the form of sitting. The right posture as explained above is justified from both physical and physiological viewpoints. If you follow the method strictly, you can sit for a long time without fatigue, and you can, if you want to, even sleep while you are thus sitting, with a support under your chin.

(4)　 After the foundation is thus set, you should deal with your hands. You put one hand upon the other, palms up, and let the tips of both thumbs touch each other, and you will look as if you were forming an oval with both hands, when seen from the front. The hands are then placed on the lap with both elbows kept slightly away from the body and with the shoulders kept free from tension. Then you straighten your spine and pull in your chin a little, when you feel that the end of your nose and your navel are lying on the same line perpendicular to the floor.

seiza

(5)　 When we gaze at anything for a long time, we are apt to become dull in mind. That is why the word Hangan (half opened eyes) has been in use, to warn people not to be excessively watchful. The core of the thing is that you must not shut your eyes. In the beginning, one is likely to think that the shut eyes will help the concentration of mind, but, in fact, you will fall into blunt stillness and will not be able to practice vivid and effective Susokukan. You should keep your mouth closed and breathe naturally through your nostrils. Probably you have heard of deep breathing or abdominal breathing being recommended as of importance. That is another wrong way of instruction. If it is natural for you to breathe deep, long breaths, of course there is no harm in it. However, you should not force your breathing breath, but just breath. Zazen is called the "Pleasant Path to Truth" because you can thereby follow the unfettered flow of nature.

(6)　 There is no need to purposely gathering strength in the abdomen. The worst thing to do would be gathering strength in the region of stomach. In spite of all this, we often find books that tell us "to gather the strength of the whole system and concentrate it in the abdomen. " This often repeated saying is grammatically misleading. If the strength were gathered naturally in the abdomen, and only then, you would be sitting in the right way - following nature. In Zazen you need to pay attention to only two things, the right posture mentioned above and Susoku-sammai in the following passages. In the right posture, stability is always there, as is something central.

(7)　 When you have secured stability, the right posture is half done, so, you might, in your daily life, try to learn how to get it, wherever you maybe - sitting in a chair, lying in a sick-bed and so on. In this way, you will eventually be able to meditate as you do in Zazen, regardless of the posture you are in. Some Zen-minded people, who, as they belong to the fair sex, do not feel like sitting cross-legged, they may sit square on their legs. In this posture too, however, they are advised to put the second cushion folded to adequate height under the buttocks (between the feet) and keep both knees a bit away from each other for stability. But this is not a normal Zen posture, and those women will also find more comfort in the normal way of sitting, as is observed by Zen nuns. So much will be about your posture in Zazen, and you are now counting your own breaths.

◆ Susokukan (Breath counting meditation)

　　The mental attitude before you start Susokukan, should not be that here is a being only a few meters high resting on a little cushion. Have pride that there sits a stately master of the universe on this cushion - with the whole of heaven and earth under your buttocks. Now that you are ready to set to Susokukan, you make a Gassho (by pressing your palms together), do not think about the past, put your hands back into a meditative position and start counting your natural breaths in your mind.

　　You put an inhalation together with the following exhalation and count "one (Wa---n)", and keep on counting two (Tu ---) in the same way.

　　In more detail, count "Wa--" in the first in-halation and "---n" in the first exhalation, a breath in and out making one. The second breath is "Two --- o"/; the third "Three---e" and so on. When you count the thirteenth, you count in the inhalation "Thir---" and finish in the exhalation "---teen", so with the twentieth, you count "Twen --- " in the inhalation and finish "---tie" in the exhalation. Coming to the one hundredth, you start with "Hund---r" in inhalation and finish with "---red" in exhalation. After one hundred, you count one again and enter the second round of one hundred. The whole thing seems to be so easy that you may say you can have it done straight away. You could be right, were it not for the three requisites, which make Susokukan an outstanding art of self-training. The three important points of doing Susokukan are:

1. Do not miscount your breaths, 

2. Do not let anything else in to your thought, 

3. As soon as you fail in the above two, you restart from number one. 

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Attention focus- narrow and wide.

Attention focus:

Narrow:
- single-pointedness
- one object
- concentration practice
- shamatha, calming
- attention strengthening
- 'self-observation' in parts
- Access concentration
- Jhana

Wide:
- open awareness
- Insight / vipassana
- Pro
- Flow of impermanent phenomena
- Selfing / Witnessing the "I" construct
- Shikantaza / Just sitting
- 'Self-remembering'
- Awareness teachings, Awareness watching awareness
- Nonduality