Chapter 12. Choiceless Awareness Meditation

People are tied down by a sense-object when they cover it with unreal imaginations; likewise they are liberated from it when they see it as it really is. … Hence the sense object itself is not the decisive cause of either bondage or emancipation. It is the presence or absence of imaginations which determine whether attachment takes place or not.

— Ashvaghosa (Buddhist)

Once you have been able to at least temporarily subdue your chronic restlessness through practicing concentration, you can begin to use your newly stabilized attention to contemplate the true nature of various phenomena. First, however, you must learn to distinguish your naked experiences from the thoughts which your imagination superimposes upon them. In other words, you must interrupt that mental identification which takes place in the third link of the chain of conditioning.

One way to do this is to engage in a kind of meditation called choiceless awareness (or vipassana , to use the Sanskrit term). So what is choiceless awareness? Even though we talk about concentration and choiceless awareness as though they were two different kinds of meditation, choiceless awareness actually grows out of concentration quite naturally. Through the practice of concentration you learned to enter a state of calm-abiding by choosing to focus on a single object. In choiceless awareness you maintain this state of clear undistracted awareness, but without choosing to focus on any particular object.

Going back to our theater light analogy, this is like turning a spotlight into a floodlight. Just as a floodlight widens out to illuminate an entire stage and all the actors moving around on it, without itself moving, so in choiceless awareness attention opens up to take in all the phenomena arising and passing in consciousness, without itself moving towards any particular one.

A common way to describe choiceless awareness is to compare it to a mirror. A mirror reflects whatever is placed before it without trying to name it, grasp it, or push it away. So, too, if you train in choiceless awareness, you can perceive all the phenomena arising in consciousness without having to name them, grasp them, or push them away. In Buddhism this ability to see things nakedly is called mindfulness. Here’s how contemporary Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein explains it:

Mindfulness is the quality and power of mind that is aware of what’s happening—without judgment and without interference. It is like a mirror that simply reflects whatever comes before it. 203

And you will find this same mirror analogy used by mystics of other traditions as well. Listen, for instance, to Lalleshwari:

Just as a face is perfectly reflected only in a clean mirror,
so the light of Shiva is reflected only in a taintless mind. 204

Similarly, Chuang Tzu says it this way:

The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror—going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing. 205

The Six Categories of Phenomena

So how do you actually arrive at this kind of mental purity? Because the mind has been so thoroughly conditioned to label phenomena, most meditators find it easier to start with an intermediate step. This is to train the mind to identify phenomena according to a much simpler set of categories than the highly complex ones built into our everyday languages.

To do this, we divide the total field of consciousness-awareness into six sub-fields, corresponding to our five sense faculties, plus our mental faculty. We can then label and identify each phenomenon according to the field in which it appears, while refraining from making any further conceptual elaborations. Thus, any phenomenon appearing in the visual field, we label sight ; any phenomenon appearing in the auditory field, we label sound ; any phenomenon appearing in the field of bodily sensations, we label bodily sensation ; any phenomenon appearing in the taste field, we label taste ; any phenomenon appearing in the smell field, we label smell ; and any phenomenon appearing in the mental field—such as thoughts, ideas, images, memories, fantasies, etc.—we label thought .

By identifying phenomena in this manner, we can let the thinking mind perform its normal labeling function, while at the same time we interrupt its linguistic habit of grouping phenomena together into seemingly permanent objects. So, for example, if you were doing choiceless awareness right now, instead of taking for granted that you are holding this book in your hands, you would carefully note and label all the individual phenomena which constitute your experience of this book—i.e., the sights appearing in the visual field, the tactile sensations appearing in the bodily sensation field, the sound of rustling pages appearing in the auditory field, and so on. If, then, your mind produced the thought “book,” you would note that that, too, was just another phenomenon—i.e., a thought phenomenon appearing in the mental field. So now that you have a general idea of what the practice of choiceless awareness entails, here are some specific instructions to get you started.

Instructions for Choiceless Awareness Meditation

Start with concentration

Sit in your normal meditation posture. Set your intention. Keep your eyes open. Concentrate your attention on your breath and, whenever you are distracted by any other phenomenon, gently but firmly return your attention to your breath. Practice concentrating in this way until your mind has become calm, clear, and stable.

Letting go of your object

After your mind has become calm, clear, and stable, let your attention expand out until it fills the entire field of bodily sensations—what you would normally call your body.

Contemplating bodily sensation phenomena

Once your attention has filled the field of bodily sensations, begin to label whatever phenomena you experience there as bodily sensation . If your thinking mind insists on identifying a particular sensation with a word like itch , tension , or pain , recognize that these words are just mental phenomena, appearing in the mental field, and label them thought .

If you get distracted by phenomena appearing in other fields of awareness—especially trains of thought—return your attention to your breath. Practice concentration until your mind again becomes calm, clear, and stable, then allow your attention to expand back into the bodily sensation field.

Contemplating sound phenomena

After you have contemplated phenomena arising in the bodily sensation field for a while, let your attention expand further to include the auditory field. Begin labeling whatever phenomena appear there as sound . Do not try to identify what kind of sounds they are—i.e., a car horn, a dog barking, a bird call, etc. If your thinking mind insists on naming a particular sound, label that as thought , and keep your attention in the auditory field. If it seems that no sounds are arising, do not allow your attention to roam around looking for one. Keep it still and steady, like an open microphone. Eventually sounds will appear.

If phenomena in other fields distract you, bring your attention back to the auditory field. If you become totally distracted, focus on your breath until your mind becomes calm, clear, and stable once more. Then, drop the breath and allow your attention to expand back into the auditory field.

Contemplating visual phenomena

After you have contemplated phenomena in the auditory field, let your attention expand to include the visual field and label whatever phenomena appear there as sight . If you are sitting on a rug or other kind of textured surface, you may start to see faces appearing and disappearing in the rug’s pattern. Observing this, your thinking mind is apt to try to convince you that you are not really seeing these things—that they are mere apparitions or hallucinations. But such judgments themselves are just thoughts arising in the mental field. Label them thought and continue labeling whatever appears in the visual field as sight .

Contemplating smell and taste phenomena

Ordinarily, tastes and smells arise so infrequently during sitting meditation that it is not worth making a special effort to contemplate the fields in which they appear. If, however, a taste or smell does arise any time during your session, simply label it taste or smell , accordingly.

Contemplating mental phenomena

After you have contemplated phenomena in the five sensory fields, let your attention expand to include the mental field and label whatever thoughts, images, memories, or fantasies arise there as thought .

Most meditators find mental phenomena the hardest of all to contemplate, because attention keeps getting caught up in the stories they create. This is why it is important to attain proficiency in concentration meditation before you begin practicing choiceless awareness. Once you do take up choiceless awareness, however, you need to change your attitude towards thoughts. In concentration practice the idea is to ignore your thoughts and so gain some detachment from them. But now, in steps seven and eight of choiceless awareness, the goal is not to ignore thoughts, but to actually observe them while still maintaining your detachment—something which is a bit more difficult.

One way to prevent your attention from becoming absorbed in trains of thoughts is to use some thought like “cut!” to chop off any thoughts that start to carry you away. Another technique is to purposely generate very vivid thoughts and look directly at them. This usually makes each thought dissolve before it can give birth to a sequence of similar thoughts. The real trick, however, is simply to recognize that, regardless of their content, thoughts are always just thoughts created by the mind.

This is a little like walking through an art gallery. Normally, you would let yourself become engrossed in the subject matter of each of the paintings on display. You might marvel at how life-like a Renaissance portrait seems, or be awed by the colors of an impressionist landscape. You might find a surrealist’s dream-scene haunting, or be fascinated by a purely abstract composition. But now suppose you walk through that same gallery, paying attention, not to what the paintings depict, but to the bare fact that all of them are actually just pieces of canvas coated with different colored pigments. Well, this is what you are trying to do when you contemplate phenomena arising in the mental field of awareness. Regardless of whether your thoughts are positive or negative, true or false, silly or profound, what you want to notice is that fundamentally they are all just thoughts and nothing more.

By observing thoughts in this detached way, you can start to gain direct insights into their true nature. This is crucial because, as we have already said, it is the reification of our thoughts which forms the basis for the delusion that we live in a world of multiple objects. So despite the difficulties, it is well worth making an extra effort to become aware of the fact that all the phenomena arising and passing in the mental field are literally imaginary.

Contemplating phenomena in the total field of consciousness-awareness

Last but not least, allow your attention to expand evenly and steadily throughout the total field of consciousness-awareness. Continue to label whatever phenomena arise according to their designated fields, but do not try to focus on any one field in particular. Do, however, stay mindful of what you are about. You are trying to distinguish between your naked experience of phenomena and the names and labels your thinking mind slaps on them.

In the beginning it is a good idea to spend a week or so contemplating phenomena that arise in each of the fields before trying to observe them altogether in one session. So, for example, in the first week you might focus your attention on the bodily sensation field; in the second on the auditory field; in the third week on the visual; and in the fourth week on the mental field. Then, only in the fifth week would you combine all these contemplations into a single session, letting your attention expand into and incorporate each of the fields in succession until, finally, it fills the total field of consciousness-awareness.

Refining Your Practice

One of the biggest problems meditators practicing choiceless awareness face is that so many phenomena arise and pass in consciousness at the same time, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. There just seems to be too much to keep track of. The key is to keep your attention relaxed, yet alert. Do not try to label every phenomenon that comes and goes, only the ones that present themselves most prominently in awareness. Remember that it is better to observe a few phenomena in each field clearly and vividly than to try to observe them all in a vague or hurried manner. As with concentration practice, it’s a question of finding just the right balance between making too much effort and not enough.

You will also find that, as your choiceless awareness practice progresses, it will no longer be necessary to mentally label each phenomenon according to its field. You will be able to observe all phenomena nakedly, just as they are, without having to identify or name them in any way. When you reach this point in your meditation, you may start to glimpse what the Buddhists call the suchness of things. Here is how the Lankavatara Sutra describes it:

When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, it is called the “Suchness” of Reality. 206

Finally, when you are able to engage in choiceless awareness for long periods without any distraction, you may become aware that holding your attention steady requires a subtle but distinct mental effort. If you notice you are making this effort, it means you are ready to surrender it. Doing so will bring you into a state of spacious awareness. In spacious awareness your attention is allowed to spontaneously move toward phenomena, but still without any attempt to name, grasp, or push them away.

One result of letting attention roam freely is that you might begin to perceive not just the nakedness of phenomena arising and passing, but also the space of awareness in which all this happens. Becoming aware of this dimension of experience is important and valuable, but do not fixate on it and start to space out—i.e., fall into a trance and lose your clarity. As we shall see in coming chapters, there is much more work to be done and many more insights to be attained, so stay alert!

Combining Concentration and Choiceless Awareness

As we said in the beginning of this chapter, choiceless awareness grows out of concentration, but it should not replace it. By maintaining a concentration practice along with your choiceless awareness practice, you will continue to strengthen your powers of stability and clarity. This, in turn, will heighten your ability to contemplate phenomena nakedly when you engage in choiceless awareness. So, if you are doing two meditation sessions a day, you might want to practice choiceless awareness in the morning and concentration in the evening. If you can only meditate once a day, try alternating between these practices on successive days. If neither of these approaches works for you, make sure you spend at least the first half of every meditative session practicing concentration before you allow your attention to start expanding into choiceless awareness.