I think the main confusion people have with understanding the self is in the understanding of consciousness and its contents, which is where you would look for such a thing. The confusion comes from attributing independent control to awareness. Consciousness (all subjective experience) simply is made up of stimuli arising into awareness then disappearing, there is no choice/selection by a self, there is only mindfulness, or knowledge of awareness of the present moment, available to us. If you pay attention to your experience, this is available to be seen now. Even thoughts of the past/future are simply arising into the moment. The feeling of control/choice/ being something permanent is an illusion, also arisen into conscious awareness.
There is no subject/object, experience/experiencer duality in relation to subjective experience. There is only the awareness of the present, of consciousness, there is only experience itself, there is no separation between a someone and something done to him, all there is is something happening, this happening is experience, and that is all. This is the non-dual nature of reality, there is no self, just change, just experience, just consciousness and its contents. This is Advaita Vedanta. To practice Advaita Vedanta, you are focusing on the awareness itself which is the backdrop in which contents of consciousness are appearing. Rather than recognizing the contents as they arise and fade away, as in Vipassana, and rather than focusing on a single content of consciousness and bringing the awareness constantly back to it, as in Samatha, in Advaita Vedanta you are focusing upon the field of pure consciousness within which these contents are appearing. It is the reflexive meditative act of focusing awareness upon the field of awareness itself. The best metaphor I have for it is that of a stage play, where actors and sets are constantly changing on the stage, but the whole act is occurring on the stage. The contents on the stage change, but the stage remains the same. Here the stage is consciousness, and the actors are the contents of consciousness. In Advaita Vedanta we are watching the stage, and realizing its “permanence” in a Hindu sense, as it is the backdrop and consistent aspect which lies behind all conscious content. Through this identification with awareness itself, we remove the distinction between there being a watched and a content watched, we lose the subject object distinguishing and identifying, entering into a non-dual state, which has with it the realization of the non-dual nature of consciousness itself. This insight, and this state, is the primary objective of Advaita Vedanta.
Here I want to give a quick differentiation of two basic types of traditional methods of meditation, Vipassana and Samatha. Samatha meditation is concentration meditation, and it was the first “formal” type of mediation. It was developed by the Hindus far before the birth of Buddha, and was common practice by contemplatives and spiritual gurus up until his time. Samatha meditation is the focusing of your concentration on a single phenomenon, this is most commonly practiced as breath meditation, where you focus on the breath exclusively, attempting to bring the attention to it, and back to it any time it strays. Any object can be the object of attention in Samatha meditation, whether it be a deity, a word, or a phrase. The important aspect is that any time your awareness drifts from the object of intentioned perception, you recognize its shift, and bring it back into the contemplation of the object. It is an attempt at minimalizing the distractions, and maintaining a steady awareness. As far as the effects of Samatha mediation, it can bring you into state of jhana (Four Jhanas of Buddhism), which are meditative states of increasingly different conscious states. The jhanas are marked by many aspects, as you move into the higher rungs throughout mediation. While many people state they are reserved for spiritual contemplatives, I believe they are attainable by anyone who is able to practice the mediation sufficiently. Some aspects of the different jhanas experienced during Samatha Meditation are; intense pleasure in concentration, seclusion and removal of distractions, one pointedness of thought, removal of desire and aversion, peace in the present moment, peace in seclusion, and as you get into further states – the abolition of thought, and the fetters of existence. The experience of non self, and equanimity regardless of the minds movement is most valuable here. Through dedicated concentration, and awareness of the minds ability to change from the object, you are cultivating character traits of equanimity, or undisturbedness in the face of misfortune, or fortune. It is cultivating a peaceful mind that is calm and unable to be perturbed, thus the benefits last longer than the actual mediation.
Vipassana Meditation was brought into existence by the Buddha himself, and entailed a further extension of Samatha meditation. Formally, it is translated as “insight” meditation, where the practitioner is developing insight into dharma (Basic Dharma Explanation), or the true nature of things. Rather than singular focus upon a single mental phenomenon, the practitioner here seeks to be mindfully aware of any content entering into conscious awareness, without an attempt to hold on to anything, or revert back to anything, nor to be averse to any unpleasant phenomena. This method of mediation is much more difficult, as many phenomena can distract us from the awareness of their arising. The goal is to be aware of the content of consciousness without judgment or desire for it to be otherwise, yet to remain aware on the present moment. The distraction here isn’t a content that is other than the object of awareness, as in Samatha, but rather a distraction is anything that takes us out of the mindfulness of the contents of consciousness in the present moment. So anytime our awareness breaks and we follow a thought stream without being explicitly aware that it is happening, the practitioner must bring his awareness back to the present moment and maintain that awareness of whatever content is arising. This form of meditation opens us up to some fundamental truths of our psychological state, namely, the inability to alter the contents of consciousness, as there is no controller, there merely is content arising and fading away, outside of any “self” controlling it. This is known as the doctrine of nonself. There merely are phenomena arising, there is no “free will” in determining what content appears next. We merely are motivated to the next thought or content, through desire. We don’t choose the desire. Therefore, whatever happens, is out of “our” control. There are the perceptions, emotions, sensations, thoughts, and mental formations, or habits of the mind, such as language and reactions, these things are the 5 aggregates that make up our experience, and they are arising and fading away.
The next insight to be gleamed from Vipassana is the realization of impermanence, that any phenomena that arises is not lasting, its transitory, subject to change, it is not permanent. This can be extrapolated from mental occurrences to all phenomena, and just like non-self, or any other Vipassana insights, it can be directly experienced and known by the practitioner as a foundational truth of our psychological existence. In addition to impermanence and nonself- we can realize that any phenomena that does appear, is appearing in the present moment. Whether it be a thought about the future, or the past, or any other phenomena, everything that occurs, is only occurring now, in this moment, and it will always be so.
The basic formula for performing Vipassana meditation is; present moment awareness, recognition of impermanence, and then letting go. If this is done sufficiently, these insights will come to the practitioner, and can be directly realized. This provides wisdom into the truth of reality, and allows us to align ourselves with the truth through the destruction of false beliefs previously held, such as the existence of a self and free will, or the existence of something “permanent”. The benefit in these realizations in providing a better equipped psyche in reference to mental phenomena as they arise, in not clinging to the pleasurable, or avoidance of the unpleasurable, but rather excepting them for what they are, phenomena out of our control. We can gain insight into the causal nature of what causes positive, wholesome states, as well as what produces unwholesome, suffering, states. This is through the mindful awareness of the causal chain of dependent origination (Dependent Origination (Buddhist Conditionality)), another insight to be gleamed. This chain is characterized by initial ignorance, and leads us through several successive steps which eventually leads to suffering. If we are able to recognize the processes occurring, in their causal determinacy in leading to unwholesome states, we are better able to navigate and destroy the chain before it propagates into destructive mental states and speech and actions. The ability to gain insight into these chains, allows us to handle ourselves in a wise, calm, equanimous manner, and better enables us to navigate the throes of existence, as well as provides us with insight into how others minds work, so we can aide them, or at least not hinder them, in the destruction of the suffering within their lives. The benefits of this type of insight mediation are honestly exhaustive, and the sill can be constantly improved upon. While Samatha necessarily requires one-pointed concentration on an object in the present moment, and thus, normally, requires quiet, sitting, eyes closed (traditional meditation stereotype), Vipassana, on the other hand, can be practiced in any situation in life, it merely requires a concentration on the content of the present moment, and thus is useful in many situations. It is advocated that a mindful existence, always, is beneficial, but I disagree, which is basically a blasphemous statement in Buddhist circles, but I have my reasons, as explained in the essay “Conscious employment of the Unconscious”.
As with all meditation, I don’t believe they are to be utilized in response to a negative situation, they are not a “fix it” tool for resolving life’s problems. I tend to see them as anticipatory tools. They are the cultivating of character traits, and in Vipassana, realization of truths, which better prepare us for when difficulties do arise in our lives. We shouldn’t perform meditation when life is going horrible for us, in these cases, we should attempt to actively rectify and set our lives in order. When life is going good is when we should meditate, to remind ourselves of the transitoriness of this pleasure and fortune, and to prepare us for when things fall apart, for when bad times do come it is better to be strong and calm minded in order to better deal with them. Vipassana improves our understanding of consciousness and reality, thus providing insight into the true nature of things. Samatha can change our conscious state more directly and dramatically to one of peace, non desire, equanimity, as well as improve our concentration.
Both types of mediation can change our conscious awareness of the present moment to an improved experience, and improve morality by acting/experiencing in a mindful, careful, wise way. Meditation is cultivation, expanding the mind, improving our understanding, morals, actions, speech, thought, beliefs, wisdom, purity, compassion. Say we feel angry or annoyed by something someone says. The effect lingers, we contemplate why they said it, the person’s horrible character, how they are wrong, we’re right, and the general situation that caused our anger/annoyance. To be mindful of the feeling, in the present moment, opens us up to its impermanence, allows us to let it go, and is the best tool to understanding/fixing negative emotions which in turn effects thoughts/speech/actions in effect changing our lives and others. We can become aware in such a way “I feel annoyed at this person, this annoyance sprung up into my Being after he said something. I didn’t choose for the person to say something, neither did I choose to feel this way in response, it just came into my conscious experience, and there is something mysterious yet amazing about its arising. So there was a cause, what the person said, then the feeling, then negative thinking, now I’m aware, I feel the emotion, it’s not me, it’s non-self, it’s causing suffering, and it’s impermanent. Viewing it merely as it is, I won’t crave my previous state of happiness, or be in a state of aversion towards it. I will accept it for what it is.” Merely by knowing our aware of its presence, and that there is no self that created it, it becomes merely part of experience, realizing it’s okay, just part of reality, of a life with an inherit conscious nature to experience suffering like this, we can accept the emergence of the emotion, and let it go, liberating ourselves from its influence, dispassionately, we can be mindful of the whole stream of events and it might occur to us that the whole situation was almost magic like. It’s astonishing in seeing how emotions happen, and we might even laugh/be happy on how we were able to see the emotion as just an emotion, to mindfully witness life happen, understand it, and fix the problem. The most important part of reciprocity is to not manifest those emotions into actions or speech that harbors ill-will, or isn’t useful or beneficial to the other person. This type of reaction to unwholesome, or negative influences, is all too natural for us, but only leads to further suffering for ourselves and the other person. By mindfully being aware of unwholesome states, we can reign back our automatic response in being defensive or going on the attack to the other person, and work to respond in a way that is wise, meaning, beneficial to all parties involved.
In addition to these two types of mediation, there is Advaita Vedanta meditation, and Buddho Mediation, as well as a whole variety of other traditional practices. Advaita Vedanta (Basic Advaita Vedanta Meditation) is a slightly different spin off of Vipassana, where the insight and methodology is slightly different in its focus upon non-duality, but certain insights are gleamed that are unique to it. Buddho meditation is a specific form of Samatha meditation, where the object of concentration is the word, which has significant meaning, and thus inspires us to gain the character traits associated with that meaning.
Everything in existence is preconditioned. Everything that exists in the present moment, exists only in that present moment, in the next moment it is not the same. It has changed. It is impermanent, not lasting, not permanent. All thoughts, emotions, perceptions, all of consciousness, its contents, the sense data, awareness, all is not permeating experience as concrete entities as it moves from moment to moment. It arises, and it fades away. There is no soul that controls them, or dictates what is next, or experiences the experience. There only is experience itself. There is awareness of what is happening in any of these realms. Awareness of the present moment, of seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, thinking, and there is the knowledge of being aware. Seeing is being known. Thinking is being known. Anger is being known. In the moment of recognition of what is happening, there is no anger, no hatred, no delusion, no desire, no aversion, there is clarity, peace, and equanimity. This is the essence of Buddhist dharma, it is essentially made up of psychologically beneficial tools, to improve the welfare of your life.
What is most beneficial in your life is beneficial in the present moment, in the long term, and benefits your family, your society, and all sentient beings. If you are mindfully aware of reality, then you are able to recognize any unsatisfactoriness, or suffering which is inherit in your life. Anger, depression, anxiety, sickness, pain, aging, dying, family members dying, etc.; all is inherent in life. All the suffering caused by these things is because we crave for them to not happen, and we crave for good, beneficial things to happen, so much so that to the point when things don’t go our way, the suffering ensues. An understanding of the impermanence of life, enables you to be dispassionate about these things, accepting their inevitability, and helps you to be strong and supporting for others as they too go through the suffering in life. In addition to the craving that causes unsatisfactoriness, there is an attachment to the state of things when life goes our way. When all is good, your fame and fortune, career, family, all is in the state you desire, you become attached to that feeling, to that moment, to those material things, and mental feelings. The problem with becoming attached to anything in this world is that when it changes, you become unhappy, non-content, stressed, angry, and crave for it to be the way it was. You actually will suffer trying to maintain what you have, and in attempting to maintain it as “permanent”, your grip becomes tight upon the life you thought was perfect, and in that tight grip you lose the feeling of peace you thought everything you wanted was supposed to give you. This creates suffering. In not remembering that all these things are impermanent then the suffering will stretch beyond where it can potentially be modified, as it is in its nature to be modified. Not only are the things you become attached to likely to change, but it is inevitable they will.
The whole dynamic between craving and clinging really define our existence day to day, moment to moment, and it is the root of suffering in our lives. Once removed, the basis for anger, hatred, and delusion also will be removed, rendering our lives, and anyone we come into contact with, better, in that it promotes welfare. For this the Buddha laid out a plan that if followed, leads to the destruction of these negative emotions, to the destruction of the origin of suffering, this very craving and clinging. It’s worth noting that meditation becomes extremely useful here, you can experience subjectively the knowledge of awareness of phenomena as it arises and fades away, thoughts, emotions, the nature of consciousness, the impermanent nature of it all, and in practicing and cultivating this view, you can take it into possibly every moment of your life. So when anger arises, you know it’s based on causes, you know that it is based upon the desire for things to be different, you know acting on it will only increase its duration, you’re aware of angers presence, and in that moment of recognition, it goes away, possibly to return, but in every moment of conscious awareness of it, it is not there. You know anger is impermanent, unhelpful, that it’s not going to last forever. You became wise in considering the suffering inherit in yourself and in others if you continue being angry, or act on it towards someone else, thus the knowledge and mindfulness of angers presence allows you to eliminate the effective reaction it produces from your experience. The more practice in insight meditation, the more mindful – the more aware, and the more aware – the more you are able to cultivate good qualities, and eliminate negative ones, providing yourself and others a better life. So insight meditation, used in this way, enables the individual to improve his own understanding of his psyche, and thus become better equipped to integrate it and use it in an optimal fashion. In doing so, we improve the experience of life, as well as develop the ability to better conduct ourselves in a mindful way that is beneficial to others. This practice of mindfulness and the expansion of the mind in reference to the inherent dissatisfaction in life is a tool the Buddha articulated and shared with the world after he himself thought out the situation and its solution.
A more conclusive answer to the solution of suffering, which covers all aspects of human experience is the noble eight-fold path, the fourth noble truth in the Buddhist tradition. Like all religions, Buddhism is aimed at the individual aligning himself with the greatest possible good, and in that aligning, becoming better, and more like that object. For some religions it’s God, or Gods, who emulate ultimate wisdom, and ultimate goodness. In Buddhism you seek refuge in the Buddha and his teachings, he who has great wisdom, compassion, and purity, but you align yourself on the middle path, the eight-fold path, and it is not necessary to do this on faith. Once we can see the evidence for the things he laid out in our own lives, we find that he is not only teaching a different perspective, but that that perspective actually is in line with our actual experience of life. We find the truth of the teachings within us, not in the sense of “finding the holy spirit”, but that we see how desire and attachment lead to suffering, we see how it dominates life, in brief occurrences we see how virtuous conduct and proper behavior leads to temporary relief, we see the truth of the removal of suffering. The middle path outlines the things we can do to improve our situation, the correct conceptualization of eight areas of our lives that are directly intertwined with all of experience, and if we follow the teaching on them, will lead us to see reality more clearly, improve our moral character, and act in a way which promotes wellbeing. This necessarily will produce a more peaceful experience as we move throughout life.
The middle path lies in equanimity, in neither aversion nor in craving, in not emerging in sensual pleasures, nor in self mortification. It lies mindfully between any two extremes. It is a framework for which we can develop our minds, our actions, our lives, and in so doing so make the world a better place. It is comprised of eight subjects, at which the goal is to strive for rightness, wholesomeness, and perfection. The eight-fold path is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. To sum up briefly, the first two in the chain are characterized as “wisdom steps”, the next three “practical steps”, and the last three “meditative steps”. Right view is a correct understanding of reality, of philosophical, scientific and psychological knowledge, most importantly an understanding of the three marks of existence (non self, impermanence, suffering), the four noble truths, and this path itself to the elimination of suffering. All the following areas on the path lead from this one, and if developed strongly as the primary step, we will see that the proceeding factors are better able to be developed strongly. The same goes for the following steps, developing them with an importance on the antecedent step, better allows the improvement of the successive one.
Right intention is having the best intentions for others, and yourself. This means not harboring ill-will towards anyone, why would you ever want something bad for someone else? It only makes sense to want what is best for them and society. Sometimes what is best isn’t always what is nice, or leads to short term gratification, sometimes it is punishment, or harshness, with a silver lining, but this is all about intentions. This implies the illumination of intention based on anger, hatred, or lies, to be replaced with intention based on truth, compassion, and good will. This step also includes right thought, as intentions are located on that realm of perceptions and conscious contemplation, which we conceptualize as thought.
From these intentions springs the next rung in the ladder, right speech, the first of the three “Practical Steps”. This means, first of all, speech that is true, and not false. Speech that is helpful and not harmful. Speech that is unifying, and not divisive, or backfiring, or gossip. And for ultimately perfect speech, this means only speech that is truly beneficial, not idle gossip, or discussion of unimportant topics. Next is right action. This is characterized by similar standards as right speech, but includes, in the Buddhist tradition, not killing, not using drugs or alcohol, not intending for the harm of any beings, for acting out of compassion. With the right intentions which were previously cultivated, we are better able to act with virtuosity in our interactions. Next is right livelihood. In performing the right occupation, we necessarily are taking action in a manner that supports ourselves and our families, and the job we take, the way we spend our time in providing for ourselves, must be conducted along the same moral imperatives as right action and right speech. This excludes any type of labor that deals with the harm of sentient beings, any job that has to do with deception, manipulation, gambling, drug dealing, hustling, fortune telling, illusions, is advised against pursuing, for its effect on our moral character and on other sentient beings. Right livelihood is providing for yourself in a way that is beneficial to yourself, and to others without encompassing dishonesty, cheating, or harm to others.
Next is the three “meditative steps”, which become easier to develop the more we cultivate the previous steps. Defilements in any of the previous steps, or immorality, or ignorance, causes an diminishment of our ability to “meditate” or arouse effort, mindfulness, and concentration, as we are impaired. This is why the development of previous steps is important towards the maximizing of our potential in cultivating the later steps. Any moral wrongdoing, which produces shame or dread, will impede upon meditative practice, producing difficulty in their development. The first of the three meditative steps is right effort. This is effort in the sense of striving to eliminate negative qualities/defilements, and putting in effort to keep them away for a long time. On the flip side, right effort includes cultivating positive qualities/states of mind, and in keeping those states present for longer periods of time. After proper effort is cultivated, comes right mindfulness. Right mindfulness, in a nutshell, is correctly being aware of what is happening in the present moment, and knowing that you are aware. It means awareness without motives, without trying to change or manipulate, without distraction, without aversion or craving or attachment. It means being the observer with equanimity and ultimate clarity, to provide for a greater understanding of the phenomena of one’s own mind, and thus reality. From right mindfulness is the last step in the chain, right concentration. This means one-pointedness of mind. Being able to concentrate on what is important, and discarding distractions, or unworthy activities that aren’t useful or beneficial. If you are able to actively practice the improvement of yourself in these eight areas, you will notice a change in your psychological state to one of less suffering, greater understanding, and increased wellbeing, that is, to the extent of which you progress. The great thing is, these areas are constantly able to be improved upon. As we increase in experience, and increase in practice, we can move towards greater and greater heights of understanding and morality. In the Buddhist tradition the pinnacle is perfection in all eight categories, producing enlightenment, in which case the practitioner either will become an Arahant, which is an enlightened one who has ended the cycle of birth and rebirth, and attained Nirvana, or, the state of Bodhisattva, who isn’t excluded from renewed existence, but rather will remain in the cyclic existence of Samsara to be able to aide others in enlightening them. As I don’t believe perfection in the Buddhist sense is possible, I do think the striving and intention of either of these two goals is noble and a good goal in which we can attempt to move closer to. Having an ideal conceptualization of a noble direction in which to grow, and keeping in mind the ways to do so, and practicing along the path, is something I believe to be truly worthy of our attention and time, as our own personal wellbeing, as well as expanding to our circle of influence, is all effected positively by forward progress in this direction. This is the ultimate goal, development of the mind, so that knowledge of the truth can be seen, and that virtuous qualities can be exemplified and implemented.
Seek Truth 