Step 2 - Awareness Does The Meditation
This is step 2 of a guide to take a meditator to a taste of awakening/enlightenment based on Daniel P Brown's 3 map system.
Through these steps we'll move into deeper levels of awareness. In step 1 we moved from thought into awareness. In step 2 we realize that there is still somebody doing the meditation. So now we shift the meditator from that ourself meditating to awareness doing the meditation. He talks about this at 39:30 of the Sacred Sundays with Dr. Daniel Brown, Ph.D. video.
1. Begin with settled attentionStart in the same way you begin Step One.Allow attention to become steady and clear. Let thought activity settle. Let the breath and body become vivid and present. Bring the mind into a quiet and stable rhythm. 2. Recognize the ordinary sense of selfNotice the familiar sense of being a person behind the eyes.Notice the feeling of a doer who is performing the meditation. Notice the sense of a controller or an observer inside the head. Do not try to remove this sense. Simply recognize it as it is. 3. Look directly at the meditatorTurn attention toward the feeling of the meditator itself.Ask quietly in your own mind: Where is the meditator Can it be found Is it solid Is it stable Is it continuous Do not search with thought. Search with awareness. When you look closely, the meditator does not hold together. It does not stay present as one thing. 4. See the meditator as a constructionRecognize that this sense of self is a mental construction.It is made of thought, sensation, memory, and habit. It is not the one who knows experience. It appears within awareness just like any other event. Let this recognition sink in. 5. Shift to awareness as the basisNow allow awareness itself to become the place you are looking from.Let the center of gravity shift out of the head and into the open field of knowing. Let awareness rest in itself. Meditation now continues on its own. Awareness knows the breath. Awareness knows the body. Awareness knows thoughts without being touched by them. Let this shift be gentle and natural. 6. Let the doer collapseAs awareness becomes the basis, the sense of a doer loses force.Let the doer fade. Let the idea that you are performing the meditation dissolve. Let meditation happen by itself. Daniel Brown often said: It is not Dan who meditates It is awareness that meditates Let this be your experience. 7. Rest in non centered awarenessFeel awareness as open space.Feel that it is not located in the head. Feel that it is not limited by the body. Let awareness include the room, the sounds, and the entire field of experience. Remain in this open and centerless knowing. 8. Recognize effortlessnessWhen awareness is the basis, meditation becomes effortless.It continues without strain. There is no pushing, pulling, or monitoring. There is simple knowing. Rest in this effortlessness. 9. When the self reappearsAt times the sense of a doer will return.This is natural. When this happens: Notice it Recognize it See it as a construction Let it dissolve Return to awareness as the basis This is the main practice of Step Two. 10. Close with clarityWhen you finish, rest for a moment in open awareness.Acknowledge the clarity of the shift. Gently open the eyes and continue in the same open awareness. Signs Step Two is developing well-The doer or meditator becomes thin and weak-Awareness feels like the new vantage point -Meditation becomes effortless -Awareness feels open, wide, and not inside the head -Self referential thought loses strength -The sense of a center dissolves or becomes faint -The practice becomes quiet and natural rather than controlled |