

Right awareness:
The sense organ to detect thoughts, memories,feelings...
Jagara Vinh Pham
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1.-Introduction:
Meditators are often reminded: always keep right awareness be present in mind.
Be calm and ask yourself "what is right awareness?" And "Is right awareness always available in mind?".
Answering these questions with a vagueness and uncertainty, meditators are on an endless expedition without knowing the method, the path, and the purpose. Thereupon, the fruit of meditation performance will not be experienced; the faith, the interest of practice may be diminished leading to a stop of meditating.
For those who are new to Vipassana meditation, the recognition of the mind activities is still vague. Prudence should be taken for any step of training the mind because anything that goes into the mind with intention will not be easy to be removed.
Similar to a pharmaceutical product that requires the known mechanism of action in the treatment of a disorder before being used. Deep, right understanding (insight) arising after a long period of diligent meditation practice is the mechanism of action of Vipassana meditation in wiping out delusions and hallucinations related to the feeling of permanency, the conception of self on the body, the feeling, and the mind. Henceforth, ignorance will be gradually replaced by deep understanding, insight; real happiness will silently infiltrate to govern the mind: a sense of tranquility starts being experienced. Therefore, clear understanding about the right awareness, even only on a conceptual basis, is the primary foundation of Vipassana meditation practice that proceeds in a scientific way and an unarguable outcome.
2.- What is right mindfulness?
Right Mindfulness is bare awareness, or wholesome awareness. Right Mindfulness is the starting point of the process of knowing. Bare awareness is not a property of an individual mind but is a characteristic of nature. Being formless and present everywhere, bare awareness constitutes the fundamental space of all beings' mind. Brain activities: thought, memory, feelings, conditioned mental activities, convention activities, and consciousness occur on the bare awareness fundamental space similar to the flying white, gray clouds on the background of the sky.
To maintain the existence of different beings, by nature, each being's body is born with a faculty of perceiving to access the bare awareness and then the knowing: bees and butterflies know the location of blooming flowers; a tree in a shady place, is aware of the sunny side to stretch out branches; and also is aware of the underground water location to grow roots. Thanks to the five sense-organs, a human beings are aware of the surrounding nature to be alive.
The being aware occurs right upon an object comes into contact with a sense organ: this bare being aware is right awareness/mindfulness. The present moment is the moment that the being-aware happens. Immediately after that, the object goes. The bare awareness is always present there to be aware of the coming of another object. The present moment is always present. Practitioner recognizes the presence of right awareness and the present moment only when there is a contact of an object with the right awareness. At any moment, there are countless objects from the four foundations coming into contact with five sense organs. A quietness is also an object that belongs to the feeling foundation. Without the feeling, a sentient being does not feel the tranquility.
In human being's body, there are five sense organs to recognize five types of objects: sound, odor, flavor, sight, and touch but there is not a single sense organ to perceive objects coming from the brain activities: thoughts, memories, and feelings, conditioned mental activities, conventional mental activities. These activities, without being recognized, will govern the mind and drive the mind following the direction of the eight worldly paths: gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness. After a diligent period of Vipassana meditation practice, the continual presence of the bare awareness in mind will definitely play the role of a sense organ to recognize, observe and contemplate the brain activity objects.
Thanks for that, over years of diligent practice, the ultimate characteristics of the object: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self will gradually be perceived. Where do objects of observation and contemplation come from? Objects come from the four foundations: body, feelings, mind, and dharma (cause and effect principle). The mind foundation consists of memories, thoughts, consciousness, conditioned and conventional mental activities. Thus the four foundations encompass the five aggregates: body, feeling, memory, thinking, and consciousness that make up a human being. Contemplating and understanding the ultimate characteristics of objects coming from the four foundations, the awareness mind is able to unfold the ultimate characteristics of the whole nature.
3.- Bare awareness (right awareness) versus mental formation awareness.
Upon the coming of an object, it takes a minute portion of a second (a moment) for the mental formation awareness to join the bare awareness to accomplish the knowing of the object. The mental formation awareness is a product of the sense of self, and the nervous system activities: thinking, recalling, feelings, conditioned brain activities and social conventions (such as language) that will intangibly influence the outcome of the knowing. These activities are subjects to change according to the natural rising and falling law. Therefore, in meditation practice, if mental formation awareness unconsciously plays the role of bare awareness to observe and contemplate objects, even after years of diligent practice, the ultimate characteristic of objects will not be exposed, and the momentum to enhance the natural, continuous presence of the bare awareness does not occur.
Back to the descriptive illustrations ( drawing 1 and 2). After the happening of the being aware (bare awareness) as a cause, mental formation activities (memories, thoughts... ) will immediately arise as an effect. Instantly, the sound will be acknowledged as the bird's singing with pleasurable feelings. This mental formation awareness will soon take over the observation and contemplation job; feelings, memories thoughts... may influence the outcome of the observation. Without being well trained enough to have bare awareness continuously dominating the mind, meditation practitioner may be pleased with a practice misled by mental formation activities, continues to spend months even years to meditate, without any productive outcome. He/she has not used the right key to open the door to Vipassana.
4.-Why should right awareness be constantly available in mind?
Upon being constantly present in the mind, right awareness exerts its powers to induce compassion, peace, tranquilness to the mind, performs the function of a sense organ to recognize mental formation activities, and lays down the foundation for the establishment of the Noble Eightfold Paths.
For a being specy to be able to survive and multiply, nature has created the being's body with sense organs. In human being's body, the five sense-organs provide the nervous system with information that is more or less deceptive. As a consequence, the contemplating, viewing, thinking, feelings ... based on deceptive information are more or less misled. A constantly changing body, a product of nature that follows the raising and falling law, is viewed as "my body" that has a permanent characteristic. Loving, attaching to the body build up suffering for human being. The starting point of suffering, unsatisfactoriness through the formation of a new human body is covered by the desire of pleasure, sensual of gratification...
There are five sense-organs: eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin; functioning as five doors opening to the right awareness mind to recognize objects coming from outside and the body. There is no specific sense-organ to recognize mental formation activities: thoughts, memories, feelings, consciousness, conditioned and conventional mental activities. When right awareness is firmly established in the mind, the mind perceives a rising thought, memory... as vivid as the eyes seeing an object: Right awareness performs the function of a sense organ to recognize mental formation activities. In unskillful human beings, the sixth sense organ, the right awareness, is easily flooded by thinking, recalling, feelings.... which will immediately dominate then govern the mind to define and initiate the human being's attitude and behavior.
[A bracket is opened here to clarify the term "delusion" frequently used in Vipassana conversation.
In psychiatry, psychology, "delusion" is defined as the attachment to a thinking, not conformable to the reality of the thinker, not accepted by the community. In Vipassana meditation conversation, the word "delusion" is used to refer to the feeling of self: "This body is mine", "I see, I hear", " I am sad, I am angry "... And plus, Vipassana meditating is the practice to recognize the current moment and to live in the current moment. Memories belong to the past, thoughts belong to the future. A human-being only and always has the current moment to live with. Immersing oneself in the thoughts and memories, ignoring the current moment is immersing in the delusions. The bracket is closed here]
Two options are offered by nature for each individual: either to live comfortably in the ignorant, delusional status of the mind or to accept the inner craving to discover and understand the ultimate characteristic of nature with a strong belief that the understanding will open the gate to the enlightenment and liberation.
5.-Powers of Right Awareness
Observing the air coming in and out, very softly touching the skin of the nostrils, nobody is able to imagine that only the air in the tires of a big dump truck can hold up the full heavy load of dirt and that the air that creates the support for an airplane to take off and fly on the sky. Similarly, observing the vague coming and going away of the right awareness in the mind, nobody is able to imagine the power of the right awareness when it fully dominates the mind.
* Power of compassion: This power is first mentioned because if right awareness had dominated the mind of every human being, peace would be reestablished in the world. When compassion that is the nature of right awareness, exercises its ruling power in the mind, there will be no space for hatred. It's necessary to emphasize: compassion is the nature of right awareness. Practicing Vipassana meditation to establish right awareness in mind is practicing compassion meditation. Compassion will not be well established in mind by only repeating sentences written to induce loving-kindness to the mind because concepts are merely mental formations which will be subjects to the rising and falling characteristic of nature.
* Power to promote the development of the insight about the raising and falling characteristic of all mental formations (Sankhara). Right awareness and present time are always present, not raising and falling. Only object, a mental formation, comes in contact with awareness mind and immediately goes away.
* Power of the faculty of perceiving objects coming from the brain activities: thoughts, memories, feelings, intentions, conditioned, conventional activities. Upon being recognized, thoughts, memories... are going to disappear, right awareness soon recognizes other objects coming mostly from sense organs. This is an interesting power of right mindfulness. Being mentioned with prudence, this power of right mindfulness may be used as a mechanism of action in the treatment of hallucinations, obsessive thinkings in some mental disorders.
* Power of tranquilness and peacefulness: A tranquil and peaceful mind is not a fertile soil for the growing of defilements. A tranquil peaceful feeling is unexpectedly perceived in the mind when right awareness continuously dominates the mind.
* Power of being the foundation for the development of the Noble Eightfold Paths: continuously dominating the
mind, right awareness sheds light to render brain activities: view, contemplation,effort...into the right one: right view, right contemplation, right effort.. that will gradually replace the eightfold worldly paths of mind: gain and loss, praise and criticism, fame and disrepute, happiness and unhappiness. The replacement will gradually change the human being life.
6.-Conclusion
Naturally available in nature, right awareness is a fundamental structure of human beings' mind. It is greatly fortunate to be a human being with a karma that, at some time in his/her life, opens the gate to Vipassana meditation practice to recognize right awareness and to visualize the path of enlightenment and self-liberation. The highest appreciation should be offered to the Buddha, the first human being who had successfully practiced Vipassana meditation, fully accomplished the self-liberation and transferred the practicing method to us.
Vipassana is the only way to gradually root out the darkness of ignorance, so that right awareness begins to shine, as small as a tiny spot of light in the vast darkness of ignorance, then becomes brighter and brighter over time. Thus, the ultimate truth of human body and mind, as well as the whole nature, will be revealed. The disclosure will create space for peace, quietness, and liberation.
Do not expect right mindfulness to arise and establish in the mind in a steadily and clearly recognizable way. Only after a long period of performing a right meditation practicing method, the mind experiences a tranquilness, peacefulness while focusing to recognize and observe a coming and going away objects. Right at that moment is the right awareness present in mind. The duration to pass the distance from the ignorance to the understanding/insight of the ultimate truth of nature is as short as the coming and going way of an object. However, it takes life-long of diligent, perseverant Vipassana meditation practice to achieve. But. It's worth the effort at any age of life.



