Awareness of Reality Awareness of Reality does not mean thinking about Reality; it does not even mean thinking about being aware of Reality. The best way we can describe it is to say that awareness of Reality is a direct, non-discursive contemplation. It has of course many forms, only one or two of which I am going to mention. One of the best known and most widely practised of these forms is known as the recollection – or awareness – of the Buddha, the Enlightened One. By this is meant awareness of the person of the Buddha, in the sense of awareness of Reality as embodied in the form of the Enlightened human teacher. When practising this as a regular exercise one usually begins by being inwardly aware of the external appearance of the Buddha – of what he might have looked like as he trod the roads of India 2,500 years ago. One sees, or one tries to see, the tall serene figure in the yellow robe as he walked from one end of northern India to another, preaching and teaching. Then one sees – tries to be inwardly aware of – the Buddha at certain important moments in his career, especially when he sat beneath the Bodhi tree, repulsed the armies of Mara within his own mind, and gained Enlightenment. Various other episodes can also be imagined. Then one recollects, becomes aware of, the attributes or spiritual qualities of the Buddha: the boundless wisdom, the infinite compassion, the great peace, the immaculate purity, and so on. From being aware of those attributes one tries to pierce through to their common innermost essence. One tries to pierce through to the Buddhahood of Buddhahood, the Enlightenment of Enlightenment, and to become aware of that. In other words one tries to become aware of Reality itself expressing itself through – even shining through – the person or the figure of the Buddha, the Enlightened One. One can also practise, along the same lines, the awareness of sunyata or voidness: awareness of Reality as empty of all conceptual content, and beyond the reach of thought and imagination, and even of aspiration and desire; but this sort of awareness of Reality in its nakedness can be practised only after some previous experience of meditation. Awareness of Reality is the most difficult of all the levels of awareness to maintain. Because of this, various methods have been developed to help us maintain constant recollection or awareness of Reality, of the Ultimate, the Transcendent. One of these is the constant repetition of a mantra – a sacred word or syllable, or string of syllables, which is connected, usually, with a particular Buddha or Bodhisattva. The repetition of this mantra over and over again – of course after one has been properly initiated – not only puts one in contact with that which it represents, but keeps one in contact with it in the midst of all the vicissitudes, all the ups and downs, even all the heartbreaks and tragedies, of daily life. Eventually this repetition becomes spontaneous (not automatic), welling up all the time, even independently of one’s personal volition, so that a slender thread of contact with Reality is maintained even in the midst of all the avocations and duties, the responsibilities and trials, and pleasures too, of ordinary human existence. Such are the four principal levels of awareness: awareness of things, awareness of oneself, awareness of people, and, above all, awareness of Reality. Each one of these has its own distinctive effect on the person practising it. Through awareness of things, as they really are, we become free from the taint of subjectivity. Awareness of oneself refines our psychophysical energy. Awareness of people stimulates. Finally, awareness of Reality transmutes, transfigures, and transforms. All these different kinds of awareness contribute, in their own distinctive way, to the process of the Higher Evolution. They all between them bring one very near to the last stage of the Path – Perfect Samadhi.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 18:34:04 +0000
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