Nov '25 • General discussion
I Got It
This may seem unduly ephemeral, or take a while to manifest, but as you meditate, you will become increasingly aware of what Ajahn Sumedho calls "pure consciousness." Any term will be inadequate because human language cannot capture the experience. Just keep meditating.
Some teachers use "awareness" and "consciousness" interchangeably, and they are pretty much the same, but for present purposes, we will say that you become increasingly aware of your pure consciousness. Awareness is more specific and directed. Both are available to everyone. Pure consciousness is like an infinite void inside your head. As Sumedho explains it, consciousness is the necessary precondition for all else. Without consciousness, we would have no knowledge or thought. We would be rocks.
He asks if we are concious, and we have to say yes. Were we not conscious, we would not know he had asked a question. Again, it manifests gradually as the result of your consistent meditation practice.
The tricky part is identifying with it. The Buddha pointed out that all human creations are impermanent, unreliable. All we create will cease to exist eventually, including our individual identities. Only consciousness is permanent and unchanging. It is the actual basis for our identities and our ability to think and perceive.
The point of Buddhist meditation is to abandon the ordinary, mistaken identities we bring to meditation in favor of identifying with pure consciousness. Pure consciousness emerges as you meditate.
But here is where awareness is distinct from consciousness. You become aware of pure consciousness. Then you almost have to trick yourself into shifting from your ordinary, pre meditation awareness to grounding your awareness in pure consciousness. This shift can be very subtle, but is profound, a major change in your perception and thought. Instead of directing your awareness outward, you turn it inward to perceive and appreciate pure consciousness.
You then click into oure consciousness and make it the place where your awarenss originates, which it always was, but you become aware that your awareness is grounded in pure consciousness.
That's enlightenment/awakening.
0
0 comments
I Got It
powered by
skool.com/buddhism-is-the-answer-6665
A Group for Introduction to and Discussion of Buddhism
Suggested communities
Powered by