#bare attention

[rainbowtwo]

Bare Attention

‘What is bare attention? It is the willingness and capacity to bring wholehearted attention to each moment without anything added to it, without trying to detract from it, alter it, or layer it with interpretation. With bare attention there is no sense of ownership brought to the moment; it is not “my” experience, not happening to “me” not am “I” making it happen. It is just happening…

Bare attention is cultivated in each moment without exception. The thought is just the thought, the sound the sound, the taste the taste, the feeling the feeling. There is no judgement or prejudice within this wholehearted attention - the pleasant and unpleasant are equally embraced, the challenging and the easy, the flattering and the unflattering. A life without judgement is a free life, an engaged, steady, receptive presence in the presence of all things. The countless burdens of history, projection, association, and fear are laid down. Through the encompassing nature of bare attention, we live in a world where we have no enemies, but instead an ongoing invitation to learn, to listen, and to understand.

Calmness is the fruit of bare attention. The mind is released from its agitation and preoccupation, free to see more deeply and simply. The world itself seems to calm down when it is no longer perceived as a combative arena. In deeper levels of attention the mind and body come to depths of calmness that are in themselves joyful, still, and radiant. Attention is our bridge to the simple truths of the moment. A Zen master was asked about the key to happiness. Reflecting for a moment he answered with a single word: “Attention.”

The quality of transforming attention is one of curiosity and interest. Burglars may have wonderful concentration, a soldier going into battle may be remarkably focused, and a stalker may have a highly developed single-pointedness. But there is a real difference between the concentration of obsession and preoccupation, and the attention of mindfulness. Mindful attention is light, gentle, warm; above all it is dedicated to understanding and freedom. It is both single pointed, and open and receptive in the same moment. The quality of bare attention can be likened to that of a mother cradling her child. Held too tightly the infant will complain; held too loosely and there will be unfortunate consequences. Gentle, devoted, caring attention embraces the moment.’

- Christina Feldman, The Buddhist Path to Simplicity.

[rainbowtwo]

Bare Attention

'What is bare attention? It is the willingness and capacity to bring wholehearted attention to each moment without anything added to it, without trying to detract from it, alter it, or layer it with interpretation. With bare attention there is no sense of ownership brought to the moment; it is not "my" experience, not happening to "me" not am "I" making it happen. It is just happening...

Bare attention is cultivated in each moment without exception. The thought is just the thought, the sound the sound, the taste the taste, the feeling the feeling. There is no judgement or prejudice within this wholehearted attention - the pleasant and unpleasant are equally embraced, the challenging and the easy, the flattering and the unflattering. A life without judgement is a free life, an engaged, steady, receptive presence in the presence of all things. The countless burdens of history, projection, association, and fear are laid down. Through the encompassing nature of bare attention, we live in a world where we have no enemies, but instead an ongoing invitation to learn, to listen, and to understand.

Calmness is the fruit of bare attention. The mind is released from its agitation and preoccupation, free to see more deeply and simply. The world itself seems to calm down when it is no longer perceived as a combative arena. In deeper levels of attention the mind and body come to depths of calmness that are in themselves joyful, still, and radiant. Attention is our bridge to the simple truths of the moment. A Zen master was asked about the key to happiness. Reflecting for a moment he answered with a single word: "Attention."

The quality of transforming attention is one of curiosity and interest. Burglars may have wonderful concentration, a soldier going into battle may be remarkably focused, and a stalker may have a highly developed single-pointedness. But there is a real difference between the concentration of obsession and preoccupation, and the attention of mindfulness. Mindful attention is light, gentle, warm; above all it is dedicated to understanding and freedom. It is both single pointed, and open and receptive in the same moment. The quality of bare attention can be likened to that of a mother cradling her child. Held too tightly the infant will complain; held too loosely and there will be unfortunate consequences. Gentle, devoted, caring attention embraces the moment.'

- Christina Feldman, The Buddhist Path to Simplicity.

[rainbowtwo]

Stark Reality

'Meditation is ruthless in the way it reveals the stark reality of our day-to-day mind. We are constantly murmuring, muttering, scheming, or wondering to ourselves under our breath: comforting ourselves, in a perverse fashion, with our own silent voices. Much of our interior life is characterized by this kind of primary process, almost infantile, way of thinking: "I like this. I don't like that. She hurt me. How can I get that? More of this, no more of that." These emotionally tinged thoughts are our attempts to keep the pleasure principle operative. Much of our inner dialogue, rather than the "rational" secondary process that is usually associated with the thinking mind, is this constant reaction to experience by a selfish, childish, protagonist. None of us has moved very far from the seven-year-old who vigilantly watches to see who got more.

Buddhist meditation takes this untrained, everyday mind as its natural starting point, and it requires the development of one particular attentional posture - of naked, or bare attention. Defined as "the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception," bare attention takes this unexamined mind and opens it up, not by trying to change anything but by observing the mind, emotions, and body the way they are. It is the fundamental tenet of Buddhist psychology that this kind of attention is, in itself, healing, that by constant application of this attentional strategy, all of the Buddha's insights can be realized for oneself...  This is what is meant by bare attention: just the bare facts and exact registering, allowing things to speak for themselves as if seen for the first time, distinguishing any reactions from the core event.'

- Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective.

[wholesomeways]

[wholesomeways]

MEDITATION, Bare Attention

The simplest instructions for meditations for are given by Tilopia in the Song of Muhamudra: “Do nought with the body but relax Shut firm the moth and silent remain Empty your mind and think of nought Like a hollow bamboo Rest at ease your body Giving not nor taking Put your mind at rest The great way is a mind that clings to nought Thus practicing, in time you will reach Buddhahood.” The southern Buddhists (Therevadin) practice a form of meditation called Satipatthana Vipassana (Application of Mindfulness). It starts with the simple exercise of Bare Attention. All that you do is register thoughts, states, etc. in the present. This process slows down the transition from the receptive to the active phase of the cognitive process. You don’t think about your thoughts. You merely note them. This produces “peaceful penetration”. You transcend conceptual thought. Instruction a) Find a quiet and peaceful place where you will not be disturbed. b) Get into a comfortable seat. It should be a position you can remain in for at least thirty minutes without moving or discomfort. It is desirable that the head, neck and chest be in a straight line. c) At first let your mind wander and just watch it. Just note how your mind works. Don’t think about the thoughts. Just note them. Do this for about thirty minutes a day for a week. d) Then find a muscle in your abdomen, just below your rib cage, which moves when you breath such that it (the muscle) rises and falls. Attend to it. Every time the muscle rises think “Rising”, and every time it falls think “Falling” … rising … falling … rising … falling. Let all other thoughts drift by and keep your attention focused on this muscle. Don’t loose heart. At first the mind will wonder frequently. Each time it does, follow it immediately upon becoming conscious of its wandering. Note where it wandered to, and then immediately return to rising … falling … rising … falling … Don’t try to suppress your thoughts (for that is just another thought). Rather, note the intruding thought, give it a label, and return to the task at hand. After about a month you will note a great calm and sense of peace from this exercise. e) After you get in the habit of merely noting each stimuli in the Here and Now without thinking about it, then add additional steps designed to further free you from illusion. Specifically you add Clear Comprehension. This advanced practice involves describing the noted thought or state in terms of its purpose, its suitability, the way in which it relates to spiritual practice, and finally in terms of its total impersonality. These descriptions (which are described in detail in a number of books on Buddhist meditation) are ritualistic in nature and help you to see the impermanence of thought, the way in which it perpetuates suffering, and the fact that it does not in any way imply the presence on an ego or “I” who thinks it. Great gains in meditative practice may be made without these advanced stages. The simple technique of bare attention is very powerful. With the advanced techniques available in the Buddhists texts you develop in time a totally dispassionate view of the thoughts which fill your consciousness. — Ram Dass, Be Here Now

[tricycle-tumbles]

The Meaning of Mindfulness in the Buddhist Tradition

While mindfulness (sati) is often equated with bare attention, my conversations with—and recent studies of works by—the learned monks Bhikkhu Bodhi and Bhikkhu Analayo, and Rupert Gethin, president of the Pali Text Society, led me to conclude that bare attention corresponds much more closely to the Pali term manasikara, which is commonly translated as “attention” or “mental engagement.” This word refers to the initial split seconds of the bare cognizing of an object, before one begins to recognize, identify, and conceptualize, and in Buddhist accounts it is not regarded as a wholesome mental factor. When mindfulness is equated with bare attention, it can easily lead to the misconception that the cultivation of mindfulness has nothing to do with ethics or with the cultivation of wholesome states of mind and the attenuation of unwholesome states. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the Pali Abhidhamma, where mindfulness is listed as a wholesome mental factor, it is not depicted as bare attention, but as a mental factor that clearly distinguishes wholesome from unwholesome mental states and behavior. In common usage the English term mindfulness simply means to be aware, or heedful. Sati has a much richer connotation, so those wishing to practice Buddhist meditation are well advised to gain as clear an understanding of this and other related terms as they can, based on the most authoritative sources they can find. Otherwise, Buddhist meditation quickly devolves into a vague kind of “be here now” mentality, in which the extraordinary depth and richness of Buddhist meditative traditions are lost.

—B. Alan Wallace, "A Mindful Balance"

The B. Alan Wallace interview from our Spring 2008 Issue will live in front of the paywall for our tumblr followers for the next three days. Read the full interview here.