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Mindfulness of Breathing (43) Mindfulness Factor of Awakening

Good morning, and welcome to the beginning of the week and a new theme for these morning teachings. The theme is the Seven Factors of Awakening. It follows the practice and the teaching of experiencing the mind, the mind state, or the mind being a broader experience of our interiority and inner life, rather than just noticing particular activities of the mind that are operating, such as thinking or particular emotions.

The state of mind is kind of like the mood, the atmosphere, or the general state of the way we are—our state of being, almost. As we experience a state of mind more fully, we start becoming aware that there are different states of mind that we can experience, or different qualities, characteristics, and features of the state of mind.

These Seven Factors of Awakening can be seen both as particular practices we do and also as a state's qualities or characteristics of the state of mind, or the state of awareness. As that state of awareness or state of mind becomes more highlighted, noticed, and something we can rest in and feel, then we can start noticing these qualities of awareness.

There are seven of them. The first is usually translated into English as mindfulness. The second is usually investigation. Then effort, joy, tranquility, samadhi^[1] (usually translated as concentration), and equanimity.

These are considered the crown jewels of Buddhism. They are sometimes actually likened—apparently in ancient India, a monarch had seven jewels that represented the monarchy. And so in Buddhism, those seven jewels are the Seven Factors of Awakening.

There's a kind of curious metaphor found in the ancient texts. It's like a monarch that has seven special sets of clothes—suits to wear at different occasions. In the same way that a monarch has special, affluent sets of clothes to wear, Buddhist practitioners, as they develop in practice, have these Seven Factors of Awakening as their suit.

It's a strange metaphor, but I think what's suggested by it is that a suit is something you wear for a while. These different factors of awakening at different times represent the state of mind we are in, and we kind of wear that state for a while.

There can be a time when mindfulness involves a great sense of clear awareness. The clear sense of awareness stands out, and that's the primary characteristic of our state of mind. Other times it might be that a great sense of tranquility, a great sense of joy, a great sense of unification or samadhi, or a great state of equanimity stands out. Of these Seven Factors of Awakening, each one can stand out and be the primary characteristic.

It's also possible to be aware of all seven in balance, working together in a certain way, and we can recognize them together and see how we need to bring them into balance.

Many years ago, when I sat a long retreat, at some point in the practice, these Seven Factors of Awakening stood out in highlight. When the mind is really settled and at peace, these become some of the primary characteristics of what we notice in mindfulness. Because everything else has kind of abated, gotten quiet, still, and peaceful, these seven factors are what remain.

I found myself kind of balancing them—I was actually instructed to balance them. At some point, the teacher said, "I've noticed that when you talk about bringing these Seven Factors of Awakening into balance, you never talk about equanimity. It seems like you're always tinkering with them." And then I realized, yes, I was always thinking I had to fix them and get them just right, and I had no equanimity around whatever state I was in. That helped me to settle back and become more equanimous.

The first of these Seven Factors of Awakening is the ancient Pali word sati^[2]. It is translated in a number of different ways, and "mindfulness" is the most common in English.

With the way mindfulness practices have come to the West, there are many things that are called mindfulness, and all of them may be appropriately so. Sometimes mindfulness is referred to as a clear recognition of what's happening. It's a cognitive act of recognizing: hearing, if you're hearing my voice right now, or recognizing there's pressure on your seat if you're sitting on a chair, or the recognition, "Oh, my hand is cold, but my torso is warm." There's the clear recognition of things. Sometimes that's represented by using mental notes, where that recognition is a little bit more highlighted and focused with mental noting.

Sometimes what's called mindfulness is feeling, experiencing, and sensing experiences. Some teachers really emphasize this language of feeling: "Feel your breathing, sense your breathing, experience what's going on." It's more sensory, and we're kind of resting in the sensory capacity of the body to be mindful, to be aware.

Sometimes what's emphasized is the power of observation: just simply observe what's happening, but don't interfere with it.

All three of those—recognition, feeling, and observing—are emphasized by the Buddha as practices that we can do, but it's not necessarily what he calls sati or mindfulness. He uses other words for those activities. However, those activities are part of mindfulness practice because they're the practices that lead to sati, leading to a state of awareness.

What we're looking for, as we practice these things—clearly recognizing what's happening, focusing on the breathing, feeling the experience more fully, observing the experience as it's happening—is a state of awareness.

Sometimes when it becomes a state, Bhikkhu Bodhi^[3] translates it as "lucid awareness." There's a sense of lucidity, a clarity, an openness, a luminosity. These are all metaphors that people try to use to describe the state of mindfulness.

It's not easy to be there. It's not easy to rest in that state or be with it. That's why in the process of anapanasati^[4] (mindfulness of breathing), deepening practice over time, we get a sense of this state of mind. We can then become aware that there's a state of awareness that's almost coterminous with the state of mind—it's almost the same thing or occurs within the same domain.

Sati is mindfulness as a state that we allow for. I think the English word "awareness" is my preferred way of translating sati.

We can say, "I am aware." To paraphrase Descartes, "I am aware, therefore I am." The phrase "I am" implies almost an identity, as if it defines me. "I am aware" suggests this broad way of being, existing in a certain way—existing in awareness.

It's not easy to rest in or be with, but it is possible. One of the ways to get to that is to begin living at the speed of mindfulness.

This is particularly valuable to do while on a retreat where you know nothing really has to be done. There's no hurry to do anything, hopefully, and there's more time to take it easy and do things maybe at a slower pace than usual.

To practice at the speed of mindfulness—or, to say it differently, to practice at the speed of awareness—means to do whatever you're going to do at a speed that keeps you closely aware of being aware. You are cognizant of yourself being aware as you do it, in whatever way awareness is for you at a particular time. This could be through the recognition of what you're doing as you're doing it, by sensing and feeling it as you do it, or simply observing it quietly from the back of the mind.

The speed of mindfulness, the speed of awareness, is to stay close. You know you're doing it, you know you're part of it, and you're allowing something to register in the present moment around the experience, as opposed to doing things so quickly that you're ahead of yourself. If you're ahead of yourself, you're onto the next thing, thinking about the next thing, and just rushing through each thing you do.

This doesn't necessarily mean you have to do things slowly. I was a fast-order cook after I came back from three years in a Zen monastery, and I learned to be very aware spinning around and doing many things at once in the kitchen, working fast. In some ways, I found it easier to be aware there because I would just let go of all my distractions and just be in the dance of the kitchen.

It doesn't necessarily have to be fast or slow, but generally, especially on retreat, doing things slowly is the access point for most people.

Mindfulness, the first factor of awakening, is sometimes seen as a particular activity of mind or a practice we do, and sometimes as a state of mind. Hopefully, the activity of doing it—the practice—leads to this lucidity of awareness, a state of being mindful, a state of being aware. You will feel the goodness of that, the freedom of it, and the benefits of doing that.

Thank you, and we'll continue these morning talks with the Factors of Awakening tomorrow.