This Third Foundation of Mindfulness is difficult to meditate upon for several reasons:
1. It is very subtle.
2. It changes much faster than the body or feelings.
3. One cannot meditate on it alone since it never occurs without some object of which it is aware.
4. We may be convinced that it is permanent.
5. We may be convinced that it is our “self.”
Most of us tend to identify with consciousness more than with any of the other physical-mental aggregates (i.e., the body, feelings, perceptions, or mental formations). While we can usually gain some measure of objectivity regarding the body and thought processes, we typically believe that it is our “self” that is conscious of what is occurring from moment to moment.
The sole role of consciousness is to be aware of each sense object as it appears to one of the six sense doors (the mind being the sixth sense door).
Consciousness can be classified depending upon which sense door it arises through. There is eye consciousness, ear consciousness, noise consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness and mind consciousness.
Consciousness is impermanent. What we call consciousness is actually a continuum of momentary acts of awareness that rise and fall along with their respective objects due to various causes and conditions. These frames of consciousness rise and fall so quickly that appears that consciousness is one unbroken process that endures over time. It is similar to the illusion that the separate frames of a film have no break between them. Since the images that each frame contains are projected so quickly on the screen we are not aware of the separation that exists between the frames.
Some people believe that while the surface layers of consciousness may disappear, there is a core consciousness that remains as a “storehouse,” so that each momentary arising of consciousness comes from this permanent location. This is not true – each moment of consciousness arises when a sense object comes into contact with a sense organ. In other words, consciousness just arises when the causes and conditions for its arising occurs, and completely disappears when those causes and conditions disappear
Each moment of consciousness can only have one object. We are either aware of a sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or idea during each moment of awareness. Again, because of the speed with which consciousness rises and falls, it gives the illusion that we are experiencing two sense objects at the same time.
Whenever a sense object comes in contact with a specific sense organ, consciousness illuminates the corresponding sense field (the visual field, the cognitive field, etc.). It does so without any interpretation, modification, or attempt to control the sensory experience in any way. Consciousness acts as a type of motion detector, which, when triggered, simply illuminates and objects that have come within its range.
Although consciousness does not interact with that which it illuminates, when consciousness arises it does so in conjunction with certain mental factors. These mental factors perform specific tasks in regard to the sense object that consciousness is focused upon (e.g, feeling lets us know whether the sense experience is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; perception, which works in conjunction with memory, recognizes the distinctive marks of a sense object; volition decides what will occur in regard to the sense object; and so forth.
(Above is from Matt Flickstein’s Satipatthana Sutta Study; Mindfulness of Consciousness)
Joseph Goldstein suggests two meditations for the Third Foundation of mindfulness. Apply them throughout the day whenever they become relevant.
The first meditation is to be used when we feel that we are struggling in our practice or in our life, when we are feeling a lack of ease, or when we are efforting in some way.
At that point we stop and become mindful of the mind state that is present. The struggle becomes feedback that something that we are not aware of and are not accepting is going on.
By paying bare attention and accepting what mind state is present, all struggle ceases and the mind feels at ease once again.
The second meditation concerns our emotions. When emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, interest, excitement or happiness arise, we tend to identify with them and they become filters on our experience. We take these moods to be our “self.” It is as if we are looking at the world through colored glasses.
By applying mindfulness to these moods, we see how they are affecting and coloring our awareness. We begin to experience these mind states as free of self. Instead of feeling that “I’m angry, sad, or happy,” the mind states are objectified and the experience tends to be more like noticing that “an angry mind state is present, a sad mind state is present, or a happy mind state is present.”
