“Objectless meditation is like accepting whatever clouds and mist might obscure the sky while recognizing that the sky itself remains unchanged even when it is obscured.” Mingyur Remember, with choiceless awareness there is simply a readiness to be with whatever your attention reaches for. The three types of awareness: normal awareness, meditative awareness and pure awareness. Normal awareness is how we normally behave, like, “Oh, be aware. Watch out. Be mindful.” We all have that, right? If you are walking on the street and, especially, if there is a little bit of danger around, then you are alert and aware. That is normal awareness. This awareness is completely facing outward, it is narrow, and there are a lot of judgments. You are experiencing that kind of awareness but it is not so clear. It is like you are in the river. You feel you are carried away by the river, but you cannot see the river, right? It is just like that. Meditative awareness is knowing, meaning that you recognize normal awareness. When we recognize that we have this awareness — the knowing or cognition — then, based on that recognition of awareness we use, let’s say our breath or listening to sounds, and the sounds become supports for maintaining that recognition. This is why all these meditation techniques become meditation — because of just knowing the idea of awareness and then wanting to practice that with an object. Then, that becomes meditation. This is what we normally call, “view and motivation”. The intention will transform your experience. In this case, what is the view? It is to recognize awareness, the knowing quality of the mind. And the intention is, “I want to meditate now with sounds.” When you hear sounds, you will automatically recognize awareness. You do not need to worry, thinking, “Okay, sound…Now, where is awareness? So, is there an awareness of awareness of the sound? And now, do I have to be aware of the awareness of listening to the sound, the consciousness?…” There is no need to complicate it like that. Because the mind has a particular quality, which is self-luminosity. The mind knows itself. Even with a thought — the essence of thought is awareness. So it can recognize itself. Therefore, in the beginning, we try to connect to our own awareness through an object. The difference between normal awareness and meditative awareness is — well, actually, they are the same, right? You just recognize normal awareness as awareness, and then it becomes meditative awareness. But, when you recognize it, in your own experience, there are some differences. The first one is a sense of non-judgmental quality. Whether you watch a visual object, listen to sounds, observe smells, thoughts, or whatever, it does not matter. The object is not so important, and it does not matter what kind of object there is — a good object, a bad object, beautiful, or not beautiful — it does not matter. So there is a sense of non-judgment. The main important thing is that you want to develop the recognition of awareness and maintain that awareness. That is the is a sense of non-judgment. Then there is a sense of freedom, a sense of spaciousness. When you see the river, you are out of the river, right? Normally, what we have in our minds is only thoughts, emotions, feelings, perceptions, memories, etc., that is all! But actually, your mind is more than that; it is more than thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and more than feelings. Awareness is like space, and all these thoughts, perceptions, memories, etc. are like clouds or galaxies or universes, right? The reason why we feel a sense of freedom is because, for example, for me, when I was young, when I watched the panic, then I saw that I was not the panic. I was watching it, so I was more than panic. There is spaciousness, and there is freedom. There are a lot of qualities like that when you really connect with awareness. awareness is awareness beyond concept, also called, “nature of mind.” The view and motivation will transform experience: View = Recognizing awareness (the knowing quality of mind) Motivation = “I want to meditate.” Three qualities of (meditative) awareness: non-judgmental, spacious, all-transformative. Awareness has three types. Normally, we call them “normal awareness,” “meditative awareness,” and “pure awareness”. But actually, there is just one. But the level of awareness depends on your recognition. Even when we are not recognizing it, we all have awareness — that is normal awareness. Now, when you begin to meditate, then you recognize it, and that becomes meditative awareness. The last one is pure awareness — awareness beyond concept, beyond subject and object. That is what we sometimes call “nature of mind” practice. So, in the Path of Liberation, we focus a lot on pure awareness. Right now, within these courses, we are discussing meditative awareness. What are the differences between normal awareness and meditative awareness? Normal awareness is how we normally behave, like, “Oh, be aware. Watch out. Be mindful.” We all have that, right? If you are walking on the street and, especially, if there is a little bit of danger around, then you are alert and aware. That is normal awareness. This awareness is completely facing outward, it is narrow, and there are a lot of judgments. You are experiencing that kind of awareness but it is not so clear. It is like you are in the river. You feel you are carried away by the river, but you cannot see the river, right? It is just like that. The second awareness is meditative awareness. Meditative awareness is when you recognize awareness. Actually, what is awareness? [Mingyur Rinpoche snaps his fingers.] It is knowing. Just experiencing or knowing or being conscious. It is almost the same as mind. What is mind? The definition of mind is what we normally call “clear and knowing.” So, whatever experience you have, you know it. Whatever you see, you know it. So here, these all mean the same thing. When we recognize that we have this awareness — the knowing or cognition — then, based on that recognition of awareness we use, let’s say our breath or listening to sounds, and the sounds become supports for maintaining that recognition. This is why all these meditation techniques become meditation — because of just knowing the idea of awareness and then wanting to practice that with an object. Then, that becomes meditation. This is what we normally call, “view and motivation”. The intention will transform your experience. In this case, what is the view? It is to recognize awareness, the knowing quality of the mind. And the intention is, “I want to meditate now with sounds.” When you hear sounds, you will automatically recognize awareness. You do not need to worry, thinking, “Okay, sound…Now, where is awareness? So, is there an awareness of awareness of the sound? And now, do I have to be aware of the awareness of listening to the sound, the consciousness?…” There is no need to complicate it like that. Because the mind has a particular quality, which is self-luminosity. The mind knows itself. Even with a thought — the essence of thought is awareness. So it can recognize itself. Therefore, in the beginning, we try to connect to our own awareness through an object. The difference between normal awareness and meditative awareness is — well, actually, they are the same, right? You just recognize normal awareness as awareness, and then it becomes meditative awareness. But, when you recognize it, in your own experience, there are some differences. The first one is a sense of non-judgmental quality. Whether you watch a visual object, listen to sounds, observe smells, thoughts, or whatever, it does not matter. The object is not so important, and it does not matter what kind of object there is — a good object, a bad object, beautiful, or not beautiful — it does not matter. So there is a sense of non-judgment. The main important thing is that you want to develop the recognition of awareness and maintain that awareness. That is the is a sense of non-judgment. Then there is a sense of freedom, a sense of spaciousness. When you see the river, you are out of the river, right? Normally, what we have in our minds is only thoughts, emotions, feelings, perceptions, memories, etc., that is all! But actually, your mind is more than that; it is more than thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and more than feelings. Awareness is like space, and all these thoughts, perceptions, memories, etc. are like clouds or galaxies or universes, right? The reason why we feel a sense of freedom is because, for example, for me, when I was young, when I watched the panic, then I saw that I was not the panic. I was watching it, so I was more than panic. There is spaciousness, and there is freedom. There are a lot of qualities like that when you really connect with awareness. Then, the third important point is that everything eventually becomes a support for awareness. All these — even what we normally feel is a cause of destruction, negative emotions, suffering, stress, or whatever — eventually can become supports for awareness or objects of awareness. And what is awareness? Awareness is always free, pure, and calm. Awareness also has more qualities of warmth, kindness, compassion, and wisdom. All of these are there. This is really important to know. But, at the same time, do not worry too much when you really meditate, thinking, “Do I have this non-judgmental quality, spaciousness, and freedom? Is everything transforming into support for my meditation?” You do not have to worry about it. As long as you do not become like a zombie, you are okay. As long as you do not become like… [Mingyur Rinpoche pretends to be lost.] …then you are okay. The third is pure awareness. What is pure awareness? So first, we try to connect with awareness through objects like forms, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts, emotions — all these things — and then try to be with awareness, itself. Then, eventually, you are able to recognize awareness that is completely beyond subject and object, and beyond dualistic perception. Yet, everything is there in awareness. The mind becomes completely open. Then we can truly connect with our true nature, our basic nature, which is genuine and peaceful. There is freedom, and once we experience that, we cannot put it into words, but at the same time, we can experience it. That is the last stage, the last type of awareness. But actually, the last one — pure awareness — we have it right now, with us. We all have this wonderful nature within us. It depends on whether we have discovered it or not — that is the only issue. There is no issue whether we have it or not, whether we possess it or not. We all possess this great nature. with choiceless awareness there is simply a readiness to be with whatever your attention reaches for. Choose routine of having breakfast, showering, getting ready in morning, washing clothes, on computer. Anything really. These are all good situations and things i do routinely. Being on an AY a Day. Things I tend to not pay attention while doing, Can practice paying attention. Choiceless awareness is easy to practice off cushion if I remember to remind myself to practice. “Experience is always changing, like the movement of clouds against the sky. Realization – the stable awareness of the true nature of your mind – is like the sky itself, an unchanging background against which shifting experiences occur.” Mingyur Rinpoche