Insight Meditation 29

Learning to observe awareness of seeing creates a grounding for mindfulness within daily life and also the ability to observe attraction or aversion as they arise towards what is seen. 

This sensitivity allows you to soften into your relationship towards what is seen, deconditioning any habitual attraction or aversion through mindful non-participation.

• Develop understanding of the relationship between the mind and the eye.
• Decondition habitual attraction & aversion towards sight.
• Disentangle awareness from the six sense fields – sight & mind.

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• Length: 60 min, 1-2 times daily.
• Developing Insight: Become familiar with the experience of awareness of awareness of sight and how to soften the effort of habitual grasping towards it.

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Step 1: Sit in meditation, gently closing your eyes.

Step 2: Establish mindfulness of your body as you sit in meditation.

Step 3: Bring awareness to your eyes and observe and visual experience that arises like images or light. Use some slow softening breaths to soften any interaction with them. 

Step 4: Slowly open your eyes and observe the visual world appear.

• Observe any commentary that arises. 
• Apply GOSS, using awareness as your grounding point, to disentangle awareness from habitual seeing.

Step 5: Slowly look around the room and observe how your eyes automatically focus on different objects. Notice any attraction towards some sights and aversion towards others. Observe the effort and soften any subtle attraction or aversion. 

Step 6:  Soften the effort of looking into the knowing of seeing allowing your eyelids to gently close and observe how the visual world disappears. 

• Do other senses then become dominant? 
• Observe the mind create any imagery or commentary.
• Apply GOSS, using awareness as your grounding point, to disentangle awareness from habitual seeing.

Step 7: Slowly open your eyes, observe the visual world appear again. Soften looking into pure seeing and carry this off the meditation cushion into your daily life until you forget to do it.

• Be curious about habitual movements within the focus of your eyes. 
• Observe the effort and soften any subtle attraction or aversion. 
• Notice the relationship towards sight and commentary, also between sight and the speeding up of the functions of the mind. 
• Take interest in the difference between looking and seeing. 
• Be curious in regard to your mind aligning the experience of all senses as one known world. 

Step 8: Disentangle your awareness from the sensory world by developing nirvikalpa samadhi (stillness) as in Meditation 43 for the rest of your meditation session, continuing to incline your mind towards letting go of sensory experiencing.

You are ready to progress to Insight 30: Mindfulness of Hearing when:

You can clearly experience:

1. The autonomous nature of sight in regard to contact, the eye, the visual field, and mind created images and perceptions.
2. You can observe awareness of awareness of sight, and you understand what it means to disentangle awareness from it.

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