Trust in the Awareness, by Ajahn Sumedho

‘Meditation’ can mean all kinds of things. It’s a word that includes any kind of mental practices, good or bad. But when I use this word, what I’m mainly using it for is that sense of centering, that sense of establishing, resting in the center. The only way that one can really do that is not to try and think about it and analyze it; you have to trust in just a simple act of attention, of awareness. It’s so simple and so direct that our complicated minds get very confused. “What’s he talking about? I’ve never seen any still point. I’ve never found a still point in me. When I sit and meditate, there’s nothing still about it.” But there’s an awareness of that. Even if you think you’ve never had a still point or you’re a confused, messed-up character that really can’t meditate, trust in the awareness of that very perception. […]

Awareness is your refuge:
Awareness of the changingness of feelings,
of attitudes, of moods, of material change
and emotional change:
Stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is
indestructible.
It’s not something that changes.
It’s a refuge you can trust in.
This refuge is not something that you create.
It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal.
It’s very practical and very simple, but
easily overlooked or not noticed.
When you’re mindful,
you're beginning to notice,
it’s like this.

-- Ajahn Sumedho, from "Intuitive Awareness"

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7 Past Reflections

Dilnavaz

Nov 16, 2010

This takes one to a highter level of understanding 'mindfulness'

Beautifully worded and explained and satisfactorily ended with a gentle touch.

ganoba

Nov 16, 2010

In mindfulness all divisions end; no black and white, no back and forth, no conscious and unconscious, no beginning and end.

just the sound of silence, the movement of stillness.

Pancho

Nov 15, 2010

My family calls me Pancho and I'd like you to know that I love you all. I was very happy to see so many known and unknown love warriors at the Kindness Temple. It felt like a concentrated doses of soul force and the circle of sharing evolved accordingly. I felt compelled to share a story about the Awareness of the Love of Our Ancestors. I chose to commute from Memphis to Atlanta in a Greyhound bus. As I was seated, I start feeling a great sense of appreciation. The gentle kind warm voice of the driver who was giving us all kind of instructions and information to have a nice and safe trip: from the location of the bathroom to WiFi, from security tips to consideration to our fellow passengers.I sensed something genuinely beautiful in the voice of the driver: It was a joyous and secure tone. It wasn't a play-it-again-message but an authentic greeting that facilitated a welcoming atmosphere. The driver was a woman. All of the sudden, I w... View full comment

My family calls me Pancho and I'd like you to know that I love you all.

I was very happy to see so many known and unknown love warriors at the Kindness Temple. It felt like a concentrated doses of soul force and the circle of sharing evolved accordingly. I felt compelled to share a story about the Awareness of the Love of Our Ancestors.

I chose to commute from Memphis to Atlanta in a Greyhound bus. As I was seated, I start feeling a great sense of appreciation. The gentle kind warm voice of the driver who was giving us all kind of instructions and information to have a nice and safe trip: from the location of the bathroom to WiFi, from security tips to consideration to our fellow passengers.I sensed something genuinely beautiful in the voice of the driver: It was a joyous and secure tone. It wasn't a play-it-again-message but an authentic greeting that facilitated a welcoming atmosphere.

The driver was a woman. All of the sudden, I was aware of the thousands of women who have been the backbone of many social movements: the Emma Goldman, the Rosa Parks, the Dolores Huerta, the Krishnammal of the Planet. This is what Gandhi had to say about the Feminine Divine:

"I learnt the lesson of nonviolence from my wife, when I tried to bend her to my will. Her determined resistance to my will, on the one hand, and her quiet submission to the suffering my stupidity involved, on the other, ultimately made me ashamed of myself and cured me of my stupidity... in the end, she became my teacher in nonviolence."

“Woman is the incarnation of ahimsa. Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering.”

“Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”

“A woman’s intuition has often proved truer than man’s arrogant assumption of superior knowledge.”

“I have mentally become a woman in order to steal into her heart.”

“To call women the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman… If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior… If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman.”

As I was connecting deeply with the inner Feminine Divine, a rush of soulforce ran through my veins and my heart couldn't stop to celebrate: the driver who was gently driving the bus was not only a woman, she also had black skin. Something flowed through me in that invaluable moment:

from Memphis to Albany to Birmingham to Montgomery to Atlanta...
the echoes of the South
soothe and warm the soul
with the balm of courage
but still fierce winds, tornadoes and rough roads
need to be challenged
the Sun and the Moon
will continue to shine...

How much unconditional love and courage from our ancestors had to flow to reach this awareness? How many centuries for this moment to happen? The satyagrahis in India had to made an ocular demonstration with a nonviolent resistance for decades. What was the impact in a little kid in Atlanta, named Martin or M.L., caused by Gandhi and that peace army when they were leading an independence movement in the other side of the Planet?

I was aware of the slow and steady (r)evolution and the infinite love and sacrifice of our ancestors. While we are faraway from living in a post-racial society, we have walked enough to see this woman moving from the back of the bus to the driver seat.

May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
Pancho

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Moffat

Nov 14, 2010

Thank you so much for posting this piece. this does not omnly inspire but keeps pple moving on with an insight for a better 2morow.

Ishmit soni

Nov 14, 2010

A really good thought of the auther

Becca

Nov 12, 2010

that was great (:

ganoba

Nov 9, 2010

If we wish to find the center of unchanging stillness (this is not an idle intellectual question)

If we really, desperately wish to be there

then we need to drop from our vocabulary words like incredible, awesome, mind boggling and all the superlatives with which we describe this state.

these are all judgments made from the safety of our limited experiences of life and indicate a desire to cling to those experiences.

We have to finally accept that the glorious life is outside this limited and limiting box.

Without this the process doesn't begin.

With this done the process ends.