Cultivating Awareness Every Moment

Don’t expect to carry any state from Zazen off the cushion.
Be present for Life just as it is.
- Include all aspects in your awareness, including any negative ones.
There is nothing in this precious life that’s beneath your attention.
- Notice, without judgement, how much you miss when you’re motivated by self-interest.
Your tolerance for things that are painful, scary, or difficult slowly increases.

What is Mindfulness?

In Zen practice, mindfulness is cultivating clear awareness of what is happening, moment by moment, within you and around you.
As soon as you get up from the Zazen seat and start engaging with the world, you have a strong inclination to rely on your mental map again.
It can be difficult to carry any spaciousness, calm, or insight you have experienced in Zazen off the meditation seat, and it’s best not to expect to be able to.

It can be helpful to set aside time to focus on cultivating Mindfulness, ideally while doing a simple manual task like cleaning, cooking, gardening, or exercising.

Set your intention
Expand your awareness to include all aspects of the situation
Make special note of whatever is happening in your body and mind
Maintain an open, curious, and objective attitude
- It is important not to suppress or deny any negative feelings or reactions you experience, but rather to expand your awareness to include them as aspects of your situation, just as you do in Zazen.
Respond carefully to your moments of choice
- Do this over and over again, letting go of any concern about how well or how poorly you are doing.
Surrender as completely as you can to the simple process of Mindfulness
- Just as you judge the quality of your Zazen based on the sincerity of your effort and not on the character of your experience while sitting, so it should be with Mindfulness.

When you are able to be mindful throughout your experiences, you see that every situation you encounter is much more complex and nuanced than your karmic view suggests.
You start recognizing moments of choice before, during, and after situations where your karmic patterns unfold.

Every moment of your life can be dedicated to building tolerance for Life, making peace with Life, becoming intimate with Life, seeing the true nature of Life, and being one with Life.
Make an effort to expand your awareness such that, just like in Zazen, both the source of distress and your reactions to it become only part of the larger landscape of the present moment.
Facing difficulties with Mindfulness leads to a gradual increase in your tolerance for what is painful, scary, or difficult.
Your willingness to expand your awareness makes you open to Life just as it is.

It’s important to realize that a satisfying sense of “I am being Mindful right now” is simply a particular state of consciousness. States of consciousness come and go; if you identify with one of them as being “you” above all others, it will be a recipe for suffering and discontent.
Be present for Life just as it is.
After you’ve built up more tolerance for Life and made peace with many of the things that have previously led you toward resistance, denial, and avoidance, the biggest obstacle to Mindfulness is your belief that whatever is currently happening is not worth paying full attention to.
It isn’t helpful to negatively judge yourself […]. It is helpful to recognize – through Mindfulness practice – how much you’re missing when your attention is motivated chiefly by self-interest.
There is nothing in this precious life that’s beneath your attention.

Added 2024-04-28.