Mindfulness Guard of Noumena

In the Asheyana path, Calm Abiding practice is supported by one's work with the Eight Renunciations, having developed some space of mind in stepping back from bivalent perceptions.

Having worked with Calm Abiding within the context of the seventh Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Noumena, one can begin to work with this extension to the practice, "Mindfulness Guard of Noumena."

The purpose of this Mindfulness Guard is to highlight particular qualities both conducive to progress along the path and available within the aspect of one's experience related to Mindfulness of Noumena, within and beyond the context of formal practice.

During a session of Calm Abiding, one begins to focus on the fifth Point of Practice, that of the Mind:

• • Drawing back from evaluations or judgements of what noumena may arise in one's mind, one simply connects with the noumenal expression of mind--thinking upon the objects of one's experience.

• • If what noumena naturally and uncontrivedly arise in one's mind are accompanied by emotion, by thinking or analysis, or by dullness and detachment--one simply asks, "how is this not Perfect from Beginninglessness?"
    
    

  • The purpose of the inquiry is not to make oneself perceive something that is not there. The purpose of the inquiry is to look directly at one's noumenally expressive experience and to consider for oneself whether Perfect from Beginninglessness is truly the 'signal' within one's noumenally expressive experience and whether other elaborations--emotion, thinking or analysis, or dullness and detachment--can be regarded as expressive 'noise.'
    
    

  • Seeing noumena comprising a mind-generated aggregate model of 'how things are', one can look at the nature of the model, including its phenomenal attributions, its inherent coherence and incoherence and ask, "how is this not Perfect from Beginninglessness?"

• • Keep attending to the naturally and uncontrivedly arising noumenally expressive experience with a light touch as is bearable. Return again to the question, "how is this not Perfect from Beginninglessness?" Does the noumenally expressive experience relax over time into open spaciousness? Or does the noumenal experience tighten into "for me," "against me," or "not me" ?

• If one becomes distracted or drowsy during this Mindfulness Guard of Noumena practice extension, one briefly returns to the general Calm Abiding instruction until they are ready to continue working with this Mindfulness Guard of Noumena practice extension.
  
  

Following a session of Calm Abiding, one can extend Mindfulness Guard of Noumena into daily life by:

• Bringing the Mindfulness Guard of Noumena developed during practice to the periods of one's day--waking, preparing for the day, morning, noontime, afternoon, evening, nighttime, releasing from the day, sleeping.
  
  

• Bringing the Mindfulness Guard of Noumena developed during practice to one's own activities during the day, as well as transitions between activities.
  
  

• Bringing the Mindfulness Guard of Noumena developed during practice to activities involving others during the day, as well as transitions between activities.

• If what noumena naturally and uncontrivedly arise in one's mind are accompanied by emotion, by thinking or analysis, or by dullness and detachment--one simply asks, "how is this not Perfect from Beginninglessness?"

• If one becomes distracted or drowsy during this Mindfulness Guard of Noumena practice extension, one can return to the mindfulness and awareness of daily life until they are ready to continue working with this Mindfulness Guard of Noumena practice extension.
  
  

  • Notice if one's habits of sensory experience in daily life reflect one's Mindfulness Guard of Noumena in meditation practice--Be curious what might explain the difference between the two.
    
    

By practicing "Mindfulness Guard of Noumena," one can begin to see through direct experience how elaboration upon one's natural and uncontrived noumenally expressive experience can be oriented to one's own framing. One can also begin to see for oneself the possibility that the 'signal' within the 'noise' underlying one's natural and uncontrived noumenally expressive experience can be described as Perfect from Beginninglessness.

The fruition of Mindfulness Guard of Noumena is called Gesture of Noumena--inhabiting one's noumenally expressive experience with presence, with noumenal expression held neither too tight nor too loose, with light attention to noumena, recalling the balance of good thinking and good unthinking, fully present such that noumena appear spacious, well-defined, and well-organized in stillness and movement.

May these words help the spacious Asheyana practitioner to well extend the Gesture of Noumena, with full mindfulness. May it be of benefit.