Mindfulness Guard of Attention

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 fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Attention, one can begin to work with this extension to the practice, "Mindfulness Guard of Attention."

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 Attention, within and beyond the context of formal practice.

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

• • Drawing back from evaluations or judgements of what one's attention is placed upon, one simply connects with the basic experience of attention.

• • If one feels attention arising naturally and presently with objects of experience--fixated, repulsed, transient, or blurred--one asks, "how is this not Focus and Clarity?"
    
    

  • The purpose of the inquiry is not to make oneself experience something that is not present. The purpose of the inquiry is to look directly at one's perceptual experience and to consider for oneself whether Focus and Clarity is truly the posture of attention for accessing 'signal' within one's perceptual experience and whether other postures--fixated, repulsed, transient, or blurred--are merely postures of attention obscuring one's perceptual experience with 'noise.'

• • Keep attending to the naturally and presently arising attention with a light touch as is bearable. Return again to the question, "how is this not Focus and Clarity?" Does the perceptual experience relax over time into gentle perception? Or does the perceptual experience tighten into "for me," "against me," or "not me" ?

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

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

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

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

• When one feels attention arising naturally and presently with objects of experience--fixated, repulsed, transient, or blurred--one asks, "how is this not Focus and Clarity?"

• If one becomes distracted or drowsy during this Mindfulness Guard of Attention 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 Attention practice extension.
  
  

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

By practicing "Mindfulness Guard of Attention," one can begin to see through direct experience how one's posture of attention while perceiving one's natural and present experience can itself affect one's perceptual experience. One can also begin to see for oneself the possibility that what allows one fuller access to natural and present perceptual experience can be described as Clarity and Focus.

The fruition of Mindfulness Guard of Attention is called Gesture of Attention--fully inhabiting the attention, with attention held neither too tight nor too loose, with perceptual objects of experience apprehended, discerned, and released in a steady flow, fully present such that the attention is focused, flexible, and well-timed in stillness and movement.

May these words help the resolute Asheyana practitioner to steadily extend the Gesture of Attention, with full mindfulness. May it be of benefit.