On Shining the Light Inward
"Everyone has a light. What is everybody's light? The kitchen pantry and the temple gate." - Yun Men, The Blue Cliff Record #86
Lately I've been fascinated by the similarities between Shikantaza in Zen and Dzogchen in Tibetan Buddhism. Both forms of meditation involve stopping and resting without relying on technique. In general, the practice instructions typically do not specify goals. Instead they involve just sitting in a comfortable posture and not trying to make any effort with one's mind, simply leaving it alone.
One small difference is that Dzogchen instructions tend to emphasize trying to be aware of awareness itself. This can be done by adding an element of awareness based inquiry. You might simply ask yourself, "Is awareness here?" You then could respond to this question with, "Yes, awareness of the breath" or "Awareness of thoughts." In many ways it's not that different from meditation where you try to be aware of the breath or other bodily sensation, except this adds a slight element of self-inquiry. In my experience so far with this practice it's quite pleasant to meditate on awareness. It also produces a fairly stable concentrative state, because you aren't relying on just one meditation object. You are simply following awareness wherever awareness goes, so in a sense you never lose your focus.
Another cool thing is after doing this practice a little, I wondered: Isn't awareness only known through being aware of one's senses? (And remember in Buddhism, thoughts are a sense too.) It turns out that meditation teachers have thought of this already, of course, and indeed it's impossible to know awareness outside of experience. But that just means there's no separation between mind and objects, i.e. it's non-dual. Our everyday awareness effortlessly works non-dually with the things that we are aware of.
What is also interesting is how when I learned about this form of meditation, it reframed a lot of Zen writing that I've encountered previously. For example, when Dogen said in Fukanzazengi: "take the backwards step and shine the light inward." Instead of being prosaic this might also be a more literal instruction to shine the light of awareness back on itself. Whereas if you aren't familiar with this meta-awareness aspect, you might think he is describing meditation in general. Furthermore the so-called "direct pointing" instructions in Zen are often about bringing out this bare awareness. Things like offering a surprising response (or in the olden days, a slap or a shout) can shock us back into bare awareness instead of the conceptual mind.
It is said that over time this awareness focused practice leads to a shift where you more closely identify with awareness itself instead of an idea of your self. Bare awareness, which has always already been present, is arguably more "you" than the you that you think you are, because the content of your awareness might change moment to moment but your awareness is the same. Perhaps this is the "original face before your parents were born" and the "true person of no rank," as the old koans describe. Although, this doesn't mean that you are solely bare awareness, either. We are talking about non-duality here so you are both; we can't separate awareness from its contents.
Another benefit of shifting our identity more to our awareness is that it leads to more effortless compassion with all sentient beings. Bare awareness is something we share in common with all people and all creatures. One of the reasons I love bird watching and nature is sometimes you do get an intuitive sense that all life on Earth is more similar than different. Perhaps when a bird hears a sound it too is aware that it's aware.
Shifting towards just bare awareness helps us get through difficult times as well. The part of us that is just bare awareness is somewhat free and independent. Whether we are having a great or a terrible time, it remains the same. It continues to shine a light on our experience no matter what.
