what is mindfulness?

there is a commonly accepted definition of mindfulness: “non-judgmental awareness.”  so, we just sit down, and be non-judgmentally aware. no sweat, right? but how do we do this? is it a doing? is it a state? what do the words “non-judgmental” and “awareness” actually mean? if it is a state, how do we enter it? can talking about it help us at all?

mindfulness is a tricky subject to talk about, because as soon as we begin talking, we are moving away from the experience. and mindfulness is an experience. it is not something to be understood or figured out, not a problem to be solved, or a task to be completed, but an always-already-present state to be experienced. nevertheless, to enter the state, or let the state unfold, we may need some guidance, and for this we need to use the cumbersome and inadequate vehicle of language.

so, taking into account the wholly inadequate vehicle we are using to describe mindfulness, let’s risk an oblique definition:

it’s when the mind’s tendencies to conceptualize, interpret, and make sense of experience become quiet, and the mind just rests, so that the information coming from the senses (experience) can simply be in consciousness.

cognition, according to the Oxford dictionary, is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

when we interpret reality according to this definition, “acquiring knowledge” is a process of reflection, but mindfulness is much more direct. the cognitive process is there, but i’m aware of it, rather than completely identified with it. i’m looking into it, rather than following, or believing it. and it is not in any way more important than the vast field of information streaming in through the senses. in Buddhist psychology, mind is not superior to — or the interpreter of — the senses, but just another sense in itself. this may indeed be a more accurate and useful definition of mind. and following from this definition, mindfulness could be defined as equal information from all the six senses.

in the state of mindfulness, we are not grasping at anything (wanting an experience to persist or repeat) or pushing anything away (wanting things to be different than what they are) or analyzing anything (trying to figure out whether what is should be grasped at or pushed away, or whether it can be ignored). we are simply being with what is. that is the non-judgmental part. in today’s common parlance the word “judgment” has acquired a distinctly negative connotation. we may hear things like “you’re so judgmental”! or “don’t be judgmental, be more open-minded.” that’s not what is meant here.

as for awareness, it is even harder to define, because it both precedes and transcends language. in the non-dual traditions, awareness, and awareness’ awareness of awareness, encompasses all of the cosmos. indeed, “attention” may be a better term, and “nonjudgmental attention” may be a better definition of mindfulness. however, for our immediate purposes, awareness can be thought of as the space in which our immediate experiencing of immediate experience — of what is — happens. it is the ground of all experience, and also the knowing of it.

so, we are not taking an attitude of being open-minded (as it is generally interpreted), but rather one of being quiet-minded. we are not thinking about experience, but rather embodying experiencing. we do not need to share the experience, as such would be a different experience. we are simply here, experiencing what is right here, and right now. the whole body becomes listening, and the whole body-heart senses. commentary or even understanding are unnecessary in this direct perception.

mindfulness is also the end or dissipation of the illusion of a separate self “in here” and an objective world “out there”. it is only thought that superimposes the concepts “self” and “not self” onto our experience. to the extent that we are identified with a self, judgment will automatically happen. it has to, because the self (has to) appropriate experience, it cannot simply let it be. it has to make sure that “its” experience fits with its agenda, otherwise it has to make efforts to change experience. when mind comes to rest in mindfulness, there can be no separate self, because the activity that imagines this self is at rest. there is no one to experience, because that “one” is the experience. to the extent that the separate self re-enters through the machinations of mind, mindfulness dissipates. however, this is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon.

mindfulness may exist in this moment, and not in the next. it may exist on the meditation seat, and not while driving or conversing. however, certainly, the more we can bring mindfulness into our lives, while meditating, while brushing our teeth, while driving, while making love, the more deeply we will realize one of the deepest truths of the spiritual paths: