The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

by Culadasa (John Yates)

In this practice, you closely investigate the arising and passing away of various phenomena with attention. While practicing momentary concentration, you probably already noticed how particular sensations or affective reactions arise, then quickly pass away—often to be immediately replaced by a new but closely related object. For example, if the object is an ongoing sound, you will find it actually consists of a series of separate sounds arising and passing away one after another. If it’s a single, brief noise, you’ll notice that even after the actual sound has stopped, it continues to reverberate in the mind. If it’s an emotion or mental state, you’ll notice that it’s actually made of a series of closely related but different mental states, arising and passing in waves. Other times, the new object will be something quite different, but you’ll notice there’s a causal relationship between it and the last object to pass away. For example, if someone sneezes, as the sound disappears, it may be immediately followed by an image of a person sneezing. When that image passes, it might be replaced by a thought about catching a cold. You can make any of these objects your focus of attention.