Mindfulness VS Awareness

Mindfulness (Skt. smrti; Tib. dran pa) and awareness (Skt. jneya; Tib. shes bzhin) are distinct but related features of the mind. Mindfulness is something we apply more or less deliberately in order to become more cognizant, while awareness is a gentle way of simply being present. The meditation literature describes mindfulness as the opposite of forgetfulness. The Tibetan term dran pa means “remembrance,” as in the ability to focus and pay attention to the object of meditation in an unwavering fashion. As the Abhidharmasamuccaya states, “The function is not to be distracted from letting what one knows slip away from one’s mind.”5 Awareness, on the other hand, according to the Abhidharmasamuccaya, is a state of mental and physical pliability that gradually develops as we remove mental sluggishness and clear away all obscurations, drawing the mind toward a state of integration.6 The Tibetan term shes bzhin is actually a verb rather than a noun, meaning “being in a state of awareness.” The basic difference between mindfulness and awareness is simply that the former is deliberate and the latter spontaneous. According to Buddhism, being aware is not something we habitually tend toward; it is something we have to learn through meditation.

It is significant that the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions regard awareness as an innate (Skt. sahaja; Tib. lhan skyes) component of the mind, because the mind is aware by nature. They say that the nature of the mind is inseparable from intrinsic awareness (Skt. vidya; Tib. rigpa), but it is buried under the plethora of conflicting emotions and discursive thoughts that dominate our mind stream. These are the obstacles that the practice of relative bodhichitta helps to diminish so that we can perceive the awake, ever-present, innate, luminous clarity of the mind. This wakefulness is something that we have to retrieve, because if we were able to permanently rest in the luminous clarity of mind, we would already be enlightened. In one sense, we are already enlightened, we simply do not recognize this fact because of the obscuring veils (Skt. avarana; Tib. sgrib pa) of our conceptual confusion and conflicting emotions.