Neuroscience and Psychology of Meditation in Everyday Life

by Dusana Dorjee

  In contrast, the two remaining types of consciousness are considered stable because they are constantly present in the mind until the final levels of existential balance are achieved. The first of the two (seventh type of consciousness) is called the ‘afflictive consciousness’ and refers to clinging to an independent notion of ‘self’ or ‘I’. This unhealthy attachment to a construed notion of self can manifest with varied intensity ranging from very gross to very subtle. Long-term meditation training gradually deconstructs the different gradients of construed self towards the most subtle ones. The afflictive consciousness is rooted in the second of the two stable types of consciousness, which is the substrate consciousness.

  As we have described in the previous chapter, the substrate consciousness enables storing and retrieving of overarching patterns underlying our tendencies, temper, cognitive habits and behaviour patterns. In long-term meditation practice the first six types of consciousness are stabilized to enable examination and further settling of the stable types of consciousness in practices of existential insight. However, even after the practitioner works through the mental patterns of the substrate consciousness and reaches its ground, the most subtle sense of an independent self, arising from the afflictive consciousness, remains.

  Pristine awareness, as the most advanced MEA, is not included amongst the eight types of consciousness. However, abiding at the level of pristine awareness is enabled by changes in the eight types of consciousness and also modifies them. Access to pristine awareness is supported by enhancements in mindfulness and meta-awareness, which are trained as part of the mind consciousness. These enhancements together with training in the wholesome states enable the development of non-reactive awareness and settling of the reactive responses of the eight types of consciousness and the mind consciousness. In this way, the meditator is able to work with subtle patterns of mental habits at the level of substrate consciousness and then access the pristine awareness. In turn, abiding at the level of pristine awareness eliminates the afflictive consciousness and further purifies the substrate consciousness. This then removes the sources of afflictive perceptions in the ordinary mind because those arise from the afflictive consciousness and substrate consciousness.

  Abiding at the level of pristine awareness means that we recognize the nature of our mind and at the most advanced levels also the nature of reality – how the conventional reality arises and dissolves dependent on the eight types of consciousness. The distinction between the observer and observed is no longer present at this level of existential insight – that’s why pristine awareness is sometimes described as a non-dual state. Importantly, pristine awareness is a non-conceptual MEA, so any descriptions of it are mere approximations of the actual phenomenological state. These descriptions typically mention clarity, compassion, non-conceptual knowing, tranquillity and subtle joy as the aspects of pristine awareness integrated into a holistic unidimensional experience without subject–object differentiation. So even though the state of pristine awareness is non-conceptual, it is not a state of vacuum – it is a state transcending the afflictive affirmation of self and reality by the afflictive mind and the ordinary consciousness, but at the same time the pristine awareness transcends nihilistic notions of emptiness as non-existence. Hence, the state of pristine awareness is often also described as being free of the extremes of existence and non-existence.

  Abiding in pristine awareness as the highest level of existential insight also does not mean that the meditator remains isolated in a state which is out of touch with the reality as it arises for others who haven’t accessed the pristine awareness. Tibetan Buddhist teachings explain that a practitioner who reaches this highest level of existential balance transforms the eight types of consciousness into two types of primordial awareness (Mipham, 2009; Longchenpa, 2011). The first type of primordial awareness is the awareness of dharmadhātu (Sanskrit: dharmadhātu; Tibetan: Chosyang). Dharmadhātu can be described as the non-conceptual space from which all appearances, both mental and physical, arise and the awareness of dharmadhātu is no different from the pristine awareness. The second type of primordial awareness enables the meditator to perceive the illusory reality as it arises for those who have not accessed pristine awareness, but not from a perspective of the eight types of consciousness. These are instead transformed into five kinds of enlightened wisdom.

  The first kind of enlightened wisdom is called mirror-like awareness and it arises from a transformation of the affliction of anger and substrate consciousness into their pure forms. The mirror-like wisdom enables the practitioner to perceive the afflictive experience and construed reality from the perspective of others without afflictive aversion, while at the same time understanding the illusory nature of these appearances. The second kind of enlightened wisdom is the awareness of equality which arises from transformation of the affliction of ego-centred pride and the afflictive consciousness. The awareness of equality enables the practitioner to help sentient beings without the impedance of ordinary perceptions of like and dislike. The third enlightened wisdom is the discriminating awareness which manifests from transformation of unhealthy attachment and the mind consciousness. This type of awareness enables the practitioner to recognize the needs of sentient beings and effectively help them. Finally, the fourth kind of enlightened wisdom, termed ‘the primordial awareness that accomplishes all actions’, is the result of transforming the affliction of jealousy and the first five types of consciousness (associated with senses) arising in the ordinary mind. This awareness underlies the tireless striving of enlightened practitioners to be of help to others and support them on their spiritual paths. These five kinds of primordial awareness can be considered the most advanced MEA and together form the highest level of existential balance.

  Each of the five kinds of enlightened wisdom aims to provide the practitioner with means to be of true help to sentient beings. The mirror-like wisdom provides the platform for the practitioner to see with clarity the suffering of others and its sources without being overwhelmed by emotional reactions. The awareness of equality further enhances this knowledge by eliminating the biases of ordinary preferences and rejections. The discriminating awareness does not simply see the superficial needs of others, but the deeper trajectory of spiritual development of beings and from this deeper perspective enables one to decide how to best help others. Finally, the awareness that accomplishes all actions supports the enlightened practitioner in staying unwaveringly on course with her efforts to help all sentient beings to reach existential balance.

  Buddhist teachings say that without these very advanced cognizant kinds of awareness, our ability to help others is very limited because our perception of what they need is limited by what we see on the surface and know in the moment without understanding their full potential and the deeper obstacles they face. This is the case even if our motivation is truly compassionate; without the guidance of primordial wisdom we are not able to see clearly how to help. This of course should not stop any practitioner from engaging in the genuinely compassionate activities; on the contrary, development of authentic compassion is instrumental in long-term meditation training and progression towards the advanced MEA.

  From the descriptions of the advanced MEA in this section we can see that these are not characterized as mystical and unreachable states. These states are the natural culmination of long-term meditation training and need to be sustained with further practice. The qualities of these states involve both cognizant elements of wisdom and emotional qualities such as unconditional compassion. However, in discussing and describing these states, we need to remember that their qualities are beyond conceptual descriptions and can be fully understood only at the phenomenological level – experientially.

  Whilst keeping in mind that the nature of the five kinds of primordial awareness cannot be fully grasped conceptually, it would be helpful for the field of meditation research to include these advanced MEA in its considerations without oversimplification or trivialization.
The current lack of discussion about these states is perhaps one of the reasons why terms traditionally describing pristine awareness and its aspects are relatively often used in descriptions of initial existential insights arising in the context of secular meditation training. For example, the term ‘direct perception’ is in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen applied in descriptions of the perception of reality (through the five kinds of enlightened wisdom) which is not clouded by the ordinary illusory notions of self and conventional reality. The direct perception arises when the ordinary mind, the afflictive mind and the substrate consciousness have been transformed into their pure forms. In contrast, in the context of secular mindfulness the same term is often used to describe non-reactive perceptions which are not heavily impacted by habitual patterns of thinking and emotional reactivity (e.g., Shapiro et al., 2006; Brown, Ryan and Cre-swell, 2007). While shifts towards this non-reactive way of perceiving can be supportive to the practitioners’ well-being, these states arise from the level of the ordinary mind with the afflictive awareness and substrate awareness present and contributing to the experience. This and similar conceptual confusions in the field of meditation research (e.g., Dorjee, 2010; Rosch, 2007) can only be clarified if we take a full view of the long-term meditation path and its goals.

  Developing the state of existential balance

  Practices supporting the highest levels of existential insight build on the foundations of meditations which develop motivation/intention for the practice, mindfulness, meta-awareness and qualities of compassion, loving kindness, rejoicing and equanimity together with progressively more advanced levels of existential insight. Only when sufficient stability of the ordinary mind and the substrate consciousness has been achieved through these practices is the meditator able to turn to deep self-inquiry and inquiry into the nature of reality. This process expands the previously established existential insight into the transient nature of habitual patterns of thinking, behaviour, emotions etc. together with initial insights into the construed nature of the self. The transition from these insight practices into the most advanced ones can be supported by visualization-based meditations with emphasis on abiding in pristine awareness as the source of the deity visualization and by focusing on the deity as an embodiment of the five kinds of enlightened wisdom.

  The actual practices which enable insight into the nature of mind and reality can have different forms. In the tradition of Dzogchen the practitioner closely relies on the guidance of a realized master who himself/herself has experience with abiding in the pristine awareness. Such a teacher is able to introduce the practitioner to pristine awareness directly, by sharing in the experience of pristine awareness or by providing the student with teachings pointing to experiential realization of pristine awareness. After the initial glimpse of pristine awareness, the practitioner is encouraged to practice accessing pristine awareness on their own. The practitioner is encouraged to practice increasingly more frequent glimpses of abiding in pristine awareness and also gradually try to increase the duration of abiding in that experience. There are also further meditation practices enabling the practitioner to deepen their realization and fully manifest the five kinds of primordial awareness (Gyaltrul and Wallace, 1998). However, these practices are only taught to practitioners who have strongly stabilized their mind in previous meditation training and have the right motivation/intention for the practices.

  Another group of practices which enable the practitioner to develop the realization of pristine awareness comprises meditations of dream yoga and practices preparing the practitioner for the process of dying. As explained in the previous chapter, the practice of dream yoga can be instrumental in facilitating increasingly advanced levels of existential insight into the nature of self and reality through testing similarities and differences between the dream and awake states. This can create the basis of another type of dream yoga practice which targets the experience of falling asleep. Tibetan Buddhist teachings outline the progression of dissolution of energies in the body followed by dissolution of levels of consciousness when we are falling asleep (Dalai Lama, 2002). According to these teachings, this dissolution process while falling asleep mimics the actual dissolution of bodily energies and consciousness at the time of death. Obviously, the process of falling asleep does not represent the full dissolution and is reversible when we are awakening from sleep, but it presents an excellent opportunity to recognize the pristine awareness. This is because at the end of the dissolution process pristine awareness is revealed.

  However, for a practitioner whose mind has not been sufficiently stabilized the experience of pristine awareness when falling asleep may be too brief to notice and they may not have developed sufficient levels of meta-awareness to be able to notice the dissolution process in the first place. Yet, for experienced practitioners who are aware of the dissolution process as it is happening, this can present a valuable opportunity to abide in pristine awareness, which further enhances their existential insight. This is because during the consciousness dissolution process the layers of the ordinary mind and substrate consciousness gradually subside and the pristine awareness is revealed. In addition to experiencing pristine awareness during the process of falling asleep, the practitioner has another opportunity to abide in pristine awareness before waking up when the dissolution process progresses in the reverse order.

  The dissolution of bodily energies followed by dissolution of consciousness fully unfolds only as part of the process of dying. Accordingly, meditation training in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition emphasizes the importance of gaining familiarity with the dissolution process so that the practitioner can face it without fear or attachment and embrace it as an opportunity enhance their existential insight. In the final stage of consciousness dissolution the dharmadhātu space is fully revealed with more clarity and intensity than while falling asleep. A practitioner can use this opportunity to recognize the dharmadhātu as the nature of her mind and through this fully manifest the pristine awareness. The dream yoga practices preparing the practitioner for this process, as well as daytime practices in which the practitioner is able to abide in pristine awareness, increase the likelihood that the practitioner will recognize his/her nature of mind at the time of death. The teachings suggest that the time a practitioner is able to spend in pristine awareness while alive is multiplied by seven when abiding in pristine awareness at the time of death.

  One of the common misconceptions about the advanced MEA including pristine awareness is that once the meditator achieves one of these advanced levels of existential insight, they abide at this level and can only progress further towards even more advanced MEA. This is not the case for the vast majority of practitioners; sometimes glimpses of the more advanced states are experienced by relative beginners to meditation. However, they are not able to sustain the advanced MEA because of insufficient motivational/intentional and self-regulatory foundations of their meditation practice. Accordingly, the main task for advanced practitioners who experienced glimpses of pristine awareness is to repeatedly experience the state for increasingly longer periods of time until it is maintained all of the time, during their daytime and sleep hours.

  Neuroscience of the state of existential balance

  Very few studies investigated neural correlates of the most advanced states of existential awareness. This is perhaps not surprising given that there is very little theoretical research in the Western scientific literature which would build the basis for empirical research on such states. In addition, it is very difficult to find practitioners who are able to produce such states at will in laboratory environments. We also don’t know what the best way might be to assess different levels of these advanced MEA and how to ensure comparability of the states across meditators.

  However, the main challenge of research investigating the neural correlates of MEA, and particularly the most advanced MEA, is the need for dissociating the brain activity specific to MEA from other support processes such as attention
control, regulation of emotions or conceptual processing. This is very difficult to do in practice because abiding at different levels of MEA is intertwined with differences in employing these other, more basic cognitive processes. For example, abiding in the ground of substrate consciousness might be for some practitioners easier than abiding in pristine awareness, so the resulting brain activity will be inevitably ‘contaminated’ by more attentional effort in the latter case. A similar argument can also be made in the opposite direction: a practitioner who is accustomed to abiding in pristine awareness may find it difficult, possibly even uncomfortable, to switch to the substrate or any ‘lower’ MEA. This in itself would modify the brain activity and make it difficult to distinguish changes due to MEA and due to the other cognitive processes. So the findings of studies investigating MEA will need to carefully control for the contribution from processes non-specific to MEA to the resulting brain patterns.

  Only one study so far aimed to directly assess the state of non-dual awareness (Josipovic, 2014). Over 20 advanced Tibetan Buddhist meditators in the study were asked to practice focused attention in one part of the study and to abide in the state of non-dual awareness in another part of the study. Their brain activity was recorded during the meditations using fMRI with particular focus on patterns of connectivity between different brain areas. The results revealed a clearly different pattern of brain activity in focused meditation and in the state of non-dual awareness. One of the main distinctive features of brain activity during the non-dual state was increased functional connectivity between the central precuneus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The author of the study suggested that the connectivity between these two regions might index the different gradients of non-dual awareness.