Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Awareness of Awareness
After steadying on an object, drop the object and rest in awareness itself — becoming ‘aware of awareness,’ the open knowing that is already present beneath every sound, sight, thought, and feeling.
Awareness of awareness: Steady briefly on any object, then let it go — don’t grasp a new one, don’t go blank. Rest as the open knowing that is aware of everything. Let thoughts, sounds and feelings arise and pass within it. When you get lost, notice that the noticing is awareness too, and relax again. Re-steady on an object whenever you need to.
What it is
This is the step after resting on an object. Once attention is a little steady, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (b. 1975) invites you to let the object go and simply rest in awareness itself. He puts the aim plainly: “The goal of attention, or shamatha, practice is to become aware of awareness.
Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the ‘support,’ of the mind.” In object practice you lean on a sound or a sensation; here you notice the knowing that was doing the leaning — the open, already-present awareness in which every sound, sight, thought and feeling appears.
Mingyur’s reassuring teaching is that you cannot actually lose this awareness — even a distracted, busy, or panicking mind is known by it — so the practice is less about achieving a state and more about recognising what is always already here.
The Method
A faithful outline of his publicly taught instruction:
- Begin with a support. Settle the mind for a minute or two on any object — breath, sound, sensation — as in the support practice. This gives the mind somewhere to land first.
- Let the object dissolve. Gently drop the deliberate focus. Don’t replace it with a new object and don’t try to make the mind blank — simply stop leaning on the support.
- Notice the knowing. Turn the gentle interest toward awareness itself: the open quality that is aware of whatever is happening. Mingyur: become “aware of awareness.” You are not looking at a thing; you are resting as the looking.
- Let everything arise within it. Thoughts, sounds, feelings keep coming — that’s fine. Let them appear and pass within awareness, like weather in open sky, without following or fighting them.
- When you get lost, that’s awareness too. If you realise you’ve been carried off by thought, notice that the very noticing is awareness waking up. There is nothing to fix; relax and rest again.
- Alternate freely with the support. Whenever the openness gets foggy or scattered, return to an object to re-steady, then release again. Mingyur teaches these two as partners, not a ladder you must finish. (Sourcing note: faithfully summarised from The Joy of Living and Mingyur’s published attention instructions; the deepest “recognition” of mind’s nature is traditionally introduced by a qualified teacher.)
Source & Lineage
Drawn from Mingyur Rinpoche’s Kagyu/Nyingma and Mahamudra/Dzogchen training, rendered in accessible form in The Joy of Living (2007) and the Tergar “Joy of Living” curriculum.
Mingyur’s documented participation in meditation neuroscience (Waisman Lab; Mind & Life) lends empirical texture to the attention training that underlies this step, even as the recognition of mind’s nature remains a contemplative view. → author node.
The Traditions' versions
“Drop the object and rest as awareness” is the hinge between concentration and insight across contemplative traditions; Mingyur’s accent is the gentle, reassuring continuity with object practice and the teaching that awareness is never lost: - Resting in Awareness (Anam Thubten) — also Dzogchen-flavoured, but accented on releasing the effort that sustains the self.
- Trekchö / cutting through (Dzogchen) — the more advanced recognition of rigpa, naked awareness.
- Being aware of being aware (Rupert Spira) — the non-dual “turn awareness on itself.”
- The glimpse (Loch Kelly) — a brief gesture into effortless awareness.
- Natural meditation (Surya Das) — panoramic, body-grounded open awareness.
Common refinements
Trying to make the mind blank. Objectless does not mean thoughtless; thoughts arise within awareness. Let them.
- Manufacturing a “special” awareness. You are noticing the ordinary knowing that’s already here, not producing a new exotic state.
- Going foggy or sleepy. If openness drifts into dullness, return to an object to brighten, then release again.
- Grading yourself. Getting lost and noticing it is the practice working — don’t turn it into failure.
- Skipping the support. Beginners who jump straight to “no object” usually just float in distraction; steady on a support first.