Pitch instruction of recognizing awareness | Live Fully in the Now, Conscious Stillness

Emptiness

Instruction of recognizing awareness

Pure awareness and emptiness are like water and its wetness

Recognizing non-personal awareness

In the silence of my meditation, a methodology arose from the depth of stillness – seven steps I have followed to dissolve the confusion of the mind. As a humble guide, I offer this methodology, not from my own grasp, but as a light for deeper self-understanding and insight into the mind. – by Huan Minh Vuong

In this methodology, I guide a contemplative investigation into the nature of awareness and its relationship to all phenomena. At the core of this approach is a dynamic interplay between awareness and the ever-changing flow of thoughts, emotions, feelings, and the sense of self – what we often call the “I.” On one side, we observe these ever-shifting phenomena: the gross and subtle aspects of the ego, fleeting emotions, and transient thoughts. On the other side, we turn our gaze toward awareness itself – empty, yet inherently aware.

The purpose of this investigation is to discern what comes and goes – what arises and dissolves – and what, in contrast, remains constant. By looking deeply into the changing flow of thoughts, emotions, and the ego, we come to see that, despite the passage of time – from birth until now – there is something within us that remains unchanged. Day by day, month by month, year by year, something keeps us present – something that does not rise and fall in the next moment, but always affirms that we are here. Thus, the essential aim of this investigation is to see what this underlying truth is – this essential nature within us.

This methodology is an invitation for the practitioner to look deeply into every step of the seven points – not just from the level of the thinking mind, but to use thinking as a precise tool – like a knife or a sword – that cuts through each inquiry. In this way, the practitioner investigates, observes, and experiences every thought, emotion, and feeling within themselves – not merely thinking, but truly seeing and experiencing – so that they may recognize and actualize the emptiness within themselves – empty, yet aware.

Methodology: Investigation into Pure Awareness

1. Find the owner of awareness

Investigate whether there is an owner of awareness.
Ask whether change itself could be the owner of awareness.

2. Can constant change of phenomenas have ownership of awareness

Change is happening constantly.
If there were an owner, even for a split second, that owner would diminish and die away as change occurs.
Therefore, there cannot be a constant, permanent owner of awareness.

3. Investigate the relationship between awareness and change of phenomenas

Ask: Who is aware of whom?
Is change aware of awareness?
Or is awareness aware of change?

4. Investigate whether awareness itself changes or is constant

Now that it is seen that awareness is aware of change, investigate whether awareness itself changes.
Examine this in every moment.
If awareness changes, ask: How does it change?
If awareness is constant, ask: How do we know it is constant?

5. Investigate whether awareness has identity or ego

Investigate whether awareness has an identity.
When looking for the ego or identity of awareness, none can be found.
Awareness is empty by itself, yet it is aware.
Therefore, awareness is a unity of emptiness and awareness.

6. Recognize what remains beyond change and emptiness

Between change and the emptiness of awareness, only awareness itself remains.
There is no “my awareness” or “I am aware.”
There is only awareness itself.
Everything that changes passes away.
Awareness remains by its own existence.
It is spontaneous and always present.

7. Recognize the unity between emptiness, awareness and peaceful stillness

Feel the background inner stillness.
Within stillness, awareness is un-avoidable present.
When investigating deeply into awareness, nothing can be found within it.
Awareness is by its nature “empty“ (but not purely void of energy, potentiality, existence and life). “Emptiness” means that all things lack inherent or independent existence. This means that everything that comes into being depends on causes and conditions, and when those causes and conditions cease or reverse, the thing dissolves and returns to a state of emptiness or pure potential. This emptiness is the fundamental nature of all things and is the point at which the emptiness of matter and the emptiness of awareness are revealed to be the same; a common ground shared by both matter and awareness.
Therefore, stillness, emptiness, and awareness are not separate, but are a unity.

Step-by-step recognizing non-personal awareness

Note tension and unnaturalness in the body, adjust it until the body feels right
Do heavy breathing where the emphasis is on the out-breath
Roll the eyes upwards to enter meditation, and let them gradually descend (as the mind calms down)
Go into the subtle mind, and know that awareness is unavoidable and is always present, and forget all ideas of name and form, images, identification of self (just like in dreamless sleep) *
Rest in the stand still (stillness) of awareness, emptiness and peacefull stillness *

* These are the essential point in deep meditation to enter the mind of clear light; pure awareness.

Notes of keypoints to unlock the mind:

“When there is a ‘point of view’ in the subtle state of meditation then there is still a sense of a subtle “I” still remaining. Free this point of view by resting in the unity between awaressness, emptiness and peaceful stillness”

“Surrender to og listen to Awareness as a son listen to his caring mother.”

“In all experiences there is a background stillness”

“Let the silent within yourself listens to the silent in awareness”

“When the mind rests, it descends to the chest area and stay there”

“The breath tends to stop when the mind is at rest in the subtle mind”

“To know awareness, or to recognize awareness, does not mean to know awareness as an object to be observed or experienced, but to recognize that we are in awareness. It is to know that you still know, without knowing the knower, because the knower cannot be known. So, by resting and knowing, you still know—that is how to recognize awareness.”

Shantideva dedicated himself to deep practice and study at Nalanda monastery, often in quiet and humble solitude.

– Download the 120-page Shantideva guide [english version]

Shantideva's methodology

1. The Starting Point: Questioning the Fixed Self”

Śāntideva begins by asking us to examine the sense of “I.” We often assume a stable self, but when we look closely, we see that this “I” is just a stream of changing experiences—thoughts, sensations, and feelings.

2. Observing the Flow of Experience”

He invites us to sit quietly and simply notice what arises. Each moment, we feel a sensation, a thought, a mood—none of them are fixed. By watching this flow, we realize that the “I” is not a constant owner, but a pattern we project onto changing events.

3. The Danger of Identification”

Śāntideva warns that when we identify with fleeting thoughts and sensations, we trap ourselves in suffering. Every time we say, “I am this thought,” or “I am this feeling,” we cling to something that is always shifting, causing frustration.

4. Practicing Awareness Without Clinging”

We learn to rest in simple awareness by letting go of labels. Instead of saying, “I am aware,” we just notice: awareness is present, naturally. Śāntideva says, don’t force it—just observe how awareness happens as a background to every experience.

5. Seeing Through the Illusion of “I”

He encourages us to ask, “Who is it that is aware?” As we investigate, we realize no fixed observer can be found. Instead, we see that awareness is like a mirror—clear, but not owning what it reflects.

6. Investigating Moment by Moment

Śāntideva advises us to look carefully, moment by moment. When we see a thought arise, we ask: who is thinking? When a feeling appears, we ask: who is feeling? Each time, we find no independent owner—just awareness, open and free.

7. Letting Go of the Need for a Controller

As we practice, we realize we don’t have to grasp at a central “I” to keep awareness stable. Awareness is naturally here, always present. We simply let go of controlling or trying to maintain it. In that letting go, we discover a stable, open presence behind all passing thoughts.

8. Resting in Natural Awareness

Finally, Śāntideva guides us to rest in this natural awareness. We don’t need to force it, analyze it, or reach for something beyond. We simply allow awareness to be what it is—clear, open, and free from the need for an owner. In this resting, we see ourselves and the world with greater clarity, compassion, and freedom.