All your senses are invoked in higher initiations and they are living consciousnesses and they are unique. They are like separate beings; they also dance together and interrelate. Not only do these sense doors exist in the sense organs but even down in the cells and atoms of your body there are eyes, ears, noses etc. They are to be found in any part of the universe you want to name. They can be found in trees, in all creatures on this or any other planet. All beings have these five doorways of perception.
Namgyal Rinpoche in The Meditation on Peace; Bodhi Publishing, 1987
In his writings on the nature of the human being, Carl Gustav Jung outlines four primary functions, each of which has an extroverted and an introverted capacity. He arranged the four in a mandala around a cardinal cross, like this:
sensing/physical
evaluation/feeling
intellect/analysis
intuition/pattern perception
and commented that everyone has strength in one of these functions, weakness in another, with the remaining two somewhere in between.
In order to strengthen any one of the functions, Jung suggests working with its partner opposite. Thus, to strengthen one's intuitive capacity, very much the territory of meditation practice, one can work directly with the sensing functions.
All the data we receive about our inner and outer experience arrives through the doorways of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body consciousness. Through the mind-door flow concepts with which we organize these sensations and formulate a view, or belief, about reality. To heal and awaken the senses is therefore a fundamental part of the journey of liberation.
In the Satipatthana Sutta (Number 10 in the Majjhima Nikaya), commonly referred to in English as The Foundations of Mindfulness, the Buddha instructed his students in four basic contemplations on body, feeling, mind and mind-objects. Each of these contemplations contains various formal meditation practices, as well as awareness exercises designed as a process to develop a continuum of awareness at all times. In ,the teaching on mind-objects, he teaches:
Here a bhikkhu understands the eye, he understands forms, and he understands the fetter that arises dependent on both; and he also understands how there comes to be the arising of the unarisen fetter, and how there comes to be the abandoning of the arisen fetter, and how there comes to be the future non-arising of the abandoned fetter.
He understands the ear, he understands sounds. . . He understands the nose, he understands odours. . . He understands the tongue, he understands flavours. . . He understands the body, he understands tangibles. . . He understands the mind, he understands mind-objects, and he understands the fetter that arises dependent on both; and he also understands how there comes to be the arising of the unarisen fetter, and how there comes to be the abandoning of the arisen fetter, and how there comes to be the future non-arising of the abandoned fetter.
Study of the senses provides us with the opportunity of perceiving the fascination or clinging (whether it be acceptance or rejection) that arises when one of the sense consciousnesses fastens on a object and thus provides the means through which we can eradicate that quality of clinging from the psyche. It is subtle, interesting, mature work.
For the average meditator however, the initial challenge is to improve the quantity and quality of sensory awareness. Fortunately, healing and awakening the sense bases is an interesting and pleasurable exploration!
Diane Ackerman, in A Natural History of the Senses is a wonderful guide to the science, mystery, pleasure and transcendence of sensing. "The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day. Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding, and, despite all its dimensions, valleys, pinnacles, and detours, life will seem to have none of its magnificent geography, only a length. It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between."
Here's some ways to broaden and deepen our appreciation of that territory in between!
1. Practice the Meditation on Peace daily.
2. Cultivate states of absorption (jhana) through concentration on sensory objects found in nature: shells, crystals, spider webs, flowers, bubbles, pollywogs, wind in grass or trees, flame (gently, carefully), water (as solid, liquid and gas), leaves, stalks (especially hollow ones), newly-turned earth, whirlpools (again, carefully), seeds, feathers, dandelion fluff, trees, sky (by day, careful not to stare into the sun, and night).
3. Use microscopes, binoculars, telescopes etc. to extend the range of your eyes.
4. Learn how a camera works. Consciously take photos with awareness of the perceptual choices you make in framing a picture.
5. Study the anatomy of the eye.
6. Draw. Work with the basic forms of Universe (spirals, crystals, wheels, networks, tubes, flowers, and so forth).
7. Study and draw the structures of the human body.
8. Study optical illusions.
9. Meditate on and explore colour, paying particular attention to its effect on the body, emotions and mental states.
10. Cultivate different ways of seeing: squint slightly, or unfocus the eyes. Cover one eye for a while. Cover both and explore the effect of changes in light on the organism without sight. Try seeing things from the eagle's eye view, the worm's eye view. Tilt your head to one side and go about simple activities in your home. Find a comfortable upside-down position and observe for a time.
11. REALLY observe something familiar outside (like a tree) as the light changes during the course of the day.
12. Spend time as twilight falls observing the changes in visual perception.
13. Do drawings of objects using only white, black and shades in between.
14. Ponder the questions: "what is form?" What is sight?" "Who is seeing?"
15. Spin around (somersault, roll downhill) until you are comfortably, giddily dizzy and observe the changes in vision when you stop.
16. Which eye dominates? Make a circle with your thumb and forefinger and hold it at arm's length, lining up a small distant object in the circle. Now close your left eye. Is the target still in the circle? Try it with the right eye. Now look in a mirror. Is one eye larger than the other?
17. Roll a sheet of paper lengthwise to make a tube. Put the tube to one eye and focus on an object. Close your eyes and put your other hand a few inches in front of your other eye, palm toward you and the side of your hand touching the tube. Now open both your eyes. What happens?
18. Saturate the visual field by concentrating on a solid colour for a while. Now close your eyes. What colour do you see in your mind's eye?
19. Gently exercise your eye muscles to reduce tension and increase responsiveness. Slowly (take 30 seconds per rotation) roll the eyes all the way around, three times, first in one direction, then close the eyes briefly, open them and roll them in the other direction. Rest for a few moments. Now focus your eyes on an object across the room (or a point on the wall) and move your head around, keeping the eyes focused.
20. Change your focus often, from close-up to distant, especially if you work at a computer.
21. Meditate on sound: (a) With attention at one ear, sit for a full meditation session and just LISTEN.
22. Repeat the seed syllables OM AH HUM (or the mantra of any yidam you have permission to practice) with full attention on the sound.
23. Strike a tuning fork, gong, cymbals, a singing bowl or bell and listen to the sound as it fades. Continues to listen with the inner ear for that sound.
24. Go for a meditative walk (either formal or informal), ideally in natural surroundings, with eyes lowered (open just enough to see where you are going) and concentrate on the sounds you hear.
25. Explore the practice of sounding. Repeatedly hum or resonate any or all of the vowel sounds (to begin with), starting at a low register and gradually working higher in pitch to the limit of your vocal range. Then return slowly to low notes again.
26. Draw the anatomy of the ear.
27. Study the intricate process by which sound is perceived.
28. Listen to a shell (or a coffee cup!).
29. Bend your ears forward with your hands (or stand close to the wall at a corner of the room) and talk. Record your voice and listen to the sound of your voice as others hear it.
30. Listen to music: a piece you're familiar with; a piece you've never heard before; a piece that you don't like. Try to hear each selection completely, as if this is the only opportunity you will have to hear it and it is vitally important that you do.
31. Sing! Suspend judgment (see exercise 38) and enjoy the sound of your own voice. Try nursery rhymes, hymns or chants from church or temple that you learned as a child, hit songs from your adolescence.
32. Listen to the sounds of everyday activities, the sounds that usually just go by. Chopping vegetables. . . brushing your teeth . . . your feet walking across carpet, tile, grass, sandy beach . . . rustling the newspaper.
33. Gently block your outer ears and listen carefully to all the sounds coming from inside your body.
34. Take a walk through a busy downtown area, listening as carefully as you can. Take a tape recorder with you, recording the whole walk. When you get home, review the soundscape as you remember it, and then listen to the tape.
35. Listen for ten minutes with the attention at one ear, then switch the attention to the other ear for ten minutes. Try the same process while listening to the same piece of music twice.
36. Collect ten objects that you like. Sit with them one at a time, taking them in visually. Then ask the question: What is the sound of this? Listen to it. You can try and make the sound you hear with the inner ear.
37. Work with the koans: What is the sound of one hand clapping? What is the sound of the wooden fish?
38. Pay attention to the sense of hearing throughout the day. Particularly note the (almost) subliminal voices that speak to you. (Stupid girl! You'll never finish that on time! How many times do I have to tell you . . .?) Are your responses to these voices guilty? hurt? angry? resentful? critical? frightened? Confused?
39. What sounds do you hear when you dream?
40. Listen to the sound of a stream, a waterfall or waves lapping on the shore of a beach. Listen to the crackle of a campfire, the wind in the grass or trees, the purring of a cat.
41. Protect your ears and sense of hearing. Be aware of sounds that reach the pain threshold and cover your ears. Wear ear protection if you work with power driven equipment. This refers to food processors and dish washers as well as lawn movers and power tools.
42. Cut down on consumption of fatty foods (cholesterol impairs blood circulation to the inner ear and results in gradual hearing loss - a bigger problem for women, whose blood vessels are usually small to begin with).
43. Stop along life's journey and smell EVERYTHING -not only the roses! Notice the smell of your pencils, the shower curtain, your clothing, car, the earth, leaves from every tree you pass, the 'science experiment' you find at the back of the 'fridge. Notice the different responses to all these chemical messages.
44. What are the links between smell and emotional states?
45. Be aware of the power of scent to conjure memory. Go back through the files, compiling a smell biography. What scents can you remember from babyhood? from your grandmother's house? from going to church or temple? from your pets? from the first girl/boy you kissed? When a memory arises in the course of the day, ask: did an odour trigger this?
46. Experiment with essential oils of flowers, herbs and other plants. What physiological and psychological responses arise? Compare your discoveries with those of other people.
47. Investigate all the herbs and spices in your kitchen.
48. Be aware of the artificial odours around you -soap, shampoo, detergent and other cleaners, the warm plastic smell of the television when it has been on for a while. What is the smell in a shopping mall?
49. Smell your own skin and sweat. What reactions arise? If you use perfumed deodorants, soaps or colognes, or smoke, ask yourself why.
50. Be aware of changes in your own body scent when you're afraid, sexually aroused, angry or stressed or ill. What smell messages do you get from others when they are gripped by strong feelings or disease?
51. Get down on hands and knees, lower your eyes, and explore the world as a dog would, predominately by smell.
52. Explore ethnic neighbourhoods for the luxury of unfamiliar smells in shops, emanating from restaurants (not to mention people!).
53. Go for a walk, sniffing the air. Be aware of the scent-scape as you go. From time to time, stop and smell the breeze, with its many different odour messages from near and far.
54. Experiment: can you recall familiar scents? Spend at least 30 seconds bringing to mind each of the following: lake air, apples, newspaper, manure, tool box, strawberries, baby powder, tar, lilacs, lemons, gas, skunk, carnations, licorice, bread baking, air after a rain, freshly mown grass, cloves, popcorn, mint. Can you actually smell them?
55. Picture various colours, spending at least 30 seconds focusing on each one. Do smell associations arise with colours?
56. Try this with a friend, or in a group: wearing a blindfold, have someone present you with different, familiar-smelling items from around the house. Try to identify each item by smell alone.
57. Open your sense of smell to those odours you are conditioned to think of as unpleasant. Ask "what does this smell like?" and see what associations come to mind.
(a) Plug your nose before you eat a meal.
(b) Pause to thoroughly smell each sip or bite of food you bring to your mouth.
59. Experiment in sensing the four primary tastes: Where on the tongue are the taste receptors for sweet, salt, sour and bitter?
60. What character traits do you associate with these four tastes?
61. Taste the back of your hand. Prick your finger and taste blood.
62. How would you describe the taste that naturally exists in your mouth?
63. When you eat a meal, taste small amounts of different substances, rolling each mouthful over the whole surface of the tongue. Chew very thoroughly, noticing the change in taste of foods as the digestive enzymes in saliva begin to work on them. Notice how repeated tastes of one substance cause taste buds to desensitize.
64. Explore the relationship between smell and taste.
65. Explore the world the way a baby would, tasting, everything you encounter (no need to swallow!). Taste many unfamiliar things and try to name the associations.
66. Experiment with new foods, or with familiar ones prepared in a new way.
67. Every time you shop, bring home and taste something you have never tried before (even if you have no idea how its meant to be prepared!).
68. When traveling, be sure to sample local delicacies: rattlesnake, insects and sea cucumbers are prized dishes in some cultures.
69. Be curious about why you make the food choices you do. Why are there so many strange (and dogmatic) diets in our culture?
70. Watch for opportunities to explore local wild foods with a naturalist or at a food seminar.
71. De-condition your habitual eating patterns by fasting periodically (with appropriate medical advice and support).. After ten days eating only plain cooked white rice, seasoned with a small amount of sea salt or sesame oil and only pure water to drink, introduce foods one by one, gradually, beginning with cooked vegetables. The first taste on the tongue should tell you whether that food strengthens or weakens you.
72. Explore your taste addictions and rejections.
73. Meditate on the koan: what is the one taste?
74. Be aware in all postures of the sensation of support underneath you: ground under your feet, chair under your bottom, bed under your body.
75. Beginning at the toes, gently stimulate your entire body in an orderly way. Notice the sensations on the surface of the skin, both where you are working and in your hands.
76. Go for a swim (ideally in a natural setting), with awareness focused on the tactile information.
77. Afterwards, lie in the sun and dry off, maintaining awareness of the sensations of pressure, hot, cold, movement, tingling etc.
78. Use a tree as a scratching post.
79. Collect many differently textured objects (or visit the hand-on section of a good museum) and close your eyes, exploring each object thoroughly with only the sense of touch.
80. Walk barefoot in nature as much as possibly, exploring the sensitivity of the bottom of your feet.
81. Explore the tactile world with your face and lips. How does their tactile receptivity differ from that of your hands?
82. Prepare and eat an entire meal with your hands, paying attention only to the different touch messages from the food.
83. Be aware of how you use touch to soothe and stimulate yourself: hand-wringing, palm rubbing, wrapping the arms across the chest or midsection, pursing the lips, rubbing the upper thighs, the neck, the forehead. What habitual touch patterns have you acquired?
84. Ask a friend to wash, dry and brush your hair.
85. Ask yourself what tactile taboos have you been conditioned by. What tactile stimulation is ok, and what makes you uncomfortable? How closely do you associate pleasurable touch with sexual stimulation? Were you encouraged as a child to reach out and explore your world with your hands?
86. Get dirty! Play in the sand, the mud, the dust, roll on the ground.
87. Explore painful sensations (carefully) when they occur spontaneously. Also, generate safe experiments with heat and cold and pressure to examine the boundaries between neutral, pleasant, unpleasant and painful sensations.
88. How do you naturally use touch to soothe pain (physical and emotional)?
89. Assemble three bowls of water, one hot, one cold and one lukewarm. Place one hand in the hot water, and one in the cold and rest there for a few minutes. Then place both hands in the bowl of lukewarm water. What temperature is it?
90. Using a piano or a guitar, explore sound as vibration through the sense of touch, rather than the sense of hearing.
91. Blow up a balloon and hold it in your hands. Place your lips to it and make different sounds, feeling them vibrating surface of the balloon.
92. Extend your awareness of vibration to the whole surface of the skin. "Hear" a piece of music with your whole body. Feel the movement of traffic with your hands.
93. Get naked! Explore the difference in your awareness when the surface of the body is not muffled by clothing.
94. Do formal meditation on touch, focusing on all the tactile sensations that arise as you sit. Be particularly aware of the touch message from inside your body, as well as those picked up on the surface.
95. Spend some time observing a cat. Then imitate it's behavior.
96. Trade foot massages with a friend. Particularly notice the difference between the feet when one has been massaged and one hasn't. What is the effect of foot massage on the rest of your body?
97. Learn a little bit about the acupressure points so that you can relieve headaches, menstrual pain etc. without using drugs.
98. Pay attention to the messages your body is sending. Discomfort or pain tell you to be more alert, or to relax and let go. We build future illnesses for ourselves by tuning these important warnings out.
99. Play touch games. Communicate with someone by writing messages their back. Blindfold a friend and put their hands in cold spaghetti or dry lima beans or jell-o, tickle them with a feather or a clean straw brush, wrap their face in a warm, moist towel. Use your imagination!
100. Buy (or borrow) a pair of chrome Chinese Exercise Balls. (They come in different sizes; make sure you find a pair that fit comfortably in your hand).
101. What are your comfort boundaries with respect to touch? How do you react when a stranger bumps into you? on an elevator? in a queue? at a crowded event like a concert intermission or large party or reception? What are the touch boundaries in your family, with friends, with lovers?
102. Inquire whether a local hospital uses volunteers to massage premature infants and get involved if that interests you. Take a course in Therapeutic Touch or reflexology.
103. Visit local botanical or ornamental gardens and touch every leaf, every petal, trunk and stem you encounter. Observe how complex the tactile messages can be, as you try to name each separate experience.
104. If you are sexually intimate with someone, explore the range of tactile stimulus/ response of the whole body, not just the genitals or other erogenous zones.
105. Can you hear a colour? See a smell? Feel a sound? Explore if and how sensory messages come in through the doorway of another sense consciousness
106. Enrich your sensory vocabulary. Collect phrases that use sensory metaphors; be precise and detailed in describing what your perceptions are.
107. In meditation and dream, explore the expanded range of the senses. Try to describe (or better yet, draw) your own or someone else's energy field.
108. Record your adventures with all the senses and share your discoveries with others.
© Bonni Ross, 1996 All rights reserved.
Bonni first heard the teachings of the Buddha when she was 17. After ten years of fluffing around, she met Namgyal Rinpoche and got serious. His direct, eclectic teaching and example are central to her life. Encouragement from His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, teachings from many great Buddhist masters, as well as innovative artists, scientists, philosophers and mystery writers, have fuelled the quest.
Inspiration comes from “ordinary” people who demonstrate exceptional courage and compassion in the midst of great suffering. With her partner, Matthew Eades, she founded Sunshine Coast Retreat House in 2002 before moving to Nelson, New Zealand in 2017. After over 50 years of teaching and service in community, they will now focus on long term retreat at Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre, in Tasman New Zealand.
