Mindfulness Meditation Notebook by Richard Clarke - HTML preview

8: VEDANA

Today I will talk about what Buddha called “Vedana.”

Vedana is a starting point for your internal examination of your mental activity about things, feelings, and thoughts. Vedana was one of the “Four Foundations of mindfulness” from the Buddha, 2500 years ago.

What you have been doing, mindfulness of breath, is the first stage of mindfulness. Stage 2 is starting to understand the mind, your mental patterns and conditioning, especially what leads to them. At further stages, you can start to see you are free from all this.

Vedana defined

Vedana can be translated as “Feeling tone.” Being mindful of feeling‐ tone takes mindfulness to its second stage. These are instinctual responses to sense objects either physical or mental. They occur when you first make mental contact with a sense object or idea. They appear as sensations, either as ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ or ‘neutral.’ It is the first two that are formative of desire and attachment and which are most important when it comes to life, and your ability to free yourself from your own internal conditioning.

Whenever we see, hear, touch something, and when thoughts and feelings first arise they are immediately accompanied by a sensation, a feeling‐tone, that can either be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This is vedana. You are attracted, repulsed, or you just don’t care. Sometimes these are overt, such as when we put a food in our mouth that we like or dislike and there is an instant reaction to it. This is vedana. It can also arise in connection with thoughts and memories which can be also pleasant or unpleasant.

Just reflect on the sensation, is it pleasant or unpleasant? Vedana moves us to action and becomes the basis for the emotional responses and conditioning.

So when we hear a sound (ring bell), we might sense it as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When we hear a different sound (bang on table), we might have a different experience. We might have a thought about a loved one and experience “pleasant.” We might have a thought about taking out the garbage and experience “unpleasant” or “neutral.” This immediate reaction is vedana.

Vedana appears as a ‘movement towards’ or a ‘movement away’ from an object. For example a cat (yes, all living beings show this response), gravitates to the warmest part of a room. You can pick her up and move her but she just returns as soon as possible again.

This response is active in the formation of habits. A preferred habit is accompanied by a pleasant feeling and as such tends to be repeated. Thus vedana conditions our tastes, not only for food but for music, interests, views and opinions of others.

Just reflect on the sensation when hearing a view that we disagree with. Is it pleasant or unpleasant? As such vedana moves us to action and becomes the basis for the emotional responses and conditioning.

Vedana moves us from unpleasant towards the pleasant. Often this is quite unconscious. Habits reassert themselves through this mechanism.

If we are unconscious of the arising of vedana then it simply takes over. Vedana being instinctual can ‘blind’ us and can become a problem, like when we try to change a habit, say give up smoking or go on a diet (or start a meditation practice!).

Awareness of arising vedana allows us to make a choice, to either follow it or not, to contain it and act despite the fact that it may be momentarily unpleasant. This is the way we can modify our behavior. I think this is particularly important.

If we are unconscious of this mechanism then there is no choice available and we just ‘act blindly,’ unaware that we are subject to this primitive response mechanism; our own internal conditioning.

So we can train ourselves to begin to become aware of the arising of this vedana, the pleasant/unpleasant/neutral sense. Most of the time it is quite subtle and we are only aware of the stronger manifestations of it. But over time and with persistence, even quite small arising of vedana can be caught in awareness and when it does, then the choice to follow or not becomes available.

EXERCISE ON FEELING‐TONE

This exercise is simply about noticing whatever you are sensing or feeling, at the moment you are feeling it, with a gentle, non‐judgmental acceptance and curiosity. Notice the feeling‐tone, and the feelings and thoughts that come with it.

Start off this exercise by becoming mindful of your breath.

Allow yourself now to notice any emotions (mental feelings) or body feelings you are experiencing. If names for these emotions emerge that is fine – if they don’t, just be aware of them, even if they seem vague.

Notice where they are located in your body – your head, throat, chest, stomach, abdomen, gut? Notice if the physical sensation moves, drifts or shifts.

Notice what they make you feel like – nauseous, queasy, calm, relaxed, tense?

Notice whether you are drawn to this feeling, or want to avoid it.

Notice any thoughts that come with the emotions – be aware of them just as thoughts, curiously and without judgment.

Allow yourself to just sit with and notice with awareness the shifting and movement of thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in your body.

In all this, notice you are the observer, the witness of the mind. No thought actually touches you. Thoughts have only the power that you give to them.

Now I am going to say some words. Notice for each word: your initial response, the immediate feeling‐tone – whether you are attracted or want to avoid, or don’t care. Notice any body sensations or thoughts or images that arise, and how they feel. Notice any thoughts that come, too.

NOW, ONTO OUR MEDITATION … 23 MINUTE GUIDED MEDITATION ON VEDANA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izvy‐wPw2FE