In a Nutshell: Bare Attention
‘Bare Attention first allows things to speak for themselves, without interruption by final verdicts pronounced too hastily. Bare Attention gives them a chance to finish their speaking, and one will thus get to learn that, in fact, they have much to say about themselves, which formerly was mostly ignored by rashness or was drowned in the inner and outer noise in which ordinary people normally live. Because Bare Attention sees things without the narrowing and levelling effect of habitual judgements, it sees them ever anew, as if for the first time; therefore it will happen with progressive frequency that things will have something new and worthwhile to reveal. Patient pausing in such an attitude of Bare Attention will open wide horizons to one’s understanding, obtaining thus, in a seemingly effortless way, results which were denied to the strained efforts of an impatient intellect. Owing to a rash or habitual limiting, labelling, misjudging and mishandling of things, important sources of knowledge often remain closed... This attitude of Bare Attention will by persistent practice prove to be a rich source of knowledge and inspiration.’
Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, pp. 35-36
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