Page 153 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

Some of the main characteristics of unmindfulness should now
be clear. Unmindfulness is a state of forgetfulness, of distraction,

of poor concentration, of an absence of continuity of purpose or
of drift, and of no real individuality. Mindfulness, of course, has
just the opposite characteristics. It is a state of recollection, of

undistractedness, of concentration, or continuity and
steadfastness of purpose, and of continually developing

individuality. All these characteristics are connoted by the term
'awareness' and, especially, by Perfect Awareness. Not that
Perfect Awareness is fully defined by these characteristics, but

they are enough for us to be getting on with for the time being.
They will serve to give us a general idea of what mindfulness or

awareness is, and of what Perfect Awareness is.

Let us now turn to our main theme, which is, of course, the levels

of awareness. Traditionally these levels are arranged or ordered
in various ways, but on this occasion I propose to discuss the

levels of awareness under four principal headings. These
headings are (1 ) awareness of things, (2) awareness of self, (3)
awareness of others, i.e. other people, and (4) awareness of

Reality, or of Truth, or the Ultimate. By considering the levels of
awareness under these four main headings we shall, I hope, be

able to obtain a fairly comprehensive idea of the true nature of
Perfect Awareness.

(1) Awareness of Things
When we speak of 'things' we mean material things such as a

book or a table. We mean our whole material environment, full
of so many different objects. We mean, in short, the whole realm
of nature. Most of the time, of course, we are just vaguely

conscious

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