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It is commonly called ānotingā, and has its origins in Sutta 111 of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (or Majjhima Nikaya [MN], very worthwhile reading), usually referred to as MN 111, called āOne by One as They Occurredā, and in MN 10, Satipatthana Sutta (variously translated as āFour Foundations of Mindfulnessā, or āFrames of Referenceā, etc.), as well as Sutta 22, Mahasatipatthana Sutta (āGreater Discourse on Mindfulnessā) of the Long Discourses of the Buddha (or Digha Nikaya [DN]), usually referred to as DN 22. Noting is used primarily in the Mahasi Sayadaw insight tradition from Burma, though related exercises can be found in various Zen traditions, notably Soto Zen and Korean Chan, such as repeatedly asking, āWhat is this?ā
Noting is the exercise that gained for me the most breaks and insights in my early practice, particularly when done on retreats, and because of that my enthusiasm for it is extreme. I still consider it the core foundation of my early to middle practice, the technique that I fell back on when things turned difficult or when I really wanted to push deep into new insight territory.
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The practice is this: make a quiet, mental one-word note of whatever you experience in each moment. Try to stay with the sensations of breathing, which may occur in many places, noting these quickly as ārisingā (as many times as the sensations of the breath rising are experienced) and then āfallingā in the same way. These are the fundamental insight practice instructions. When the mind wanders, notes might include āthinkingā, āfeelingā, āpressureā, ātensionā, āwanderingā, āanticipatingā, āseeingā, āhearingā, ācoldā, āhotā, āpainā, āpleasureā, etc.
Note these sensations one by one as they occur and then return to the sensations of breathing. When walking, note the feet moving as āliftingā and āplacingā, or as āliftingā, āmovingā, and āplacingā as you perceive each of the many sensations of all those processes, noticing other sensations as they arise and returning simply to the sensations of the feet walking.
The details of this practice can be found in such books as Practical Insight Meditation, by Mahasi Sayadaw, which I highly recommend, available free online in various places and in book form. This is my all-time favorite dharma book. It is short and to the point. Its instructions work and the promised effects are reproducible. The first forty-two pages are total gold. There is no need for me to repeat much of the useful information found there, as it is pithy and now readily available online.
I just did this for a whole bike ride, noting everything that caught my attention. Itās far from āfocusedā but I remained aware the entire during, while losing track of time and thus impatience. Usually I get lost in thought when I try to be mindful, but I was able to simply label a thought or perception and move on. There are a lot of sensations if you pay attention so it will be challenging but thatās what keeps the mind engaged. You donāt need to be aware of everything at once, just wherever your attention is at a given moment. As well as other benefits, I feel like being aware of how everything is constantly changing helps one perceive life as more novel and thus less boring and miserable.
Iām sure itās great if youāre not ADHD as well, as thatās the case with the author.
Iām not particularly sectarian and still investigating various schools and such, but screw non-judgment, I hate seeing mainstream and new age bullshit where people just want to be happy all the time. I donāt trust anyone who isnāt a communist or a monk when it comes to this stuff (well, actually not a fan of religious institutions either for the most part). Whenever I hear some self help - if āscience basedā thing talking about certain benefits of meditation I cringe. Fuck blissing out or making illusions more comfy, Iām in this for insight into the true nature of reality. Even advice to lean into the good feelings of meditation by more trusted sources I contradict. I perpetually suffer, and suffering makes a better object of meditation than whatever bs.
That experience sucks. Iām glad I came at this from a philosophically informed place while learning about AuDHD.
Edit: also gotta hate pseudo eastern bs that tries to embolden the self. Like I get people have self esteem issues and people need help with that, but itās silly to aim to think highly of āyourselfā when the goal of these source traditions is to reduce suffering by realizing the illusory nature of that idea. Relatedly āmindfulnessā and āmantrasā as excuses to be selfish and ignore interconnection. No the Buddha was not trying to enhance fucking hedonism. No you shouldnāt ignore your ājudgementā about the immorality of something. We should be striving to be bodhisattvas feeling the suffering of the world. The utter perversion of ruling class dominant ideology cooptation.
Yeah new age shit gives me the ick and itās weird seeing how institutionalised it has become. I was actually reading a book titled The Happiness Industry by William Davies while later working in the mental health sector and I had to put it down because I was like āThis is right and all very accurate but I need to keep my job and Iām going to lose my frickin mind if I keep reading this critique of the industry that Iām part ofā, because it felt a lot like working in a bureaucracy while reading Kafka for leisure or something - Iām not a masochist. But anyway I feel like you might find that book interesting given what youāve said here. One other book recommendation that you might find interesting is The Places that Scare You by Pema Chodron. Iām a very critical of her particular school of Buddhism and the book itself has some fawning worship of figures which Iād encourage you to skip over without a momentās hesitation but the actual book itself its a very practical angle on the Buddhist approach to compassion in quite simple and contemporary terms. I donāt really talk about it often because Iām pretty ex-Buddhist but if youāve seen me posting on this comm about the peer support drop-in spaces that Iāve been running recently, that book is definitely something that I draw upon as an influence for how I do that work.
āI donāt care if your third eye is open if you donāt care about other people.ā I may one day check those out. Probably preferable to the boring stuff about neurons and meditation Iām reading.
I love the ideas so itās sad to me when people donāt like Buddhism, but considering how much class society has corrupted it in practice I understand. Books are nice but I donāt think I could trust any real life religious leaders at this point. I donāt really trust any neurotypical with handling the dharma responsibly as long as we donāt live in socialism. Thereās this Tibetan monk I watch on YouTube and itās fascinating the obvious (to my autistic Marxist brain) critiques he makes of normie spiritual seekers. It seems like they just immediately put their trust in anyone with fancy robes. And of course this critical thinking guy is still saying there is no way to practice nearly as good as with a teacher. Meanwhile his tradition is riddled with contradictions. Sure thereās badass ascetics, but they also had a society of 98% slaves not too long ago. Heās all about lineage holders and maybe there are cool ones, but even he acknowledges that thereās a bunch of rich lamas who take a ton of money to mispractice.
Edit: probably not going to retain the details, but reading your past Buddhism effort posts are pretty interesting