There are two types of seeing – See In, and See Out. In this practice you focus solely on the sense of Seeing, either see in or see out, and note/label where your attention goes within that space.
Meditating on See is a great technique for meditating with eyes open if you’re getting sleepy, it definitely can keep you from falling asleep in meditation! Great for meditating late at night, or if you need to meditate lying down for whatever reason. I’ve also meditated on See in art museums, which is a fantastic way to appreciate pieces of art especially if art isn’t really your thing.
You can also meditate on See while going about your day for the most part – this meditation is helping you to be extra conscious and aware of your environment.
The idea is to wait in conscious awareness (like a cat at a mousehole) until something in See Space captures your attention, and then note and label it either See In or See Out depending on which it is. Some people note each time a new See experience comes up, others get into a rhythm and note at the bottom of each out breath whatever is capturing their attention at the time.
The rules here are fairly fluid, and there’s no real “doing it wrong” unless you aren’t doing it! In between labels you might be drawn to other sense areas – hearing or feeling – which is fine. You’re just concerned in this meditation with noting the “Sees” that capture your attention. So, to continue the analogy – you’re waiting like a cat at a mousehole for a mouse (see) to appear, and while you’re waiting a spider runs by. You obviously see it, but you just let it continue on so you can focus on the mousehole, and the arising of the next See experience.
If for whatever reason you are drawn away into thinking, planning, memory or fantasy – all you need to do is bring your attention back to the mousehole without judgement. Over and Over and Over again. It’s no big deal at all, and happens frequently even to the most experienced meditators.
See In
See in is the mental screen in your mind. When you hear the word “mother” or “home” you probably have an image that comes to mind associated with that word. That is a See In experience.
In meditation we might see pictures on the screen or elsewhere in our heads where we have visual thinking. Other See In experiences that are fairly common include dancing lights, patterns, and other psychedelic flowy visuals. All totally normal, and all would be simply labelled with “See In”.
It’s relatively common to not have many See In experiences with eyes closed. However, often when we get pulled away into thinking, its typically a See In and Hear In combined experience. So in that case, if you find yourself thinking note whatever See Ins you might have associated with those thoughts.
If no particular visual thoughts are coming up, and the screen is blank – you can simply note REST at the end of the out breath. This denotes a pause in sensory experience.
See Out
See out are all the “sees” that are happening with your eyes open in the world around you. See out can be tricky, because it’s really easy for our attention to get carried off into thought with visual experience. It can also be overwhelming depending on where you are physically located. If you’re meditating while walking down a city street, you might have several See experiences happening at once! You just need to chose one to note/label. Don’t worry about noting and labeling every single See Out – just the things that capture your attention. If you try and note every See Out you might start feeling a bit overwhelmed, so just chose a rhythm and stick with it.
To keep focused you can keep your attention on that see experience for the whole breath while you’re waiting for the next see experience to arise. If for some reason that See experience goes away before the next breath where you’d otherwise note, then you can label that GONE. GONE is a slightly more advanced label, but can be used at all levels to note when things pass out of direct experience. Again, if there is nothing particular catching your attention (unlikely with See Out) – just label that gap REST.
To do the technique formally, as you sit with eyes closed or open, simply note at the bottom of each breath whatever SEE is capturing your attention. It can be either a see out or a see in. Here’s a quick example of what that might look like while walking:
While walking you see a dog and label “See Out”, the dog brings to mind your dog and you see an image in your mind: “See In”. Someone honks their horn, you notice the sound creates a mental image of a car and note “See In”. You see a butterfly “See Out”, the butterfly flies away before the next breath “Gone”. Nothing is happening or catching your attention “Rest”. You’re drawn into thinking about your mother. You catch yourself thinking and note “See In” for the internal picture of your mother.
Etc Etc Etc until your time is up. Notice in that example I used a situation where Hear and See might overlap. This happens often, and is in some ways the point of practice. Its excellent to practice separating the different experiences from one another to see them clearly as they are!
So, this sums up the SEE practice. Because of the nature of this practice, it’s very versatile to use just about anywhere! Even in an informal setting you can start paying more attention to when you have visual thoughts come into your head, and how they arise from or vanish into other sensory experiences. Over time and with practice this can lead to real insights about our sensory experience, and how we see the whole world.
the Good Heretic 