Knowingness

KNOWINGNESS

“knowing is enough”

 

In Buddhism, there is a term, knowing is enough. Also, the word knowing can be rendered as pure knowing. Is pure knowing a realm or quality that I can access? Also, is there a difference between knowing and knowingness? How do I access the wisdom and truth in pure knowing or pure knowingness? How can I practice this quality to understand my suffering?

That’s a profound and beautiful question. The phrase “knowing is enough” in Buddhist practice points directly to the heart of mindfulness — to rest in simple awareness itself without adding interpretation, resistance, or judgment. Let’s unfold your questions carefully and contemplatively.

1. What is “Pure Knowing”?

In Buddhist and contemplative traditions, pure knowing (sometimes called bare knowing, clear knowing, or knowing awareness) refers not to knowledge about something, but to the simple, luminous awareness that knows experience directly before thought or naming arises.

It is:

  • Non-conceptual — it precedes language, labels, or stories.

  • Effortless — it’s not something you do, but what you are in your deepest nature.

  • Impartial — it allows all experience (pleasant, painful, neutral) to appear and pass.

  • Silent and awake — the ground of all seeing, hearing, feeling, and thinking.

The Buddha often described this as “viññāṇaṁ anidassanaṁ” — consciousness that is luminous, not visible or graspable, yet present in all experience.

2. Is Pure Knowing a Realm or a Quality?

It is not a realm (not a place you go), but a quality of mind — a mode of being that is always here, though often obscured by reactivity, desire, or fear.

When mindfulness matures, we begin to recognize that this pure knowing has always been here, quietly aware of each moment. The clouds (thoughts, emotions, sensations) may change, but the sky of knowing remains open and unchanged.

You could say:

“Pure knowing is not something I enter — it is what remains when I stop leaving myself.”

3. Knowing vs. Knowingness

These two terms point to slightly different flavors of the same truth.

Knowing Knowingness
Implies an act or event: something is known. Implies an ongoing presence: the capacity to know.
May sound dualistic — “I know this thing.” Feels more nondual — simply “There is knowingness.”
Relates to mindfulness practice — being aware of thoughts, feelings, sensations. Points to awareness itself — that which is aware of mindfulness.

So, knowing can mature into knowingness — from a momentary act to the recognition of awareness as your very nature.

4. How to Access the Wisdom of Pure Knowing

This “access” is not by striving, but by relaxing into direct awareness.
Here’s a gentle practice:

  1. Pause and notice:
    Become aware that you are aware. Before any thought arises, there is already knowing.

  2. Don’t look for an object:
    Instead of focusing on breath, sound, or sensation, let your attention rest in the simple fact of knowing itself.

  3. Notice the stillness beneath movement:
    Thoughts come and go, but awareness doesn’t move.
    Rest in that unmoving knowing.

  4. Let everything belong:
    When pain, fear, or sorrow appear, allow them to be known in this vast space.
    Don’t try to fix them — just recognize: This, too, is known.
    The light of knowing already begins to transform what it touches.

  5. Recognize the sufficiency:
    You don’t need to add anything. No commentary, no analysis.
    Simply, knowing is enough.

5. How Pure Knowing Relates to Suffering

Suffering arises when we identify with the contents of experience — “my pain, my thought, my failure.”
Pure knowing reveals that pain is not you — it is known by you.
This gap of awareness brings compassion and wisdom:

  • You see that sensations and thoughts are impermanent.

  • You discover that awareness is untouched by what passes through it.

  • You begin to respond with understanding rather than resistance.

As the Buddha said:

“In the seen, only the seen.
In the heard, only the heard.
In the cognized, only the cognized.
Thus the end of suffering.”

6. A Daily Practice to Cultivate Pure Knowing

Try this simple meditation:

Morning Practice (10 minutes):

  1. Sit quietly, eyes open or closed.

  2. Sense your body breathing — not controlling, just noticing.

  3. Whisper inwardly:
    “Knowing… knowing… knowing…”

  4. When thoughts arise, simply note, “known.”

  5. Gradually let even the noting fade — rest as the knowing itself.

  6. End by placing a hand over your heart, whispering:
    “Knowing is enough. Love is everything.”

7. In Short

  • Pure Knowing is the ever-present awareness that witnesses experience.

  • Knowingness is the continuous nature of that awareness.

  • You “access” it not by effort, but by relaxing identification and resting in presence.

  • It is both the path and the wisdom that heals suffering — the seeing that frees what is seen.

—

Pure Knowing — Daily Meditation (5–7 minutes)

by G. Ross Clark
(Closing blessing: “Love is Everything.”)

Begin by sitting quietly.
Let your body rest in an easy posture — upright, yet soft.
Feel the natural rhythm of your breath.
No need to control it.
Just notice: breathing in … breathing out …
Already, there is knowing.

Now, turn your attention gently toward awareness itself.
Without trying to see anything special, sense that which knows this moment.
There is hearing, seeing, feeling — all known.
There is no need to name or judge any of it.
Simply rest as this open knowing.

When a thought appears, let it float like a cloud.
Whisper softly inside: “Known.”
A feeling arises — known.
A sound, a memory, a breath — all simply known.
Stay close to that pure space of knowing.
It needs no effort. It has no boundary.

Let this knowing include everything.
The pleasant, the painful, the uncertain — all are welcomed here.
Even suffering can soften in this gentle light of awareness.
You are not trying to fix anything.
Just being with what is, in clear, kind knowing.

Sense now the stillness beneath it all.
This stillness is not far away — it is what you are.
You are the knowing that holds the world.
You are the peace before every thought.
You are the love that allows all things to be.

Rest here for a few breaths.
Simple. Present. Whole.
Whisper quietly:

“Knowing is enough.”
“Love is everything.”

PureMind_PureKnowing_DailyMeditation.docx

Copy the text below into a new Word document and save as
PureMind_PureKnowing_DailyMeditation.docx

Title:

PURE KNOWING — Daily Meditation

by G. Ross Clark
For the part of me that is learning to rest as awareness.

Design Notes (for Word):

  • Headings in #00b3dc (sky blue)

  • Subheadings or accents in #00b060 (green)

  • Insert small bird icon in #00b3dc above the title (centered)

  • Footer text (centered): Love is Everything

Meditation Text

Begin by sitting quietly.
Let your body rest in an easy posture — upright, yet soft.
Feel the natural rhythm of your breath.
No need to control it.
Just notice: breathing in … breathing out …
Already, there is knowing.

Now, turn your attention gently toward awareness itself.
Without trying to see anything special, sense that which knows this moment.
There is hearing, seeing, feeling — all known.
There is no need to name or judge any of it.
Simply rest as this open knowing.

When a thought appears, let it float like a cloud.
Whisper softly inside: “Known.”
A feeling arises — known.
A sound, a memory, a breath — all simply known.
Stay close to that pure space of knowing.
It needs no effort. It has no boundary.

Let this knowing include everything.
The pleasant, the painful, the uncertain — all are welcomed here.
Even suffering can soften in this gentle light of awareness.
You are not trying to fix anything.
Just being with what is, in clear, kind knowing.

Sense now the stillness beneath it all.
This stillness is not far away — it is what you are.
You are the knowing that holds the world.
You are the peace before every thought.
You are the love that allows all things to be.

Rest here for a few breaths.
Simple. Present. Whole.
Whisper quietly:

“Knowing is enough.”
“Love is everything.”

+++
PURE KNOWING — Daily Meditation
Voice: Calm female (25–35)
Background: birdsong + gentle breeze
Duration: ~5 minutes, compact pacing

[0:00–0:15] Soft ambient intro — birdsong + breeze.

Begin by sitting quietly.
Let your body rest in an easy posture — upright, yet soft.
Feel the natural rhythm of your breath.
No need to control it.
Just notice: breathing in … breathing out …
Already, there is knowing.

[1:00 pause 2s]

Now, turn your attention gently toward awareness itself.
Sense that which knows this moment.
There is hearing, seeing, feeling — all known.
No need to name or judge.
Simply rest as this open knowing.

[2:00 pause 3s]

When a thought appears, let it float like a cloud.
Whisper softly inside: “Known.”
A feeling arises — known.
A sound, a memory, a breath — all simply known.
Stay close to that pure space of knowing.

[3:15 pause 2s]

Let this knowing include everything.
The pleasant, the painful, the uncertain — all are welcomed here.
Even suffering can soften in this gentle light of awareness.
You are not trying to fix anything.
Just being with what is, in clear, kind knowing.

[4:00 pause 3s]

Sense now the stillness beneath it all.
This stillness is not far away — it is what you are.
You are the knowing that holds the world.
You are the peace before every thought.
You are the love that allows all things to be.

[4:45 pause 2s]

Rest here for a few breaths.
Simple. Present. Whole.
Whisper quietly:
“Knowing is enough.”
“Love is everything.”

[5:15 soft fade-out — birdsong + breeze]

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