Inspired by Ajahn Brahm’s insightful “fruit salad simile” which describes experiences in Theravada Buddhist meditation, we develop an original model to reveal the principle of “non-self” by introducing “awareness of awareness” out of the framework of the five aggregates:
If we regard each aggregate as an “awareness” which is the state of being conscious of something, then contemplating the five aggregates would reveal the existence of “awareness of awareness”, and discern that it arises a moment after each aggregate and they do not appear simultaneously.
Thus, the slowing down of “speed” in vipassana would reveal that the notion that there is a constant entity always there knowing or experiencing all aggregates just results from the alternation of “awareness” (or “aggregates”) and “awareness of awareness”, something that under ordinary conditions happens very quickly. (That’s like a torch spinning so fast that it looks like a solid ring of fire exists.)
This would lead to the insight of “non-self”: no subject (or mental entity) of awareness at all.
Intrinsically, the illusion that there is a self underlying the five aggregates means a two-tier structure like that of Cartesian Theatre or “Cogito, ergo sum”. However, the slowing down of “speed” in vipassanā reveals that the reality is single-tier. (The “self” in Buddhism’s “non-self” is actually the “I” in Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.”)
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On the basis of Ajahn Brahm’s insight “Fruit Salad Simile”, the key to build this model to interpret the principle of “non-self” is to argue that the five aggregates should be regard as “awareness”:
According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Rupert Gethin, Sue Hamilton and Alexander Wynne, different from the traditional mainstream view that the individual person consists of five ever-changing aggregates, the five aggregates should be regarded as descriptions of the individual’s subjective experience. Therefore, we view the five aggregates as a stream of moments of awareness or consciousness.
According to P. A. Payutto (2019: 23-24), when we regard each aggregate as an “awareness” which is the state of being conscious of something, then contemplating the five aggregates would reveal the existence of “awareness of awareness”. For instance, when one feels happy, one knows that one is happy. (Note that feeling happy is not the same as knowing that one feels happy.)
