While researching the Pali Canon for my previous book, Working with the Five Hindrances, I occasionally came across an intriguingly cryptic phrase: ‘I-making, mine-making and the underlying disposition to conceit’ (ahaṅkāra-mamaṅkāra-mānānusaya). This phrase was intriguing because it suggests a completely new perspective to the universal inquiry into self and selflessness, and provides a glimpse into the unique realization which the Buddha was awakened. He designated this realization with the Pali term ‘anattā’, which is usually translated as ‘non-self’, ‘not-self’ or ‘no-self’. While the translation is literally correct, it unfortunately fails to convey the correct meaning of what the Buddha is saying. The Buddha did not deny self. What he denied was that self has any permanent, imperishable essence. The Buddha realized that self is essentially a constantly changing process, artificially created through the interaction of craving and ignorance. And, since it is ‘made-up’ by activities which we have some influence over, craving and ignorance can also be ‘unmade’ so that the deleterious effects of grasping self as permanent can come to cessation.

The original source for this book is a series of talks given at Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Wellington, New Zealand. Various interested people in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, transcribed these talks, and I undertook the task of moulding them into a more coherent literal form. My wandering life-style did not lend itself well to doing serious writing, so the project has taken nearly two years to complete.

This book is based on a series of talks on the Seven Factors of Awakening given at Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand during the Rains Retreat in 2007. My intention is to give some basic information about the Factors based upon the teachings in the Pali Canon, the scriptures of the Theravada school of Buddhism, to readers ranging from complete beginners to experienced meditators, including guidance on how to develop these important spiritual qualities. Thus this is a series of meditative contemplations to help support a direct experience of the Factors. I have therefore tended to emphasize certain aspects of particular Factors, for example, acknowledging natural energy rather than only will-power, making Awakening more accessible rather than explaining the ‘higher stages’, etc. I have included a suggested meditation at the beginning of each chapter to encourage a meditative enquiry. The book is by no means a definitive presentation of this theme. I suggest that those interested in more information on these themes should consult the Pali Canon directly, or the other books listed in the bibliography.