Becoming Just Awareness - Dorothy Hunt

What does it mean to “be awareness” rather than simply observing it? 


Dorothy Hunt invites us to see awareness not as something separate from thoughts, feelings, or experiences, but as the very ground of being that is already present. Grounding her reflections in both tradition and poetry, she illustrates how awareness reveals itself in every moment, whether through beauty, suffering, or the ordinary flow of life. Her teaching emphasizes that awakening is not about bypassing human experience but about embracing it with intimacy and compassion.


Dorothy weaves together Buddhist wisdom, Zen stories, and personal reflections to show how awareness can meet even the most difficult aspects of life. She highlights key ideas such as:

• The two arrows: the unavoidable pain of life and the suffering added by our interpretations.
• Layers of experience: from rage to vulnerability, awareness can hold them all without judgment.
• Awakening and growing up: two sides of the same coin, integrating transcendence with human healing.
• The “pathless path”: each person’s journey is unique, made by walking.

Ultimately, she reminds us that awareness is not elsewhere—it is here, in the very act of living.


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Dorothy Hunt serves as spiritual director of Moon Mountain Sangha and was the founder of the San Francisco Center for Meditation and Psychotherapy. She is the author of Only This!, Leaves from Moon Mountain, and Ending the Search: From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness, as well as articles published on nondual wisdom and psychotherapy.


She teaches at the request and in the spiritual lineage of Adyashanti, who invited her to share the dharma in 2004. Dorothy has a long and deep connection to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the nondual teachings of Zen, Advaita, and the Christian mystics. She invites a deep welcoming of the human expressions of the mystery. A licensed psychotherapist since 1967, Dorothy has now retired from her private practice. She is a mother and a grandmother. For more information, please visit: https://dorothyhunt.org (https://dorothyhunt.org/) or Dorothy Hunt - Moon Mountain Sangha (   / @dorothyhunt-moonmountainsangha  ) on YouTube.


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CREDITS
Audio Engineer: George Hubbard
Producer: Tom Bruein
Music/Logo/Artwork: Derek Lassiter