The Training of Concentration

The Training of Concentration
Samadhi or Meditation

          The training of Concentration through meditation is the third fold of triskha. The Pali word for meditation is bhavana, which literally means " development, cultivation or culture." Since the practice has to do directly with the mind, the word bhavana therefore refers specifically to a process of mental culture or mental development. Strictly speaking, the English word " meditation " is a rather poor and inadequate equivalent to the word " Bhavana ".

          Buddhist meditation is essentially an experiential activity. It is a means to mental development through practice, not a scholastic subject to be understand through books. It deals particularly with the training of the mind, which is the most important component of the entire human entity. Because mind is the forerunner and prime source of all actions, be they physical, verbal, or mental, it needs to be properly cultivated and developed. Meditation is the mental development in the real sense of the term bhavana, for it aims not only at temporary calm and tranquillity of mind, but also at purifying the mind of defilements and negative influence, such as sensual desire, lust, hatred, jealousy, envy worry, ignorance, restlessness and indolence. It cultivates and brings to perfection such wholesome and positive qualities of mind as confidence, compassion, wisdom, energy, mindfulness, concentration and penetrative insight.



Type of Meditation

           According to Buddhist teaching, there are actually two main categories of meditation, samatha and is the mode of training specifically designed for specific purpose to cultivate one - pointedness o mind [ cittakaggata ], while the latter refers to insight, the penetrative mental faculty, which perceives and understands realities, the way they really are.

           Concentration meditation is designed to produce peace and tranquility of mind [ cittaviveka ] and stronger power of will, which can be utilized for practical purposes in daily life. Through constant right effort and perseverance, the meditation is also able to attain the higher mystic states called " absorption or jhana ". According to the Buddhist concept, there are eight states of form called " rupajhana ". The remainder is formless absorption - " arupajhana ". However, all these mystic stages are creates and conditioned by the mind. They are impermanent and still within the sphere of mundane realities.

            Concentration meditation was know prior to the establishment of Buddhism but it was refined and standardized in the Buddhist system of practice. Nevertheless, such meditation per se does not lead to the extinction of dukka or suffering and the realization of Nibbana, although it may be useful to a certain extent in mental development.

            Before attaining enlightenment, the Buddha himself practised concentration under some higher accomplished teachers of the days, attaining the very final stage of absorption, the sphere of Neither - Perception - nor - non - Perception, but he soon discovered that it was unsatisfactory and inadequate as a means for achieving higher spiritual realization. Concentration can be instrumental for a happy life in this existence, but it is insight meditation that really enables one to purity the mind and realize Nibbana.

           Insight meditation is essentially a Buddhist contribution to the spiritual wealth of the world. This is a method of analysis in which the emphasis is placed on the development of mindfulness and knowledge of reality of existence. The meditator becomes perfectly identified with his own being and experience. He or she comes to perceive the realities of impermanence, change, unsatisfactoriness, and non - substantially in all existential phenomena, and intuitively realizes the true nature of his own inner experiences. All things are characterized by emptiness : in the ultimate analysis. There is nothing that should be referred to as " me " or " mine. " The meditator see for himself the wholsome and unwholesome thoughts rising and falling in his or her mind, the defilements, the virtuous qualities, the good, the evil, the noble, and the realities are directly perceive and investigation. Self - knowledge and deeper understanding of realities are obtained though consistent effort and perseverance in the practice of right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.






By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teachings