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# Mindfulness and concentration - article

#### Message 01784 of 3835

- To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com
- Subject: Mindfulness and concentration - article
- From: "David Yeh" <ldreamr@...>
- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 16:19:06 -0000
- User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82

    I found an interesting article on a Vipassana website contrasting
    mindfulness and concentration. Seems to be quite relevant, so I
    thought I'd share. The full article, actually part of the book
    Mindfulness in Plain English, is at
    http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english_16.ph
    p

    David

    <<<
    Concentration and mindfulness go hand-in-hand in the job of
    meditation. Mindfulness directs the power of concentration.
    Mindfulness is the manager of the operation. Concentration furnishes
    the power by which mindfulness can penetrate into the deepest level
    of the mind. Their cooperation results in insight and understanding.
    These must be cultivated together in a balanced ratio. Just a bit
    more emphasis is given to mindfulness because mindfulness is the
    center of meditation. The deepest levels of concentration are not
    really needed to do the job of liberation. Still, a balance is
    essential. Too much awareness without calm to balance it will result
    in a wildly over sensitized state similar to abusing LSD. Too much
    concentration without a balancing ratio of awareness will result in
    the 'Stone Buddha' syndrome. The meditator gets so tranquilized that
    he sits there like a rock. Both of these are to be avoided.

    The initial stages of mental cultivation are especially delicate. Too
    much emphasis on mindfulness at this point will actually retard the
    development of concentration. When getting started in meditation, one
    of the first things you will notice is how incredibly active the mind
    really is. The Theravada tradition calls this phenomenon 'monkey
    mind'. The Tibetan tradition likens it to a waterfall of thought. If
    you emphasize the awareness function at this point, there will be so
    much to be aware of that concentration will be impossible. Don't get
    discouraged. This happens to everybody. And there is a simple
    solution. Put most of your effort into one-pointedness at the
    beginning. Just keep calling the attention from wandering over and
    over again. Tough it out. Full instructions on how to do this are in
    Chapters 7 and 8. A couple of months down the track and you will have
    developed concentration power. Then you can start pumping you energy
    into mindfulness. Do not, however, go so far with concentration that
    you find yourself going into a stupor.

    Mindfulness still is the more important of the two components. It
    should be built as soon as you comfortably can do so. Mindfulness
    provides the needed foundation for the subsequent development of
    deeper concentration. Most blunders in this area of balance will
    correct themselves in time. Right concentration develops naturally in
    the wake of strong mindfulness. The more you develop the noticing
    factor, the quicker you will notice the distraction and the quicker
    you will pull out of it and return to the formal object of attention.
    The natural result is increased concentration. And as concentration
    develops, it assists the development of mindfulness. The more
    concentration power you have, the less chance there is of launching
    off on a long chain of analysis about the distraction. You simply
    note the distraction and return your attention to where it is
    supposed to be.

    Thus the two factors tend to balance and support each other's growth
    quite naturally. Just about the only rule you need to follow at this
    point is to put your effort on concentration at the beginning, until
    the monkey mind phenomenon has cooled down a bit. After that,
    emphasize mindfulness. If you find yourself getting frantic,
    emphasize concentration. If you find yourself going into a stupor,
    emphasize mindfulness. Overall, mindfulness is the on to emphasize.

    Mindfulness guides your development in meditation because mindfulness
    has the ability to be aware of itself. it is mindfulness which will
    give you a perspective on your practice. Mindfulness will let you
    know how you are doing. But don't worry too much about that. This is
    not a race. You are not in competition with anybody, and there is no
    schedule.
    >>>

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