Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddha. An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book - страница 12

Thus, the related and all too common pitfall is that people stop having fun and trying to be successful in worldly terms. There is absolutely no reason for this. If you can have fun in healthy ways, have fun! It’s not just for breakfast anymore. Also, success is highly recommended for obvious reasons. Pick a flexible vision of success in the ordinary sense for yourself and go for it! Play to win. This is your life, so make it a great one. There is no reason not to try, so long as you can do so in a kind and compassionate way.

One more great thing about the first training is that it really helps with the next training: concentration. So, here's a tip: if you are finding it hard to concentrate because your mind is filled with guilt, judgment, envy or some other hard and difficult thought pattern, also work on the first training, kindness. It will be time well spent.

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3.CONCENTRATION, THE SECOND TRAINING

On to concentration, the ability to steady the mind on whatever you wish and attain unusual and profound altered states of consciousness.

Training in concentration relates to formal meditation practice. It is also called training in “samadhi” (meaning depths of meditation), or sometimes “samatha practice.” Concentration practice involves working at a level that might be considered unusual, particularly contrasted with the ordinary level of training in morality. Training in morality is something to which everyone can relate. Training in concentration is only easy to relate to if you have attained to unusual states of consciousness or at least have faith that they can be attained.

Training in concentration has had thousands of pages dedicated to it, and there are probably thousands of concentration exercises. Some very commonly used objects of meditation are the breath (my personal favorite), one’s posture, a mantra or koan, a candle flame, various visualization exercises, and even the experience of concentration itself.

The object you choose should be one on which you would be happy to steady your mind.

The essential point about meditation is this: to get anywhere in meditation you need to be able to really steady the mind and be present.

That's just all there is to it and it is largely a question of just doing it.

There is an important shift that happens in people's practice when they really make the commitment to developing concentration and follow through with it. Until one does this, not much is likely to happen in one’s meditative practice! If you decide to do a concentration practice, stay on that object like a rabid dog until you have enough stability and skill to let the mind rest on it naturally.

The first formal goal when training in concentration is to attain something called “access concentration,” meaning the ability to stay consistently with your chosen object with relative ease to the general exclusion of distractions. This is the basic attainment that allows you to access the higher stages of concentration and also to begin the path of insight (the third training), so make attaining access concentration your first goal in your meditative practice. You will know when you have it.

So, the essential formal concentration practice instructions are: pick an object (the list above is a great place to begin), find a place to practice

Concentration, The Second TrainingMorality, The First and Last Training

where you are as free from distractions as possible, pick a sustainable posture (it doesn’t really matter so much), focus your attention on the object as completely and consistently as possible for the duration of that practice period, allowing as few lapses in concentration as possible, and learn to stabilize all of your attention on that object. The more you practice and the better your practice, the better you will become. Find the balance of effort and steadiness that works for you. Practice again and again until you can attain access concentration. While this paragraph may seem trite or sparse, it contains the formal instructions on how to begin training in concentration.