Mindfulness is a mental factor that occurs in conjunction with a cluster of associated mental factors. This ensemble of factors creates the state of heightened attention that we generally call “being mindful,” in which circumstances, interrelationships, patterns, and objects that are occurring in the mind and body are seen clearly. Whether attention is focused on a fixed object such as the occurrence of the breath, or directed to observe changing sensory phenomena—for example, following the movement of the belly as it rises and falls with each breath, or observing changing emotional responses—mindfulness is the factor that prevents attention from wandering off the chosen object.
Mindfulness does not permit superficiality; it manifests as the direct confrontation with the object of perception. Its function is to prevent confusion and to consistently remember the object of perception, thus enabling attention to sink deeply into a penetrative awareness of the object. You are mindful when you remember to pay attention, and you are unmindful when you are lost in a cloud of associative thinking and forgetfulness. Mindfulness arises in conjunction with all wholesome states; it is not present in unwholesome states such as greed or hatred.
We cannot neatly separate the development of concentration and mindfulness, practicing one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. Mindfulness is needed for concentration to develop into jhāna, and concentration is needed for mindfulness to sharpen and mature. The development of mindfulness not only precedes jhāna by clearing away hindrances and recollecting the meditation object, but the factor of mindfulness is found in every jhāna state.50 While absorbed in jhāna, you will not be spaced out in relaxed trancelike states or float off in a cloud of bliss. Quite the contrary, in jhāna mindfulness is pure, continuous, and highly refined.
Mindfulness serves as the guardian of both the mind and the meditation object. The Buddha encouraged meditators to use mindfulness as protection from the dangers of sensual desire, craving, anger, arrogance, and any form of delusion.51 Guard your mind with mindfulness, and cultivate mindfulness by remembering your meditation object. If you are developing present-moment attention, you can remember to be present with things as they are. If you are struggling to overcome hindrances, you can keep watch for any hint of obstruction. If you are mindful of the breath, you permit nothing to divert your attention. Try to not forget what you are doing. Become sensitive to what you are experiencing. Mindfulness is absolutely essential for the clear observation of things as they are.
Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna)
The Buddha identified four foundations of mindfulness: body, feeling tone, mental states, and objects of mind.
Mindfulness of body includes awareness of posture—whether sitting, standing, reclining, or moving. You can develop mindfulness and clear comprehension not only when you sit still, close your eyes, and focus on a meditation object, but also while engaged in any activity: brushing your teeth, eating, talking, walking, driving, sweeping the floor, dialing the telephone, typing, urinating, folding laundry, solving a puzzle, watching a child play. Maintain a continuity of mindfulness of the body by focusing on the breath in all your activities. The consistent awareness of this basic expression of breath will support the calming and concentrating of attention, and facilitate a rapid development of concentration with the meditation subject of breath.
The second foundation, mindfulness of feeling tone, refers to a bare impression of the pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality of any present experience. This “feeling” is an initial impression, not an elaborate emotional response to that impression of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality. When you are not mindful of feeling tones, you might grasp what you find pleasant, push away what you experience as unpleasant, or space out for neutral experience. Mindfulness of feeling can free you from the agitation that comes with the push and pull of desire and aversion. An untrained mind reacts for or against the feeling tone, but when mindfulness arises you will remain present and attentive with any feeling without being compelled by attraction, fear, or repulsion. When mindfulness of feeling is developed, your orientation to experience shifts—you will begin to understand feeling as an opportunity to develop a stable equanimous presence, free of the burden of accumulating ever more pleasant sensations and avoiding painful ones.
Mindfulness of mental states, the third foundation, directs attention to the mind as it is colored by emotions such as love, joy, anger, hatred, interest, boredom, tranquility, and fear. Become sensitive and aware of mental phenomena without indulging or wallowing in emotional states. Don’t take mental states personally—just notice what is present and what is absent. Any time you notice that your attention is entangled in a story, let go of the thoughts and notice the quality of the mind instead. Sometimes you will find restless agitation and although you try to return to your meditation object, a moment later the attention slides off again. Keep trying. Mindfulness grows with repetitive practice. When mindfulness becomes strong, you will calmly observe the inner workings of the mind. Each jhāna will sport a distinctive degree and quality of happiness, interest, and equanimity. Notice the dominant flavor of each state; remain mindful and understand fully what is occurring.
The fourth foundation is mindfulness of mental objects, which includes an awareness of the functions of mental states. Now you may observe how desire functions as a hindrance, how faith functions as a spiritual ally, how concentration supports insight, and how craving causes suffering. As your application of mindfulness extends beyond the mere ability to return to your meditation object, you may notice the context, connections, interactions, causal relationships, and functions of mental states. This fourth foundation of mindfulness promotes a dynamic understanding of phenomena, how things arise and interact, and how they support or obstruct the development of the mind.
Clear Comprehension (sampajañña)
The development of right mindfulness is often combined with clear comprehension or full understanding. With mindfulness (sati) and clear comprehension/full understanding (sampajañña) established, the meditator maintains clarity regarding four aspects of every endeavor: (1) clarity regarding the purpose, (2) clarity regarding the suitability, (3) clarity regarding the proper domain, and (4) clarity regarding the undeluded perception of the activity concerned.52
To highlight these four modes of clear comprehension, when you perform an action, first consider if the action is aligned with your aim. Ask yourself: Is this act likely to support a desirable result? In the case of meditation, consider if your approach has the possibility to increase concentration and insight, and to reduce suffering. We do not meditate to indulge in bliss or accumulate personal powers; the purpose is to realize liberating insight that will transform a fundamental experience of suffering in life. Clear comprehension of the purpose is the basis for making wise choices.
Second, become aware of the broader context that surrounds an action. Ask yourself: Is the action appropriate to the current conditions? In the case of meditation, consider the appropriateness of external conditions such as timing and environment, and internal conditions such as your health and mental state. For example, it might not be appropriate to enter jhāna while the fire alarm is warning of danger, when a child needs food, or in an attempt to deny painful emotions such as grief.
Third, you can consider the domain, range, or extent of your activity. The Pali term (gocara) is the same word used to describe a pasture or field in which a cow might graze. It implies the field that attention dwells within or the range of perceptions that occupy attention. How large a pasture do you give to your attention, and does that range support your aim? For instance, when developing jhāna using the breath you will intentionally restrict the focus to the breath at the area near the nostrils—whenever the mind wanders off quickly bring the attention back to the breath. Insight practices emphasize the contemplation of changing phenomena—although there are a multitude of objects for vipassanā meditation, we shall focus on a range of formations and contemplate a set of specific
characteristics. The scope of your awareness should support your purpose and be appropriate to the conditions that are present.
At one retreat center I volunteered to assist the cooks as part of a team of vegetable choppers; we silently washed, peeled, and chopped piles of vegetables each morning. A new participant at the retreat center joined the team and was given his first task of squeezing six lemons. Dedicated to his mindfulness practice he carefully washed, cut, squeezed, and deseeded the lemons, diligently bringing mindful awareness to each sensation and movement. After twenty minutes he had successfully squeezed only two lemons, after thirty minutes he had only partially completed the third lemon. The cooks looked on aghast and lobbied the managers of the retreat center to reassign him to a different department; the rest of the veggie chopping team put in overtime preparing the mountain of vegetables that were piling up on the counters all around the lemon-squeezing retreatant. Perhaps his concentration and mindfulness were admirable, but clear comprehension of the purpose of the task, the suitability of his pace, and the field of his attention was distorted. Actions must be appropriate to the conditions—sometimes that will require quick movement, and other times you will have the luxury of slowing down.
And fourth, consider if you have an accurate view of your activity. Have you embellished the perception of your meditation subject with fantasy, desire, hope, expectation, or pride? Is the meditation experience a basis for self-grasping, I-formations, or conceit? When your practice finally culminates in insight, you will fully understand phenomena as they are actually occurring; you will experience things free of the delusion that distorts phenomena into objects of attachment. These four aspects of clear comprehension—clarity regarding the purpose, suitability, domain, and undeluded perception—enhance clarity in every activity, including the simple activity of sitting in silence observing the breath.
CONCENTRATION (SAMĀDHI)
The mental factor of one-pointedness, with its characteristic of nondistraction, is sometimes used synonymously with the term concentration. Mental factors, such as one-pointedness, decision, energy, and mindfulness, work together to drive attention toward the object of meditation, yoke the attention to the chosen object, and consolidate the associated mental factors into a state we commonly recognize as “being concentrated.” Concentration, as a controlling faculty, refers to wholesome states in which many factors come together to create a stable unification of attention with the object of perception. It is not restricted to the deep states of jhāna, but it can refer to the mental collectedness that occurs when we investigate changing phenomena.53
Although you may emphasize either deep concentration or dynamic investigation at different moments in your practice, the calm, tranquil, and concentrated mode of apprehending an object goes hand in hand with the dynamic, investigative, and insightful mode of engagement. When describing one who correctly practices his teachings, the Buddha stated, “these two things—serenity and insight—occur in him yoked evenly together.”54
In Buddhist practice, focused attention is far more than a convenient antidote to the painful patterns of anxiety, distraction, and restlessness, and it is more than just a steppingstone for higher attainments. When the Buddha announced, “I shall teach you noble right concentration with its supports and its requisites,”55 he did not describe specific meditation techniques such as counting breaths or repeating thoughts of kindness. The Buddha described this unification of mind as synonymous with the fulfillment of the noble eightfold path, and as inseparable from right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness. Hence, right concentration is not measured by just the depth of the concentrated state, but by the purpose for which it is attained, and the use to which it is put.56
The noble eightfold path lays out a set of integrated factors, each mutually supportive of the others. Clear understanding and intention regarding the purpose of the path provide a wise perspective; careful speech, action, and livelihood create a purity that permits the mind to rest at ease. The triad of effort or energy, concentration, and mindfulness is of particular interest to the meditator endeavoring to attain jhāna. When you focus your attention on a chosen object in meditation, concentration, energy, and mindfulness occur with a cluster of associated mental factors that together aid attention in dwelling consistently with that meditation object.
The mutual dependence and interaction of mindfulness, concentration, and effort are illuminated by the traditional story of three friends who enter a park together for a stroll.
[The first friend] saw a champack tree in full blossom, but he could not reach the flowers by raising his hand. The second bent down for the first to climb on his back. But although standing on the other’s back, he still could not pick them because of his unsteadiness. Then the third offered his shoulder [as support]. So standing on the back of the one and supporting himself on the other’s shoulder, he picked as many flowers as he wanted and after adorning himself, he went and enjoyed the festival. And so it is with this. For these last three states beginning with right effort (right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration), which are born together, are like the three friends who enter the park together. The object is like the champack tree in full blossom. Concentration, which cannot of its own nature bring about absorption by unification on the object, is like the man who could not pick the flower by raising his arm. Effort is like the companion who bent down, giving his back to mount upon. Mindfulness is like the friend who stood by, giving his shoulder for support.57
Well supported by effort and stabilized by mindfulness, concentration will successfully reach its aim.
Concentration is called a “profitable unification of mind”;58 it sustains a steadfast attention on the object and adds a powerful force to the observing capacity of mindfulness. Concentration is like the lens that magnifies and focuses sunlight to such a degree that it can ignite fire. The focused and continuous mindfulness of your meditation object will bring strength and intensity to your insight.
Concentration and the Four Jhānas
In the Discourses of the Buddha, the sequence of four material jhānas is frequently described as the defining feature of concentration:
And what, bhikkhus, is the faculty of concentration? Here, bhikkhus, the noble disciple gains concentration, gains one-pointedness of mind, having made release the object. Secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, he enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion. With the subsiding of thought and examination, he enters and dwells in the second jhāna, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and examination, and has rapture and happiness born of concentration. With the fading away as well of rapture, he dwells equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, he experiences happiness with the body; he enters and dwells in the third jhāna of which the noble ones declare: “he is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.” With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and displeasure, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which is neither painful nor pleasant and includes the purification of mindfulness by equanimity. This is called the faculty of concentration.59
In this passage, right concentration is defined as the experience of jhāna absorptions. Much of this book is devoted to cultivating these refined states of powerful concentration. But perhaps most importantly, the training will apply your hard won concentration to elicit a direct and wise encounter with reality.
WISDOM (PAÑÑĀ)
Wisdom is the ability to clearly discriminate and discern the essence of things—an ability that develops out of sustained mindfulness and concentration. Wisdom illuminates the object of attention, like a lamp illuminates a cave. It transforms an ignorant or deluded way of relating to experience into a wise, clear, and lucid knowledge of reality. Like a skilled guide who, knowing the way through a dark forest,
travels the forest paths without bewilderment and leads the way to emerge safely, wisdom is an indispensable faculty on the path of liberation.
At every level of the training, you will make choices based on whatever degree of wisdom you can muster. The Buddha said that thoughts can be divided into two classes, wholesome thoughts and unwholesome thoughts.60 Unwholesome thoughts lead to an increase in unprofitable states, exacerbating sensual desire, ill will, or cruelty. Wholesome thoughts promote profitable states such as renunciation, loving-kindness, and compassion. The Buddha said, “Whatever a bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of his mind. If he frequently thinks and ponders upon thoughts of sensual desire, he has abandoned the thought of renunciation to cultivate the thought of sensual desire, and then his mind inclines to thoughts of sensual desire.”61 Consider what your thoughts cultivate, and choose, based on reasoned reflection, whether that thought ought to be entertained or abandoned. When you discover that certain thoughts lead to harm, you may wisely choose to let them go.
The Buddha did not merely instruct his disciples to let go of harmful thoughts, but he also taught that there was value in letting go of all preoccupation with thought, even thoughts of kindness, wisdom, or compassion. He examined wholesome thoughts in his mind and considered:
This does not lead to my own affliction, or to others’ affliction, or to the affliction of both; it aids wisdom, does not cause difficulties, and leads to Nibbāna. If I think and ponder upon this thought even for a night, even for a day, even for a night and a day, I see nothing to fear from it. But, with excessive thinking and pondering I might tire my body, and when the body is tired, the mind becomes disturbed, and when the mind is disturbed, it is far from concentration. So I steadied my mind internally, quieted it, brought it to singleness, and concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind should not be disturbed.62
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