Tag: Practice

Preliminary Concentration

A meditation session begins with focusing the mind on a chosen object and keep it there. If the mind strays, the meditator notices this quickly, catches it, and brings it gently back to the object. Doing this over and over as often as is necessary, the mind eventually begins to settle. At this point the five hindrances are likely to arise in one shape or other. They may appear as thoughts, as images, as surges of desire, anger and resentment, as heaviness of mind, agitation, doubts, etc. At times, when a particular hindrance becomes strong, the meditator may have to leave his primary meditation subject and take up a meditation that directly counteracts the hindrance ... read more of Stages of Concentration 1 ...

The wholesome states of mind to be developed can be grouped in various ways. One popular way of grouping is into the set called The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, which includes Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Rapture, Tranquility, Concentration, and Equanimity.

The first enlightenment factor – Mindfulness - clears the ground for insight by revealing the phenomena as they are here and now, stripped of all subjectivity: commentaries, interpretations, projections, etc. Mindfulness is basically receptive.

When the bare phenomena are seen as they are, the second enlightenment factor - Investigation - steps in to ponder their characteristics, conditions, and consequences ... read more of What are The Seven Factors of ...

Once started on the path - and concentration not yet quite learned - the meditator will meet the five hindrances in one shape or the other. It is part of anyones progress to overcome these hindrances, which are: sensual desire, ill will, dullness-drowsiness, restlessness-worry, and doubt. Sensual desire and ill will are the unwholesome roots of greed and aversion while dullness-drowsiness, restlessness-worry, and doubt are caused by delusion.

Sensual desire is lust for pleasing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. The term is sometimes interpreted in a broader sense encompassing craving, whether for sense pleasures, wealth, power, position, fame, or anything else desire can settle upon ... read more of The Five Hindrances ...

Considered as a system of practical training, the eight factors of The Noble Path is divided into three groups representing three stages of training:

Morality: right speech, right action, and right livelihood Concentration: right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration Wisdom: right understanding and right intention

For the practitioner, the path evolves naturally through these three stages, with moral discipline as the foundation for concentration, concentration the foundation for wisdom, and wisdom the direct instrument for reaching liberation ... read more of The Three Stages of Training ...