Mindfulness versus Concentration
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For all the other commenters asking why Mindfulness and Concentration are used as technical terms - that's because they correspond to Sati and Samadhi - terms in Pali used by the Buddha.
One of the takeaways of the book mentioned above is that concentration is NOT a state of being concentrated on a single object. It's a state of unification of the mind that persists regardless of its current object. The other important information (obvious for any serious meditator) is that, once reached, it DOESN'T require lot of force to sustain. On the contrary - it's a much more energy efficient mode of functioning. That's why in the 4th Jhana (one of the most advanced states of concentration) the breath completely subsides. It wouldn't be possible if it required so much force. BTW it doesn't mean that the oxygen intake stops completely as there's still some absorption caused by the air diffusion in the lungs and through the skin (cutaneous respiration).
Again, I really recommend the book by Culadasa for anyone even remotely interested. It's amazing from theoretical point of view and even more concerning meditation practice.
Shaila Catherine has written a couple of books on the topic of jhanas. Her most recent one is a meditation manual which covers insight meditation practice as well. It would make for a great companion on long retreats.
As I see it, Culadasa is better suited both for general audience and for those more scientifically inclined - that's why it seems to be ideal fit for HNers. It also seems to be much more ambitious, systematic work (it's his opus magnum). Probably Shaila's books target more advanced meditators - that's not to say Culadasa is just for beginners.
There is a clear shift when you enter jhana. I think a good analogy would be when you suddenly clearly see the 3d image in an autostereogram, or when you manage to tune a radio and suddenly there is no white noise.
> ... Or you can see this in terms of the boundless human ability to make stuff up out of thin air and believe it because no one can prove it's wrong. As soon as you name the category, you can start making up stuff about it. The named thing doesn't have to be perceptible; it doesn't have to exist; it doesn't even have to be coherent. [1]
Came to mind with the way 'mindfulness' and 'concentration' were being used as 'technical' terms. It felt slightly like Deepak Chopra. Why do articles like this get respect but something like, say, continental philosophy doesn't? Is is simply because meditation is popular?
[1] http://lesswrong.com/lw/nx/categorizing_has_consequences/
You just have to see how most meditation companies sell their product, the first movement is telling you that this is a way to escape modern consumerism, the stress of modern life, a more authentic life. The second movement is telling you that with their help you will be even more productive at the consumerist game. So you get everything, you have to sacrifice nothing.
I guess the author is more concerned with teaching something that works rather than looking down on the sinful masses.
The Pāli Canon, one of the oldest Buddhist canons. You can dismiss that if you want to, but they're not wishy-washy concepts within the study of that canon.
It's not like such a baseless accusation -- "oh, they use them as technical words, they're probably full of shit" -- deserves an answer. If you're really interested, do your own research next time. Not that you are.
I bet his 'leadership' seminars are amazing, though.
I don't feel he exaplains himself well in the article and just states what he claims are facts. 'It's a state free of greed, hatred delusion' etc etc. Some of these are emotions and I certainly can concentrate well when feeling strong emotions.
'Can only max out concerntration for a short time'. (not direct quote)
I'd question this because of flow where an individual can loose themselves for hours on end on one thing. And what about Adhd hyperfocus? The inability to switch task and move on. That takes power.
Sure, mindfulness and concentration are different. I've found my concentration had become much better since engaging in mindfulness. But for me personally, concentration isn't willpower in all tasks. Some it is, some it takes willpower to move myself away, sometimes it's linked to my ability to let go of distraction (I prefer the word attraction).
In regard to you first question, he's right - if you're interested look up topic of "Five Mental Hindrances" - when you reach really deep state of concentration (called Jhana) you drop all of these. Which means that if you still feel any strong emotions, you still have some work to do as the mind is not stable.
Stability and calmness of the mind are very important factors of right concentration, however it's not immediately obvious, as the english word 'concentration' has lot of these forceful connotations. That's why there's lot of people criticizing translation Pali term Samadhi as Concentration and suggest using 'unification', 'centeredness' etc instead.
Question, would enjoyment be an emotion or pleasure? Thus these could enable a person to maintain more concentration because they're happy/having fun/ Perhaps these do not fit into the "strong" emotions category.
Edit: so reading the 5 hinderances is interesting. I guess I was thinking the author was suggesting "all emotions" and using those three(hate, etc) as examples rather than there being a select few "negative emotions" which can hinder concentration. Thanks!
http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_eng...
Having followed Farnam Street for quite some time I must say that the quality of content is quite variable. In the beginning I always read the Sunday newsletter and most of the content was really good and thoughtful. As the site/newsletter has gained traction I feel like the quality have declined a bit unfortunately. I do not read all Sunday newsletters anymore and the ones I do only confirm my suspicion. Of course it's free and I can unsubscribe anytime - so no complaint - just a comment.
This post however is really good!
The sources I've found most helpful so far are the books _Mindfulness in Plain English_ and _Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English_.
Very briefly, we pretty much already understand the concepts that will allow us to take control of our minds and see what's going on clearly, but those are concepts, when what is needed is experience. Meditative states help us gain experiential knowledge, and in the process, we rearrange the plumbing in the basements of our minds. For example, having thoroughly experienced impermanence in meditation, we naturally stop wanting to freeze time or cling to things.
I seem to like to make metaphors about fire. In one sense, I see these ideas as possibly helping put out a global wildfire that's been raging out of control since the beginning of mankind: people suffer, and, not knowing how to handle their suffering, harm themselves and others, and we respond in anger, when it would be better if we responded with compassion. In another sense, we want to get the fire of compassion lit, to get enough people to awaken that others can see that it's an attainable goal.
It's nothing less than jailbreaking our minds. We have a lot of evidence it's possible, just very difficult. But the more people are looking at it, the less subtle these ideas will seem, and the path will hopefully become more and more straightforward. I hope that someday, waking up the way the Buddha did will be a rite of passage for children.
According to Zhuangzi, Lao Tzu, and Confucius young children who have yet to learn our game (language, customs, etc) are already as "awakened" as they will ever be.
Besides, what the author doesn't know is that concentration leads to mindfulness (never mind about proper or not), but mindfulness may not lead to concentration.
For me this is the best book on meditation out there: http://www.chanpureland.org/publications/chanhandbook/ where you have very clear explanations of levels of concentrations (jhana or dhyana), how to pratice the basics on your own, etc. Also lots and lots of talks on youtube (or download) on Buddhist topics, as well as meditation (non-religious).
I also learned personally the basics of meditation from their temple, and for sure they have real meditation skills. Unfortunately, for most us meditation has to be taught personally, it's not something one can casually learn from some blog post, never mind finding the proper source.
Maybe im just doing it wrong, idk
Consider a skill such as hitting a baseball. This is impossible to do consciously, but fortunately it doesn't need to be. You train hitting a ball over and over again, you develop sub-conscious reactions that are triggered by certain things. When you stand a certain way, when you see the pitcher move in a certain way, you react, you spool through a series of actions that your conscious mind only has partial control over, like controlling the reins of a horse.
The same is true for, say, typing. You do not consciously go through a process of thinking of a word, thinking of how it is spelled, then recalling the location of each key, etc. You trigger a mostly unconscious series of reactions, which is why it takes much longer to type out an unfamiliar word, regardless of how long it is.
Meditation works along similar principles. You practice entering a certain mind state, typically relaxation since that is the most important state and often difficult to achieve when desired, and along the way you sprinkle certain ritual behavioral aspects (breathing, words, movements, etc.) Eventually you can shortcut your way there through one of those associative channels.
For myself, I use breathing out and relaxing my shoulders as the cue. If I find myself in need of relaxing or being centered I can just take a moment, breath out, and gain calmness.
You can certainly train yourself to feel sleepier during practice, which is quite common, it doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, but you might think about changing things up a bit if that's not what you want.
However, it's a bit of a general purpose system, it's a matter of training your emotional and mental state the same way you might train your body. You could, in principle, train yourself toward becoming very angry on cue, or any other behavior, with varying difficulty.
Also, you can meditate with candles and other things and focus your eyes on the light of those.
Imagine trying to concentrate - you're likely to be forcing yourself to do it. It's an action of force.
Now imagine meditation - it's a different mindset - one of letting your mind go.
They're different things, but work cooperatively to keep you productive in the right direction.