Mindfulness and concentration - article

["David Yeh" <ldreamr@...>]

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

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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.
>>>