Right Concentration

Questioner: Right concentration, sammā-samādhi, is one of the factors of the eightfold Path. There is concentration in samatha and there is concentration in vipassanā. What is concentration in vipassanā?

Nina: Samādhi is a cetasika, mental factor, which is one-pointedness or concentration, ekaggatā cetasika. Each citta can experience only one object and the function of ekaggatā cetasika, which is also called samādhi, is to focus on that one object.

Each citta is accompanied by ekaggatā cetasika or samādhi, but since there are many kinds of citta there are also many kinds of samādhi. When samādhi accompanies akusala citta it is also akusala and when it accompanies kusala citta it is also kusala.

There is sammā-samādhi or right concentration in samatha. It focuses on one object: on the meditation subject which conditions calm. There are many degrees of right concentration in samatha. As calm develops and higher stages of calm are attained, concentration also develops.

There is sammā-samādhi in vipassanā. The sammā-samādhi of the eightfold Path arises together with sammā-diṭṭhi, right understanding, and sammā-sati, right mindfulness. Its object is the reality which appears through one of the six doors.

Question: Thus, sammā-samādhi focuses on the nāma or rūpa which is the object of mindfulness. It seems that we have to concentrate for some time on nāma or rūpa; but in that way there could not be mindfulness during our daily activities.

Nina: One-pointedness on the nāma or rūpa which appears does not mean concentration for a period of time. Sammā-samādhi of the eightfold Path arises with right mindfulness and right understanding which investigates a characteristic of nāma or rūpa. It arises and falls away together with the citta it accompanies. In vipassanā one does not try to concentrate for some time on the reality which appears.

The development of vipassanā does not interfere with our daily activities; whatever nāma or rūpa appears in our daily life can be object of mindfulness. Is there no seeing now, or hearing now? They can be object of mindfulness. When we are talking to other people, there are nāma and rūpa appearing through the six doors. Why can there not be mindfulness of them? We do not have to stop talking when there is mindfulness of a nāma or rūpa which appears. Sati can be a condition to speak with kusala cittas instead of akusala cittas.

Question: What should I do to understand the nāma or rūpa which appears at the present moment? There is mindfulness in my daily life, but there is not yet clear understanding of the nāmas and rūpas which appear. It seems to me that there can be mindfulness also without knowing characteristics of nāma and rūpa. Is that right?

Nina: When we begin with the development of the eightfold Path there is not yet a clear understanding of the nāma or rūpa which is the object of mindfulness. Moreover, there are many degrees of understanding. The understanding is bound to be very vague in the beginning, but, if there is mindfulness of nāma and rūpa more often, there will be a more precise understanding of their characteristics.

In vipassanā you do not have to do anything special in order to develop right understanding of the reality which appears, such as trying to concentrate on it. When there are conditions for right mindfulness it arises, and at that moment right understanding can investigate the characteristic of the reality which appears; and there is also right concentration which focuses on that reality. We should not forget, however, that right understanding cannot be developed within a short time, and thus a great deal of patience is needed for its development.

Question: Some people say that in order to develop vipassanā there must be the development of samatha as a foundation. They think that when concentration is developed in samatha it can help with the development of insight.

Nina: Samatha is the development of calm which is temporary freedom from defilements. There are sati and paññā also in samatha but these are different from sati and paññā in vipassanā and they have a different object. The way of development of samatha is different from the way of development of vipassanā and they each have a different aim. In samatha the object of sati and paññā is a meditation subject which can condition calm; in samatha one does not learn to see the nāmas and rūpas which appear as they are and thus detachment from the concept of self cannot be realized.

People may be inclined to think that they should develop samatha before they develop vipassanā in order to accumulate a great deal of sati, but they should remember that sati in samatha is different from sati in vipassanā. The aim of the development of vipassanā should be from the beginning understanding, understanding realities as they are, as impermanent, dukkha and non-self. This can only be achieved through mindfulness of the nāma or rūpa which appears now, at this moment.

Question: In the case of nervous people would it not be better to develop at least some degree of samatha before they develop vipassanā?

Nina: If one has accumulations for samatha one can develop it, but through samatha one does not learn to be mindful of the nāmas and rūpas which appear now, one at a time, in order to know them as non-self. How could samatha then be a necessary condition for vipassanā?

There are no rules as to the types of kusala someone should develop, because this depends on his accumulations. If nervous people were to study the Buddha’s teachings and practise what he taught, they would gain more understanding of the phenomena of their lives. This understanding would help them effectively.

Question: I have heard people say that someone who is restless should not study the Buddha’s teachings because it would make him more confused. He should just practise, not study.

Nina: Everyone is confused before he listens to the teaching of the Dhamma and studies it. We all have ignorance; because of ignorance we are still in the cycle of birth and death. We have eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind; we have lobha, attachment, dosa, aversion, and moha, ignorance, arising on account of what we experience through the senses and through the mind-door. But so long as we are ignorant we do not know about these realities.

However, in studying the teachings and pondering over them we begin to have more understanding of our life. Could a clearer understanding make us confused? Moreover, how could one practise without study? If we were to develop vipassanā without studying we would not know what the right path is and what the wrong path. When people do not know the characteristic of sammā-sati of the eightfold Path, they would mistakenly think that sati can be induced, they would not know that sati is anattā, non-self. The result would be that they become more attached to the idea of self, instead of less attached. They may believe that they can exert control over realities, that they can experience nāma and rūpa as they are, that they can experience their arising and falling away, whereas in reality they do not know anything. We should remember that studying the teachings is a necessary condition for the development of the eightfold Path.

Question: But should those who are just beginning to develop mindfulness not go to a special place such as a meditation centre where there is peace and quiet? Most people are so busy in their daily lives that it is impossible for them to be aware. In a meditation centre they can really set their mind on being aware and they can concentrate on nāma and rūpa.

Nina: The idea of going to a meditation centre in order to set one’s mind on being aware is motivated by the wrong view of self who can control realities. A centre can be useful if one receives instruction in the Dhamma, but one should not believe that one must go to a centre in order to have more mindfulness. In the centre there may be attachment to tranquillity and this is akusala, thus not helpful. One may become more and more attached to tranquillity. When calm is disturbed there are conditions for dosa. When people return to daily life they find that they cannot be mindful, because daily life is not tranquil. Some people think that they are “in meditation” while they are in the centre and that they are “out of meditation” when they are leading their ordinary, daily life.

In the development of vipassanā there is no question of “in meditation” or “out of meditation”. There are nāma and rūpa no matter where we are. Seeing now is not different from seeing in a meditation centre; seeing is always seeing, it experiences visible object everywhere. Hardness which appears now is not different from hardness in a meditation centre; it is a kind of rūpa which can be experienced through the bodysense. Right understanding of mindfulness of the eightfold Path is the condition for its arising in any place, at any time.

Question: I have heard people say that someone who begins to develop vipassanā should be slow in all his movements, he should also eat and walk slowly, in order to have more mindfulness.

Nina: When you move your arm slowly in order to have more mindfulness, what types of citta motivate the movement? Is there desire?

Question: Yes, there is desire for sati.

Nina: Thus there are cittas rooted in attachment, lobha-mūla-cittas. At such moments one thinks of the awareness one wishes to have, of what has not appeared yet. One is clinging to what may arise in the future instead of attending to the present moment. One may be ignorant and forgetful of the desire which has arisen and when seeing or hearing appears there is no mindfulness of them either. Thus there will not be detachment from the concept of self.

When one eats slowly in order to have more sati there is again clinging to sati instead of right mindfulness. When we are eating, defilements are bound to arise since we have not eradicated them. There can be like or dislike of the food we are eating, but there can be mindfulness of like and dislike so that they can be known as conditioned nāmas. No matter whether we are doing things quickly or slowly, realities are appearing through the six doors and sati can perform its function of being mindful of them. Also when we are walking quickly hardness, for example, may appear and it can be object of mindfulness.

We should not forget the second noble Truth: craving is the origin of dukkha. So long as there is clinging to nāma and rūpa there will be rebirth and thus no end to dukkha. When we in the development of vipassanā cling to results, we forget the second noble Truth. For instance, we may want to know within a short time the difference between nāma and rūpa, such as the difference between seeing and visible object, hearing and sound; or we may wish to experience the arising and falling away of nāma and rūpa. But so long as we cling to obtaining the results of the development of insight, there is no way to come to know the truth. The eightfold Path cannot be developed within a short time. In order to become detached from the concept of self a precise understanding of the different nāmas and rūpas which appear has to be developed.

Question: When there is more mindfulness there is more peacefulness too. I am inclined to be contented with peacefulness and not to develop a keener knowledge of realities.

Nina: When there is mindfulness one is at that moment removed from akusala and thus there is peace. There is also calm in the development of vipassanā. There are many degrees of calm or peace. When one has become an arahat one is freed from defilements forever. Then one has attained true peace.

One may be attached to calm which arises when there is sati. This kind of attachment is a reality which can also be known when it appears: it is only a type of nāma. We can see how deeply rooted defilements are: if there is lack of sati one regrets the lack of sati, but when sati arises one is attached to it. Awareness of all kinds of realities is essential in order to become detached from the concept of self. If one is glad that mindfulness arises one should not think that one has reached the goal. Right understanding is the aim and thus one should persevere in the development of a keener knowledge of the characteristics of nāma and rūpa.

Question: In the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta (Middle Length Sayings I, 10), it appears that meditation subjects of samatha are also included in the four Applications of Mindfulness. For example, meditation subjects such as mindfulness of breath, meditations on corpses and on the repulsiveness of the body are included in “Mindfulness of the Body”. Why are the objects of samatha and of vipassanā not separated? I thought that we should not confuse these two ways of mental development.

Nina: Samatha and vipassanā are different ways of mental development and they each have a different aim, as we have seen. When one reads the scriptures one will come across texts on the development of right concentration which has reached the stage of absorption, jhāna. This does not imply that all people should develop calm to the degree of jhāna. We read in the scriptures about monks who led a secluded life, developed jhāna and later on attained enlightenment. They developed jhāna because they had accumulated the skill and the inclinations to do so. Before the Buddha’s enlightenment and his teaching of Dhamma, samatha was the highest way of kusala. However, those who developed jhāna and then attained enlightenment could not have attained it without having developed vipassanā as well. Some people in the Buddha’s time developed both jhāna and vipassanā and then attained enlightenment, but there were also many people who developed vipassanā and attained enlightenment without having developed a high degree of calm first. The Buddha did not set any rules with regard to samatha as a necessary preparation for the development of vipassanā. The Buddha encouraged those who could develop calm to the degree of jhāna to be mindful of realities in order to see also jhāna as non-self. However, we should remember that the attainment of jhāna is extremely difficult and that only very few people can attain it. Someone who has accumulated the skill and inclination to develop samatha to the degree of jhāna, has to know the right conditions for jhāna and he has to know which factors can obstruct it. He has to be aware of his cittas in order to know whether the jhāna-factors have been developed to the degree that jhāna can be attained. If he is not attached to jhāna he can, after the jhānacittas have fallen away, develop right understanding of whatever reality appears. Also jhānacitta can be object of mindfulness, it can be realized as non-self. Anything which is real and which appears can be object of mindfulness.

Out of his great compassion the Buddha spoke about everything which is real. He knew the different accumulations of people and thus he used many different ways of explaining the truth and he taught all kinds of wholesomeness. It depends on someone’s accumulations which type of kusala citta arises at a particular moment: there may be kusala cittas which ponder over the true nature of realities, or kusala cittas with a higher degree of calm, even to the degree of jhāna, or there may be kusala cittas with mindfulness of nāma and rūpa, or even lokuttara cittas which experience nibbāna.

Mindfulness of breathing and other objects which are among the meditation subjects of samatha are included in the “Application of Mindfulness of the Body”, because they can also be objects of mindfulness in vipassanā. In the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta, after the section on mindfulness of breathing, the section on the repulsiveness of the body, the section on meditations on corpses and after each of the other sections, we read that one should contemplate the origination-factors and the dissolution-factors in the body. In order to understand the meaning of this sutta we should not overlook these sentences. The contemplation of the origination and dissolution of phenomena is not merely thinking about them, it is contemplation through insight. The aim of the four Applications of Mindfulness is not calm which is only temporary but the wisdom which can eradicate defilements. This wisdom, insight, can only be developed through mindfulness of whatever reality appears now.

All the objects included in the four Applications of Mindfulness can remind us of the true nature of reality, of impermanence, dukkha and anattā. They can exhort us to be mindful of what appears now. The meditations on corpses can for some people condition calm, and for those who have accumulated skill for jhāna, even calm to the degree of jhāna, it all depends on the individual. However, in order to eradicate defilements, also the person who has attained jhāna should develop insight; he should with insight contemplate the origination and dissolution of realities(51). The person who develops both jhāna and insight and the person who develops insight alone should be aware of whatever reality appears in order to eradicate wrong view and all defilements. We read in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta, at the end of each of the meditations on corpses, that the monk should reflect as follows: “Verily, this body of mine too is of the same nature as that body, is going to be like that body, and has not got past the condition of becoming like that body.” Also for those who have no inclination to develop jhāna subjects such as meditations on corpses can be objects of mindfulness in vipassanā: when they see a dead person or a dead animal, they can be reminded of the impermanence of their own body. At such a moment mindfulness of whatever reality appears can arise. We may not have accumulations to reflect on corpses, but we can still think of the shortness of life and this can help us to have less attachment and aversion and not to waste opportunities for the development of right understanding of nāma and rūpa.

There are many moments of forgetfulness of realities but we can be reminded of the true nature of realities by the things we perceive in our daily life. The “Repulsiveness of the Body”, for example, which is classified under Mindfulness of the Body, can remind us to be aware. In our daily life we can notice “parts of the body”, such as hair, nails, teeth and skin. Is it not true that they are loathsome? Are they not subject to decay? They can remind us of the true nature of phenomena. When we reflect on the truth there may be moments of calm, but are we contented to have only the calm which is temporary freedom from akusala? If our aim is the development of right understanding and if we do not cling to calm there can be mindfulness of whatever reality appears. Everything in our life can urge us to be mindful of the nāma or rūpa which appears now. When we look into a mirror and notice that we are becoming older it can remind us of the true nature of the body. What we take for “my body” are only elements which are impermanent and not self. Are there not many things in our life which are ugly or unpleasant, such as, for example, our own or others’ bad breath? Repulsiveness and decay both in ourselves and in others can lead us to the most useful thing in life: to the development of right understanding of realities.

The Buddha spoke about everything which is real, because the objects which can remind us to be aware of the present moment are different for each of us, as we all have different accumulations. It depends on the accumulated conditions what type of citta arises at a particular moment. It may be a citta with calm reflecting on impermanence, a citta with calm to the degree of jhāna, experiencing a meditation subject with absorption, or a citta with mindfulness of the present reality. We cannot force ourselves to have a particular citta, then we are led by clinging to the concept of self. Thus, there is no rule which kind of kusala should be developed at a particular moment. Insight can be developed of the realities which naturally arise in our life.

Everything within us and around us can remind us to be aware now. Reflections on our own accumulations can lead us to awareness of the present moment too. We may notice how deeply rooted clinging is; we have accumulated it in countless lives. Do we wish to continue accumulating clinging or do we want to walk the way leading to the end of clinging? Even our akusala cittas can remind us to be aware of the present moment.

Sometimes we may notice that others have akusala cittas; we may notice their attachment, anxiety, ignorance and doubt. Or we may notice that they have kusala cittas with generosity and compassion. The cittas of others are also included in the four Applications of Mindfulness, in the section on mindfulness of citta. They can remind us of reality and thus they can be the condition for the arising of sati. Sati can then be aware of whatever nāma or rūpa appears.

There is not any reality which is excluded from the Applications of Mindfulness. We do not have to do complicated things in order to develop the eightfold Path. That which is closest to ourselves, the realities within ourselves and around ourselves in daily life, can be the object of mindfulness at any time. Anything in the world can urge us to develop the eightfold Path, until the goal is reached: the eradication of lobha, dosa and moha.

We read in the Kindred Sayings (V, Mahā-vagga, Book I, Kindred Sayings on the Way, Ch II, par 9) that in Pāṭaliputta the venerable Bhadda came to see Ānanda and said to him:

“ ’The righteous life, the righteous life!’ is the saying, friend Ānanda. Pray, friend, what is the righteous life, and in what does it end?”

“Well said, well said, friend Bhadda…Well, friend, it is just that ariyan eightfold way, namely: Right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of illusion, friend, that is what this righteous life ends in.”