The Task Of Concentration

Concentration: it's such a gift. To be able to sit down at my screen in an undistracted way, to get something done without finding my mind sliding off into email or Amazon or some seemingly "urgent" spreadsheet.

Mindfulness is a training and for me, concentration is one of its big benefits. But it does raise the question of what: what's the best thing to concentrate on? Sometimes it's whatever's in front of me: that memo, that witness, that student.

Transcript

Hey everyone,

It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 391.

Sorry for the late message this morning or this afternoon,

Wherever you are.

We're still exploring the seven factors of awakening which are mindfulness,

Investigation,

Energy,

Joy,

Tranquility,

Concentration,

And equanimity.

And I've talked a little bit about the first five and so today let's check out concentration.

So in one way of understanding it,

Concentration is pretty simple.

It's the ability to focus on the task at hand.

So for example,

I might be writing a memo or making an argument,

Interviewing a client.

In those moments I definitely want to be focused and concentrated.

I don't want to miss anything.

I don't want the project to take longer than it needs to.

So to me this is concentration applied in a very practical and useful way.

And concentration can also arise on its own like in the story I told last week about I had that procedure when all the factors arose starting with mindfulness and ending with tranquility really.

But actually ending with concentration,

My mind was very still and simply went to the breath and stayed there and hadn't planned it.

But we can go into a moment with a plan,

Right?

In other words,

We can ask ourselves in any moment how can we call on mindfulness and investigation and energy and joy and tranquility and concentration and equanimity which we'll talk about soon for support.

And I would also say we probably don't want what I would call default concentration meaning we want to be aware of where our mindfulness and our concentration are pointing or landing and to ask ourselves in case they're landing someplace that's not useful where we want to place them,

Right?

And so that answer could be something personal like in my example,

Concentration in a scary moment,

Just concentration on the breath.

But it might be bigger too,

Right?

Since our practice is partially to liberate ourselves and partially for the benefit of all beings,

Maybe a bigger,

Maybe a more generous way of considering concentration is to ask how do we point our concentrated mind in the direction of collective liberation?

So last night was the first night of Passover,

The holiday when Jews get together,

We had 15 at our Seder and concentrate on retelling the Jewish story of liberation,

How we were enslaved in Egypt and broke free and also how to concentrate our minds on how in each generation because we were given our freedom,

We consider it our obligation to work for the liberation of all beings.

And then today is Holy Thursday when Christians commemorate the Last Supper and are preparing to celebrate Jesus's liberation from earthly to heavenly being.

And maybe this is also not only a time for personal,

Deep personal reflection,

But also a time to concentrate on the liberation from fear and betrayal and the cultivation of compassion and love for all beings,

Right?

And I think it might be similar with Ramadan and I'm not familiar with these paths,

But it's the third week of Ramadan when the Muslim community fasts and prays and there's an emphasis on generosity personally,

But also as I understand it,

Also for the greater good,

For the liberation of everyone.

And then lastly,

I know today is the first day of a three-day New Year celebration in the Theravadan Buddhist countries.

So like Thailand and Sri Lanka,

When Buddhists get together with family and friends and they engage in ceremonies to liberate themselves from bad karma,

These water ceremonies,

But they also build sand castles.

And these sand castles are built to point at the liberating understanding of impermanence,

Right?

So all of that is happening and then there are on the ground happenings like war and climate collapse and political polarization.

And I don't know about you,

But I had a very complicated week.

All these feelings watching Donald Trump plead not guilty to these 34 felony counts in New York.

You know,

I wanted to turn away and not concentrate on that,

But I couldn't stop doom scrolling.

And it was sort of like January,

2021 all over again.

So I've just painted a kind of a polarized or binary example,

You know,

Spirituality versus disaster and dysfunctional politics.

But of course,

Moment to moment,

The choices are so much more nuanced,

Right?

And still the question arises,

What should we attend to?

In other words,

Where should we place our good concentration?

And I don't know the answer,

But what I really like are the teachings of wise effort and what they have to offer.

So wise effort,

Of course,

One of the eight steps on the path to liberation from a mindfulness perspective.

And from a classical way of looking at wise effort,

It's really quite simple.

It's not easy,

But it's quite simple.

We intentionally point our attention and we concentrate in four different directions,

All of which lead to the same result,

Which is liberation from suffering.

And I think all of which are implicit or even explicit elements of the four paths that are so alive this week,

Judaism,

Christianity,

Islam,

And Buddhism.

So these four directions,

Two deal with unwholesome states of mind and two deal with wholesome states of mind.

So here they are.

One,

The first one is avoid unwholesome states of mind in the first place.

And I have to ask myself how to do that in a world like the one we live in.

And the instructions are,

Don't put yourself in a position to hate or to get greedy or to space out or to cloud the mind.

So don't doom scroll like I was doing,

Right?

Just stop doing it.

Don't get on Amazon when you don't need anything.

So you don't end up adding to cart.

Don't have that second weed ram of whiskey.

And here I'm talking to myself.

You know,

Be thoughtful about the positions you find yourself in or you place yourself in.

But I think equally important to the don'ts are the do's.

So to avoid an unwholesome state might look like going for a walk or going to the park or going to the beach or taking a bubble bath or for sure turning off the news and relaxing,

Taking refuge,

Taking refuge,

Whatever your refuge is in the moment.

So that's the first one is avoid unwholesome states in the first place.

And also people who put you in unwholesome states,

Right?

So turn away from those people,

Not in a rude way or a mean way,

But just to take care of yourself,

Right?

Okay.

And then two is abandon unwholesome states once they've arisen.

So we can't avoid it.

The world is what it is.

We're going to see the news.

We're going to check our phone.

We're going to talk to somebody who has a perspective or a point of view that is going to alarm us.

But what we can do is be courageous enough to notice when hatred or,

You know,

It's more socially acceptable cousins like impatience and frustration are present and really name them.

And again,

Take a walk,

Take a breath,

Let them attenuate or call a friend and talk about that these states of mind are arising,

Call a Dharma buddy,

But not to say,

Oh yeah,

Did you hear about that?

But to say,

Oh,

This is troubling me.

My mind is really going in this direction of hatred.

And can you help me out?

Or when greed is present,

You know,

Notice,

And then maybe,

Maybe don't have that third chocolate macaron.

I'm talking to myself again,

But just noticing that greed is present and then,

And then letting it go,

Turning in a different direction or when spacing out is happening,

You know,

See if you can catch it.

It's the hardest one to catch for me anyway,

Because when I'm spaced out,

I'm not paying attention by definition.

And then really take a moment to concentrate the mind on,

Oh,

Spacing out is what's happening.

And then for me,

I'm,

I don't know about for you,

But maybe don't watch that fourth episode or that third episode.

So that's number two is abandon unwholesome states once they've arisen.

And then three is move towards healthy states of mind.

So I don't want Donald Trump in the news for any reason,

But at the very least move towards some self-compassion.

If,

If you're feeling like it's really hard,

I've been feeling that way to have him there.

But to be curious and loving towards my friends is one of the things that I do celebrate the holidays.

I don't celebrate this week.

So wishing people well,

And just thinking about what else can you do to point and concentrate the mind on the positive.

And then four is maintain wholesome mind states.

So concentrate on joy when it's present,

Really focus on it,

Focus on compassion when it's present,

On self-compassion when it's present,

Take a moment without feeling like you should be doing something else for someone else.

Just focus on,

Concentrate on your own wholesome mind states and enjoy being with the people and the beings pets in your life who are easy to love,

Concentrate on the good.

And in the end,

Remember those sandcastles.

They are a reminder of impermanence because they're just here for a moment.

And so are we,

You know,

Our lives are so fleeting,

So fast.

Thich Nhat Hanh always said,

Peace is every step.

And maybe that is the ultimate task of concentration is to pay attention to the peace that's available to us in,

In every step.

So let's let's sit.

So taking a comfortable posture,

Using the breath as an anchor and just slipping gently into letting the thoughts go,

Being mindful,

Investigating this breath,

This moment with some energy for the practice and some joy that we even know about this practice.

It's amazing practice,

Seeing if tranquility arises,

Seeing if the mind begins to concentrate,

And then starting at the,

The fourth effort of the four wise efforts.

Then if there is a positive state of mind,

A wholesome state of mind available,

And if there's not,

That's okay.

But there just might be,

Even if it's just gladness for the practice,

Which isn't a small thing,

And really letting that gladness fill up the,

The mind,

Fill up the body or whatever wholesome state is present,

Letting it fill up the mind,

Fill up the body,

Bringing a smile to the lips or to the eyes or both.

And just taking this time to enjoy whatever wholesome state might be present.

And if there isn't one present,

That's okay to notice what is present.

Use your discernment.

If it's unwholesome,

See if it's possible to let it go.

Well,

Thank you everyone for being on the wake up call today with me and I hope you all have a beautiful day and a beautiful weekend and happy celebrations to everyone who is celebrating everything and be well and I will see you all next week.