..續本文上一頁ised without any fear of any adverse consequences. It simply entails being aware and attentive, watching your mind, seeing where it is going, seeing what it is doing. Just as when I am talking to you now, with one corner of my mind I can watch my mind, keep an eye on my mind. What am I thinking of

　　 Is my mind on what I am saying to you, or am I thinking about what happened this morning, or last week, or what I will be doing tomorrow. I once heard a teacher saying that if you are making a cup of tea, Buddhism means making a cup of tea well, focussing, concentrating the mind on what one is doing. This is true no matter what one is doing - cleaning the house, going to school, or cooking. No matter what one is doing, one can practise mindfulness, the practise of watching the mind, of keeping an eye on the mind.

　　The practice of mindfulness traditionally has played an important role in Buddhism. At one place, the Buddha has called the practice of mindfulness the one way to achieve the end of suffering. Specifically, the practice of mindfulness has been developed to include four particular applications. These are application of mindfulness with regard to body - awareness of the positions of one”s limbs and so forth; mindfulness with regard to feelings pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; mindfulness with regard to moments of consciousness; and lastly mindfulness with regard to objects. These four stations of mindfulness have continued to play an important role in the practice of Buddhist meditation.

　　Let us go on to consider the third step, and that is concentration, or it is sometimes called meditation, or tranquillity. You will recall that we traced the origin of meditation all the way back to the Indus Valley Civilization. Concentration has nothing to do with frenzy, or torpor, or semi-consciousness. Concentration is the practice of focussing the mind single-pointedly on a single object. The object may be physical or mental. When total single-pointedness of the mind upon a single object is achieved through concentration, the mind is totally absorbed in the object to the exclusion of all thoughts, distractions, wavering, agitation, or drowsiness. This is the object of the practice of Right Concentration, to focus the mind single-pointedly upon one object. Most of us have had intimations of this state. Occasionally something approaching single-pointedness of mind occurs spontaneously when listening to a favourite piece of music, or watching the sea or sky. One may have experienced the moment when the mind rests single-pointedly, undistractedly upon that object, that sound or that form.

　　Concentration may be practised in a number of ways. The object of concentration may be a sight such as a flame, an image, or a flower, or it may be an idea, an immaterial thing such as space, such as loving-kindness. When one practises concentration, one repeatedly focuses the mind on the object. This eventually, gradually leads to the ability to rest the mind upon the object without distraction. When this can be achieved for a protracted period, then one has achieved single-pointedness. It is important to note that this aspect of mental development has to be practised with the guidance of an experienced teacher. This is because there are a number of technical factors that condition success or failure and they include posture, attitude, duration and occasion of practice. And it is difficult for anyone to get all these right simply by reading a book. Nonetheless, one need not become a monk to practise this kind of meditation, one need not live in a forest, and one need not abandon one”s daily activities. One can begin with relatively short periods, as short as ten to fifteen minutes a day.

　　When one”s ability in this kind of meditation is developed, it has two principal benefits. Firstly, it leads to mental and physical well-being, comfort, joy, calm, tranquillity. Secondly, it turns the mind into an instrument capable of seeing things as they really are. It prepares the mind to attain wisdom. When we talk about seeing things as they really are, we liken the development towards this ability to the development of specialized instruments in science through which we have been able to observe atomic particles and so forth. Had it not been for the development of the radio receiver we would not be aware of radio waves. Similarly, if we do not develop our mind through the cultivation of Right Effort and Right Mindfulness and especially single-pointedness of the mind, our understanding of the real state of things, of truth will remain an intellectual knowledge.

　　In order to turn our understanding of the Four Noble Truths from book knowledge into direct experience we have to achieve one-pointedness of the mind. It is at this point that mental development is ready to turn its attention to wisdom. It is at this point that we see the role of concentration in Buddhism. I touched upon this briefly when I spoke of the Buddha”s decision to leave the two teachers Arada Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra and of His combination of concentration or meditation with penetrative insight on the night of His enlightenment. So here too, single-pointedness of the mind is not enough. It is similar to sharpening the pencil to write with, or the sharpening of the axe which we use to cut off the roots of greed, hatred and delusion. When we achieve single-pointedness of the mind, we are then ready to conjoin tranquillity with penetrative under-standing, meditation with wisdom.

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