..续本文上一页the meaning of Samadhi.

　　Samadhi is the ability to sustain attention on one thing, and many people can do that in their lives. Take for example a surgeon performing an operation. I”ve talked with surgeons, and they tell me that sometimes they spend hours just on one operation. They”re on their feet all the time, but they say they never feel tired because they have to sustain their attention on the end of their knife, or scalpel. If they don”t, the patient might die. Just one little mistake, one lapse of mindfulness, and their patient can die. They can get sued or lose their jobs for killing their patients. Surgeons performing operations have quite a lot of Samadhi. They sustain their attention on what they”re doing. Standing there they don”t feel any pains or aches in their legs because all their attention is on the end of their knife. Surgeons can get into states of Samadhi because they have to be right there in every moment. It”s difficult at first, but once they get used to it, it actually becomes very pleasant. There”s only one thing in the world that they”re concerned with -- just this part of the operation which is happening now. This example tells us an important message about samadhi. The message is this: if it”s really important, you can do it.

　　Looking for the Dangers in the Meditation Object.

　　I like to teach Samadhi by urging the student not only to emphasise the importance of the meditation object at each stage, but as I”ve said before to combine this sense of importance with a wariness of the dangers to the meditation object as well. With each of the stages, always know the danger -- the enemy to the goal of that particular stage. Again at Stage One the enemy is the past or the future. At Stage Two it”s inner chattering. At Stage Three observing things other than the breath. Whatever the enemy is, see if you can identify that as the danger to that stage of the meditation.

　　For example, if the enemy is the thinking mind, then the danger is insinuating thought which creeps up on you and then grabs hold of you like a python. Once the python has its coils around you, then you are lost. Remember that simile of the snake given in Chapter Five and be alert to the danger. As I also mentioned in that chapter, if you”ve lost quite a few points from your driving license in the last few months because of radar traps, you know that radar traps are a big danger to you. It means that when driving you become very mindful of the speed limits. If something is a danger to you, you become very mindful of it. Whatever it is that is taking away your success at meditation, identify it. Identify the main danger for you in each of these stages.

　　For example suppose you repeat to yourself three times, "I”ll be silently aware of the present moment and not get involved in thinking". At the end of that you may want to become more precise and say to yourself, "The ”snake” I”ve got to be really concerned about is thoughts about food." Whatever your particular "snake" is, keep a lookout for it. Be wary of it. If you instruct yourself at the beginning what your particular "snake" is and you instruct yourself clearly, intently, then you will find that part of your mindfulness throughout your meditation will always be on the lookout for that which is a danger to your success.

　　Many of the problems in meditation do not originate at the beginning of the meditation period. They creep into your meditation somewhere in the middle. I like to give the following little technique to new meditators. I tell them: "Just breathe in and breathe out three times and watch every breath. Just three breaths that”s all." Now most new meditators can do that without any problems whatsoever. They can watch three breaths -- breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathin…

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