Respect for Concentration
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
October, 2002
Respect for concentration goes two ways: respect for your own concentration and respect for the concentration of the people around you. Respect for your own concentration means that you really give value to the little quiet moments in the mind. They”re the spaces we tend not to look at. We”re more interested in the thoughts in the mind—what we can think about this, what we can think about that— and the few moments when the mind seems to rest between its thoughts don”t seem to hold much interest at all.
The beginning skill of meditation lies in learning how to notice them. As you let go of a particular thought, let go of a particular creation of the mind, the mind is actually released from that thought, and there”s a moment of stillness. What you want to do is learn to appreciate those moments, give them more space so that they connect. Even though there may be thoughts murmuring in the back corners of the mind, that”s not where your attention is. Your attention is with the stillness. You give it space. You pay attention to it. You”re careful about it.
There”s the word citta in Pali. One meaning is “mind” but another meaning is “intent.” You”re really intent on these things. Focus your attention on the still moments. Give them your full attention. Give them space to grow so you don”t step all over them. Most of us, when we meditate, are looking for the flashing lights and bright visions, really extraordinary states of mind. We have to keep reminding ourselves that the flashing lights usually tend to be around casinos. Pretty unreliable places to go into. The aspects of the mind that you can really depend on are more like the grass on the path— because there in the grass are the little shoots of trees that really do hold promise. Little shoots of oak trees, little shoots of pine trees—whatever. If you give them space, give them fertilizer and water, make sure bugs don”t eat them, they begin to grow. What may not look all that promising to begin with suddenly becomes major shelter for the mind. Having respect for concentration also means that you have to rearrange your life.
Look at the ways in which you”re draining the mind of its energy, draining the mind of its focus in terms of the things you read, listen to, watch on TV, the people you hang around with. You have to look intently at your life to see if it”s a life conducive to concentration or not, conducive to the health of your mind or not, and be willing to make changes. Subject the mind to fewer and fewer distractions, fewer and fewer stimuli that are going to excite greed, anger, delusion—so that the mind has space to gather its strength, so that it”s not always having to contend with drains on its energy. In other words, you have to learn to husband your strength for the things that are really important.
There”s a story they tell of a Chinese martial arts master whose students were going to be giving a demonstration one day in a pavilion in the forest. The road to the pavilion had a donkey on the side, and the donkey was known for its meanness. It liked to kick people who came past on the road. So the martial arts students came along and said, “Hey, let”s test our skills here with the donkey before we get to the pavilion.” The first one goes up to the donkey, tries one stance, and gets kicked across the road. The second student says, “Ah, that”s not how you do it, you fool, you do it like this!” He went up with another stance but he got kicked across the road as well. In the end all the students got kicked across the road, no matter what stance they took. So they consulted among themselves and said, “What would the master do
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Well, the master was coming along behind them, so they hid in the bushes by the r…
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