Right Concentration
“When
you use concentration to run away from yourself or your situation, it
is wrong
concentration. Sometimes we need to escape our problems for relief, but
at
some time we have to return to face them.”
Thich Nhat Hanh in
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace,
Joy,
and Liberation
Right
Concentration is one aspect of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, which
is the way to well-being. Other aspects are Right View, Right
Mindfulness, Right Speech, Right Thinking, Right Diligence, Right
Action, and Right Livelihood.
There exists a
particular hell where concentration seems impossible. When pressures,
urgency, fears, anger and other distractions carry us away from our
center, a deadly non-peace takes over. When nothing is working and that
just doesn’t seem OK, we lose the ability to concentrate. We are out of
the flow, hopes sag and we thrash about unproductively. In better
moments, we can focus, do what needs to be done, move ahead, be in the
present, and experience the joy of living.
The state of mind in which
we are absorbed, focused, and forgetful of self is rewarding, and
people use extraordinary means to gain it. We can find that state in
acts of creation, in music, dancing, in sports, in risk taking, in deep
conversation, and sometimes in work. When the free-throw shooter is in
the zone or the painter is in the
flow of creation, the focus of activity is paramount and time passes in
an
entirely different way. Gambling and computer games are compelling, and
in
some cases addictive, in large part, because they induce a state of
full
concentration in which one’s confusion and anxiety are removed from
awareness
while one stays engaged in the action.
It is worth reflecting on
how you have experienced concentration. Maybe make two lists. On one
list write when in your life have you experienced being focused and in
the flow? You might have found that level of concentration in moments
when you were totally engaged in life. Afterwards you might have
wondered where the time went. You
might have had the experience of losing yourself in the activity, yet
remaining
present with your awareness heightened and your actions seeming
congruent
and flowing.
On your other list, note
when you may have found yourself carried away in activity that took you
out of your life through distraction. These would be engaging moments
of avoidance that later you might reflect on as being rather
meaningless, possibly even harmful.
Looking deeply at the flow
moments that brought you more awareness and closer to life, you might
find talents and capacities that if developed could create more meaning
in your life. Looking
at the ways you distract yourself from real life you may find band-aids
to
cover suffering and possibly self defeating behaviors.
Right Concentration
involves more
mindfulness, clarity of thought, congruence between thought and
behavior and
less attachment to ego. As you practice being in the present and acting
with
awareness and clear intentions you will find yourself in the happy
state of
Right Concentration.
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© 2002 Tom Barrett