The Buddha generated a prodigious amount of lists. I have found these helpful for my Buddhist development, the development of concentration and insight and calm, amongst other skills.
In describing right mindfulness in SN 45.8, the Buddha gives 3 qualities: ardent, alert, and mindful.
It's nice list.
My "look for shortcuts mind", likes to say, "can I get by with just 2 of these?" or "what if I get really good at just one of these... is that enough?" It's a fair question. And the answer is no. The reasoning to the answer is instructive.
Ardency refers to creating a desire for and a determination for something. Someone who is searching for a treasure is ardent when they really want to find it and want to succeed. Ardency alone is someone who isn't very bright, doesn't have the attention, and doesn't remember exactly what they are trying to do based on the treasure map. But they really really really want it.
Alert refers to someone who is watchful and, in many ways, focused on the details. Imagine a desert outpost, and there is a guard standing watch. Alert means that they are constantly scanning the horizon and able to notice small details. They have vigilance and don't get fatigued or bored. If you have ever had to watch over something (protecting something, watching a scoreless baseball game, or watching water boil), you know there is a lot of boredom and repetition. So, the alert are the ones able to keep watch and able to notice things. Alertness, in this way, is an ability, but is divorced from motivation. So, alertness alone might mean that someone doesn't know what they are looking for or someone who really would rather do something else.
Mindful, at least as far as Thanissaro Bhikkhu presents it, is not that special; it's simply keeping something in mind and remembering. If you friend says, "help me remember this phone number, 505-112-3883", then the mindfulness is just remembering that phone number. It seems very simple. Mindfulness is tested anytime we get distracted. So, you have the number in your head, but then someone you haven't seen for weeks texts you and you chat. And then you remember that tomorrow you have a doctor's appointment. That number can go out of your brain pretty easily. Mindful=remembering doesn't need ardency of alertness. It does help if the phone number is your friend calling from jail and who needs you to call them back tomorrow. And alertness can help you realize what the distractions are.
If we have none of these, we could be simply drifting through life, blown around by the ups and downs. Reacting.
When we have all 3, we make fast progress. It doesn't have to be Buddhism. I recently learned a little bit about playing the guitar. Ardency is what gets me to pick it up, even though there are other things in mind. Alertness helps me notice little things, like how much tension is in my fingers, where to put the frets, and a thousand other tiny details. Mindful=remembering helps me remember my purpose (learning the guitar) and corrects me when I want to drift off. Memory also lets me file away the things I learn from each lesson, so I can use them next time.
Now, let's look at having two of the three.
Mindful + Alert but no Ardency: No motivation means we won't keep coming back to it. Symptom: we'll keep finding other things we'd rather do and never go practice.
Ardent + Alert but not Mindful: We really want to learn and we notice little things. But I might sucked into the minutia or sucked into the wrong minutia. I'm reminded of when I tried to learn the guitar by watching a lot of videos... it doesn't work. You have to pick up the guitar and keep messing up. Or, this might be that you notice things, but you don't remember them. This is more prevalent in my learning of a new language. I'll learn vocabulary and the maleta is a Spanish word for suitcase. Spanish nouns are gendered, and this is female. But, though I'm getting lots of distinctions during the lesson, I don't remember these things when I am using Duolingo the next time.
Ardent + Mindful, but not Alert: This might be the toughest one. We are trying really hard. We want it very bad. We remember everything we learn. But we can't notice the details. I'm reminded of watching basketball. I like basketball and can enjoy the ups and downs. But, if I try to really understand the game like the way a coach might diagram a play, I just can't see it. I'm not alert enough to all the players away from the ball, and I'm not following the setup. All I can do is follow who has the ball, the passes, and the shots. It's a blessing to know I'm not alert enough. But, before I met someone who could see more, I was in serious Dunning-Kruger and couldn't understand what I wasn't seeing.
Applied to breathing meditation.
Mindful + Alert but no Ardency: It's hard to want to practice. There's so much our mind would rather do. We might force ourselves to sit still, but our mind just runs and runs and we don't want to bring it back.
Ardent + Alert but not Mindful: We're really focused on the breath. We are noticing lots of little things. And then we get distracted by some thought of body sensation. We're no longer with the breath. We're with that itch on our nose. Fully alert. Very focused and trying to "win" the meditation even. But our focus is on the itch, not the breath. We don't remember to go back to it.
Ardent + Mindful, but not Alert: We really want to practice, and that keeps us coming back to the mat. We are very focused and aware, like a sentry, when our breath has wandered. And, with mindful=remembering, we come back to the breath everytime we fall off. But, we don't get much better. Because we're not alert, we just notice "with-the-breath" and "not-with-the-breath". But not all the subtle causes. Or, we're with the causes, but not with the experience and sensations. Something is missing in our ability to watch it fully. Most notably, there are gaps (temporal) or blind spots ("spatial") in what we're aiming for: sustained awareness.
I'll leave it as an exercise to think through breath meditation when all 3 are aligned. I think it's helpful to see and explore what it means to be missing one. It heightens awareness to do this investigation. It helps you notice which element might be lagging on any given day. And then, rather than grit your teeth and "try harder", you can be a master craftsman, and make the adjustment to ardency, alertness, of mindfulness.
UUDR. May you practice well and develop insight, concentration, and ease.
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