QUOTE: Comparison, concentrated and unconcentrated mind

I spent a long time (years) thinking I had developed a concentrated mind. I had falsely convinced myself.

I shifted toward an attitude of noticing the difference. Between concentrated and unconcentrated. And this helped me (1) learn how to use that concentration and (2) how to check if I was falsely convincing myself I was concentrated.

It turned out that what my old self thought was concentration was just a pleasant state of escapist mind. It felt different. It felt special. But it was still quite entangled with the world and my own concepts.

The real concentrated state has several forms (it's a region, more than a point), but in all instances has a sharper alertness combined with a easeful awareness (especially good if grounded in the body. It can be broad or narrow, depending on (if) a frame of reference used). It is without sensual greed, aversion, sloth, restlessness, or grandiose identification. It's also not trying to be something that one saw on TV or in a magazine ad or even in a sutta. It might take effort to get into a state of concentration, but once one is in it, the effort is either minimal (Jhana1) or none (Jhana2, internal assurance).

 It has a different feel from the everyday mind which is always striving and stirring, often feeding.

"The point is simply that you train the mind to be centered and then compare it to the state of mind that isn't centered, so that you can see how they differ, how the mind that has attained concentration and then withdraws to contemplate matters of the world and the Dhamma differs from the mind that hasn't attained concentration."

Ajaan Thate

"Buddho", by Phra Ajaan Thate Desaransi, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 2 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/thate/buddho.html .

Loathsomeness

The Buddha relates that one of the benefits of mindfulness of breathing, when developed greatly, is a handle on loathsomeness. That is, one has control over the perception of what is loathsome.

This is one way to "test" your mindfulness of breath. Can it be directed to see the loathsomeness and unloathsomeness of things? And also to be equanimous, independent, unsustained, unentangled?

It's not just about pleasure or passive awareness.

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EXCERPT

"If a monk should wish: 'May I remain percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome,' then he should attend carefully to this same concentration through mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.

 "If a monk should wish: 'May I remain percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome,' then he should attend carefully to this same concentration through mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.

 "If a monk should wish: 'May I remain percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome & what is,' then he should attend carefully to this same concentration through mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.

 "If a monk should wish: 'May I remain percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not,' then he should attend carefully to this same concentration through mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.

 "If a monk should wish: 'May I — in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not — cutting myself off from both — remain equanimous, mindful, & alert,' then he should attend carefully to this same concentration through mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.

See Dipa Sutta, SN 54.8

SHORTY: Sati and lack of sati

Nothing good comes from a lack of sati*.

Pg 126 of Sanditthiko, by Ajahn Maha Boowa, translated by Steven Towler.

NOTES

*Sati is usually translated as mindfulness. In particular, it refers to samma sati, or right mindfulness. After reading Ajaan Geoff/Thanissaro Bhikkhu's book Right Mindfulness, I prefer to use a longer translation of Mind-Memory-Framework-Yoke. This is because it's not just naked awareness. It is using the mind (effort, direction) and applying memory (how to do it. And what it is) to a framework (boundaries for the mind, or the lens to be used. Like breath or body or feelings, in and of themselves) and yoking oneself to that framework (staying in that framework).

Shorty: No Gaps

In your concentration, aim for no gaps.

Like tracking a bird or insect with your eyes. No gaps.

AKA, keep your eye on the "ball", the breath energy or your meditation object.

shorty: appreciate

Appreciation is never owed, never required, always skillful.

Details

When I look around the world so many people feel like the Good Fortune they have attained is expected, Fair, Nothing to be celebrated. But when you look with two eyes and see how many people cheat, how many people lie, how many people steal, how many people twist things just so that they can get a little more of the scraps of the world-that's when I can marvel and appreciate when a shop clerk makes a little effort to pack the bags better, or there's a roadside stop with a clean bathroom. And the people who I appreciate are not Buddhists. They aren't necessarily religious or even "wholly good", but they can understand that there is something called goodness that we can treat each other with. At least sometimes. Even the most radical ("Trumpy") people can have that goodness.

Appreciation is never required, but when given it nourishes the GIVER. It attunes me to see with two eyes the ways that people treat each other well and also don't. It's so easy to get caught up in "the world is terrible for me". Also easy to get caught up in an idea that "the world is wonderful for me". The world is a very weird mix, but our actions do matter. Including the tiny kindnesses of others and myself. And the tiny appreciation of myself and others.

With metta.

Tetrads, Anapanasati

Just a note that I am reading Right Mindfulness (https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/RightMindfulness/Section0001.html) and it is clarifying a lot of my practice. But, a few notes:

1. I don't like the word Mindfulness because it is overloaded with too many meanings. I now use the bulky but precise phrase: Mind-Memory-Framework-Yoke. Mindfulness involves picking a framework, applying memory to stick with and yoke oneself to that framework. In that way, mindfulness is active, even when people do "mental noting". Because mental noting IS a framework itself.

2. Right mindfulness is that which gives insight and develops concentration and discernment. But there are many "almost right" mindfulness'es that are, unfortunately, misleading or wrong. The book covers this in  Chap4 and other places.

3. There is a ton of vocabulary and one needs to have a lot of attunement and "on the cushion" experience for the book to make a difference. Otherwise, it's too easy to have all this floating as abstract ideas. If one reads this first, one needs to be extra careful to notice when one is and isn't in line with the 4 tetrads. The danger is to copy the tetrads and match the "shape" but not the heartwood of the tetrads AND to mistake the shape for the real thing. Trial and error is key here.