So, in short, meditation is particularly training in neutral or virtuous concentration and it functions to calm the mind and acquaint the mind with virtue.
During meditation we use two main functions namely: Mindfulness and Alertness which are essentially the building blocks of concentration.
It may seem as if I am repeating myself below, but I have specifically chosen to do so with slight differences in what I have to say. I have done so to bring a deeper understanding of concentration to you. Ignore if you are not a detailed person (but do come back to this if you need to).
Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is knowing what you are doing when you are doing it no matter what you are doing. Mindfulness is not distracted by the particular aspects of what you are doing nor does it focus on the details of what is happening. It knows the general fact of what is happening. It is filled with what it is supposed to be filled with (mindFULL).
Mindfulness is remembering or knowing what is happening when it is happening and Alertness is watching the quality of the mindfulness for any faults. For example… Think for a second that you are spinning a basketball. Being aware of the mere fact that you are spinning the basketball, the mere event, the general aspect of performing that activity is training in mindfulness. Watching weather or not the ball is spinning fast enough, if it is balanced correctly on your finger and or watching any particular quality of the overall event is training in alertness.
Another way to understand Mindfulness is that it is an ability of the mind that functions not to forget what the mind is focused on. If you were concentrating on something and then completely forgot about what you were focusing on, you have in that moment lost your mindfulness of the object. Mindfulness is the opponent of distractions and functions to keep the mind remembering what it is supposed to be doing. Mindfulness is not an ability that helps the mind focus on its object clearly and correctly, that’s the job of alertness.
Alertness:
Alertness is a type of wisdom that can see what is right or wrong with what it is engaged in (its the quality control). For concentration, it acts like a spy and checks to see if our concentration is pure (is it right or wrong). It watches and examines the mind to see if our concentration is becoming dull, distracted, excited or uninterested. Without alertness we may fall asleep during meditation even though we are still mindful of what we are meditating on (until we doze off of course).
Alertness checks and helps the Mindfulness to focus purely on what the mind intends to do by checking and analysing the various aspects of what is focused on. It checks the quality of the engagement of the mind and the object. It notices if the mind is drifting to distraction or sinking into dullness. It notices if the mind is too tight or too loose. It is aware of the particular characteristics of the object the mind is focused on. If the mind is being mindful of a ball, alertness is checking and watching the characteristics of the ball, namely the colour, size, texture, movement, position etc. It is important to note here that the general existence of the ball is inseparable from the particular aspects of the ball. If the alertness picks up that the mind is focusing (or thinking) on a characteristic that is not part of the ball it should be focused on, it alerts the mind. So, for instance, if we are concentrating on a blue ball and alertness picks up that we are thinking about something red, it will notify the mind that it is not being mindful of the right object.
By using Mindfulness and Alertness we can concentrate and focus on an object of knowledge.
Concentration:
Concentration is a function of the mind that allows the mind to remain clearly and single pointedly on an object. In other words, concentration is a mental factor that functions to keep the mind focused single pointedly on an object.
Another way of describing meditation (concentration on a neutral or virtuous object) is by its effects: Concentrating on an object that makes the mind calm, peaceful, focused and free of pain or suffering is meditation. If you were to concentrate on something that makes you angry or irritated like someone who hurt you then you would be training in concentration but not in meditation. We will not be able to engage with any object of knowledge of any of our senses if we do not have the ability to concentrate. We will not be able to concentrate on a feeling, a smell, a sound, something tactile or even a taste if we cannot concentrate. So, the basis of meditation is concentration.
Now, here is the crux of the matter. If we concentrate on a neutral or positive object we are meditating because only neutral or positive objects will cause our minds to be peaceful, calm, focused and open. Negative objects cause the mind to become agitated, tight, over exaggerated and ultimately cause the person to suffer.
Concentration brings the mind closer and closer to an object. Weather that is something that someone is saying or whether it is something you are doing or something you are watching. Without concentration, our minds will never have the ability to deeply understand what it is engaging with because it will be drawn away or will not have a proper grip on the object. When we say it brings the mind closer to the object we mean exactly that. When you get closer to something, you are able to understand it better and better. For instance, when you focus on a person you dislike repeatedly, does that person not become more and more real, more and more apparent? If you are hungry and focus on the feeling of hunger without distraction do you not feel more and more hungry? The more powerful our concentration becomes the closer and closer we can get to what we want to understand or what we want to do. If I am a sportsman and I concentrate repeatedly on my winning strategy, my whole being becomes engrossed in the strategy and it becomes second nature to me. This is what we mean when we say, the object of knowledge becomes closer and closer to us, something we all need in order to to be successful at what we set out to achieve, without luck or course.
Our mind cannot engage with any object unless it concentrates on it. Concentration makes the mind remain single pointedly on what it is focused on. That is all concentration is. If you are meditating on a form, a sound, a word, or even visualising you are utilizing the power of concentration to focus your mind on that object or to mix your mind with the object or to be acquainted with the object more and more.
There are three main levels of concentration namely:
Mindfulness training. Training not to forget. To make the mind Full.
- First level: Little to no mindfulness and little to no alertness – On this level, one main thing happens: We are distracted and forget the meditation object over and over again. We are not able to improve the quality of our meditation while we continuously get distracted. At this level we are not even aware of the quality of our meditation, our main focus is to remember what we are doing when we are doing it. This is the main practice of mindfulness training. Training to know what you are doing when you are doing it. Training in the quality of our meditation and on more and more subtle levels of our mind first require us to be mindful of what we are doing. If we forget what we are supposed to be doing, how can we train in what we are meant to be doing?
- Second level: Sufficient mindfulness but a lack in alertness: We now have enough mindfulness not to forget the object or be distracted to the point where we have lost our object entirely, but we do not have enough alertness to keep the quality of the meditation pure. Although you are now not forgetting the object and are not distracted by any other thought your meditation is still either too tight or too loose. Alertness is what now needs to be trained. This is the main practice of
Alertness Training. Training the quality of the meditation.
- Third level: Strong mindfulness and strong alertness exist. At this stage your concentration has been perfected and is now completely ready to meditate on more and more subtle meditation objects like impermanence and dependent arising of phenomena.
With respect to the basketball example:
- First level will be the fact that you have no quality in your spin or speed or movement and you keep on dropping the ball. As in your alertness has no power to watch the quality of the meditation and the lack of mindfulness keeps forgetting to do what it is doing and it drops the ball by being distracted.
- Second. You are not distracted anymore and are able to remember to be engaged in the spinning of the ball (keep the ball balanced on your finger) but the speed and balance and quality of the spin of the ball is still questionable. Sometimes you sway too much to the left and sometimes you sway to much to the right. Sometimes it is too slow and sometimes you speed up too much. You are now doing what you are doing without distraction but you are not doing it like a professional.
- Thirdly. You are not distracted and your spin is perfected.
There are many other functions of the mind that are operating during meditation that will be covered in the Meditation Practitioner course. These functions are however the most important and the most fundamental to understanding the inner workings of the mind with respect to practicing meditation
MBH Summary
Mind:
We are training in concentration, mindfulness and alertness. This will make our minds focused, undistracted and clear. Everything starts with the mind. Everything that has been built, developed or created has started with a thought. Without the thought of doing something, an action is merely an accident.
Behaviour and body
Firstly, this will take quite some time to perfect and achieve all three levels. But as you start to engage in meditation you will find that your life has more space in it. You will find that you become more and more successful with what you want to achieve. You will be affected less by what people say and will have more and more emotionally mature ways of responding to people and your situation.
The changes in your behaviour will only come if you actually practice.
Your body will start feeling lighter and more suple. You will find that the aches and pains that you have experienced in the past may not have such a strong hold on you and when you do feel pain or bodily discomfort it will not affect your as much as it used to be. The more mindful you become the more you will be able to identify stress in your body and will now have the ability to release this stress simply by releasing it from your mind.
Heart
When you put a handful of sand in a glass of water and stir it up you will notice that the water turns brown. But as soon as you stop disturbing the water (paying attention to distractions) the sand starts to settle and the true nature of your mind starts to reveal itself. It is only with the true nature of your mind that you will find the energy and passion and spirit to be truly powerful. If you are clouded with doubts, and anger, and jealousy and distractions you will have no power. You will have a weak heart if you do not clear your mind and release yourself from internal and external distractions.
