Excerpt from Living in Blue Sky Mind (Deidrichs): How We Meditate
How We Meditate
Right Concentration furnishes the eighth step on Buddha’s
Eightfold Path. Technically, Right Concentration signifies passing through four
stages in meditation called jhanas, and arriving at mindfulness. While
the steps on the path are not consecutive and are practiced together, Buddha
said that by following the previous steps, that is, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Understanding, Right Effort, Right Intention, Right Livelihood, and Right
Mindfulness, we arrive at Right Concentration.
When we concentrate, we focus our attention on something. Concentration,
here called samadhi,
means that we
focus our mind on an object that helps us to become more wholesome and pure in our
awareness. As we know, a distracted mind races between ideas, thoughts, and
concepts, filled with anxiety, worry, concern, and delusion (thinking that
things differ from the way they actually are). This mind has been compared to
the antics of a drunken monkey. A drunken monkey chatters and flits and flops around
in a cage. A concentrated mind focuses and is not easily distracted. A
concentrated mind readily sees things exactly as they are right in front of us:
the truth of the moment.
We learn to focus in Zen practice (with a teacher) on the
breath as the object of mind. Our breath never leaves us. It functions always
and only in the present moment. The longer we practice concentrating on the
breath (without striving for any particular goal), the more space we create to
allow thoughts, ideas, and concerns to rise up in our mind momentarily, and
pass on without attachment, without judgment, and without concern.
Finally, our mind becomes so one-pointed that we purify our
awareness, letting go of what we call mental afflictions and defilements, such
as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, greed, craving, clinging, delusion, and
doubt. We cultivate wholesome qualities, such as joy, energy, concentration, confidence, alertness, clear mental
faculties, and tranquility. Ultimately,
we arrive at true wisdom.
Wisdom and compassion are the final abodes, the home, and the
goalless goal that we reach after treading on Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path.
Reflecting
Why is Buddha’s Eightfold Path called a path?
Why is meditation an essential part of Zen practice?
A beginning koan (mind puzzle) in Zen is called susokan.
The teacher tells the student: “Bring me susokan, the ‘breath with
eyes.’” Why do you think this koan, “breath with eyes,” is given to new
students?
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