8. Right Concentration
NARRATOR TWO: Now we come to the eighth and last factor, right concentration.
| FIRST VOICE: "What is right concentration? "Here, quite secluded from sensual desires, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first meditation, which is accompanied by thinking and exploring, with happiness and pleasure born of seclusion." DN 2; DN 22; MN 39; SN 45:8
"Just as a skilled bath man or his apprentice heaps bath-powder in a metal basin, and spinkling it gradually with water, kneads it up till the moisture wets his ball of bath powder, soaks it, and extends over it within and without though the ball itself does not become liquid; so too, the bhikkhu makes happiness and pleasure born of seclusion drench, steep, fill, and extend throughout this body, so that there is nothing of his whole body to which it does not extend." DN 2; MN 39
"With the stilling of thinking and exploring he enters upon and abides in the second meditation, which has self-confidence and singleness of mind without thinking and exploring, with happiness and pleasure born of concentration." DN 2; DN 22; MN 39; SN 45:8
"Just as if there were a lake whose waters welled up from below, having no inflow from the east, west, north, or south, nor yet replenished from time to time with showers from the skies, then the cool fount of water welling up from the lake would make the cool water drench, steep, fill, and extend throughout the lake, and there would be nothing of the whole lake to which the cool water did not extend; so too, the bhikkhu makes happiness and pleasure born of concentration drench, steep, fill, and extend throughout this body, so that there is nothing of his whole body to which they do not extend." DN 2; MN 39
"With the fading away as well of happiness he abides in equanimity, and, mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, he enters upon and abides in the third meditation, on account of which the noble ones announce: 'He has a pleasant abiding who is an onlooker with equanimity and is mindful.'" DN 2; DN 22; MN 39; SN 45:8
"Just as, in a pond of blue or white or red lotuses, some lotuses are born under the water, grow under the water, do not stand up out of the water, flourish immersed in the water, and the water drenches, steeps, fills, and extends throughout them to their tips and to the their roots, and there is nothing of the whole of those lotuses to which it does not extend; so too, the bhikkhu makes the pleasure divested of happiness drench, steep, fill, and extend throughout this body, so that there is nothing of his whole body to which it does not extend." DN 2; MN 39
"With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters upon and abides in the fourth meditation, which has neither pain nor pleasure, and the purity of whose mindfulness is due to equanimity." DN 2; DN 22; MN 39; SN 45:8
"Just as if a man were sitting clothed from head to foot in white cloth, and there were nothing of his whole body to which the white cloth did not extend; so too the bhikkhu sits with pure bright cognizance extending over his body and there is nothing of his whole body to which it does not extend." DN 2; MN 39
"What is the noble ones' right concentration with its causes and its equipment? It is any unifiedness of mind that is equipped with the other seven factors of the path. Right view comes first: one understands wrong view, intention, speech, action, and livelihood, as wrong; one understands right view, intention, speech, action, and livelihood, as right, each of two kinds, that is, either associated with taints and ripening in the essentials of existence, or supramundane and a factor of the path. One makes efforts to abandon wrong view and the other four, and to acquire right view and the other four: this is one's right effort. Mindfully one abandons the wrong and enters upon the way of the right: this is one's right mindfulness." MN 117 (condensed) |
NARRATOR TWO: These last three factors, right effort, mindfulness, and concentration, together constitute "concentration." The eight, with right knowledge and right deliverance, are called the "ten rightnesses," which constitute the "certainty of rightness" attained with the path of stream-entry. Before leaving the subject of concentration, though, there are four more stages attainable called the four "formless states." They are extra to "right concentration," merely refinements of the fourth meditation.
| FIRST VOICE: "With the complete surmounting of perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, by not giving attention to perceptions of difference, (aware of) 'infinite space,' a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base consisting of infinity of space. "Again, by completely surmounting the base consisting of infinity of space, (aware of) 'infinite consciousness,' he enters upon and abides in the base consisting of infinity of consciousness. "Again, by completely surmounting the base consisting of infinity of consciousness, (aware that) 'there is nothing at all,' he enters upon and abides in the base consisting of nothingness. "Again, by completely surmounting the base consisting of nothingness, he enters upon and abides in the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. "The four meditations are not called effacement in the Noble One's Discipline; they are called in the Noble One's Discipline, a pleasant abiding here and now. The four formless states are not called effacement in the Noble One's Discipline; they are called in the Noble One's Discipline, quiet abidings." MN 8
"This bhikkhu (who practises these eight attainments) is said to have blindfolded Mara, to have (temporarily) deprived Mara's eyesight of its object and become invisible to the Evil One." MN 25 |
NARRATOR TWO: None of these eight attainments is claimed as peculiar to the Buddhas' teaching. The practice of them without right view leads only to heaven, but not to Nibbana. The teaching peculiar to Buddhas is the Four Noble Truths. A ninth attainment, the "attainment of cessation," is described as reached only in the two highest stages of realization and is thus peculiar to Buddhas and their disciples.
| FIRST VOICE: "By completely surmounting the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the cessation of perception and feeling, and his taints are exhausted by his seeing with understanding. Then a bhikkhu is said to have blindfolded Mara, to have deprived Mara's eyesight of its object and become invisible to the Evil One, and, what is more, to have gone beyond all attachment to the world." MN 25
SN 1:23
"Bhikkhus, if one man were to travel and trudge through one age, then the heap, the pile, the mass of his bones would be as high as this Vepulla Hill, if they were collected and the store were not destroyed." Iti 24
"Suppose a man threw into the ocean a yoke with one hole in it, and then the east wind blew it west and the west wind blew it east and the north wind blew it south and the south wind blew it north; and suppose there were a blind turtle that came up to the surface once at the end of each century. How do you conceive this, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle eventually put his head through that yoke with the one hole in it?" "He might, Lord, at the end of a long period." "Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his head through that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would find his way back to the human state." MN 129
"Bhikkhus, the Dhamma well proclaimed by me thus is frank, open, evident, and stripped of padding. In this Dhamma well proclaimed by me thus, any who have simply faith in me, simply love for me, are destined for heaven." MN 22
"What should be done for the disciples out of compassion by a teacher who seeks their welfare and is compassionate, that I have done for you. There are these roots of trees, these rooms that are void: meditate, bhikkhus, do not delay lest you regret it later. This is our instruction to you." MN 8; MN 152 |
NARRATOR TWO: That concludes the survey. But how is the Way actually followed?
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