telecaster:
Looking for practical tips for maintaining concentration on the breath.
I'm getting some concentration with two main problems that I know are pretty common:
1. Getting caught up in thoughts. They just come relentlessly and sometimes it is so tempting to engage and start to spin out. Anyone have any tricks for NOT getting tempted to follow and add to the thoughts?
2. Sometimes when my concentration is good, I can tell that I'm about to go someplace wonderful and special. As soon as that happens I mentally step back and think about what is happening, and, of course, lose my concentration.
Perhaps it's time to make an effort to practice meditative absorption (jhana). This is the best way to cure what ails you, with regard to strengthening concentration and being able
to let go of intruding thoughts.
Go here:
Precepts and practices and start reading from the beginning of the section down to the next bold headline (
Doctrines of the self). Try following the instructions just as they are given. Use your intuition to figure out what is meant when coming upon anything that has you confused about its meaning.
The most important instruction which, if followed, allows this process to begin taking place is the following:
"The remaining steps are willed, or determined: He 'trains himself,' first by determining his sense of conscious awareness, making it sensitive to the body as a whole."
When Thanissaro instructs that "the remaining steps are willed or determined" he is talking about talking charge of the experience itself. If need be use your imagination to become "physically sensitive to the pleasure of the breath." In order to "take charge of the experience" you only need to "get out of the way" (relax) and let the experience itself unfold while becoming sensitive to any pleasureful sensation that might arise. This is hard to explain as it is such a subtle experience. Yet, once you learn how it works, you will be able to enter jhana absorption at will.
Here, when Thanissaro says "making it sensitive to the body as a whole," he is referring to full body awareness and not just the awareness of the breath body (meaning "the body of the breath" from inhale to exhale) itself. In performing this instruction, look for a pleasant sensation which the breath hearlds; that is, a pleasant sensation that arises as a result of becoming absorbed in awareness of the breath. When that sensation arises, ride along with it and that will guide you into the first jhana.
You should experience the mind becoming steady, gathering and settling inwardly, growing unified and centered. You may even experience a sensation of pressure (like a mild headache) in the middle of the forehead at about the level of the eye brows. This is your concentration strengthening. It's a good sign. You can use it as a nimitta.
That's enough for now. If you can get through this much, you will be doing good.