| | I also tend almost always to begin practice with samatha; I seem to have an inclination towards concentration. While there is an artificial solidity to it, it is usually easy to see past this--I only really find myself getting lost in jhana if I slip into a higher state unintentionally. This almost always lends stability and focus to vipassana for me. That said on retreat recently my mindfulness of individual sensations involved in breathing was overwhelming my ability to sense the breath as an easeful, solid thing.
You don't even need to live in a "high speed world" to benefit from the soothing effect of samatha. To paraphrase, the mind is going to feed, so give it something wholesome to feed on. While jhana may still be conditioned, unlike any external sense-pleasure, it is one that, with training or skill, be accessible right away, and causes less harm to one's self and to others than anything else. Even something as simple as a scoop of ice cream involves many, many interdependent contigencies, each being another node of pain and suffering; concentration is far more wholesome (i.e., "skillful").
Beyond that, what do I want to get out of samatha? Levitation and the ability to increase my bank account with my mind. |