I decided that I'm going to focus on concentration for the next three months and I have a couple of questions

First of all, I plan on meditating 30 minutes in the morning and noting throughout the day.

In meditation, I note the crap out of the body, settle attention into the midsestion region (keep noting), then settle attention down into the breath. This takes a little bit of time. From there I note with just "in" and "out". Often times I end up spending a lot of time simply trying to let go of controlling the breath.

Throughout the day I simply note 5 tactile sensations, 5 sounds, and 5 visual objects. I spend about two seconds (feeling, hearing, seeing) on each object. If a thought appears I simply note it as "thinking about work" or "thinking about hot babes" or "thought about whatever". Wash rinse repeat.

Is this sufficient to build concetration? Any tips appreciated.

What you're describing is vipassana (insight) meditation, not samatha (concentration) meditation. Concentration meditation is where you keep your attention on a single object - noting each sensation is insight meditation.

While the act of sitting down and repeatedly noting can also provide incidental benefits to your concentration, I'd suggest specifically making time for concentration meditation as well. Try 15 minutes of concentration followed by 15 minutes of insight.

What you are describing is noting (insight). Concentration is, well, concentrating on something and discarding everything else.

Tips for concentration:

- When your attention goes elsewhere and you break your concentration, just try to think that you "continue" the concentration where you left it, not that you start from zero.
- When dealing with distractions, note them. In noting them, do some "little insight".
- Look for pleasant sensations or try to feel what you are doing as not stressful.
- Once settled, try to notice and relax the effort to support the concentration. See how much you can relax and still keep the concentration strong.

About the object and the level of concentration, in my book: Visual > Mantra > Body sensations.

This is a great tip. I find it helpful to think of it as positive reinforcement of returning the mind to concentration. There's a tendency to do the opposite, that is, to feel upset or frustrated when you notice you've left concentration.

But it's that noticing that you're trying to reinforce, so whenever you notice you've left, just return and be like "yes! I noticed!"



Interesting - I'm pretty much the opposite. I can't make visual pictures in my head at all and find it very difficult to concentrate on anything visual (unless you mean open-eye visual?)

Mantras also have their difficulties - it's very easy to lose concentration while repeating a mantra and just sort of zone out.

What I find the most helpful is to start with the breath, and then sort of follow it as though I'm riding a wave (metaphorically - I've never surfed though I think Ivory is actually a surfer), just kind of getting in the groove of it. Think "slow sex" kind of.

Then (as Tarin Greco once suggested) take the part of your mind that's not noticing the breath, and turn it to noticing how you're noticing the breath. Concentrate on your concentration. This sets up a kind of loop that allows you to fall into first jhana.

Thanks guys.

When you guys meditate do you not notice that it's difficult to start concentrating right away? It typically takes me time to settle into focused attention. That's why I set my meditation up the way that I do (balancing relaxation, noting, and finally settling into the breath). I find it sort of like a dance (or surfing or slow sex as JC suggested). Concentrating first for 15 minutes seems like a forced way of doing this (where's the foreplay!). However, I'm willing to try as suggested.

The other thing I should mention is that the goal is Stream Entry. I'm definitely in EQ right now but sometimes I still fall back into a milder version of Dark Night. I spent the last 2 days cycling through the Dark Night stages which is a pretty quick cycle for me. Now I'm determined to get this handled. So the other question is am I on the right track?

Yes, definitely. I will do a few minutes of noting to help me get concentrated sometimes. Then I'll switch over to concentration.

But what you said was:


So it didn't seem like you were using noting as a way of settling into concentration, because it didn't seem like you stopped noting at any time.

If you want to use noting as a way of settling into concentration, once you do a few minutes of noting and feel more focused, then stop noting and just do concentration.



If you're going for SE and you're in EQ, you're very close.

What happens now is that you need to sort of combine noting with concentration. You also want to be noting more abstract processes such as "searching," "wondering," and so on. You're trying to sneak up on something. What you're trying to sneak up on is the process of sneaking up on something.

Make sure you note the 3Cs... go through each of them. Look at them really closely in everything you note.

I'd try to spend a couple of hours in 4th jhana every day. Get familiar with the jhanas and practice going up and down 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.

If you haven't read MCTB cover to cover, do it. If you have, read it again.

And go on a retreat if you can!

Is it necessary to note them? I don't really note shit like that but I can't help but notice it. What I'm saying is I don't have to try to do it.


I don't know what Jhanas are. Also, damn. Two hours?!


I've only read the dark night section. Now I make a practice of looking at it. Keep in mind, I have no background with Buddhism so a lot of the text is very difficult for me to understand.


I'll see what I can do.

After a quick look at the Jhanas it seems I can become famililar with them by meditating, relaxing, eating healthy food, going on hikes with my friends, going to the gym, and a little bit of surfing. That's pretty much what I do these days.

I will definitely look into a retreat. Seems like a good way to build really strong momentum.

By "them" do you mean abstract processes, or do you mean the 3Cs?
Either way, the answer is, yes, you have to consciously note them. That's what gets you to stream entry.
So for the 3Cs, you'd think to yourself "I'm noting impermanence. I'm noting restlessness. I'm noting no-self."



I don't see how you could become familiar with them by doing anything other than concentration meditation - the other things you listed aren't related to the jhanas.
Jhanas are just the states you go into when doing concentration meditation.



For a long time I didn't think I could do a retreat for a lot of reasons - as it turned out, there's a retreat center that didn't charge me a few hours away, so I took time off work and went.

(The Goenka centers have their advantages but you have to do it your own way instead of what they tell you, which some people aren't comfortable with.)

But you really do need that momentum. It really takes a big block of time to get up there.



What parts are difficult to understand? If there's anything you don't understand ask here and we can help you - but it really doesn't require any kind of background with Buddhism.
Really, read it. It's the best book ever written and it has so much essential information about enlightenment.

Ok got it. I think I really have to fine tune concentration so I can investigate with greater precision. I mean this stuff is obvious on a coarser level but I think I really need to sharpen the mind so I can see clearly. I really haven't been developing concentration for the last couple years.



Oh I see.



I've been reading through it here. I take it this is the full book? I noticed that links to the sections that have a "comma" in it are broken. I wonder if Daniel knows about this.

On another note. The book itself is easy to understand. Previously I had only read through the AP, DN, EQ, and SE sections. I thought the rest of the book was going to use terminology like "dukkha", "nana","shakit" or whatever. I have no idea what that crap is but the books is surprisingly written in plain english.

When doing concentration practice, if I don't get pulled into the object right away when sitting, I'll tend to do metta while saying a short set of metta prayers (out loud but sort of whispering). It takes about 5 minutes and takes the edge off.

Full book is here: http://integrateddaniel.info/book/

dukkha = restlessness (also translated suffering, unsatisfactoriness - one of the 3Cs)

nana = stage of the progress of insight cycle (e.g., equanimity, dissolution, fear, arising & passing)

I don't know what 'shakit' means.

I may have made that one up. Either way, I have no idea what it means either!

FireKasina.org

Correction: it was Nikolai Halay I was thinking of, at: http://thehamiltonproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/going-for-stream-entry-on-goenka-10-day.html

I want to know why my meditation isn't vivid. sensation is still very granular and mildly unpleasant. Meditation used to be very spacious and interesting. But I find the granularity now very boring. There's a very sort of blah feeling to the whole thing. 

Sounds like straight Mahasi style meditation -- "vipassana meditation". Concentration builds in this system over time, and "vipassana khanika samadhi", aka "momentary" concentration focusing intently on moment-to-moment changing phenemna. There's no specific technique for concentration itself, it just gradually happens when one does the practice for a long time, seriously, intensively.

"Appana samadhi" ("fixed" absorption concentration) requires a different technique, and sitting times longer than 15 or 30 minutes. This kind of concentration is more specialized, and is building a tool, which when achieved, makes insight much easier.

In the end, by either route, concentration becomes very strong, at which time the two differnent sorts of concentration are more similar.

In either case, it's best to find (in person) teachers, and use retreats, the longer the better. Otherwise, self-delusion is very likely.

Sounds like you're saying noting and one pointed concentration lead to the same place. 

As for for my last question, I think the foggy meditation is due to diet.

If you haven't yet read it, I'd highly recommend reading The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa.  It's a step-by-step practice guide for how to build up your concentration in order to be increasingly capable of attaining insight.  One area where it excels is laying out common obstacles to developing concentration and in providing specific practices that combat those obstacles.  Your description of how the meditation feels granular/blah/foggy sounds like it could be what he calls subtle dullness, which happens when you force attention to the meditation object while losing peripheral awareness.  Beyond the book itself, there's a useful subreddit where people discuss various practice details and what's worked for them.  

Thanks JP, the book looks great. I just ordered it.