Wise Concentration

The last of the eight areas of work on the Buddha’s eightfold path is Samm?sam?dhi, usually expressed as wise or right concentration. But the Pali is untranslatable into one English word. People also use “collectedness” or “immersion”.

From the Pali English Dictionary:
Concentration; a concentrated, self-collected, intent state of mind and meditation, which, concomitant with right living, is a necessary condition to the attainment of higher wisdom and emancipation. … Thus sam?dhi would comprise (a) the guarding of the senses, (b) self-possession, (c) contentment, (d) emancipation from the 5 hindrances, (e) the 4 jh?nas [states of absorption in meditation].

Sam?dhi is where most of us start a meditation practice; we find ways to help our minds settle. Many people give up early saying “I can’t meditate, my mind won’t be quiet.” Well, of course not. First we have to direct our attention to what the mind naturally does – generate thoughts – which we discover is a process that’s completely out of control. We affectionately call it “monkey mind”, and this is where we all start. We settle the body into periods of stillness and apply patient, neutral observation to the workings of both body and mind. It requires a type of effort that may be unfamiliar – letting go, over and over again. We let go of hopes and expectations and investigate direct experience, without wishing it to be different from how it is. Whatever is occurring right now is accepted exactly as it is, including physical sensations, chaotic thoughts, and strong feelings, interrupted by moments of peace. We see our resistance to these facts and try to let the resistance go and simply allow our experience to be as it is, moment by moment. With even a little perseverance we start to notice that our direct experience is not static; it is shifting and changing all the time. This is the beginning of sam?dhi.

In the context of the Buddha’s eightfold path, Right Energy, Mindfulness, and Sam?dhi form a group, called the “development” or just Sam?dhi group. It comes after the ethical trainings (Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood) and results in wisdom (Right View and Intention). Logically, if we clean up our verbal and bodily actions, we’ve already started adjusting our mental activity and can develop it further through meditation or one of the many mindfulness trainings. In fact, any element in the Buddha’s eightfold path can be picked up and worked on and will stimulate our interest in cultivating all the other factors. Each area of practice supports all the others.

Ethical training, mental training, and wisdom are the three legs of a sturdy Dharma stool. If one leg is shorter than the other two, we are not firmly planted and may topple over. However, we could see this image in reverse, where we start out wobbly and become more stable as we practice the Buddha’s eightfold path.