Only mindfulness, produces Enlightenment

[Guest guest]

Only mindfulness, produces Enlightenment

 

More excerpts from "Mindfulness in Plain English"

 

"The purpose of meditation is not to concentrate on the breath, without

interruption, forever. That by itself would be a useless goal. The purpose

of meditation is not to achieve a perfectly still and serene mind. Although

a lovely state, it doesn't lead to liberation by itself. The purpose of

meditation is to achieve uninterrupted mindfulness. Mindfulness, and only

mindfulness, produces Enlightenment."

 

"Mindfulness is the most important aspect of meditation. It is the primary

thing that you are trying to cultivate. So there is really no need at all

to struggle against distractions. The crucial thing is to be mindful of

what is occurring, not to control what is occurring. Remember,

concentration is a tool. It is secondary to bare attention. From the point

of view of mindfulness, there is really no such thing as a distraction.

Whatever arises in the mind is viewed as just one more opportunity to

cultivate mindfulness. Breath, remember, is an arbitrary focus, and it is

used as our primary object of attention. Distractions are used as secondary

objects of attention. They are certainly as much a part of reality as

breath. It actually makes rather little difference what the object of

mindfulness is. You can be mindful of the breath, or you can be mindful of

the distraction. You can be mindful of the fact that you mind is still, and

your concentration is strong, or you can be mindful of the fact that your

concentration is in ribbons and your mind is in an absolute shambles. It's

all mindfulness. Just maintain that mindfulness and concentration

eventually will follow."

 

"Don't strain or struggle. It's a waste. Every bit of energy that you apply

to that resistance goes into the thought complex and makes it all the

stronger. So don't try to force such thoughts out of your mind. It's a

battle you can never win. Just observe the distraction mindfully and, it

will eventually go away. It's very strange, but the more bare attention you

pay to such disturbances, the weaker they get. Observe them long enough,

and often enough, with bare attention, and they fade away forever. Fight

with them and they gain in strength. Watch them with detachment and they

wither."

 

[Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.]

is downloadable free here:

http://www.realization.org/home.htm

http://www.realization.org/page/namedoc0/mipe/mipe_0.htm

 

 

 

________________________________

Love makes the heart laugh.

I wish you Love.

CyberDervish

``````````````````````````````````````````````