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Excerpt from How Meditation Works by Shinzen Young
Original article:
How Meditation Works by Shinzen Young
Meditation consists of two aspects or components.
- The first, called shamatha in Sanskrit, is the step by step development of mental and physical calmness.
- The second, vipashyana, is the step by step heightening of awareness, sensitivity and observation.
These two components complement each other and should be practiced simultaneously. Some techniques develop primarily calming, others primarily clarity, still others both equally. It is of utmost importance, however, that one component not be enhanced at the expense of the other.
To do so is no longer meditation. Tranquility at the expense of awareness is dozing; awareness at the expense of calm is ‘tripping.’
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Shamatha is the practice of stilling the mind through letting go.
In Buddhist usage, it is virtually synonymous with the term samadhi. This latter term is usually translated as “one-pointedness” or concentration. Unfortunately, the word concentration often carries the connotation of repressing the mind, forcing it not to wander from a certain object. Such a tug of war between the desire of the mind to hold an object and its desire to wander is exhausting and produces unconscious tensions. This is the very antithesis of the shamatha state.
The nature of concentration is detachment. Realizing this marks an important step along the path to the attainment of mental power. In real concentration, one simply rests the mind on the object at hand and then proceeds to let go of everything else in the universe. The mind then remains on that object until it is appropriate to shift attention.
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One approach to this is to rest the attention on a specific object and gently return it there each time it wanders off. Eventually this wandering habit weakens, then disappears.
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However, it should be strongly emphasized that, with skillful guidance, a person may well come to such an experience within a few years of highly motivated practice.
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