QUOTES
grades of Samadhi ::: But in the Rajayogic Samadhi there are different grades of status, - that in which the mind, though lost to outward objects, still muses, thinks, perceives in the world of thought, that in which the mind is still capable of primary thought-formations and that in which, all out-darting of the mind even within itself having ceased, the soul rises beyond thought into the silence of the Incommunicable and Ineffable.
by concentrate we can know ::: By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself.
on the ideal ::: Concentrate more upon what you are to be, on the ideal, with the faith that, since it is the goal before you, it must and will come.
by essence ::: This is the process of concentrated meditation; but a more strenuous method is the fixing of the whole mind in concentration on the essence of the idea only, so as to reach not the thought-knowledge or the psychological experience of the subject, but the very essence of the thing behind the idea. In this process thought ceases and passes into the absorbed or ecstatic contemplation of the object or by a merging into it in an inner Samadhi. If this be the process followed, then subsequently the state into which we rise must still be called down to take possession of the lower being, to shed its light, power and bliss on our ordinary consciousness. For otherwise we may possess it, as many do, in the elevated condition or in the inward Samadhi, but we shall lose our hold of it when we awake or descend into the contacts of the world; and this truncated possession is not the aim of an integral Yoga.
third process of concentration - by stilling the mind ::: A third process is neither at first to concentrate in a strenuous meditation on the one subject nor in a strenuous contemplation of the one object of thought-vision, but first to still the mind altoge ther. This may be done by various ways; one is to stand back from the mental action altoge ther not participating in but simply watching it until, tired of its unsanctioned leaping and running, it falls into an increasing and finally an absolute quiet. Another is to reject the thought-suggestions, to cast them away from the mind whenever they come and firmly hold to the peace of the being which really and always exists behind the trouble and riot of the mind. When this secret peace is unveiled, a great calm settles on the being and there comes usually with it the perception and experience of the all-pervading silent Brahman, everything else at first seeming to be mere form and eidolon. On the basis of this calm everything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience no longer of the external phenomena of things but of the deeper truth of the divine manifestation.
all receiving concentration ::: Concentration is indeed the first condition of any Yoga, but it is an all-receiving concentration that is the very nature of the integral Yoga. A separate strong fixing of the thought, of the emotions or of the will on a single idea, object, state, inner movement or principle is no doubt a frequent need here also; but this is only a subsidiary helpful process. A wide massive opening, a harmonised concentration of the whole being in all its parts and through all its powers upon the One who is the All is the larger action of this Yoga without which it cannot achieve its purpose. For it is the consciousness that rests in the One and that acts in the All to which we aspire; it is this that we seek to impose on every element of our being and on every movement of our nature. This wide and concentrated totality is the essential character of the sadhana and its character must determine its practice.
Concentration on a precise goal is helpful to development.
The more we concentrate on the goal, the more it blossoms forth and becomes precise.
"Knowledge can only come by conscious identity, for that is the only true knowledge,-existence aware of itself."
There is always some kind of unconscious identification with the surrounding people and things; but by will and practice one can learn to concentrate on somebody or something and to get consciously identified with this person or this thing, and through this identification you know the nature of the person or the thing.
Nothing is impossible for one who is attentive.
It is said that the faculty of concentrated attention is at the source of all successful activity. Indeed the capacity and value of a man can be measured by his capacity of concentrated attention.2
In order to obtain this concentration, it is generally recommended to reduce one's activities, to make a choice and confine oneself to this choice alone, so as not to disperse one's energy and attention. For the normal man, this method is good, sometimes even indispensable. But one can imagine something better.
At times I try to silence the mind, at times to surrender and at times to find my psychic being.
Thus I cannot fix my attention on a single thing. Which one should I try first?
All should be done and each one when it comes spontaneously.
--- BLACKBOARD
One can learn how to identify oneself. One must learn. It is indispensable if one wants to get out of one's ego. For so long as one is shut up in one's ego, one can't make any progress.
How can it be done?:There are many ways. I'll tell you one.
When I was in Paris, I used to go to many places where there were gatherings of all kinds, people making all sorts of researches, spiritual (so-called spiritual), occult researches, etc. And once I was invited to meet a young lady (I believe she was Swedish) who had found a method of knowledge, exactly a method for learning. And so she explained it to us. We were three or four (her French was not very good but she was quite sure about what she was saying!); she said: "It's like this, you take an object or make a sign on a blackboard or take a drawing - that is not important - take whatever is most convenient for you. Suppose, for instance, that I draw for you... (she had a blackboard) I draw a design." She drew a kind of half-geometric design. "Now, you sit in front of the design and concentrate all your attention upon it - upon that design which is there. You concentrate, concentrate without letting anything else enter your consciousness - except that. Your eyes are fixed on the drawing and don't move at all. You are as it were hypnotised by the drawing. You look (and so she sat there, looking), you look, look, look.... I don't know, it takes more or less time, but still for one who is used to it, it goes pretty fast. You look, look, look, you become that drawing you are looking at. Nothing else exists in the world any longer except the drawing, and then, suddenly, you pass to the other side; and when you pass to the other side you enter a new consciousness, and you know."
We had a good laugh, for it was amusing. But it is quite true, it is an excellent method to practise. Naturally, instead of taking a drawing or any object, you may take, for instance, an idea, a few words. You have a problem preoccupying you, you don't know the solution of the problem; well, you objectify your problem in your mind, put it in the most precise, exact, succinct terms possible, and then concentrate, make an effort; you concentrate only on the words, and if possible on the idea they represent, that is, upon your problem - you concentrate, concentrate, concentrate until nothing else exists but that. And it is true that, all of a sudden, you have the feeling of something opening, and one is on the other side. The other side of what?... It means that you have opened a door of your consciousness, and instantaneously you have the solution of your problem. It is an excellent method of learning "how" to identify oneself. TM, QA 1953,
why develop concentration?:
--- CONC AND WILL
"From the point of view of action (physical action), it is the will: you must work and build up an unshakable will. From the intellectual point of view, you must work and build up a power of concentration which nothing can shake. And if you have both, concentration and will, you will be a genius and nothing will resist you." - The Mother
concentrate on the Divine ::: "By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself, we can become whatever we choose; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fear, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object. - Sri Aurobindo"
--- CAN BE DEVELOPED BY TRAINING
def and utility of concentration ::: It is to bring back all the scattered threads of consciousness to a single point, a single idea. Those who can attain a perfect attention succeed in everything they undertake; they will always make rapid progress. And this kind of concentration can be developed exactly like the muscles; one may follow different systems, different methods of training. Today we know that the most pitiful weakling, for example, can with discipline become as strong as anyone else. One should not have a will that flickers out like a candle.
must be cultivated ::: The will, the concentration must be cultivated; it is a question of method, of regular exercise. If you will, you can.
But the thought "What's the use?" must not come in to weaken the will. The idea that one is born with a certain character and can do nothing about it is a stupidity.
--- ON WHAT TO CONCENTRATE ON
"It is, then, in the highest mind of thought and light and will or it is in the inner heart of deepest feeling and emotion that we must first centre our consciousness, -in either of them or, if we are capable, in both together,- and use that as our leverage to lift the nature wholly towards the Divine. The concentration of an enlightened thought, will and heart turned in unison towards one vast goal of our knowledge, one luminous and infinite source of our action, one imperishable object of our emotion is the starting-point of the Yoga. And the object of our seeking must be the very fount of the Light which is growing in us, the very origin of the Force which we are calling to move our members. Our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly, something always aspires in our secret nature. There must be a large, many-sided yet single concentration of the thought on the idea, the perception, the vision, the awakening touch, the soul's realisation of the one Divine. There must be a flaming concentration of the heart on the All and Eternal -and, when once we have found him, a deep plunging and immersion in the possession and ecstasy of the All-Beautiful. There must be a strong and immovable concentration of the will on the attainment and fulfilment of all that the Divine is and a free and plastic opening of it to all that he intends to manifest in us. This is the triple way of the Yoga." - Sri Aurobindo, Synthesis of Yoga, The Divine Works, Self-Consecration
--- THE GIFTS OF CONCENTRATION
"By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself, we can become whatever we choose; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fear, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object." - Sri Aurobindo,Synthesis of Yoga, The Integral Knowledge, Concentration
--- CONCENTRATING THE ATTENTION
no spiritual obstacle can resist concentration ::: Whatever you may want to do in life, one thing is absolutely indispensable and at the basis of everything, the capacity of concentrating the attention. If you are able to gather together the rays of attention and consciousness on one point and can maintain the concentration with a presistent will, nothing can resist it - whatever it may be, from the most material physical development to the highest spiritual one. But this discipline must be followed in a constant and, it may be said, imperturbable way; not that you should always be concentrated on the same thing - that's not what I mean, I mean learning to concentrate.
And materially, for studies, sports, all physical or mental development, it is absolutely indispensble. And the value of an individual is proportionate to the value of his attention.
And from the spiritual point of view it is still more important. There is no spiritual obstacle which can resist a penetrating power of concentration. For instance, the discovery of the psychic being, union with the inner Divine, opening to the higher spheres, all can be obtained by an intense and obstinate power of concentration - but one must learn how to do it.
--- THE KEY
There is nothing in the human or even in the superhuman field, to which the power of concentration is not the key.
--- THE BEST
You can be the best athlete, you can be the best student, you can be an artistic, literary or scientific genius, you can be the greatest saint with that faculty. And everyone has in himself a tiny little beginning of it - it is given to everybody, but people do not cultivate it.
The third way of concentration ::: "A third process is neither at first to concentrate in a strenuous meditation on the one subject nor in a strenuous contemplation of the one object of thought-vision, but first to still the mind altoge ther. This may be done by various ways; one is to stand back from the mental action altoge ther not participating in but simply watching it until, tired of its unsanctioned leaping and running, it falls into an increasing and finally an absolute quiet. Another is to reject the thought-suggestions, to cast them away from the mind whenever they come and firmly hold to the peace of the being which really and always exists behind the trouble and riot of the mind. When this secret peace is unveiled, a great calm settles on the being and there comes usually with it the perception and experience of the all-pervading silent Brahman, everything else at first seeming to be mere form and eidolon. On the basis of this calm everything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience no longer of the external phenomena of things but of the deeper truth of the divine manifestation.
Ordinarily, once this state is obtained, strenuous concentration will be found no longer necessary. A free concentration of will using thought merely for suggestion and the giving of light to the lower members will take its place. This Will will then insist on the physical being, the vital existence, the heart and the mind remoulding themselves in the forms of the Divine which reveal themselves out of the silent Brahman. By swifter or slower degrees according to the previous preparation and purification of the members, they will be obliged with more or less struggle to obey the law of the will and its thought-suggestion, so that eventually the knowledge of the Divine takes possession of our consciousness on all its planes and the image of the Divine is formed in our human existence even as it was done by the old Vedic Sadhakas. For the integral Yoga this is the most direct and powerful discipline."
--- CONCENTRATION IN THE CENTRE OF ASPIRATION
It is always better to try to concentrate in a centre, the centre of aspiration, one might say, the place where the flame of aspiration burns, to gather in all the energies there, at the solar plexus centre and, if possible, to obtain an attentive silence as though one wanted to listen to something extremely subtle, something that demands a complete attention, a complete concentration and a total silence. And then not to move at all. Not to think, not to stir, and make that movement of opening so as to receive all that can be received, but taking good care not to try to know what is happening while it is happening, for it one wants to understand or even to observe actively, it keeps up a sort of cerebral activity which is unfavourable to the fullness of the receptivity - to be silent, as totally silent as possible, in an attentive concentration, and then be still.
If one succeeds in this, then, when everything is over, when one comes out of meditation, some time later - usually not immediately - from within the being something new emerges in the consciousness: a new understanding, a new appreciation of things, a new attitude in life - in short, a new way of being.
--- CENTRES FOR CONCENTRATION
The nature of the meditation depends on the part of the being in which one is centred at the time. In the body (rather the subtle body than the physical, but connected with the corresponding parts in the gross physical body also) there are centres proper to each level of the being. There is a centre at the top of the head and above it which is that of the abovemind or higher consciousness; a centre in the forehead between the eyebrows which is that of the thinking mind, mental will, mental vision; a centre in the throat which is that of the expressive or externalising mind: these are the mental centres.
Below comes the vital-the heart (emotional), the navel (the dynamic life-centre), another below the navel in the abdomen which is the lower or sensational vital centre. Finally, at the bottom of the spine is the Muladhara or physical centre. Behind the heart is the psychic centre. If one concentrates in the head as many do it is a mental-spiritual meditation one seeks for, if in the heart it is a psychic meditation; these are the usual places where one concentrates. But what rises up first or opens first may not be the mental or psychic, but the emotional or the vital; that depends on the nature-for whatever is easiest to open in it, is likely to open first. If it is in the vital, then the meditation tends to project the consciousness into the vital plane and its experiences. But from that one can get to the psychic by drawing more and more inwards, not getting absorbed into the vital experiences but separating oneself and looking at them with detachment as if one were deep inside and observing things outside oneself. Similarly one can get the mental experiences by concentrating in the thought and by it bringing a corresponding experience, e.g. the thought of all being the Brahman, or one can draw back from the thought also and observe one's own thoughts as outside things until one enters into the silence and the pure spiritual experience.
One can concentrate in any of the three centres which is easiest to the sadhak or gives most result. The power of the concentration in the heart-centre is to open that centre and by the power of aspiration, love, bhakti, surrender remove the veil which covers and conceals the soul and bring forward the soul or psychic being to govern the mind, life and body and turn and open them all-fully-to the Divine, removing all that is opposed to that turning and opening.
This is what is called in this Yoga the psychic transformation. The power of concentration above the head is to bring peace, silence, liberation from the body sense, the identification with mind and life and open the way for the lower (mental vital- physical) consciousness to rise up to meet the higher Consciousness above and for the powers of the higher (spiritual or divine) Consciousness to descend into mind, life and body. This is what is called in this Yoga the spiritual transformation. If one begins with this movement, then the Power from above has in its descent to open all the centres (including the lowest centre) and to bring out the psychic being; for until that is done there is likely to be much difficulty and struggle of the lower consciousness obstructing, mixing with or even refusing the Divine Action from above. If the psychic being is once active this struggle and these difficulties can be greatly minimised.
The power of concentration in the eyebrows is to open the centre there, liberate the inner mind and vision and the inner or Yogic consciousness and its experiences and powers. From here also one can open upwards and act also in the lower centres; but the danger of this process is that one may get shut up in one's mental spiritual formations and not come out of them into the free and integral spiritual experience and knowledge and integral change of the being and nature.
I was very glad to get your letter and especially to know that you are more at peace. That is what is first needed, the settling down of a natural peace and quiet in the nature-the spiritual peace is a bigger thing that can come afterwards.
Then as to concentration. Ordinarily the consciousness is spread out everywhere, dispersed, running in this or that direction, after this subject and that object in multitude. When anything has to be done of a sustained nature, the first thing one does is to draw back all this dispersed consciousness and concentrate.
It is then, if one looks closely, found to be concentrated in one place and on one occupation, subject or object-as when you are composing a poem or a botanist is studying a flower.
--- YOGIC CONC
The place is usually somewhere in the brain, if it is the thought, in the heart if it is the feeling in which one is concentrated. The Yogic concentration is simply an extension and intensification of the same thing. It may be on an object as when one does tratak on a shining point-then one has to concentrate so that one sees only that point and has no other thought but that. It may be on an idea or a word or a name, the idea of the Divine, the word OM, the name Krishna, or a combination of idea and word or idea and name. But, farther, in Yoga one also concentrates in a particular place. There is the famous rule of concentrating between the eyebrows-the centre of the inner mind, of occult vision, of the will is there. What you do is to think firmly from there on whatever you make the object of your concentration or else try to see the image of it from there. If you succeed in this, then after a time you feel that your whole consciousness is centred there in that place-of course for the time being. After doing it for some time and often, it becomes easy and normal.
I hope this is clear. Well, in this Yoga, you do the same, not necessarily at that particular spot between the eyebrows, but anywhere in the head or at the centre of the chest where the physiologists have fixed the cardiac centre. Instead of concentrating on an object, you concentrate in the head in a will, a call for the descent of the peace from above or, as some do, an opening of the unseen lid and an ascent of the consciousness above. In the heart-centre one concentrates in an aspiration, for an opening, for the presence or living image of the Divine there or whatever else is the object. There may be japa of a name but, if so, there must also be a concentration on it and the name must repeat itself there in the heart-centre.
It may be asked what becomes of the rest of the consciousness when there is this local concentration? Well, it either falls silent as in any concentration or, if it does not, then thoughts or other things may move about, as if outside, but the concentrated part does not attend to them or notice. That is when the concentration is reasonably successful.
One has not to fatigue oneself at first by long concentration if one is not accustomed, for then in a jaded mind it loses its power or value. One can "relax" and meditate instead of concentrating. It is only as the concentration becomes normal that one can go on for a longer and longer time.
There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits you.
You can concentrate on the sun, but to concentrate on the Divine is better than to concentrate on the sun.
You can concentrate the consciousness anywhere in any centre. You have only to think of yourself as centrally there and try to fix and keep that. A strain or any effort to do so is not necessary but a quiet and steady dwelling in the idea.
Most people associate consciousness with the brain or mind because that is the centre for intellectual thought and mental vision, but consciousness is not limited to that kind of thought or vision. It is everywhere in the system and there are several centres of it, e.g., the centre for inner concentration is not in the brain but in the heart,-the originating centre of vital desire is still lower down.
The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for Yoga are in the head and in the heart-the mind-centre and the soul-centre.
One has to open through concentration in the heart centre or above the head, in the former case to the psychic, in the latter to the higher Truth. But without the psychic preparation or at least a thorough purification of the being, the latter course is not safe.
It may be better to concentrate in the heart rather than in the mind, offer yourself from there and call the Mother into the heart leaving the thoughts to fall silent of themselves. Otherwise with the present method you have simply to persevere till the present brief and imperfect stillings of the mind become longer and deeper.
The concentration in the heart is what brings about the opening of the psychic which is your principal need. If the concentration has brought about a feeling which makes you judge clearly all the other movements and see their nature, then the psychic is already in action. For this is the psychic feeling which brings with it a clear insight into the nature of all movements that come and makes it easy to reject what has to be rejected and keep the right attitude and perception. It does not matter about the image of the Mother It is her presence whether in form or not that has to be felt always and this the psychic opening will surely bring.
It [concentration in the heart] is the best to "start with"-but as you have already started with success on the two higher centres, there is no reason why you should discontinue that. The other you may try from time to time when you find a sufficient quietude. Concentration there leads-or should lead-to the psychic opening.
Concentration in the heart is best aided if possible by the power and light descending from above the head.
At the top of the head or above it is the right place for Yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
Brain concentration is always a tapasya and necessarily brings a strain. It is only if one is lifted out of the brain mind altoge ther that the strain of mental concentration disappears.
- Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II
TERMS STARTING WITH
Concentration ::: Concentration is necessary, first, to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena: we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it. Concentration is indeed the first condition of any Yoga, but it is an all-receiving concentration that is the very nature of the integral Yoga.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 515
Concentration Camps ::: Immediately upon their assumption of power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis established concentration camps for the imprisonment of all “enemies” of their regime: actual and potential political opponents (e.g., communists, socialists, monarchists), Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, and other “asocials.” Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted for internment solely because they were Jews. Before then, only Jews who fit one of the earlier categories were interned in camps. The first three concentration camps established were Dachau (near Munich), Buchenwald (near Weimar) and Sachsenhausen (near Berlin).
Concentration Camp, such as Dachau, used for political prisoners.
Concentration has often been perverted to mean a kind of personal self-culture, having for its aim the attainment of personal power or self-satisfaction. If unsuccessful, the attempt upsets the balance of the constitution, and if successful, it sows a bitter harvest of aroused personality for future reaping; for when yearning for sympathetic fellowship with our fellowmen we shall find our faculties counterworking us. True meditative concentration actually applies more to the heart than to the mind, and is not a forcible mental practice but a general although very positive and impersonal attitude towards life. It means the centering of our wishes, thoughts, and acts on the ideal of self-identification with the spiritual and universal. See also DHYANA.
Concentration in the heart is the way to get rid of them, but there must also be a detachment of the consciousness so that it can stand back from the attack and feel separate from it.
Concentration Meditation ::: See Samatha Meditation.
Concentration of the will to get the results of sadhani and to conquer the lower nature.
Concentration ratio - The percentage of all sales contributed a small number (4,8) of the largest firms in an industry.
Concentration Ratio::: The ratio of the concentration of a compound or radionuclide in an organism or its tissues to the concentration in the surrounding media under equilibrium, or steady-state conditions.
Concentration: The act and state of focusing one’s entire attention and perception upon a certain object or idea, to the complete exclusion of all others, and under total inactivity of all the physical senses except the one used in this act (e.g., sight, hearing, etc.).
Concentration With meditation, an equivalent for certain parts of yoga, as found in samadhi, dharana; the removal or surmounting of distractions originating in the mind and centering the latter on the spiritual and intellectual objective to be attained, which in the best sense is union with the inner god, the divine monad — a conscious identification of oneself with the universal through the individual’s innate divinity. The method of meditative concentration prescribed in the Bhagavad-Gita is to perform all the duties of life without either attachment or avoidance. The hindrances to concentration which are to be removed are those arising from anger, lust, vanity, fear, sloth, etc. Such obstacles are removed by lifting the mind above them or by deliberately ignoring them, since directly fighting with them serves to concentrate the mind on them, thus defeating the object aimed at; and by cultivating the spirit of impersonal love and the light of wisdom which it evokes. Thus the blending of the personal self with the impersonal self is achieved by an orderly process of self-directed evolution, first by unselfish work in the cause of humanity, continued in the various degrees of chelaship, culminating in initiation.
concentration ::: “Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” Letters on Yoga
concentration ::: "concentration means gathering of the consciousness into one centre and fixing it in one object or in one idea or in one condition." [S25:391]
CONCENTRATION ::: Fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.
A gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point.
Concentration is necessary, first to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many-branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena; we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it.
Centre of Concentration: The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for yoga are in the head and in the heart - the mind-centre and the soul-centre.
Brain concentration is always a tapasyā and necessarily brings a strain. It is only if one is lifted out of the brain mind altogether that the strain of mental concentration disappears.
At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
In whatever centre the concentration takes place, the yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there.
Modes of Concentration: There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits.
If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.
There is no method in this yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force to transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be.
Powers (three) of Concentration ::: By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself we can become whatever we choose ; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fears, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love ; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object.
Stages in Concentration (Rajayogic) ::: that in which the object is seized, that in which it is held, that in which the mind is lost in the status which the object represents or to which the concentration leads.
Concentration and Meditation ::: Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or one object and in a single condition Meditation can be diffusive,e.g. thinking about the Divine, receiving impressions and discriminating, watching what goes on in the nature and acting upon it etc. Meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.
vide Dhyāna.
concentration ::: n. --> The act or process of concentrating; the process of becoming concentrated, or the state of being concentrated; concentration.
The act or process of reducing the volume of a liquid, as by evaporation.
The act or process of removing the dress of ore and of reducing the valuable part to smaller compass, as by currents of air or water.
CONCENTRATION See ACTIVATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, SYSTEMATIC
concentration ("s) ::: exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
TERMS ANYWHERE
(1) Regulatory requirements limiting the concentrations of designated organic compounds, particulate matter, and hydrogen chloride in emissions from incinerators.
AbhAsvarAloka. (P. Abhassaraloka; T. 'od gsal ba; C. jiguangjing tian/guangyintian; J. gokukojoten/koonten; K. kŭkkwangjong ch'on/kwangŭmch'on 極光淨天/光音天). In Sanskrit, the "heaven of radiant light" (in Chinese, the name is also parsed as the "heaven of radiant sound"), the highest of the three heavens associated with the second concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU). As the BRAHMA divinities dwelling in this realm perpetually experience this profound state of meditation, they are described as subsisting on bliss (PRĪTI) and abiding in ease (SUKHA). Their bodies radiate light in all directions like lightning or like flames from a torch. While the bodies of the divinities of this realm are uniform, their perceptions are diverse, and there is no assurance that they will not be reborn in a lower realm of existence after their death. At the beginning of a world cycle, when the physical world (BHAJANALOKA) of the sensuous realm (KAMADHATU) has not yet been formed, and at the end of a world cycle when that physical world has been destroyed, many beings are reborn into the AbhAsvarAloka. A BODHISATTVA is never reborn in the immaterial realm (ARuPYADHATU) even if he has achieved meditative states consistent with that realm, but he may be reborn in the AbhAsvarAloka. The Buddha once disabused a BrahmA god dwelling in that realm of the mistaken view that he was eternal. This god, whose name was Baka, had been the first living being born in the AbhAsvarAloka after a period of world dissolution, and presumed that no one had existed before him. When the divinities (DEVA) of the AbhAsvarAloka are first reborn in the realm of human beings (MANUsYA), they may retain their divine attributes for a time, being spontaneously generated rather than born viviparously, and possessing bodies made from subtle materiality rather than gross matter. However, as time passes and they take on the physical and mental characteristics of ordinary human beings, they lose their luminosity, develop sexual characteristics, and come to subsist on solid foods.
AbhidhammAvatAra. In PAli, "Introduction to Abhidhamma"; a primer of PAli ABHIDHAMMA attributed to BUDDHADATTA (c. fifth century CE), who is said to have been contemporaneous with the premier PAli scholiast BUDDHAGHOSA; some legends go so far as to suggest that the two ABHIDHAMMIKAS might even have met. The book was written in south India and is the oldest of the noncanonical PAli works on abhidhamma. It offers a systematic scholastic outline of abhidhamma, divided into twenty-four chapters called niddesas (S. nirdesa; "expositions"), and displays many affinities with Buddhaghosa's VISUDDHIMAGGA. These chapters include coverage of the mind (CITTA) and mental concomitants (CETASIKA), the various types of concentration (SAMADHI), the types of knowledge (JNANA) associated with enlightenment, and the process of purification (visuddhi, S. VIsUDDHI). The work is written in a mixture of prose and verse.
*Abhidharmahṛdaya. (C. Apitan xin lun; J. Abidon shinron; K. Abidam sim non 阿毘曇心論). In Sanskrit, "Heart of ABHIDHARMA"; one of the first attempts at a systematic presentation of abhidharma according to the SARVASTIVADA school; the treatise is attributed to Dharmasresthin (Fasheng, c. 130 BCE), who hailed from the GANDHARA region of Central Asia. The text is no longer extant in Sanskrit but survives only in a Chinese translation made sometime during the fourth century (alt. 376, 391) by SaMghadeva and LUSHAN HUIYUAN. The treatise functions essentially as a handbook for meditative development, focusing on ways of overcoming the negative proclivities of mind (ANUsAYA) and developing correct knowledge (JNANA). The meditative training outlined in the treatise focuses on the four absorptions (DHYANA) and on two practical techniques for developing concentration: mindfulness of breathing (ANAPANASMṚTI) and the contemplation of impurity (AsUBHABHAVANA). The text is also one of the first to distinguish the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA), which involves the initial insight into the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, and the path of cultivation (BHAVANAMARGA), which eliminates all the remaining proclivities so that the adept may experience the stage of the worthy one (ARHAT).
AbhidharmakosabhAsya. (T. Chos mngon pa'i mdzod kyi bshad pa; C. Apidamo jushe lun; J. Abidatsuma kusharon; K. Abidalma kusa non 阿毘達磨倶舎論). In Sanskrit, "A Treasury of ABHIDHARMA, with Commentary"; an influential scholastic treatise attributed to VASUBANDHU (c. fourth or fifth century CE). The AbhidharmakosabhAsya consists of two texts: the root text of the Abhidharmakosa, composed in verse (kArikA), and its prose autocommentary (bhAsya); this dual verse-prose structure comes to be emblematic of later SARVASTIVADA abhidharma literature. As the title suggests, the work is mainly concerned with abhidharma theory as it was explicated in the ABHIDHARMAMAHAVIBHAsA, the principal scholastic treatise of the VAIBHAsIKAABHIDHARMIKAs in the SarvAstivAda school. In comparison to the MahAvibhAsA, however, the AbhidharmakosabhAsya presents a more systematic overview of SarvAstivAda positions. At various points in his expositions, Vasubandhu criticizes the SarvAstivAda doctrine from the standpoint of the more progressive SAUTRANTIKA offshoot of the SarvAstivAda school, which elicited a spirited response from later SarvAstivAda-VaibhAsika scholars, such as SAMGHABHADRA in his *NYAYANUSARA. The AbhidharmakosabhAsya has thus served as an invaluable tool in the study of the history of the later MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. The Sanskrit texts of both the kArikA and the bhAsya were lost for centuries before being rediscovered in Tibet in 1934 and 1936, respectively. Two Chinese translations, by XUANZANG and PARAMARTHA, and one Tibetan translation of the work are extant. The Kosa is primarily concerned with a detailed elucidation of the polysemous term DHARMA, the causes (HETU) and conditions (PRATYAYA) that lead to continued rebirth in SAMSARA, and the soteriological stages of the path (MARGA) leading to enlightenment. The treatise is divided into eight major chapters, called kosasthAnas. (1) DhAtunirdesa, "Exposition on the Elements," divides dharmas into various categories, such as tainted (SASRAVA) and untainted (ANASRAVA), or compounded (SAMSKṚTA) and uncompounded (ASAMSKṚTA), and discusses the standard Buddhist classifications of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), twelve sense fields (AYATANA), and eighteen elements (DHATU). This chapter also includes extensive discussion of the theory of the four great elements (MAHABHuTA) that constitute materiality (RuPA) and the Buddhist theory of atoms or particles (PARAMAnU). (2) Indriyanirdesa, "Exposition on the Faculties," discusses a fivefold classification of dharmas into materiality (rupa), thought (CITTA), mental concomitants (CAITTA), forces dissociated from thought (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAMSKARA), and the uncompounded (ASAMSKṚTA). This chapter also has extensive discussions of the six causes (HETU), the four conditions (PRATYAYA), and the five effects or fruitions (PHALA). (3) Lokanirdesa, "Exposition on the Cosmos," describes the formation and structure of a world system (LOKA), the different types of sentient beings, the various levels of existence, and the principle of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA) that governs the process of rebirth, which is discussed here in connection with the three time periods (TRIKALA) of past, present, and future. (4) Karmanirdesa, "Exposition on Action," discusses the different types of action (KARMAN), including the peculiar type of action associated with unmanifest materiality (AVIJNAPTIRuPA). The ten wholesome and unwholesome "paths of action" (KUsALA-KARMAPATHA and AKUsALA-KARMAPATHA) also receive a lengthy description. (5) Anusayanirdesa, "Exposition on the Proclivities," treats the ninety-eight types of ANUsAYA in relation to their sources and qualities and the relationship between the anusayas and other categories of unwholesome qualities, such as afflictions (KLEsA), contaminants (ASRAVA), floods (OGHA), and yokes (yoga). (6) MArgapudgalanirdesa, "Exposition on the Path and the [Noble] Persons," outlines how either insight into the four noble truths and carefully following a series of soteriological steps can remove defilements and transform the ordinary person into one of the noble persons (ARYAPUDGALA). (7) JNAnanirdesa, "Exposition on Knowledge," offers a detailed account of the ten types of knowledge and the distinctive attributes of noble persons and buddhas. (8) SamApattinirdesa, "Exposition on Attainment," discusses different categories of concentration (SAMADHI) and the attainments (SAMAPATTI) that result from their perfection. (9) Appended to this main body is a ninth section, an independent treatise titled the Pudgalanirdesa, "Exposition of the Notion of a Person." Here, Vasubandhu offers a detailed critique of the theory of the self, scrutinizing both the Buddhist PUDGALAVADA/VATSĪPUTRĪYA "heresy" of the inexpressible (avAcya) "person" (PUDGALA) being conventionally real and Brahmanical theories of a perduring soul (ATMAN). Numerous commentaries to the Kosa, such as those composed by VASUMITRA, YAsOMITRA, STHIRAMATI, and Purnavardhana, attest to its continuing influence in Indian Buddhist thought. The Kosa was also the object of vigorous study in the scholastic traditions of East Asia and Tibet, which produced many indigenous commentaries on the text and its doctrinal positions.
Abhyasa-yoga (Sanskrit) Abhyāsa-yoga [from abhi towards + the verbal root as to be, exist + yoga union from the verbal root yuj to join, yoke] Sometimes erroneously abhyasana. Repeated practice and application of yoga, meditation, or recollection; the effort of the mind to attain an unmodified condition of perfect serenity and quiet. One of the eight disciplines or requirements of yoga: persistent concentration of attention. When accompanied with physical postures, it is a form of hatha yoga, and practiced without the spiritual training of raja yoga, it has its dangers. As a system of mental concentration directed to impersonal, altruistic ends, it is beneficial. Krishna (BG 12:9-10) points out that abhyasa-yoga is not only useful for training in one life but, if performed for the sake of the Supreme, is likely to leave permanent helpful impulses in the soul which will aid it in future incarnations and lead it ultimately to union (yoga) with the divine.
Absorption Concentration ::: In concentration meditation, this refers to the various states found in the samatha jhanas whereby the locus of focus narrows solely on the object of observation. Attainment of absorption concentration is causally preceded by access concentration which is itself preceded by the monkey mind state of awareness associated with mundane consciousness.
Access Concentration ::: In concentration meditation, this refers to the state preceding access to the samatha jhanas whereby the locus of focus has narrowed considerably from the monkey mind state of awareness associated with mundane consciousness and has started to settle rather effortlessly on the object of concentration. Precedes access to absorption concentration.
Action Levels ::: Regulatory levels recommended by EPA for enforcement by Food and Drug Administration and United States Department of Agriculture when pesticide residues occur in food or feed commodities for reasons other than the direct application of the pesticide. As opposed to "tolerances" which are established for residues occurring as a direct result of proper usage, action levels are set for inadvertent residues resulting from previous legal use or accidental contamination. In the Superfund program, the existence of a contaminant concentration in the environment high enough to warrant action or trigger a response under SARA and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan. The term is also used in other regulatory programs.
Acute ::: Diseases or responses with short and generally severe course (often due to high pollutant concentrations).
adhisamAdhisiksA. (T. lhag pa'i ting nge 'dzin gyi bslab pa; C. zengshangding xue; J. zojojogaku; K. chŭngsangjong hak 增上定學). In Sanskrit, "training in higher meditation"; the second of the three trainings (TRIsIKsA) required to achieve enlightenment, said to be set forth primarily in the SuTRA basket of the TRIPItAKA. AdhisamAdhisiksA is primarily associated with the last three constituents of the eightfold path (ARYAstAnGAMARGA), viz., right effort (SAMYAGVYAYAMA), right mindfulness (SAMYAKSMṚTI), and right concentration (SAMYAKSAMADHI).
Akankheyyasutta. (C. Yuan jing; J. Gangyo; K. Won kyong 願經). In PAli, "Discourse on What One May Wish," the sixth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a separate SARVASTIVADA recension appears as SuTRA no. 105 in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA, and a recension of uncertain affiliation in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARAGAMA); preached by the Buddha to a group of disciples in the JETAVANA grove in the town of sRAVASTĪ. The Buddha describes how a monk who wishes for all good things to come to himself, his fellow monks, and his lay supporters should restrain his sense faculties by seeing danger (ADĪNAVA) in the slightest fault and by abiding by the dictates of the disciplinary codes (PRATIMOKsA). This restraint will allow him to develop morality (sĪLA), meditative concentration (SAMADHI), and liberating wisdom (PRAJNA), leading to the destruction of the contaminants (ASRAVAKsAYA).
"Along with purity and as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of the same status of being; purity is the condition in which concentration becomes entire, rightly effective, omnipotent; by concentration purity does its works and without it would only lead to a state of peaceful quiescence and eternal repose.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“Along with purity and as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of the same status of being; purity is the condition in which concentration becomes entire, rightly effective, omnipotent; by concentration purity does its works and without it would only lead to a state of peaceful quiescence and eternal repose.” The Synthesis of Yoga
a ::: massed concentration of vijñana. vij ñana
anabhraka. (T. sprin med; C. wuyun tian; J. muunten; K. muun ch'on 無雲天). In Sanskrit, "cloudless," the lowest of the eight heavens of the fourth concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU). As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity (DEVA) there through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyAna) as the gods of that heaven during one's practice of meditation in the preceding lifetime. This heaven has no analogue in PAli.
ACTIVATION OF
CONSCIOUSNESS, SYSTEMATIC Systematic activation of consciousness is done in four steps: concentration, meditation, contemplation and illumination.
Concentration is the keeping of attention on a certain thing. Meditation implies a concentrated analysis of all relations pertaining to this subject-matter. Contemplation entails the isolation of the problem until one begins to see the idea and can concentrate attention on that single point. If thereby activity ceases, there is a risk of falling asleep or into ordinary trance. If activity can be kept up long enough, illumination comes and the individual will find what he has been seeking. K 7.17.9
Anantaryakarman. (P. Anantariyakamma; T. mtshams med pa'i las; C. wujian ye; J. mukengo; K. mugan op 無間業). In Sanskrit, "act that brings immediate retribution" or "inexpiable transgressions." This term refers to particularly heinous deeds that after death result in the "immediate retribution" of rebirth in the AVĪCI hell, without an intervening rebirth in another realm. They are often enumerated as five: patricide, matricide, killing an ARHAT, spilling the blood of a buddha, and causing schism in the monastic order (SAMGHABHEDA). According to PAli sources, this type of act also serves as a karmic obstruction (KARMAVARAnA) to concentration meditation (specifically of the KASInA visualization devices).
AnantaryasamAdhi. (T. bar chad med pa'i ting nge 'dzin; C. wujian ding; J. mukenjo; K. mugan chong 無間定). In Sanskrit, "unimpeded concentration"; the culmination of the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMARGA), the second segment of the five-path schema outlined in the VAIBHAsIKA school system of SARVASTIVADAABHIDHARMA and treated similarly in YOGACARA soteriology. After mastering all four of the "aids to penetration" (NIRVEDHABHAGĪYA) that catalyze knowledge of the reality of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, the meditator acquires fully the highest worldly dharmas (LAUKIKAGRADHARMA), the last of these aids, an experience that is marked by the AnantaryasamAdhi. This distinctive type of SAMADHI receives its name from the fact that the adept then continues on without interruption to the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA), the third stage of the path, which provides access to sanctity (ARYA) as a stream-enterer (SROTAAPANNA).
anAsravadhAtu. (T. zag pa med pa'i dbyings; C. wulou jie; J. murokai; K. muru kye 無漏界). In Sanskrit, the "uncontaminated realm." According to those proponents of the MAHAYANA who assert that all beings will eventually become buddhas, ARHATs do not enter the NIRVAnA without remainder (ANUPADHIsEsANIRVAnA) at the time of death but instead enter the anAsravadhAtu. There, they abide in states of deep concentration until they are roused by the buddhas and exhorted to abandon their "unafflicted ignorance" (AKLIstAJNANA) by following the BODHISATTVA path to buddhahood.
And still we can recognise at once in the Overmind the original cosmic Maya, not a Maya of Ignorance but a Maya of Knowledge, yet a Power which has made the Ignorance possible, even inevitable. For if each principle loosed into action must follow its independent line and carry out its complete consequences, the principle of separation must also be allowed its complete course and arrive at its absolute consequence; this is Overmind in its descent reaches a line which divides the cosmic Truth from the cosmic Ignorance; it is the line at which it becomes possible for Consciousness-Force, emphasising the separateness of each independent movement created by Overmind and hiding or darkening their unity, to divide Mind by an exclusive concentration from the overmental source. There has already been a similar separation of Overmind from its supramental source, but with a transparency in the veil which allows a conscious transmission and maintains a certain luminous kinship; but here the veil is opaque and the transmission of the Overmind motives to the Mind is occult and obscure. Mind separated acts as if it were an independent principle, and each mental being, each basic mental idea, power, force stands similarly on its separate self; if it communicates with or combines or contacts others, it is not with the catholic universality of the overmind movement, on a basis of underlying oneness, but as independent units joining to form a separate constructed whole. It is by this movement that we pass from the cosmic Truth into the cosmic Ignorance. The cosmic Mind on this level, no doubt, comprehends its own unity, but it is not aware of its own source and foundation in the Spirit or can only comprehend it by the intelligence, not in any enduring experience; it acts in itself as if by its own right and works out what it receives as material without direct communication with the source from which it receives it. Its units also act in ignorance of each other and of the cosmic whole except for the knowledge that they can get by contact and communication,—the basic sense of identity and the mutual penetration and understanding that comes from it are no longer there. All the actions of this Mind Energy proceed on the opposite basis of the Ignorance and its divisions and, although they are the results of a certain conscious knowledge, it is a partial knowledge, not a true and integral self-knowledge, nor a true and integral world-knowledge. This character persists in Life and in subtle Matter and reappears in the gross material universe which arises from the final lapse into the Inconscience. …
"An exclusive inner concentration on the Real, the Eternal is possible, even a self-immersion by which we can lose or put away the dissonances of the universe.” The Life Divine
“An exclusive inner concentration on the Real, the Eternal is possible, even a self-immersion by which we can lose or put away the dissonances of the universe.” The Life Divine
aniNjyakarman. [alt. aniNjanakarman] (P. aniNjitakamma; T. mi g.yo ba'i las; C. budong ye; J. fudogo; K. pudong op 不動業). In Sanskrit, "invariable" or "unwavering action"; usually appearing in conjunction with the dichotomies of wholesome (KUsALA) and unwholesome (AKUsALA) or meritorious (PUnYA) and demeritorious (APUnYA) in referring to types of action (KARMAN) or the states of existence resulting therefrom. Wholesome and unwholesome actions lead to rebirth, but other actions may intervene and produce their results first. In particular, according to the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA, when a meditator attains the fundamental state (maula) of a DHYANA (concentration) in the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU) or the immaterial realm (ARuPYADHATU), the force of the action is aniNjya and will definitely lead to rebirth as a deity in the corresponding heaven in the next life. It is said, however, that BODHISATTVAs are able to circumvent birth as a long-lived divinity in one of the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality or immaterial realm so that they can better offer assistance to sentient beings. Thus, aniNjyakarman indicates the "invariable" connection or continuity between the achievement of those states in this lifetime and the subsequent rebirth: for example, a person who achieves the fourth immaterial absorption in this lifetime will "invariably" be reborn as a BHAVAGRA deity in the fourth immaterial heaven in the next lifetime.
anta-manus.a (asamahita ashanta-manusha) ::: "unconcentrated unquiet man", the ordinary human being who lacks the power of spiritual concentration and quietude.
anupadhisesanirvAna. [alt. nirupadhisesanirvAna] (P. anupAdisesanibbAna; T. phung po'i lhag ma med par mya ngan las 'das ba / lhag med myang 'das; C. wuyu niepan; J. muyonehan; K. muyo yolban 無餘涅槃). In Sanskrit, "the nirvAna without remainder"; one of the two kinds of NIRVAnA, along with "the nirvAna with remainder" (SOPADHIsEsANIRVAnA). After a buddha or, in some interpretations, an ARHAT has achieved awakening (BODHI), some Buddhist schools distinguish between the experience of nirvAna while it is still accompanied by a substratum of existence (upadhi = SKANDHA) and the nirvAna that is completely freed from that substratum. According to this view, at the time of his enlightenment under the BODHI TREE, the Buddha achieved the nirvAna with remainder, because he had destroyed all causes for future rebirth, but the "remainder" of his mind and body persisted. The anupadhisesanirvAna subsequently occurred at the time of the Buddha's death. It was achieved through having brought an absolute end to any propensity toward defilement (KLEsA) and of the causes that would lead to any prospect of future rebirth; it is therefore the total extinction of all conventional physical and mental existence. The nirvAna that is experienced at death is thus "without remainder" because there are no physical or mental constituents remaining that were the products of previous KARMAN; anupadhisesanirvAna is therefore synonymous with PARINIRVAnA. Since this type of nirvAna results from the complete eradication of the afflictive destructions (KLEsAVARAnA), MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS typically claim that it is accessible by sRAVAKAs and PRATYEKABUDDHAs. However, according to those proponents of the MAHAYANA who assert that all beings will eventually become buddhas, arhats do not enter anupAdisesanirvAna upon death but instead enter the uncontaminated realm (ANASRAVADHATU), where they remain in states of deep concentration until they are roused by the buddhas and exhorted to abandon their "unafflicted ignorance" (AKLIstAJNANA). In the YOGACARA school, anupAdisesanirvAna is one of the four kinds of nirvAna, which entails the cessation of any tendency toward delusion through the transformation of the eighth consciousness, the storehouse consciousness (ALAYAVIJNANA), into the mirrorlike knowledge (ADARsAJNANA).
anusmṛti. (P. anussati; T. rjes su dran pa; C. nian; J. nen; K. yom 念). In Sanskrit, "recollection." The PAli form anussati is applied to a number of mental exercises enumerated in the PAli tradition under the category of KAMMAttHANA, or topics of meditation. The fifth-century VISUDDHIMAGGA lists ten such recollections conducive to the cultivation of concentration (SAMADHI): namely, recollection of (1) the BUDDHA, (2) the DHARMA, (3) the SAMGHA, (4) morality, (5) generosity, (6) the gods, (7) death, (8) the body, (9) the in-breath and out-breath, and (10) peace. Of these, recollection or mindfulness (P. sati; S. SMṚTI) of the in-breath and out-breath can produce all four meditative absorptions (DHYANA; P. JHANA), while recollection of the body can produce the first absorption. The remaining recollections can produce only "access concentration" (UPACARASAMADHI), which immediately precedes but does not quite reach the first absorption. In East Asia, the practice of recollection of the Buddha (BUDDHANUSMṚTI) evolved into the recitation of name of the buddha AMITABHA in the form of the Chinese phrase namo Amituo fo (Homage to the buddha AmitAbha; see NAMU AMIDABUTSU). See also BUDDHANUSMṚTI.
appanAsamAdhi. In PAli, "absorptive concentration"; the more advanced of the two broad types of concentration (SAMADHI) discussed in PAli commentarial literature. Both of these two types of samAdhi are used with reference to meditators who are specializing in calmness (samatha; S. sAMATHA) techniques. The preliminary "threshold concentration" (UPACARASAMADHI) helps to calm and focus the mind but is too discursive to lead to full meditative absorption (JHANA; S. DHYANA). In order to develop jhAna, meditators must proceed to cultivate less discursive topics of meditation (KAMMAttHANA) that will lead to "absorptive concentration" and thence jhAna: e.g., mindfulness of breathing (AnApAnasati, S. ANAPANASMṚTI); the four "divine abidings" (BRAHMAVIHARA; [alt. P. appamaNNa], S. APRAMAnA), namely, loving-kindness (P. mettA; S. MAITRĪ), compassion (KARUnA), altruistic or empathetic joy (MUDITA), and equanimity or impartiality (P. upekkhA; S. UPEKsA); and the ten "visual devices" (KASInA)-devices that are constructed from the elements earth, water, fire, and air; the colors blue, yellow, red, and white; and light and space. See also KHANIKASAMADHI.
Appell ::: (Ger. Roll Call) Within the concentration camps, inmates were forced to stand at attention for hours at least twice a day while they were counted. This was always carried out no matter what the weather and often lasted for hours. Often accompanied by beatings and punishments.
Appellplatz ::: (Ger. Place for Roll Call) Location within the concentration camps where the Appell was carried out
apramAnAbha. (P. appamAnAbha; T. tshad med 'od; C. wuliangguang tian; J. muryokoten; K. muryanggwang ch'on 無量光天). In Sanskrit, "immeasurable radiance"; the second of the three heavens of the second meditative absorption (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU). The divinities of this heaven are so-called because their bodies emanate limitless light. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity in this realm through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyAna) as the gods of that heaven during one's practice of meditation in a previous lifetime.
apramAna. (P. appammaNNA; T. tshad med pa; C. wuliangxin; J. muryoshin; K. muryangsim 無量心). In Sanskrit, "the boundless states," "unlimiteds," or "limitless qualities." This list is identical to the four "divine abidings" (BRAHMAVIHARA) of loving-kindness (MAITRĪ), compassion (KARUnA), empathetic joy (MUDITA), and equanimity or impartiality (UPEKsA). When taken as objects of concentration and extended in meditation to all beings without limit, the divine abidings then become "boundless states" (apramAna). The meditator is taught to take up each of the boundless states in the same way: starting with the first apramAna, for example, filling his mind with loving-kindness, he pervades the world with it, first in one direction, then in a second direction, then a third and a fourth, then above, below, and all around, identifying himself with all beings and remaining free from hatred and ill will. In the same way, he takes up compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. These four factors are taken up as objects of meditation to counter the influence of specific unwholesome states of mind: viz., loving-kindness counteracts hostility (VYAPADA); compassion counters harmfulness (VIHIMSA); empathetic joy counters dissatisfaction or envy regarding others' achievements (arati); and equanimity counters both the desire and hostility arising from sensuality (KAMARAGA-VYAPADA) and the desire to win the approval of others (anunaya). Of these boundless states, the first three are capable of producing the first three of the four DHYANAs, or meditative absorptions; the fourth divine abiding is the only one capable of producing the fourth meditative absorption.
Aquastor: In occultism, a being created by the power of imagination and concentration of thought.
ArAda KAlAma. (P. AlAra KAlAma; T. Sgyu rtsal shes kyi bu ring du 'phur; C. Aluoluojialan; J. Ararakaran; K. Araragaran 阿羅邏迦蘭). The Sanskrit name of one of the Buddha's two teachers of meditation (the other being UDRAKA RAMAPUTRA) prior to his enlightenment. He was known as a meditation master who once sat in deep concentration without noticing that five hundred carts had passed by. He explained to GAUTAMA that the goal of his system was the attainment of the "state of nothing whatsoever" (AKINCANYAYATANA), which the BODHISATTVA quickly attained. ArAda KAlAma then regarded the bodhisattva as his equal. However, Gautama eventually recognized that this state was not NIRVAnA and left to begin the practice of austerities. Upon his eventual achievement of buddhahood, Gautama surveyed the world to identify the most worthy recipient of his first sermon. He thought first of ArAda KAlAma but determined that he had unfortunately died just seven days earlier.
Ariya Atthangika Magga (Pali) Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga [from ariya noble + aṭṭhaṅgika eight-limbed, eightfold from aṭṭha eight + aṇga limb, division + magga way, road from the verbal root mṛg to track, trace, investigate] Noble eightfold path; the fourth of the Four Noble Truths (chattari ariyasachchani) traditionally held to constitute the initial discourse of Gautama Buddha, comprising: 1) right insight (sammaditthi); 2) right resolve (sammasamkappa); 3) right speech (sammavacha); 4) right action (sammakammanta); 5) right living (sammajiva); 6) right effort (sammavayama); 7) right mindfulness, right recollection (sammasati); 8) right concentration (sammasamadhi). See also ARYASHTANGAMARGA (for Sanskrit equivalents).
AriyapariyesanAsutta. (C. Luomo jing; J. Ramakyo; K. Rama kyong 羅摩經). In PAli, "Discourse on the Noble Quest"; the twenty-sixth sutta (SuTRA) in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA, also known as the PAsarAsisutta (a separate SARVASTIVADA recension appears as the 204th SuTRA in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA); preached by the Buddha to an assembly of monks at the hemitage of the brAhmana Rammaka in the town of sRAVASTĪ. The Buddha explains the difference between noble and ignoble quests and recounts his own life as an example of striving to distinguish between the two. Beginning with his renunciation of the householder's life, he tells of his training under two meditation masters, his rejection of this training in favor of austerities, and ultimately his rejection of austerities in order to discover for himself his own path to enlightenment. The Buddha also relates how he was initially hesitant to teach what he had discovered, but was convinced to do so by the god BRAHMA SAHAMPATI, and how he then converted the "group of five" ascetics (PANCAVARGIKA) who had been his companions while he practiced austerities. There is an understated tone of the narrative, devoid of the detail so familiar from the biographies. There is no mention of the opulence of his youth, no mention of his wife, no mention of the chariot rides, no description of the departure from the palace in the dead of night, no mention of MARA. Instead, the Buddha states, "Later, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life, though my mother and father wished otherwise and wept with tearful faces, I shaved off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness." Although the accounts of his study with other meditation masters assume a sophisticated system of states of concentration, the description of the enlightenment itself is both simple and sober, portrayed as the outcome of long reflection rather than as an ecstatic moment of revelation.
ArupyAvacaradhyAna. (P. arupAvacarajhAna; T. gzugs med na spyod pa'i bsam gtan; C. wusejie ding; J. mushikikaijo; K. musaekkye chong 無色界定). In Sanskrit, "meditative absorption associated with the immaterial realm"; equivalent to S. ArupyadhyAna (q.v. DHYANA) and synonymous with "immaterial attainment" (arupasamApatti). One of two broad varieties of DHYANA or meditative absorption; the other being RuPAVACARADHYANA (P. rupAvacarajhAna) or meditative absorption belonging to the realm of subtle materiality. In both cases, dhyAna refers to the attainment of single-pointed concentration of the mind on an ideational object of meditation. ArupyAvacaradhyAna is described as accessible only to those who have already mastered the fourth absorption of the realm of subtle materiality, and is itself merely a refinement of that state. In the immaterial absorptions, the "object" of meditation is gradually attenuated until the meditator abides in the sphere of infinite space (S. AKAsANANTYAYATANA; P. AkAsAnaNcAyatana). In the second immaterial absorption, the meditator sets aside infinite space and abides in the sphere of infinite consciousness (S. VIJNANANANTYAYATANA; P. viNNAnAnaNcAyatanta). In the third immaterial absorption, one sets aside the perception of infinite consciousness and abides in the sphere of nothingness (S. AKINCANYAYATANA; P. AkiNcaNNAyatana). In the fourth immaterial absorption, one sets aside the perception of nothingness and abides in the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (S. NAIVASAMJNANASAMJNAYATANA; P. nevasaNNAnAsaNNAyatana). Mastery of any of the absorptions of the immaterial realm can result in rebirth as a divinity (DEVA) within the corresponding plane in the immaterial realm (ArupyAvacara or ARuPYADHATU); see ANINJYAKARMAN. See also KAMMAttHANA.
Aryashtangamarga (Sanskrit) Āryāṣṭāṅgamārga [from ārya holy, noble + aṣṭa eight + aṅga limb, division + mārga path, way from the verbal root mṛg to seek, strive to attain, investigate] Holy eight-limbed way; in Buddhism the Noble Eightfold Path enunciated by Gautama Buddha as the fourth of the Four Noble Truths (chattari aryasatyani). Consistent practice of aryashtangamarga leads the disciple ultimately to perfect wisdom, love, and liberation from samsara (the round of repetitive births and deaths). The Eightfold Path is enumerated as: 1) samyagdrishti (right insight); 2) samyaksamkalpa (right resolve); 3) samyagvach (right speech); 4) samyakkarmantra (right action); 5) samyagajiva (right living); 6) samyagvyayama (right exertion); 7) samyaksmriti (right recollection); and 8) samyaksamadhi (right concentration). See also ARIYA ATTHANGIKA MAGGA (for Pali equivalents)
AryAstAngamArga. (P. ariyAtthangikamagga; T. 'phags lam yan lag brgyad; C. bazhengdao; J. hasshodo; K. p'alchongdo 八正道). In Sanskrit, "noble eightfold path"; the path (MARGA) that brings an end to the causes of suffering (DUḤKHA); the fourth of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvAry AryasatyAni). This formulation of the Buddhist path to enlightenment appears in what is regarded as the Buddha's first sermon after his enlightenment, the "Setting Forth the Wheel of Dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA), in which he sets forth a middle way (MADHYAMAPRATIPAD) between the extremes of asceticism and sensual indulgence. That middle way, he says, is the eightfold path, which, like the four truths, he calls "noble" (ARYA); the term is therefore commonly rendered as "noble eightfold path." However, as in the case of the four noble truths, what is noble is not the path but those who follow it, so the compound might be more accurately translated as "eightfold path of the [spiritually] noble." Later in the same sermon, the Buddha sets forth the four noble truths and identifies the fourth truth, the truth of the path, with the eightfold path. The noble eightfold path is comprised of (1) right views (SAMYAGDṚstI; P. sammAditthi), which involve an accurate understanding of the true nature of things, specifically the four noble truths; (2) right intention (SAMYAKSAMKALPA; P. sammAsankappa), which means avoiding thoughts of attachment, hatred, and harmful intent and promoting loving-kindness and nonviolence; (3) right speech (SAMYAGVAC; P. sammAvAcA), which means refraining from verbal misdeeds, such as lying, backbiting and slander, harsh speech and abusive language, and frivolous speech and gossip; (4) right action or right conduct (SAMYAKKARMANTA; P. sammAkammanta), which is refraining from physical misdeeds, such as killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; (5) right livelihood (SAMYAGAJĪVA; P. sammAjīva), which entails avoiding trades that directly or indirectly harm others, such as selling slaves, selling weapons, selling animals for slaughter, dealing in intoxicants or poisons, or engaging in fortune-telling and divination; (6) right effort (SAMYAGVYAYAMA; P. sammAvAyAma), which is defined as abandoning unwholesome states of mind that have already arisen, preventing unwholesome states that have yet to arise, sustaining wholesome states that have already arisen, and developing wholesome states that have yet to arise; (7) right mindfulness (SAMYAKSMṚTI; P. sammAsati), which means to maintain awareness of the four foundations of mindfulness (SMṚTYUPASTHANA), viz., body, physical sensations, the mind, and phenomena; and (8) right concentration (SAMYAKSAMADHI; P. sammAsamAdhi), which is one pointedness of mind. ¶ The noble eightfold path receives less discussion in Buddhist literature than do the four noble truths (of which they are, after all, a constituent). Indeed, in later formulations, the eight factors are presented not so much as a prescription for behavior but as eight qualities that are present in the mind of a person who has understood NIRVAnA. The eightfold path may be reduced to a simpler, and more widely used, threefold schema of the path that comprises the "three trainings" (TRIsIKsA) or "higher trainings" (adhisiksA) in morality (sĪLA; P. sīla; see ADHIsĪLAsIKsA), concentration (SAMADHI, see ADHISAMADHIsIKsA), and wisdom (PRAJNA; P. paNNA; see ADHIPRAJNAsIKsA). In this schema, (1) right views and (2) right intention are subsumed under the training in higher wisdom (adhiprajNAsiksA); (3) right speech, (4) right conduct, and (5) right livelihood are subsumed under higher morality (adhisīlasiksA); and (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration are subsumed under higher concentration (adhisamAdhisiksA). According to the MADHYANTAVIBHAGA, a MAHAYANA work attributed to MAITREYANATHA, the eightfold noble path comprises the last set of eight of the thirty-seven constituents of enlightenment (BODHIPAKsIKADHARMA), where enlightenment (BODHI) is the complete, nonconceptual awakening achieved during the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA). After that vision, following the same pattern as the Buddha, right view is the perfect understanding of the vision, and right intention is the articulation of the vision that motivates the teaching of it. Right mindfulness, right effort, and right concentration correspond respectively to the four types of mindfulness (SMṚTYUPASTHANA), four efforts (PRAHAnA), and four ṚDDHIPADA ("legs of miraculous attainments," i.e., samAdhi) when they are perfect or right (samyak), after the vision of the four noble truths.
asaiksamArga. (T. mi slob lam; C. wuxuedao; J. mugakudo; K. muhakto 無學道). In Sanskrit, "the path of the adept" (lit. "the path where there is nothing more to learn" or "the path where no further training is necessary"); the fifth of the five-path schema (PANCAMARGA) used in both SARVASTIVADA ABHIDHARMA and the YOGACARA and MADHYAMAKA schools of MAHAYANA. It is the equivalent of the path of completion (NIstHAMARGA) and is synonymous with asaiksapatha. With the consummation of the "path of cultivation" (BHAVANAMARGA), the adept (whether following the sRAVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, or BODHISATTVA path) achieves the "adamantine-like concentration" (VAJROPAMASAMADHI), which leads to the permanent destruction of even the subtlest and most persistent of the ten fetters (SAMYOJANA), resulting in the "knowledge of cessation" (KsAYAJNANA) and in some presentations an accompanying "knowledge of nonproduction" (ANUTPADAJNANA), viz., the knowledge that the fetters are destroyed and can never again recur. Because the adept now has full knowledge of the eightfold path (ARYAstAnGAMARGA) and has achieved full liberation (VIMOKsA) as either an ARHAT or a buddha, he no longer needs any further instruction-thus he has completed the "path where there is nothing more to learn."
asaiksa. (P. asekha; T. mi slob pa; C. wuxue; J. mugaku; K. muhak 無學). In Sanskrit, lit. "one for whom no further training is necessary," an "adept"; a term for one who has completed the path (see AsAIKsAMARGA), used especially as an epithet of the ARHAT. The asaiksa has completed the three "higher trainings" (adhisiksA; P. adhisikkhA) in morality (ADHIsĪLAsIKsA), concentration (ADHISAMADHIsIKsA), and wisdom (ADHIPRAJNAsIKsA).
asamayavimukta. (T. dus dang mi sbyor bar rnam par grol ba; C. bushi jietuo; J. fujigedatsu; K. pulsi haet'al 時解). In Sanskrit, "one who is liberated regardless of occasion," in the sense that there is no occasion in which the meditative concentration of such an ARHAT will degenerate; one of the twenty members of the ARYASAMGHA (see VIMsATIPRABHEDASAMGHA).
ASANA. ::: Fixed posture habituating the body to certain attitudes of immobility. The system of Asana has at its basis two profound ideas ::: control by physical immobility, power by immobility.
The sitting motionless posture is the natural posture for concentrated meditation - walking and standing are active conditions. It is only when one has gained the enduring rest and passivity of the consciousness that it is easy to concentrate and receive when walking or doing anything. A fundamental passive condition of the consciousness gathered into itself is the proper poise for concentration and a seated gathered immobility in the body is the best position for that. It can be done also lying down, but that position is too passive, tending to be inert rather than gathered. This is the reason why yogis always sit in an āsana. One can accustom oneself to meditate walking. standing, lying but sitting is the first natural position.
asubhabhAvanA. (P. asubhabhAvanA; T. mi sdug pa bsgom pa; C. bujing guan; J. fujokan; K. pujong kwan 不淨觀). In Sanskrit, the "contemplation on the impure" or "foul"; a set of traditional topics of meditation (see KAMMAttHANA) that were intended to counter the affliction of lust (RAGA), develop mindfulness (SMṚTI; P. SATI) regarding the body, and lead to full mental absorption (DHYANA). In this form of meditation, "impure" or "foul" is most often used to refer either to a standardized list of thirty-one or thirty-two foul parts of the body or to the various stages in the decay of a corpse. In the case of the latter, for example, the meditator is to observe nine or ten specific types of putrefaction, described in gruesome detail in the Buddhist commentarial literature: mottled discoloration of the corpse (vinīlakasaMjNA), discharges of pus (vipuyakasaMjNA), decaying of rotten flesh (vipadumakasaMjNA), bloating and tumefaction (vyAdhmAtakasaMjNA), the exuding of blood and the overflow of body fluids (vilohitakasaMjNA), infestation of worms and maggots (vikhAditakasaMjNA), the dissolution of flesh and exposure of bones and sinews (viksiptakasaMjNA), the cremated remains (vidagdhakasaMjNA), and the dispersed skeletal parts (asthisaMjNA). The KAyagatAsatisutta of the MAJJIHIMANIKAYA includes the contemplation of the impure within a larger explanation of the contemplation of one's body with mindfulness (KAYANUPAsYANA; see also SMṚTYUPASTHANA); before the stages in the decay of the corpse, it gives the standardized list of thirty-one (sometimes thirty-two) foul parts of the body: the head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, and urine. These parts are chosen specifically because they will be easily visualized, and may have been intended to be the foul opposites of the thirty-two salutary marks of the great man (MAHAPURUsALAKsAnA). The Chinese tradition also uses a contemplation of seven kinds of foulness regarding the human body in order to counter lust and to facilitate detachment. (1) "Foulness in their seeds" (C. zhongzi bujing): human bodies derive from seminal ejaculate and, according to ancient medicine, mother's blood. (2) "Foulness in their conception" (C. shousheng bujing): human bodies are conceived through sexual intercourse. (3) "Foulness in their [gestational] residence" (C. zhuchu bujing): human bodies are conceived and nurtured inside the mother's womb. (4) "Foulness in their nutriments" (C. shidan bujing): human bodies in the prenatal stage live off and "feed on" the mother's blood. (5) "Foulness in their delivery" (C. chusheng bujing): it is amid the mess of delivery, with the discharge of placenta and placental water, that human bodies are born. (6) "Foulness in their entirety" (C. jüti bujing): human bodies are innately impure, comprising of innards, excrement, and other foul things underneath a flimsy skin. (7) "Foulness in their destiny" (C. jiujing bujing): human bodies are destined to die, followed by putrid infestation, decomposition, and utter dissolution. There is also a contemplation on the nine bodily orifices (C. QIAO), which are vividly described as constantly oozing pus, blood, secretions, etc. ¶ As contemplation on foulness deepens, first an eidetic image (S. udgrahanimitta, P. UGGAHANIMITTA), a perfect mental reproduction of the visualized corpse, is maintained steadily in mind; this is ultimately followed by the appearance of the representational image (S. pratibhAganimitta, P. PAtIBHAGANIMITTA), which the VISUDDHIMAGGA (VI.66) describes as a perfectly idealized image of, for example, a bloated corpse as "a man with big limbs lying down after eating his fill." Continued concentration on this representational image will enable the meditator to access up to the fourth stage of the subtle-materiality dhyAnas (ARuPYAVACARADHYANA). After perfecting dhyAna, this meditation may also be used to develop wisdom (PRAJNA) through developing increased awareness of the reality of impermanence (ANITYA). Foulness meditation is ritually included as part of the THERAVADA ordination procedure, during which monks are taught the list of the first five of the thirty-two foul parts of the body (viz., head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin) in order to help them ward off lust.
at.aka (aishwaryamaya tratak) ::: trat.aka (concentration of the vision) brought about by aisvarya (exercise of will).
atapa. (P. atappa; T. mi gdung ba; C. wure; J. munetsu; K. muyol 無熱). In Sanskrit, "not burning" (viz., "cool"), or "without torment" (also seen spelled as atapas, anavatapta); the second of the five pure abodes (sUDDHAVASA), where those who have attained the rank of ANAGAMIN become ARHATs, and the highest level of the fourth meditative realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU); it is also the name of the divinities (DEVA) who reside there. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a god there through achieving the same level of concentration (DHYANA) during one's practice of meditation as the gods of that heaven. According to BUDDHAGHOSA, the heaven is called "without torment" because the gods born there torment no one.
A thought entertained by one person may pass inwardly through planes of consciousness until it reaches a point where minds are no longer separate, and from thence it may travel outwardly to the brain of another person. It may even be said that what we require is not so much an explanation of thought transference as an explanation of why thoughts are so seldom transferred — why our minds are so separate; and the explanation is the concentration of each individual’s normal daily consciousness upon affairs immediately concerning himself. This clothes the individual in a mental shell of interests, around which rush the radiatory influences emanating from the thinker. Universality of sympathy therefore is the key to successful telepathic communication.
Attention: (Lat. ad + tendere, to stretch) The concentration of the mind upon selected portions of the field of consciousness thereby conferring upon the selected items, a peculiar vividness and clarity. The field of attention may be divided into two parts: the focus of attention, where the degree of concentration of attention is maximal and the fringe of attention, where the degree of attention gradually diminishes to zero at the periphery. Attention considered with respect to its genesis, is of two types: involuntary, passive or spontaneous attention, which is governed by external stimulus or internal association of ideas and voluntary, controlled or directed attention which is guided by the subject's purpose or intention.
Attenuation ::: The process by which a compound is reduced in concentration over time, through absorption, adsorption, degradation, dilution, and/or transformation.
Auschwitz ::: Concentration and extermination camp in upper Silesia, Poland, 37 miles west of Krakow. Established in 1940 originally as a concentration camp, it became an extermination camp in early 1942. Later, it consisted of three sections: Auschwitz I, the main camp; Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp; Auschwitz III (Monowitz), the I.G. Farben labor camp, also known as Buna. In addition, Auschwitz had numerous sub-camps.
Avenika[buddha]dharma. (T. chos ma 'dres pa/ma 'dres pa'i chos; C. bugong[fo]fa; J. fuguho/fugubuppo; K. pulgong[bul]bop 不共[佛]法). In Sanskrit and PAli, "unshared factors"; special qualities that are unique to the buddhas. They usually appear in a list of eighteen (astAdasa AvenikA buddhadharmAḥ): (1)-(2) the buddhas never make a physical or verbal mistake; (3) their mindfulness never diminishes; (4) they have no perception of difference; (5) they are free from discursiveness; (6) their equanimity is not due to a lack of discernment; (7)-(12) they do not regress in their devotion, perseverance, recollection, concentration, wisdom, or liberation; (13)-(15) all their physical, verbal, and mental actions are preceded and followed by gnosis; and (16)-(18) they enter into the perception of the gnosis that is unobstructed and unimpeded with respect to the past, future, and present. An expanded listing of 140 such unshared factors is given in the YOGACARABHuMIsASTRA.
avṛha. (P. aviha; T. mi che ba; C. wufan tian; J. mubonten; K. mubon ch'on 無煩天). In Sanskrit, "free from afflictions"; the name of the fifth highest of the eight heavens of the fourth concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU), and one of the five heavens within the fourth dhyAna that constitute the sUDDHAVASA, the "pure abodes," where those who have attained the rank of ANAGAMIN become ARHATs. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity there through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyAna) as the gods of that heaven during one's previous practice of meditation.
Babel (Hebrew) Bābāh The inner meaning of the Tower of Babel, by which it was hoped that divinity might be reached or attained, is a house of initiation, a gate, portal, opening, or entrance to the divine. The physical tower was both the building set aside to house and protect the initiation chambers, together with the ceremonies that take place in them, and an architectural emblem to signify a raising up towards heaven. The tower may have either a divine or evil significance, either haughty pride and self-sufficiency or spiritual aspiration. Similar is the lightning-struck tower of the Tarot cards, and the Arabian Nights story of the man who built a palace completely except only for a roc’s egg to hang in the dome, and when the egg is thus hung, the whole palace collapses. The work of the black magician, building from below upwards, is impermanent and, when it strikes the sky, is blasted. If such a tower and system be followed by adepts of the left-hand path for ultimate and foredestined confusion, it is one thing; but if the tower and its inner mysteries be in the charge of adepts of the right-hand path, it is another. The concentration of the narrator in the Bible concerning the Tower of Babel seems to have been entirely upon its aspect of left-hand magic.
Ba Khin, U. (1899-1971). Influential lay Burmese teacher of insight meditation (S. VIPAsYANA; P. VIPASSANA). Born to a working-class family in Rangoon, U Ba Khin was educated in Christian middle and high schools. Married with six children, he began his career as a government clerk during the British colonial period, later becoming accountant general of independent Burma. He began practicing vipassanA in 1937 under the guidance of Saya Thet Gyi, a lay meditation teacher and disciple of the Burmese monk LEDI SAYADAW. He explored several styles of tranquility (P. samatha, S. sAMATHA) and insight meditation and eventually developed his own technique of vipassanA by drawing on his own experiences. The method he devised focuses on physical sensations (VEDANA), beginning at the crown of the head and continuing throughout the body; his approach is considered to be especially effective in producing states of deep concentration (SAMADHI). In 1941, U Ba Khin met the famous meditation teacher Webu Sayadaw, who encouraged him to teach his meditation technique to others. He began teaching small groups informally and eventually, while accountant general, taught vipassanA to his staff. Under his influence, the government of Burma instituted a policy of encouraging civil servants to practice meditation as part of their daily routine. In 1952, U Ba Khin established the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon, where he taught meditation and began holding intensive ten-day vipassanA retreats on a regular basis. After his retirement from government service in 1953, he devoted all of his time to promoting vipassanA practice. He also played an active role in the sixth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, SIXTH), held in Rangoon from 1954-1956. His style of vipassanA is one of the most widely disseminated techniques internationally, and his disciples include such well-known meditation teachers as S. N. Goenka.
bala. (T. stobs; C. li; J. riki; K. yok 力). In Sanskrit and PAli, "power" or "strength"; used in a variety of lists, including the five powers (the eighteenth to twenty-second of the BODHIPAKsIKADHARMAs, or "thirty-seven factors pertaining to awakening"), the ten powers of a TATHAGATA, the ten powers of a BODHISATTVA, and the ninth of the ten perfections (PARAMITA). The five powers are the same as the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA)-faith (sRADDHA), perseverance (VĪRYA), mindfulness (SMṚTI), concentration (SAMADHI), and wisdom (PRAJNA)-but now fully developed at the LAUKIKAGRADHARMA stage of the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMARGA), just prior to the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA). A tathAgata's ten powers are given in both PAli and Sanskrit sources as the power of the knowledge (jNAnabala) of: (1) what can be and cannot be (sthAnAsthAna), (2) karmic results (karmavipAka), (3) the various dispositions of different beings (nAnAdhimukti), (4) how the world has many and different elements (nAnAdhAtu), (5) the higher (or different) faculties people possess (indriyaparApara), (6) the ways that lead to all destinations (sarvatragAminīpratipad), (7) the defilement and purification of all meditative absorptions (DHYANA), liberations (VIMOKsA), samAdhis, and trances (SAMAPATTI) (sarvadhyAnavimoksasamAdhisamApatti-saMklesavyavadAnavyavasthAna), (8) recollecting previous births (PuRVANIVASANUSMṚTI), (9) decease and birth (cyutyupapatti), and (10) the extinction of the contaminants (ASRAVAKsAYA). Another list gives the Buddha's ten powers as the power of aspiration (Asaya), resolution (ADHYAsAYA), habit (abhyAsa), practice (PRATIPATTI), wisdom (prajNA), vow (PRAnIDHANA), vehicle (YANA), way of life (caryA), thaumaturgy (vikurvana), the power derived from his bodhisattva career, and the power to turn the wheel of dharma (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA). When the MahAyAna six perfections (PARAMITA) are expanded and linked to the ten bodhisattva stages (DAsABHuMI), four perfections are added: the perfections of skillful means (UPAYA), vow, power, and knowledge (JNANA). Thus the perfection of power (BALAPARAMITA) is linked with the ninth bodhisattva stage (BHuMI). When the ten powers are listed as a bodhisattva's perfection of power, they are sometimes explained to be the powers of a tathAgata before they have reached full strength.
Concentration ::: Concentration is necessary, first, to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena: we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it. Concentration is indeed the first condition of any Yoga, but it is an all-receiving concentration that is the very nature of the integral Yoga.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 515
Concentration Camps ::: Immediately upon their assumption of power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis established concentration camps for the imprisonment of all “enemies” of their regime: actual and potential political opponents (e.g., communists, socialists, monarchists), Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, and other “asocials.” Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted for internment solely because they were Jews. Before then, only Jews who fit one of the earlier categories were interned in camps. The first three concentration camps established were Dachau (near Munich), Buchenwald (near Weimar) and Sachsenhausen (near Berlin).
Concentration Camp, such as Dachau, used for political prisoners.
Concentration has often been perverted to mean a kind of personal self-culture, having for its aim the attainment of personal power or self-satisfaction. If unsuccessful, the attempt upsets the balance of the constitution, and if successful, it sows a bitter harvest of aroused personality for future reaping; for when yearning for sympathetic fellowship with our fellowmen we shall find our faculties counterworking us. True meditative concentration actually applies more to the heart than to the mind, and is not a forcible mental practice but a general although very positive and impersonal attitude towards life. It means the centering of our wishes, thoughts, and acts on the ideal of self-identification with the spiritual and universal. See also DHYANA.
Concentration in the heart is the way to get rid of them, but there must also be a detachment of the consciousness so that it can stand back from the attack and feel separate from it.
"Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.” Letters on Yoga
“Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.” Letters on Yoga
Concentration Meditation ::: See Samatha Meditation.
Concentration of the will to get the results of sadhani and to conquer the lower nature.
Concentration ratio - The percentage of all sales contributed a small number (4,8) of the largest firms in an industry.
Concentration Ratio::: The ratio of the concentration of a compound or radionuclide in an organism or its tissues to the concentration in the surrounding media under equilibrium, or steady-state conditions.
"Concentration simply means a fixing of consciousness on something.” Guidance from Sri Aurobindo by Nagin Doshi - Vol. 1
“Concentration simply means a fixing of consciousness on something.” Guidance from Sri Aurobindo by Nagin Doshi—Vol. 1
Concentration: The act and state of focusing one’s entire attention and perception upon a certain object or idea, to the complete exclusion of all others, and under total inactivity of all the physical senses except the one used in this act (e.g., sight, hearing, etc.).
Concentration With meditation, an equivalent for certain parts of yoga, as found in samadhi, dharana; the removal or surmounting of distractions originating in the mind and centering the latter on the spiritual and intellectual objective to be attained, which in the best sense is union with the inner god, the divine monad — a conscious identification of oneself with the universal through the individual’s innate divinity. The method of meditative concentration prescribed in the Bhagavad-Gita is to perform all the duties of life without either attachment or avoidance. The hindrances to concentration which are to be removed are those arising from anger, lust, vanity, fear, sloth, etc. Such obstacles are removed by lifting the mind above them or by deliberately ignoring them, since directly fighting with them serves to concentrate the mind on them, thus defeating the object aimed at; and by cultivating the spirit of impersonal love and the light of wisdom which it evokes. Thus the blending of the personal self with the impersonal self is achieved by an orderly process of self-directed evolution, first by unselfish work in the cause of humanity, continued in the various degrees of chelaship, culminating in initiation.
Bergen-Belsen ::: Nazi concentration camp in northwestern Germany. Erected in 1943. Thousands of Jews, political prisoners, and POWs were killed there. Liberated by British troops in April 1945, although many of the remaining prisoners died of typhus after liberation.
bhadrakalpa. (P. bhaddakappa; T. bskal pa bzang po; C. xianjie; J. kengo/gengo; K. hyon'gop 賢劫). In Sanskrit, "auspicious eon"; the current of the numerous "great eons" (MAHAKALPA), or cyclic periods in the existence of a universe, that are recognized in Buddhist cosmology. The "auspicious eon" along with the last and the next "great eons"-that is, the "glorious eon" (vyuhakalpa) and "the eon of the constellations" (naksatrakalpa)-are together termed the "three great eons." Each great eon is presumed to consist of four "intermediate eons" (antarakalpa), viz., an "eon of formation" (VIVARTAKALPA); "stability" or "abiding" (VIVARTASTHAYIKALPA); "decay" (SAMVARTAKALPA); and "dissolution" (SAMVARTASTHAYIKALPA). A bhadrakalpa refers specifically to an eon in which buddhas appear, the present eon being such an era. The bhadrakalpa occurs during an eon (KALPA) of stability, following a period when the lifespan of human beings has been gradually reduced from innumerable years to eighty thousand. The number of buddhas who take rebirth during a bhadrakalpa varies widely in the texts, some stating that five buddhas will appear during this era, others that upward of a thousand buddhas will appear. In many texts, sAKYAMUNI is presumed to have been preceded by six previous buddhas, bridging two different eons, who together are called the "seven buddhas of antiquity" (SAPTATATHAGATA). Elsewhere, it is presumed that a thousand buddhas appear during the "eon of stability" in each of the three preceding great eons. The full list of the thousand buddhas of the present bhadrakalpa is extolled in the BHADRAKALPIKASuTRA, a MAHAYANA scripture that lists the names of the buddhas, their entourages, and their places of residence and enjoins the practice of various concentrations (SAMADHI) and perfections (PARAMITA). In this sutra, the current buddha sAkyamuni is said to be the fourth buddha of the present kalpa, MAITREYA is to follow him, and another 995 buddhas will follow in succession, in order to continually renew Buddhism throughout the eon. A bhadrakalpa is presumed to last some 236 million years, of which over 151 million years have already elapsed in our current eon.
Bhadrakalpikasutra. (T. Bskal pa bzang po'i mdo/Mdo sde bskal bzang; C. Xianjie jing; J. Gengogyo; K. Hyon'gop kyong 賢劫經). In Sanskrit, "Auspicious Eon Scripture"; a MAHAYANA text in twenty-four chapters, written c. 200-250 CE and translated into Chinese by DHARMARAKsA in either 291 or 300 CE. In this scripture, the Buddha teaches a special concentration (SAMADHI) through the mastery of which bodhisattvas come to be equipped with 2,100 perfections (PARAMITA), 84,000 samAdhis and 84,000 codes (DHARAnĪ). He then lists the names of a thousand buddhas who will appear during the "auspicious eon" (BHADRAKALPA) due to the merit they obtained from practicing this samAdhi, as well as their residences, parents, disciples, spiritual powers, teachings, and so on. In the Tibetan BKA' 'GYUR the Bhadrakalpikasutra takes pride of place as the first in the sutra section (mdo sde); it is recited often, and it is not uncommon for the elaborate hagiographies (RNAM THAR) of important Tibetan religious figures or incarnations (SPRUL SKU) to identify their subject as an earlier rebirth of one of the thousand buddhas.
BhAvanAkrama. (T. Sgom rim). In Sanskrit, "Stages of Meditation," the title of three separate but related works by the late-eighth century Indian master KAMALAsĪLA. During the reign of the Tibetan king KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN at the end of the eighth century, there were two Buddhist factions at court, a Chinese faction led by the Northern Chan (BEI ZONG) monk Heshang Moheyan (MahAyAna) and an Indian faction of the recently deceased sANTARAKsITA, who with the king and PADMASAMBHAVA had founded the first Tibetan monastery at BSAM YAS (Samye). According to traditional accounts, sAntaraksita foretold of dangers and left instructions in his will that his student Kamalasīla should be summoned from India. A conflict seems to have developed between the Indian and Chinese partisans (and their allies in the Tibetan court) over the question of the nature of enlightenment, with the Indians holding that enlightenment takes place as the culmination of a gradual process of purification, the result of perfecting morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMADHI), and wisdom (PRAJNA). The Chinese spoke against this view, holding that enlightenment was the intrinsic nature of the mind rather than the goal of a protracted path, such that one need simply to recognize the presence of this innate nature of enlightenment by entering a state of awareness beyond distinctions; all other practices were superfluous. According to both Chinese and Tibetan records, a debate was held between Kamalasīla and Moheyan at Bsam yas, circa 797, with the king himself serving as judge (see BSAM YAS DEBATE). According to Tibetan reports (contradicted by the Chinese accounts), Kamalasīla was declared the winner and Moheyan and his party banished from Tibet, with the king proclaiming that thereafter the MADHYAMAKA school of Indian Buddhist philosophy (to which sAntaraksita and Kamalasīla belonged) would have pride of place in Tibet. ¶ According to Tibetan accounts, after the conclusion of the debate, the king requested that Kamalasīla compose works that presented his view, and in response, Kamalasīla composed the three BhAvanAkrama. There is considerable overlap among the three works. All three are germane to the issues raised in the debate, although whether all three were composed in Tibet is not established with certainty; only the third, and briefest of the three, directly considers, and refutes, the view of "no mental activity" (amanasikAra, cf. WUNIAN), which is associated with Moheyan. The three texts set forth the process for the potential BODHISATTVA to cultivate BODHICITTA and then develop sAMATHA and VIPAsYANA and progress through the bodhisattva stages (BHuMI) to buddhahood. The cultivation of vipasyanA requires the use of both scripture (AGAMA) and reasoning (YUKTI) to understand emptiness (suNYATA); in the first BhAvanAkrama, Kamalasīla sets forth the three forms of wisdom (prajNA): the wisdom derived from learning (sRUTAMAYĪPRAJNA), the wisdom derived from reflection (CINTAMAYĪPRAJNA), and the wisdom derived from cultivation (BHAVANAMAYĪPRAJNA), explaining that the last of these gradually destroys the afflictive obstructions (KLEsAVARAnA) and the obstructions to omniscience (JNEYAVARAnA). The second BhAvanAkrama considers many of these same topics, stressing that the achievement of the fruition of buddhahood requires the necessary causes, in the form of the collection of merit (PUnYASAMBHARA) and the collection of wisdom (JNANASAMBHARA). Both the first and second works espouse the doctrine of mind-only (CITTAMATRA); it is on the basis of these and other statements that Tibetan doxographers classified Kamalasīla as a YOGACARA-SVATANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. The third and briefest of the BhAvanAkrama is devoted especially to the topics of samatha and vipasyanA, how each is cultivated, and how they are ultimately unified. Kamalasīla argues that analysis (VICARA) into the lack of self (ATMAN) in both persons (PUDGALA) and phenomena (DHARMA) is required to arrive at a nonconceptual state of awareness. The three texts are widely cited in later Tibetan Buddhist literature, especially on the process for developing samatha and vipasyanA.
bhAvanAmArga. (T. sgom lam; C. xiudao; J. shudo; K. sudo 修道). In Sanskrit, "the path of cultivation" or "path of meditation"; the fourth of the five stages of the path (MARGA) in the SARVASTIVADA soteriological system (also adopted in the MAHAYANA), which follows the path of vision or insight (DARsANAMARGA) and precedes the adept path where no further training is necessary (AsAIKsAMARGA). In the SarvAstivAda path schema, the path of vision consists of fifteen thought-moments, with a subsequent sixteenth moment marking the beginning of the path of cultivation (BHAVANAMARGA). This sixteenth moment, that of subsequent knowledge (ANVAYAJNANA) of the truth of the path (mArga), is, in effect, the knowledge that all of the afflictions (KLEsA) of both the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHATU) and the immaterial realm (ARuPYADHATU) that are associated with the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS have been abandoned. As a result, the meditator destroys all causes for future rebirth as an animal, ghost, or hell denizen, but is not liberated from rebirth altogether and may still be reborn as a human or divinity. The more deeply rooted afflictions are destroyed over the course of the path of cultivation. For each of the nine levels of the three realms of rebirth-the sensuous realm (with one level), the realm of subtle materiality (with four levels), and the immaterial realm (with four levels)-there are nine levels of afflictions (KLEsA), from the most coarse to the most insidious, making eighty-one levels of affliction to be destroyed. As was the case with the path of vision, these defilements must be destroyed in a two-step process: the actual destruction of the particular affliction and the knowledge that it has been destroyed. There are therefore 162 "moments" of the abandoning of afflictions. This process, which takes place over the course of the path of cultivation, may occur over several lifetimes. However, when the 162nd stage is reached, and the subtlest of the subtle afflictions associated with the ninth level-that is, the fourth absorption of the immaterial realm-has been abandoned, the adept is then liberated from rebirth. The bhAvanAmArga is one of the "paths of the nobles" (ARYAMARGA) and one on this stage is immune to any possibility of retrogression and is assured of eventually achieving NIRVAnA. Reference is also sometimes made to the mundane path of cultivation (LAUKIKA-bhAvanAmArga), which refers to the three trainings (TRIsIKsA) in morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMADHI), and wisdom (PRAJNA) as they are developed before the first of the three fetters (SAMYOJANA) is eradicated and insight achieved. In the MahAyAna path system, with variations between YOGACARA and MADHYAMAKA, the bhAvanAmArga is the period in which the BODHISATTVA proceeds through the ten BHuMIs and destroys the afflictive obstructions (KLEsAVARAnA) and the obstructions to omniscience (JNEYAVARAnA).
bhAvanAmayīprajNA. (P. bhAvanAmayapaA; T. bsgoms pa las byung ba'i shes rab; C. xiuhui; J. shue; K. suhye 修慧). In Sanskrit, lit. "wisdom generated by cultivation"; often translated as "wisdom derived from meditation"; the third of the three types of wisdom, together with sRUTAMAYĪPRAJNA (wisdom derived from what is heard, viz., learning) and CINTAMAYĪPRAJNA (wisdom derived from reflection or analysis). Although the general understanding is that this third and final manifestation of wisdom comes after, and is largely dependent on, the previous two types, bhAvanAmayīprajNA is considered to be the highest of these three because it is the culmination of one's efforts to cultivate the path (MARGA) and the product of direct spiritual experience. This third type of wisdom is a form of VIPAsYANA, an understanding of reality at the level of sAMATHA-profound concentration coupled with tranquility.
bhavana. ::: spiritual cultivation; fixing the mind; firm conviction through steady concentration; mental attitude
bhAvanA. (T. sgom pa; C. xiuxi; J. shuju; K. susŭp 修習). In Sanskrit and PAli, "cultivation" (lit. "bringing into being"); a Sanskrit term commonly translated into English as "meditation." It is derived from the root √bhu, "to be" or "to become," and has a wide range of meanings including cultivating, producing, manifesting, imagining, suffusing, and reflecting. It is in the first sense, that of cultivation, that the term is used to mean the sustained development of particular states of mind. However, bhAvanA in Buddhism can include studying doctrine, memorizing sutras, and chanting verses to ward off evil spirits. The term thus refers broadly to the full range of Buddhist spiritual culture, embracing the "bringing into being" (viz., cultivating) of such generic aspects of training as the path (MARGA), specific spiritual exercises (e.g., loving-kindness, or MAITRĪ), or even a general mental attitude, such as virtuous (KUsALA) states of mind. The term is also used in the specific sense of a "path of cultivation" (BHAVANAMARGA), which "brings into being" the insights of the preceding path of vision (DARsANAMARGA). Hence, bhAvanA entails all the various sorts of cultivation that an adept must undertake in order to enhance meditation, improve its efficacy, and "bring it into being." More specifically as "meditation," two general types of meditation are sometimes distinguished in the commentarial literature: stabilizing meditation (sAMATHA) in which the mind focuses with one-pointedness on an object in an effort to expand the powers of concentration; and analytical meditation (VIPAsYANA), in which the meditator conceptually investigates a topic in order to develop insight into it.
Bodhisattvabhumi. (T. Byang chub sems dpa'i sa; C. Pusa dichi jing; J. Bosatsujijikyo; K. Posal chiji kyong 菩薩地持經). In Sanskrit, "The Bodhisattva Stages"; a treatise on the entire vocation and training of a BODHISATTVA, attributed to MAITREYA/MAITREYANATHA or ASAnGA (c. fourth century CE), the effective founder of the YOGACARA school. Sanskrit and Tibetan recensions are extant, as well as three different renderings in Chinese: (1) Pusa dichi jing, translated by DHARMAKsEMA between 414-421 CE, which is also abbreviated as the "Treatise on the Bodhisattva Stages" (C. Dichi lun; J. Jijiron; K. Chiji non); (2) Pusa shanjie jing, translated by GUnAVARMAN in 431 CE; and (3) a version incorporated as the fifteenth section of XUANZANG's Chinese translation of Asanga's YOGACARABHuMIsASTRA. In the Tibetan BSTAN 'GYUR, the Bodhisattvabhumi appears as the sixteenth and penultimate part of the fundamental section (sa'i dngos gzhi) of the YogAcArabhumi (which has a total of seventeen sections), but it is set apart as a separate work in 6,000 lines. The Bodhisattvabhumi explains in three major sections the career and practices of a bodhisattva. The chapters on the abodes (vihArapatala) in the second major division and the chapter on stages (bhumipatala) in the third section are considered especially important, because they provide a systematic outline of the soteriological process by which a bodhisattva attains enlightenment. ¶ In contrast to the ten stages (DAsABHuMI) of the bodhisattva path that are described in the DAsABHuMIKASuTRA, the Bodhisattvabhumi instead outlines a system of seven stages (BHuMI), which are then correlated with the thirteen abodes (VIHARA): (1) The stage of innate potentiality (gotrabhumi), which corresponds to the abode of innate potentiality (gotravihAra); (2) the stage of the practice of resolute faith (adhimukticaryAbhumi), corresponding to the abode of resolute faith (adhimukticaryAvihAra); (3) the stage of superior aspiration (suddhAdhyAsayabhumi), which corresponds to the abode of extreme bliss (pramuditavihAra); (4) the stage of carrying out correct practices (caryApratipattibhumi), which includes the abode of superior morality (adhisīlavihAra), the abode of superior concentration (adhicittavihAra), and the abode of the superior wisdom (adhiprajNavihAra), i.e., the abode of superior insight associated with the factors of enlightenment (bodhipaksyapratisaMyukto 'dhiprajNavihAra), the abode of superior insight associated with the truths (satyapratisaMyukto 'dhiprajNavihAra), the abode of superior insight associated with the cessation of dependently arisen transmigration (pratītyasamutpAdapravṛttinivṛttipratisaMyukto 'dhiprajNavihAra), and the signless abode of applied practices and exertion (sAbhisaMskArasAbhoganirnimittavihAra); (5) the stage of certainty (niyatabhumi), which is equivalent to the signless abode that is free from application and exertion (anAbhoganirnimittavihAra); (6) the stage of determined practice (niyatacaryAbhumi), which corresponds to the abode of analytical knowledge (pratisaMvidvihAra); (7) the stage of arriving at the ultimate (nisthAgamanabhumi), which correlates with the abode of ultimate consummation [viz., of bodhisattvahood] (paramavihAra) and the abode of the tathAgata (tathAgatavihAra). In this schema, the first two stages are conceived as preliminary stages of the bodhisattva path: the first stage, the stage of innate potentiality (gotrabhumi), is presumed to be a state in which the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTA) has yet to be generated; the second stage, the stage of the practice of resolute faith (adhimukticaryAbhumi), is referred to as the stage of preparation (saMbhArAvasthA) and applied practice (prayogAvasthA) in the case of the fivefold YOGACARA mArga schema, or alternatively to the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications in the case of the comprehensive fifty-two stage bodhisattva path presented in the AVATAMSAKASuTRA, PUSA YINGLUO BENYE JING, and RENWANG JING. The third stage, the stage of superior aspiration, is regarded as corresponding to the first of the ten bhumis in the Dasabhumikasutra; the fourth stage of carrying out correct practices corresponds to the second through seventh bhumis in that rival schema; the fifth stage of certainty pertains to the eighth bhumi; the stage of determined practice to the ninth bhumi; and the stage of arriving at the ultimate to the tenth bhumi. In fact, however, the seven-bhumi schema of the Bodhisattvabhumi and the ten-bhumi schema of the Dasabhumikasutra developed independently of each other and it requires consider exegetical aplomb to correlate them. ¶ The Bodhisattvabhumi also serves as an important source of information on another crucial feature of bodhisattva practice: the MahAyAna interpretation of a set of moral codes specific to bodhisattvas (BODHISATTVAsĪLA). The chapter on precepts (sīlapatala) in the first major section of the text provides an elaborate description of MahAyAna precepts, which constitute the bodhisattva's perfection of morality (sĪLAPARAMITA). These precepts are classified into the "three sets of pure precepts" (trividhAni sīlAni; C. sanju jingjie, see sĪLATRAYA; TRISAMVARA): (1) the saMvarasīla, or "restraining precepts," (cf. SAMVARA), which refers to the "HĪNAYANA" rules of discipline (PRATIMOKsA) that help adepts restrain themselves from all types of unsalutary conduct; (2) practicing all virtuous deeds (kusaladharmasaMgrAhakasīla), which accumulates all types of salutary conduct; and (3) sattvArthakriyAsīla, which involve giving aid and comfort to sentient beings. Here, the first group corresponds to the generic hīnayAna precepts, while the second and third groups are regarded as reflecting a specifically MahAyAna position on morality. Thus, the three sets of pure precepts are conceived as a comprehensive description of Buddhist views on precepts, which incorporates both hīnayAna and MahAyAna perspectives into an overarching system. A similar treatment of the three sets of pure precepts is also found in the Chinese apocryphal sutra FANWANG JING (see APOCRYPHA), thus providing a scriptural foundation in East Asia for an innovation originally appearing in an Indian treatise. ¶ In Tibet, the Bodhisattvabhumi was a core text of the BKA' GDAMS sect, and its chapter on sīla was the basis for a large body of literature elaborating a VINAYA-type ritual for taking bodhisattva precepts in a MahAyAna ordination ceremony. The SA SKYA PA master Grags pa rgyal mtshan's explanation of CANDRAGOMIN's synopsis of the morality chapter, and TSONG KHA PA's Byang chub gzhung lam are perhaps the best known works in this genre. In Tibet, the SDOM GSUM genre incorporates the Bodhisattvabhumi's three sets of pure precepts into a new scheme that reconciles hīnayAna and MahAyAna with TANTRA.
bodhyanga. (P. bojjhanga; T. byang chub kyi yan lag; C. juezhi/qijuezhi; J. kakushi/shichikakushi; K. kakchi/ch'ilgakchi 覺支/七覺支). In Sanskrit, "branches of enlightenment," or "limbs of awakening"; seven qualities attained at the point of realizing the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA): mindfulness (SMṚTI; P. sati), investigation of factors (dharmapravicaya; P. dhammavicaya), energy (VĪRYA; P. viriya), rapture (PRĪTI; pīti), tranquility (PRAsRABDHI; passaddhi), concentration (SAMADHI), and equanimity (UPEKsA; upekkhA). In their roles as "branches of enlightenment," mindfulness, first, refers to the "four foundations of mindfulness" (SMṚTYUPASTHANA; P. SATIPAttHANA), where the practitioner dwells contemplating four types of objects: namely, the body (KAYA), sensations (VEDANA), the mind (CITTA), and mental objects (DHARMA). Investigation of factors refers to investigating, examining, and reflecting on the teachings and numerical lists of factors taught by the Buddha. Energy refers to firm and unshaken energy that arises in the mind of the practitioner while investigating factors, etc. Rapture refers to the supersensuous bliss that arises as a consequence of contemplating with energy. Tranquility refers to the tranquility that arises as a consequence of the mind experiencing rapture. Concentration refers to the mental absorption that arises as a consequence of tranquility. Finally, equanimity refers to the sense of complete composure that arises as a consequence of the mind being well concentrated on an object. These are called factors of "enlightenment," because they lead to awakening (BODHI) or more specifically to the attainment of the "threefold knowledge" (TRIVIDYA; P. tevijjA): "recollection of former lives" (S. PuRVANIVASANUSMṚTI; P. pubbenivAsAnussati), the "divine eye" (DIVYACAKsUS; P. dibbacakkhu), which sees the death and rebirth of beings occurring according to their actions, and the "knowledge of the extinction of the contaminants" (ASRAVAKsAYA JNANA; P. AsavakhayaNAna).
brahmakAyika. (P. brahmapArisajjA; T. tshangs ris; C. fanzhong tian; J. bonshuten; K. pomjung ch'on 梵衆天). In Sanskrit, "brahmA's retainers"; the lowest of the three heavens that constitute the first concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU) in the Buddhist cosmological system. In PAli, the term brahmakAyika seems to be used at times for a general term for all the inhabitants of the BRAHMALOKA; the inhabitants of the lowest of the three heavens are instead called brahmApArisajjA (the "assembly of BRAHMA"). However, brahmakAyika more commonly refers to the lowest of the three heavens, whose inhabitants are divinities (DEVA) who are subordinates of the god BrahmA. As with the other inhabitants of the realm of subtle materiality, the divinities there have only three sense organs: of sight, hearing, and touch. Also as with all the heavens of the subtle-materiality realm, one is reborn as a divinity there through mastering during one's meditative practice in a preceding lifetime the same level of dhyAna as those divinities.
brahmapurohita. (T. tshangs pa'i mdun na 'don; C. fanfu tian; J. bonhoten; K. pombo ch'on 梵輔天). In Sanskrit and PAli "brahmA's ministers"; the second of the three heavens that constitute the first concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU) in the Buddhist cosmological system. The inhabitants of this heaven are divinities (DEVA) who serve as the attendants, ministers, and officials of the god BRAHMA. As with the other inhabitants of the realm of subtle materiality, the divinities there have only three physical sense organs: of sight, hearing, and touch. As with all the heavens of the subtle-materiality realm, one is reborn as a god there through mastering during one's meditative practice in a preceding lifetime the same level of dhyAna as those divinities.
brahmavihAra. (T. tshangs pa'i gnas; C. fanzhu; J. bonju; K. pomju 梵住). In Sanskrit and PAli, "divine abidings," or "highest religious state." This is a classification of four meditative topics used for the cultivation of tranquility meditation (sAMATHA): loving-kindness (MAITRĪ; P. mettA), compassion (KARUnA), empathetic joy (MUDITA), and equanimity or impartiality (UPEKsA; P. upekkhA). The meditator is taught to take up each of the divine abidings in the same way: starting with the first brahmavihAra, for example, filling his mind with loving-kindness, he pervades the world with it, first in one direction; then in a second direction; then a third and a fourth; then above, below, and all around; always identifying himself with all beings and keeping himself free from hatred and ill will. In the same way, he develops compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. These four factors are taken up as objects of meditation to counter the influence of specific unwholesome (AKUsALA) states of mind: viz., loving-kindness counteracts hostility (VYAPADA), compassion counters harmfulness (VIHIMSA), empathetic joy counters dissatisfaction or envy regarding others achievements (arati), and equanimity counters both the desire and hostility arising from sensuality (kAmarAgavyApAda) as well as the desire to win the approval of others (anunaya). Of these divine abidings, the first three are capable of producing the first three of the four meditative absorptions (DHYANA); the fourth divine abiding is the only one capable of producing the fourth meditative absorption. The four divine abidings are listed in the VISUDDHIMAGGA as four of the forty meditative topics (KAMMAttHANA) that may be pursued by the meditator. The Visuddhimagga notes they are useful only for the cultivation of tranquility (P. samatha; S. samatha), and not for the cultivation of insight (P. VIPASSANA; S. VIPAsYANA). Taken as objects of concentration and extended in meditation to all beings without limit, the divine abidings also come to be known as the "boundless states" (APRAMAnA).
bṛhatphala. (P. vehapphala; T. 'bras bu che; C. guangguo tian; J. kokaten; K. kwanggwa ch'on 廣果天). In Sanskrit, "great fruition," the third and lowest of the eight heavens of the fourth concentration (DHYANA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU); in PAli sources, this is the lowest of the seven heavens of the fourth DHYANA of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHATU).The heaven is so called because it is the greatest fruition among all places of rebirth in SAMSARA for ordinary persons (PṚTHAGJANA) who have not achieved the state of ARYAPUDGALA or noble person. As with all the heavens of the subtle-materiality realm, one is reborn as a god there through mastering during one's meditative practice in a preceding lifetime the same level of dhyAna as those divinities.
Brunnlitz ::: Brunnlitz was the industrial town in German-occupied Czechoslovakia where Oskar Schindler relocated his Krakow factory in late 1944 as the Soviet Red Army advanced towards Krakow from the east. The weapons factory that Schindler established in Brunnlitz was a sub-camp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Labor camps exploiting Jewish and foreign labor like Brunnlitz were located throughout the Greater German Reich. Brunnlitz, under Schindler, was one of the few camps where Jews were not treated brutally.
Bruno, Giordano: (1548-1600) A Dominican monk, eventually burned at the stake because of his opinions, he was converted from Christianity to a naturalistic and mystical pantheism by the Renaissance and particularly by the new Copernican astronomy. For him God and the universe were two names for one and the same Reality considered now as the creative essence of all things, now as the manifold of realized possibilities in which that essence manifests itself. As God, natura naturans, the Real is the whole, the one transcendent and ineffable. As the Real is the infinity of worlds and objects and events into which the whole divides itself and in which the one displays the infinite potentialities latent within it. The world-process is an ever-lasting going forth from itself and return into itself of the divine nature. The culmination of the outgoing creative activity is reached in the human mind, whose rational, philosophic search for the one in the many, simplicity in variety, and the changeless and eternal in the changing and temporal, marks also the reverse movement of the divine nature re-entering itself and regaining its primordial unity, homogeneity, and changelessness. The human soul, being as it were a kind of boomerang partaking of the ingrowing as well as the outgrowing process, may hope at death, not to be dissolved with the body, which is borne wholly upon the outgoing stream, but to return to God whence it came and to be reabsorbed in him. Cf. Rand, Modern Classical Philosophers, selection from Bruno's On Cause, The Principle and the One. G. Bruno: De l'infinito, universo e mundo, 1584; Spaccio della bestia trionfante, 1584; La cena delta ceneri, 1584; Deglieroici furori, 1585; De Monade, 1591. Cf. R. Honigswald, Giordano Bruno; G. Gentile, Bruno nella storia della cultura, 1907. -- B.A.G.F. Brunschvicg, Leon: (1869-) Professor of Philosophy at the Ecole Normale in Paris. Dismissed by the Nazis (1941). His philosophy is an idealistic synthesis of Spinoza, Kant and Schelling with special stress on the creative role of thought in cultural history as well as in sciences. Main works: Les etapes de la philosophie mathematique, 1913; L'experience humaine et la causalite physique, 1921; De la connaissance de soi, 1931. Buddhism: The multifarious forms, philosophic, religious, ethical and sociological, which the teachings of Gautama Buddha (q.v.) have produced. They centre around the main doctrine of the catvari arya-satyani(q.v.), the four noble truths, the last of which enables one in eight stages to reach nirvana (q.v.): Right views, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. In the absence of contemporary records of Buddha and Buddhistic teachings, much value was formerly attached to the palm leaf manuscripts in Pali, a Sanskrit dialect; but recently a good deal of weight has been given also the Buddhist tradition in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese. Buddhism split into Mahayanism and Hinayanism (q.v.), each of which, but particularly the former, blossomed into a variety of teachings and practices. The main philosophic schools are the Madhyamaka or Sunyavada, Yogacara, Sautrantika, and Vaibhasika (q.v.). The basic assumptions in philosophy are a causal nexus in nature and man, of which the law of karma (q.v.) is but a specific application; the impermanence of things, and the illusory notion of substance and soul. Man is viewed realistically as a conglomeration of bodily forms (rupa), sensations (vedana), ideas (sanjna), latent karma (sanskaras), and consciousness (vijnana). The basic assumptions in ethics are the universality of suffering and the belief in a remedy. There is no god; each one may become a Buddha, an enlightened one. Also in art and esthetics Buddhism has contributed much throughout the Far East. -- K.F.L.
Bsam gtan mig sgron. (Samten Mikdron). In Tibetan, literally "Lamp of the Eye of Concentration"; the title of a ninth-century treatise by GNUBS CHEN SANGS RGYAS YE SHES that discusses four main philosophical approaches prevalent during the early spread (SNGA DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. These include (1) the gradual path (rim gyis pa); (2) the sudden path (cig car ba); (3) the tradition of MAHAYOGA; and (4) the RDZOGS CHEN teachings. The text is an important source for understanding the range of meditative practice and theory in Tibet in the period after the BSAM YAS DEBATE and before the persecution of Buddhism under King GLANG DAR MA. The work makes clear reference to the teachings of the Chinese CHAN school in its discussion of the sudden teachings (see DUNJIAO).
Buchenwald ::: One of the largest concentration camps on German soil. It was constructed in 1937 in Weimar, Germany. Originally a camp for political prisoners, 10,000 Jews were imprisoned there after Kristallnacht.
buddhAnusmṛti. (P. buddhAnussati; T. sangs rgyas rjes su dran pa; C. nianfo; J. nenbutsu; K. yombul 念佛). In Sanskrit, "recollection of the Buddha"; one of the common practices designed to develop concentration, in which the meditator reflects on the meritorious qualities of the Buddha, often through contemplating a series of his epithets. The oldest list of epithets of the Buddha used in such recollection, which is found across all traditions, is worthy one (ARHAT), fully enlightened (SAMYAKSAMBUDDHA), perfect in both knowledge and conduct (vidyAcaranasampanna), well gone (SUGATA), knower of all worlds (lokavid), teacher of divinities (or kings) and human beings (sAstṛ devamanusyAnaM), buddha, and BHAGAVAT. BuddhAnusmṛti is listed among the forty meditative exercises (KAMMAttHANA) discussed in the VISUDDHIMAGGA and is said to be conducive to gaining access concentration (UPACARASAMADHI). In East Asia, this recollection practice evolved into the recitation of the name of the buddha AMITABHA (see NIANFO) in the form of the phrase namo Amituo fo ("homage to AmitAbha Buddha"; J. NAMU AMIDABUTSU). This recitation was often performed in a ritual setting accompanied by the performance of prostrations, the burning of incense, and the recitation of scriptures, all directed toward gaining a vision of AmitAbha's PURE LAND (SUKHAVATĪ), which was considered proof that one would be reborn there. Nianfo practice was widely practiced across schools and social strata in China. In Japan, repetition of the phrase in its Japanese pronunciation of namu Amidabutsu (homage to AmitAbha Buddha) became a central practice of the Japanese Pure Land schools of Buddhism (see JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu).
Buddhism: The multifarious forms, philosophic, religious, ethical and sociological, which the teachings of Gautama Buddha have produced, and which form the religion of hundreds of millions in China, Japan, etc. They center around the main doctrine of the arya satyani, the four noble truths (q.v.), the last of which enables one in eight stages to reach nirvana (q.v.): Right views, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
"But in the larger universal consciousness there must be a power of carrying this movement to its absolute point, to the greatest extreme possible for any relative movement to reach, and this point is reached, not in human unconsciousness which is not abiding and always refers back to the awakened conscious being that man normally and characteristically is, but in the inconscience of material Nature. This inconscience is no more real than the ignorance of exclusive concentration in our temporary being which limits the waking consciousness of man; for as in us, so in the atom, the metal, the plant, in every form of material Nature, in every energy of material Nature, there is, we know, a secret soul, a secret will, a secret intelligence at work, other than the mute self-oblivious form, the Conscient, — conscient even in unconscious things, — of the Upanishad, without whose presence and informing Conscious-Force or Tapas no work of Nature could be done.” The Life Divine
“But in the larger universal consciousness there must be a power of carrying this movement to its absolute point, to the greatest extreme possible for any relative movement to reach, and this point is reached, not in human unconsciousness which is not abiding and always refers back to the awakened conscious being that man normally and characteristically is, but in the inconscience of material Nature. This inconscience is no more real than the ignorance of exclusive concentration in our temporary being which limits the waking consciousness of man; for as in us, so in the atom, the metal, the plant, in every form of material Nature, in every energy of material Nature, there is, we know, a secret soul, a secret will, a secret intelligence at work, other than the mute self-oblivious form, the Conscient,—conscient even in unconscious things,—of the Upanishad, without whose presence and informing Conscious-Force or Tapas no work of Nature could be done.” The Life Divine
"But in the path of knowledge as it is practised in India concentration is used in a special and more limited sense. It means that removal of the thought from all distracting activities of the mind and that concentration of it on the idea of the One by which the soul rises out of the phenomenal into the one reality.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
“But in the path of knowledge as it is practised in India concentration is used in a special and more limited sense. It means that removal of the thought from all distracting activities of the mind and that concentration of it on the idea of the One by which the soul rises out of the phenomenal into the one reality.” The Synthesis of Yoga
caitta. [alt. caitasika] (P. cetasika; T. sems byung; C. xinsuo; J. shinjo; K. simso 心所). In Sanskrit, "mental concomitants" or "mental factors." In the ABHIDHARMA, the term encompasses those mental factors that accompany, in various combinations, the mind (CITTA) and its six sensory consciousnesses (VIJNANA), viz., visual (lit. eye), auditory (ear), olfactory (nose), gustatory (tongue), tactile (body), and mental. The VAIBHAsIKA school of SARVASTIVADA abhidharma lists forty-six caittas, the PAli ABHIDHAMMA lists fifty-two (called CETASIKA), while the mature YOGACARA system of MAHAYANA abhidharma gives a total of fifty-one specific mental concomitants, listed in six categories. The first, mental concomitants of universal application (SARVATRAGA), includes the five factors of sensory contact (SPARsA), sensations (VEDANA), intention or volition (CETANA), perception (SAMJNA), and attention (MANASKARA). The second category, five concomitants that are of specific application (VINIYATA) in spiritual progress, includes mindfulness (SMṚTI), concentration (SAMADHI), and wisdom (PRAJNA). The third category, salutary (KUsALA) factors, includes nine positive mental states such as faith (sRADDHA), lack of greed (ALOBHA), lack of hatred (ADVEsA), and vigor (VĪRYA). The fourth category, the primary afflictions (KLEsA), includes six negative mental states such as sensuality (RAGA), aversion (PRATIGHA), pride (MANA), and doubt (VICIKITSA). The fifth category, secondary afflictions (UPAKLEsA), includes twenty lesser forms of negative mental states, such as envy (ĪRsYA), harmfulness (VIHIMSA), and carelessness (PRAMADA). The sixth and final category, mental concomitants of indeterminate (ANIYATA) quality, includes the four factors of remorse (KAUKṚTYA), torpor (MIDDHA), thought (VITARKA), and analysis (VICARA). See also CETASIKA.
cakra. (P. cakka; T. 'khor lo; C. lun; J. rin; K. yun 輪). In Sanskrit, "wheel," "disc," or "circle"; a frequent symbol used to represent various aspects of Buddhism, from the Buddha, to the DHARMA, to Buddhist notions of kingship. When the Buddha first taught his new religion, it is said that he "turned the wheel of dharma" (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA) and the eight-spoked "wheel of dharma" (DHARMACAKRA) is subsequently used as a symbol for both the teachings as well as the person who rediscovered and enunciated those teachings. The ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA explains that the noble eightfold path (ARYAstAnGAMARGA) is like a wheel because it is similar in terms of the hub that is the support of the wheel, the spokes, and the containment rim. Right speech, action, and livelihood are like the hub, because they are the training in morality that provides support for concentration (DHYANA) and wisdom (PRAJNA). Right view, thought, and effort are like spokes, because they are the training in wisdom. Right mindfulness and concentration are like the rim because the spokes of right view and so forth provide the objective support (ALAMBANA) in a one-pointed manner in dependence on them. The dharmacakra appears in some of the earliest Buddhist art, often as an iconographic symbol standing in for the Buddha himself. The sign of a thousand-spoked wheel on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet is one of the thirty-two major marks of a great man (MAHAPURUsALAKsAnA), which is said to adorn the body of both a Buddha and a "wheel-turning emperor" (CAKRAVARTIN), his secular counterpart. A cakravartin's power is said to derive from his wheel of divine attributes, which rolls across different realms of the earth, bringing them under his dominion. The realm of SAMSARA is sometimes depicted iconographically in the form of a wheel, known as the "wheel of existence" (BHAVACAKRA), with a large circle divided into the six realms of existence (sAdGATI), surrounded by an outer ring representing the twelve links of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA). ¶ The term cakra is also important in Buddhist TANTRA, especially in ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA. According to various systems of tantric physiognomy, a central channel (AVADHuTĪ) runs from either the tip of the genitals or the base of the spine to either the crown of the head or the point between the eyebrows, with a number of "wheels" (cakra) along its course. In one of the systems, these wheels are located at the point between the eyebrows, the crown of the head, the throat, the heart, the navel, the base of the spine, and the opening of the sexual organ. Running parallel to the central channel to the right and left are two channels, both smaller in diameter, the LALANA and the RASANA. It is said that the right and left channels wrap around the central channel, forming knots at the cakras. Much tantric practice is devoted to techniques for loosening these knots in order to allow the winds (PRAnA) or energies that course through the other channels to flow freely and enter into the central channel. The cakras themselves are essential elements in this practice and other tantric meditative practices, with seed syllables (BĪJA), spells (MANTRA), deities, and diagrams (MAndALA) visualized at their center. The cakras themselves are often described as open lotus blossoms, with varying numbers of petals in different colors.
Cazing on a dame or a bright spot b the traditional means used by yogins for concentration or for awakening of the inner consciousness and vision.
center ::: n. --> A point equally distant from the extremities of a line, figure, or body, or from all parts of the circumference of a circle; the middle point or place.
The middle or central portion of anything.
A principal or important point of concentration; the nucleus around which things are gathered or to which they tend; an object of attention, action, or force; as, a center of attaction.
The earth.
cetasika. In PAli, "mental concomitant" or "mental factor"; the PAli equivalent of the Sanskrit term caitasika (see CAITTA). Mental concomitants are factors associated with the arising of consciousness (CITTA or viNNAna; S. VIJNANA). According to the PAli ABHIDHAMMA, there are fifty-two mental concomitants, of which twenty-five are either karmically salutary or neutral, fourteen are karmically unsalutary, and thirteen are simply neutral. Out of the fifty-two types of cetasikas, seven are invariably associated with all moments of consciousness-viz., consciousness cannot arise without these seven all being present: (1) sensory contact or sense impression (phassa; S. SPARsA), (2) sensation or feeling (VEDANA), (3) perception or conception (saNNA; S. SAMJNA), (4) volition (CETANA), (5) concentration (SAMADHI), (6) vitality (JĪVITA), and (7) attention, viz., the advertence of the mind toward an object (manasikAra; S. MANASKARA). See also CAITTA; List of Lists.
Cetokhilasutta. (C. Xinhui jing; J. Shinnekyo; K. Simye kyong 心穢經). In PAli, "Discourse on Mental Obstructions"; the sixteenth sutta of the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a separate SarvAstivAda recension appears as the 206th sutra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA; a recension of unidentified affiliation also occurs in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARAGAMA), preached by the Buddha to a gathering of monks in the JETAVANA grove in the town of SAvatthi (sRAVASTĪ). The Buddha describes five mental obstructions and five fetters that constitute impediments to overcoming suffering. The five obstructions include (1) doubt about the teacher, the Buddha; (2) doubt about the dhamma (DHARMA); (3) doubt about the SAMGHA; (4) doubt about the value of morality (sīla; S. sĪLA), meditative concentration (SAMADHI), and wisdom (paNNA; S. PRAJNA); 5) ill will and animosity toward one's fellow monks. The five fetters include (1) attachment to sensual desires, (2) attachment to a sense of self, (3) attachment to material possessions, (4) excessive sleeping and eating, and (5) adopting the life of renunciation merely for the limited goal of a blissful existence in the heavens.
cetovimukti. (P. cetovimutti; T. sems rnam par grol ba; C. xin jietuo; J. shingedatsu; K. sim haet'al 心解). In Sanskrit, "liberation of mind"; a meditative concept associated with the mastery of any of the four meditative absorptions (P. JHANA; S. DHYANA). Cetovimukti results in the temporary suppression of the contaminants (P. Asava; S. ASRAVA) through the force of concentration (SAMADHI). It is also associated with the acquisition of the "superknowledges" (P. abhiNNA; S. ABHIJNA). Cetovimukti alone is insufficient to bring about the attainment of enlightenment (BODHI) or the cessation of rebirth and must therefore be complemented by the "liberation through wisdom" (P. paNNAvimutti; S. prajNAvimukti; see PRAJNAVIMUKTA).
Ching: Essence. "Essence and vital force (ch'i) constitute things." Purity; the pure nature. Spirit; intelligence. Concentration; unity of thought.
Chokmah (Heb.): The second Sephira of the Tree of Life. Chok mah means "Wisdom" and represents the Sphere of the Stars. It is the first concentration of the influence of Nuit
Chongjung Musang. (C. Jingzhong Wuxiang; J. Joshu Muso 淨衆無相) (680-756, alt. 684-762). Korean-Chinese CHAN master of the Tang dynasty; because he was of Korean heritage, he is usually called Musang in the literature, following the Korean pronunciation of his dharma name, or Master Kim (K. Kim hwasang; C. Jin heshang), using his Korean surname. Musang is said to have been the third son of a Silla king and was ordained in Korea at the monastery of Kunnamsa. In 728, he arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) and had an audience with the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756), who appointed him to the monastery of Chandingsi. Musang subsequently traveled to Chu (in present-day Sichuan province) and became a disciple of the monk Chuji (alt. 648-734, 650-732, 669-736), who gave him dharma transmission at the monastery of Dechunsi in Zizhou (present-day Sichuan province). He later resided at the monastery of Jingzhongsi in Chengdu (present-day Sichuan province; later known as WANFOSI), which gave him his toponym Chongjung (C. Jingzhong). Musang became famous for his ascetic practices and meditative prowess. Musang also began conferring a unique set of precepts known as the three propositions (SANJU): "no recollection" (wuji), which was equated with morality (sĪLA); "no thought" (WUNIAN) with concentration (SAMADHI); and "no forgetting" (mowang) with wisdom (PRAJNA). He also taught a practice known as YINSHENG NIANFO, a method of reciting the name of the Buddha by extending the length of the intonation. Musang's prosperous lineage in Sichuan came to be known as the JINGZHONG ZONG line of Chan. Musang seems to have taught or influenced several renowned Chan monks, including HEZE SHENHUI (668-760), BAOTANG WUZHU (714-774), and MAZU DAOYI (707-786); he also played an important role in transmitting Chan to Tibet in the 750s and 760s.
cintAmayīprajNA. (P. cintAmayapaNNA; T. bsam pa las byung ba'i shes rab; C. sihui; J. shie; K. sahye 思慧). In Sanskrit, "wisdom derived from reflection [or analysis]"; the second of the three types of wisdom, together with sRUTAMAYĪPRAJNA (wisdom derived from what is heard, viz., study) and BHAVANAMAYĪPRAJNA (wisdom generated by cultivation or meditation). Building upon what one has learned through srutamayīprajNA, the practitioner deepens that knowledge by reflecting upon its significance and its application in understanding the nature of this world and beyond. This reflection may involve a certain level of mental attention and concentration, but not yet full meditative calmness (sAMATHA). This level of understanding is therefore not as profound as the third and final stage of wisdom, bhAvanAmayīprajNA, where the knowledge first learned and subsequently developed over the preceding two stages of wisdom is now authenticated at the level of VIPAsYANA.
cittaikAgratA. (P. cittekaggatA; T. sems rtse gcig pa; C. xin yijing xing; J. shin ikkyo sho; K. sim ilgyong song 心一境性). In Sanskrit, "one-pointedness of mind"; a deep state of meditative equipoise in which the mind is thoroughly concentrated on the object of meditation. In the progression of the four meditative absorptions associated with the subtle-materiality realm (RuPAVACARADHYANA), the first absorption (DHYANA) still involves the first two of the five constituents of dhyAna (DHYANAnGA): i.e., the application of thought to the meditative object (VITARKA) and sustained attention to that object (VICARA). As concentration deepens from the second dhyAna onward, applied and sustained thought vanish and the meditator moves from the mental "isolation" or "solitude" (VIVEKA) that characterizes the first dhyAna, to the true one-pointedness of mind (cittaikAgratA) that characterizes all higher stages of dhyAna; in this state of one-pointedness, the mind is so completely absorbed in the meditative object that even these most subtle varieties of thinking have disappeared.
citta. (T. sems; C. xin; J. shin; K. sim 心). In Sanskrit and PAli, "mind," "mentality," or "thought"; used broadly to refer to general mentality, citta is the factor (DHARMA) that is present during any type of conscious activity. Citta is contrasted with the physical body or materiality (RuPA), and is synonymous in this context with "name" (NAMA), as in the term NAMARuPA. In this sense, citta corresponds to the last four of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), excluding only the first aggregate, of materiality (RuPA), i.e., sensation (VEDANA), perception (SAMJNA), conditioning factors (SAMSKARA), and consciousness (VIJNANA). (Where the correspondences on this list are further refined, the first three of these mentality aggregates correspond to the mental concomitants, viz., CAITTA, while citta is restricted to the last aggregate, that of consciousness, or vijNAna.) Citta in this broad sense is synonymous with both mentality (MANAS) and consciousness (vijNAna): mind is designated as citta because it "builds up" (cinoti) virtuous and nonvirtuous states; as manas, because it calculates and examines; and as vijNAna, because it discriminates among sensory stimuli. Mind as "consciousness" refers to the six consciousnesses (sadvijNAna): the five sensory consciousnesses of the visual (CAKsURVIJNANA), auditory (sROTRAVIJNANA), olfactory (GHRAnAVIJNANA), gustatory (JIHVAVIJNANA), and tactile (KAYAVIJNANA), along with the mental consciousness (MANOVIJNANA). In some strands of MAHAYANA thought, such as YOGACARA, mind is instead considered to encompass not only mentality but all dharmas, and the distinction between mentality and materiality is presumed to be merely nominal; YogAcAra is thus sometimes called the school of CITTAMATRA, or "mind-only." Citta as mentality serves as one of the four foundations of mindfulness (SMṚTYUPASTHANA) in Buddhist meditative training, and refers to various general states of mind, e.g., a mind (citta) that is depressed, distracted, developed, concentrated, or freed. Citta is also used to signify mind itself in distinction to various sets of mental concomitants (caitta) that accompany the basic sensory consciousnesses. The DHAMMASAnGAnI, the first of the seven books of the PAli ABHIDHAMMAPItAKA, classifies citta as the first of a fourfold division of factors into mind (citta), mental concomitants (P. CETASIKA), materiality or form (rupa), and NIRVAnA (P. nibbAna). In this text's treatment, a moment of consciousness (citta) will always arise in association with a variety of associated mental factors (P. cetasika), seven of which are always present during every moment of consciousness: (1) sensory contact or sense impression (P. phassa; S. SPARsA), (2) feeling or sensation (VEDANA), (3) perception or conception (P. saNNA; S. SAMJNA), (4) volition (CETANA), (5) concentration (SAMADHI), (6) vitality (JĪVITA), and (7) attention, viz., the advertence of the mind toward an object (P. manasikAra; S. MANASKARA). The SARVASTIVADA ABHIDHARMA instead divides all dharmas into five groups: mind (citta), mental concomitants (caitta), materiality (rupa), forces dissociated from thought (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAMSKARA), and the unconditioned (ASAMSKṚTA). In this system, ten specific factors are said universally to accompany all conscious activity and are therefore called "factors of wide extent" or "omnipresent mental factors" (MAHABHuMIKA): (1) sensation (vedanA); (2) volition (cetanA); (3) perception (saMjNA); (4) zeal or "desire-to-act" (CHANDA) (5) sensory contact (sparsa); (6) discernment (mati); (7) mindfulness (SMṚTI); (8) attention (manaskAra); (9) determination (ADHIMOKsA); (10) concentration (samAdhi). According to the system set forth by ASAnGA in his ABHIDHARMASAMUCCAYA, this list is divided into two sets of five: the five omnipresent (SARVATRAGA) mental factors (vedanA, saMjNA, cetanA, sparsa, and manaskAra) and the five determining (pratiniyama) mental factors (chanda, adhimoksa, smṛti, samAdhi, and prajNA). ¶ In the experience of enlightenment (BODHI), the citta is said to be "freed" from the "point of view" that is the self (ATMAN). The citta is then no longer subject to the limitations perpetuated by ignorance (AVIDYA) and craving (TṚsnA) and thus becomes nonmanifesting (because there is no longer any projection of ego into the perceptual process), infinite (because the mind is no longer subject to the limitations of conceptualization), and lustrous (because the ignorance that dulls the mind has been vanquished forever). Scriptural statements attest to this inherent luminosity of the citta, which may be revealed through practice and manifested in enlightenment. For example, in the PAli AnGUTTARANIKAYA, the Buddha says, "the mind, O monks, is luminous" (P. pabhassaraM idaM bhikkhave cittaM). Such statements are the strands from which the MahAyAna subsequently derives such concepts as the inherent quality of buddhahood (BUDDHADHATU; C. FOXING) or the embryo of the TATHAGATAs (TATHAGATAGARBHA) that is said to be innate in the mind.
cittavisuddhi. (S. cittavisuddhi). In PAli, "purity of mind"; according to the VISUDDHIMAGGA, the second of seven "purities" (VISUDDHI) to be developed along the path to liberation. Purity of mind refers to the eight meditative absorptions (P. JHANA; S. DHYANA) or attainments (SAMAPATTI) belonging to the subtle-materiality realm (rupAvacara) and the immaterial realm (ArupyAvacara). Meditative absorption belonging to the subtle-materiality realm (P. rupAvacarajhAna; S. RuPAVACARADHYANA) is subdivided into four stages, each of which is characterized by an increasing attenuation of consciousness as the meditator progresses from one stage to the next. Meditative absorption belonging to the immaterial realm (P. arupAvacarajhAna; S. ARuPYAVACARADHYANA) is likewise subdivided into four stages, but in this case it is the object of meditation that becomes attenuated from one stage to the next. In the first immaterial absorption, the meditator sets aside the perception of materiality and abides in the sphere of infinite space (P. AkAsAnaNcAyatana; S. AKAsANANTYAYATANA). In the second immaterial absorption, the meditator sets aside the perception of infinite space and abides in the sphere of infinite consciousness (P. viNNanaNcAyatana; S. VIJNANANANTYAYATANA). In the third immaterial absorption, the meditator sets aside the perception of infinite consciousness and abides in the sphere of nothingness (P. AkiNcaNNAyatana; S. AKINCANYAYATANA). In the fourth immaterial absorption, the meditator sets aside the perception of nothingness and abides in the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (P. nevasaNNAnAsaNNAyatana; S. NAIVASAMJNANASAMJNAYATANA). To this list of eight absorptions is added "access" or "neighborhood" "concentration" (P. UPACARASAMADHI), which is the degree of concentration present in the mind of the meditator just prior to entering any of the four jhAnas.
Compliance Monitoring ::: Collection and evaluation of data, including self monitoring reports, and verification to show whether pollutant concentrations and loads contained in permitted discharges are in compliance with the limits and conditions specified in the permit.
concentration ::: “Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” Letters on Yoga
concentration ::: "concentration means gathering of the consciousness into one centre and fixing it in one object or in one idea or in one condition." [S25:391]
CONCENTRATION ::: Fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.
A gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point.
Concentration is necessary, first to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many-branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena; we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it.
Centre of Concentration: The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for yoga are in the head and in the heart - the mind-centre and the soul-centre.
Brain concentration is always a tapasyā and necessarily brings a strain. It is only if one is lifted out of the brain mind altogether that the strain of mental concentration disappears.
At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
In whatever centre the concentration takes place, the yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there.
Modes of Concentration: There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits.
If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.
There is no method in this yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force to transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be.
Powers (three) of Concentration ::: By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself we can become whatever we choose ; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fears, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love ; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object.
Stages in Concentration (Rajayogic) ::: that in which the object is seized, that in which it is held, that in which the mind is lost in the status which the object represents or to which the concentration leads.
Concentration and Meditation ::: Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or one object and in a single condition Meditation can be diffusive,e.g. thinking about the Divine, receiving impressions and discriminating, watching what goes on in the nature and acting upon it etc. Meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.
vide Dhyāna.
concentration ::: n. --> The act or process of concentrating; the process of becoming concentrated, or the state of being concentrated; concentration.
The act or process of reducing the volume of a liquid, as by evaporation.
The act or process of removing the dress of ore and of reducing the valuable part to smaller compass, as by currents of air or water.
CONCENTRATION See ACTIVATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, SYSTEMATIC
concentration ("s) ::: exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
concentrative ::: a. --> Serving or tending to concentrate; characterized by concentration.
condensation ::: n. --> The act or process of condensing or of being condensed; the state of being condensed.
The act or process of reducing, by depression of temperature or increase of pressure, etc., to another and denser form, as gas to the condition of a liquid or steam to water.
A rearrangement or concentration of the different constituents of one or more substances into a distinct and definite compound of greater complexity and molecular weight, often resulting in
Conditions essfntitd for meditation ::: There are no essential external conditions, but solitude and seclusion at the time of meditation as as stillness of the body arc helpful, sometimes almost necessary to the beginner. Bui one should not bound b' external conditions. Once the habit of meditation is formed, it should be mads possible to do it in all circumstances, l.ving. sitting, walking, alone, in company, in silettce or in the midst of noise etc. The first imeroal condition necessary is concentration of the will against the obstacles to meditation. i.e. wandermg of the mind, forgetfulness, sfeep, phjsieal and nervous impatience and restlessness etc. The second is an increasing purity and calm of the inner consciousness (citia) out of which thought and emotion arise, i.e. a freedom frona all disturb i ng reactions, such as anger, grief, depression, anxiet>' about w-orldly happenings etc. Mental perfection and moral are always closely allied to each other.
Consciousness, Field of: The sum-total of items embraced within an individual's consciousness at any given moment. The total field consists of (a) the focus, where the concentration of attention is maximal and (b) a margin, periphery or fringe of a diminishing degree of attention which gradually fades to zero. -- L.W.
Contemplation ::: Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 36, Page: 293
corradiation ::: n. --> A conjunction or concentration of rays in one point.
correct concentration. See SAMYAKSAMADHI.
Criteria ::: Descriptive factors taken into account by EPA in setting standards for various pollutants. These factors are used to determine limits on allowable concentration levels, and to limit the number of violations per year. When issued by EPA, the criteria provide guidance to the states on how to establish their standards.
Cudapanthaka. (P. Culapanthaka/Cullapantha; T. Lam phran bstan; C. Zhutubantuojia; J. Chudahantaka; K. Chudobant'akka 注荼半托迦). An eminent ARHAT declared in PAli sources as foremost among the Buddha's disciples in his ability to create mind-made bodies (MANOMAYAKAYA) and to manipulate mind (cittavivatta). Cudapanthaka was the younger of two brothers born to a merchant's daughter from RAJAGṚHA who had eloped with a slave. Each time she became pregnant, she wanted to return home to give birth to her children, but both were born during her journey home. For this reason, the brothers were named "Greater" Roadside (MahApanthaka; see PANTHAKA) and "Lesser" Roadside. The boys were eventually taken to RAjagṛha and raised by their grandparents, who were devoted to the Buddha. The elder brother Panthaka often accompanied his grandfather to listen to the Buddha's sermons and was inspired to be ordained. He proved to be an able monk, skilled in doctrine, and eventually attained arhatship. He later ordained his younger brother Cudapanthaka but was gravely disappointed in his brother's inability to memorize even a single verse of the dharma. Panthaka was so disappointed that he advised his brother to leave the order, much to the latter's distress. Once, the Buddha's physician JĪVAKA invited the Buddha and his monks to a morning meal. Panthaka gathered the monks together on the appointed day to attend the meal but intentionally omitted Cudapanthaka. So hurt was Cudapanthaka by his brother's contempt that he decided to return to lay life. The Buddha, knowing his mental state, comforted the young monk and taught him a simple exercise: he instructed him to sit facing east and, while repeating the phrase "rajoharanaM" ("cleaning off the dirt"), continue to wipe his face with a clean cloth. As Cudapanthaka noticed the cloth getting dirty from wiping off his sweat, he gained insight into the reality of impermanence (ANITYA) and immediately attained arhatship and was equipped with the four analytical knowledges (PRATISAMVID), including knowledge of the entire canon (TRIPItAKA). (According to other versions of the story, he came to a similar realization through sweeping.) Thereafter Cudapanthaka became renowned for his vast learning, as well as for his supranormal powers. He was a master of meditative concentration (SAMADHI) and of the subtle-materiality absorptions (RuPAVACARADHYANA). He could simultaneously create a thousand unique mind-made bodies (MANOMAYAKAYA), while other meditative specialists in the order could at best produce only two or three. ¶ Cudapanthaka is also traditionally listed as the last of the sixteen arhat elders (sOdAsASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. In CHANYUE GUANXIU's standard Chinese depiction, Cudapanthaka sits among withered trees, his left hand raised with fingers slightly bent, and his right hand resting on his right thigh, holding a fan.
Culavedallasutta. (C. Fale biqiuni jing; J. Horaku bikunikyo; K. Pomnak piguni kyong 法樂比丘尼經). In PAli, "Shorter Discourse on Points of Doctrine"; the forty-fourth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKAYA (a separate SARVASTIVADA recension appears as the 210th sutra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMAGAMA; the entire discourse is also subsumed in the Tibetan translation of samathadeva's commentary to the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHAsYA), expounded by the nun DhammadinnA (S. DHARMADINNA) to her former husband, the householder VisAkha, at the Veluvana (S. VEnUVANAVIHARA) bamboo grove in RAjagaha (S. RAJAGṚHA). VisAkha approached DhammadinnA and questioned her concerning a number of points of doctrine preached by the Buddha. These questions included: what is the nature of this existing body (P. sakkAya; S. satkAya); what is its origin (SAMUDAYA), its cessation (NIRODHA), and the path (P. magga; S. MARGA) leading to its cessation; how does wrong view concerning this body (P. sakkAyaditthi; S. SATKAYADṚstI) arise and how is it removed; what is the noble eightfold path; what is concentration (SAMADHI); what are bodily, verbal, and mental formations; what is the attainment of cessation (nirodha); what is sensation (VEDANA); what are the underlying tendencies with regard to pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations and how should these be overcome; and what are the counterparts of pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations. DhammadinnA answered all of the questions put to her to the satisfaction of the householder VisAkha-proving why the Buddha considered her foremost among his nun disciples in the gift of preaching.
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dasabhumi. (T. sa bcu; C. shidi; J. juji; K. sipchi 十地). In Sanskrit, lit., "ten grounds," "ten stages"; the ten highest reaches of the bodhisattva path (MARGA) leading to buddhahood. The most systematic and methodical presentation of the ten BHuMIs appears in the DAsABHuMIKASuTRA ("Ten Bhumis Sutra"), where each of the ten stages is correlated with seminal doctrines of mainstream Buddhism-such as the four means of conversion (SAMGRAHAVASTU) on the first four bhumis, the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (CATVARY ARYASATYANI) on the fifth bhumi, and the chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA) on the sixth bhumi, etc.-as well as with mastery of one of a list of ten perfections (PARAMITA) completed in the course of training as a bodhisattva. The list of the ten bhumis of the Dasabhumikasutra, which becomes standard in most MahAyAna traditions, is as follows: (1) PRAMUDITA (joyful) corresponds to the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA) and the bodhisattva's first direct realization of emptiness (suNYATA). The bodhisattva masters on this bhumi the perfection of giving (DANAPARAMITA), learning to give away those things most precious to him, including his wealth, his wife and family, and even his body (see DEHADANA); (2) VIMALA (immaculate, stainless) marks the inception of the path of cultivation (BHAVANAMARGA), where the bodhisattva develops all the superlative traits of character incumbent on a buddha through mastering the perfection of morality (sĪLAPARAMITA); (3) PRABHAKARĪ (luminous, splendrous), where the bodhisattva masters all the various types of meditative experiences, such as DHYANA, SAMAPATTI, and the BRAHMAVIHARA; despite the emphasis on meditation in this bhumi, it comes to be identified instead with the perfection of patience (KsANTIPARAMITA), ostensibly because the bodhisattva is willing to endure any and all suffering in order to master his practices; (4) ARCIsMATĪ (radiance, effulgence), where the flaming radiance of the thirty-seven factors pertaining to enlightenment (BODHIPAKsIKADHARMA) becomes so intense that it incinerates obstructions (AVARAnA) and afflictions (KLEsA), giving the bodhisattva inexhaustible energy in his quest for enlightenment and thus mastering the perfection of vigor or energy (VĪRYAPARAMITA); (5) SUDURJAYA (invincibility, hard-to-conquer), where the bodhisattva comprehends the various permutations of truth (SATYA), including the four noble truths, the two truths (SATYADVAYA) of provisional (NEYARTHA) and absolute (NĪTARTHA), and masters the perfection of meditative absorption (DHYANAPARAMITA); (6) ABHIMUKHĪ (immediacy, face-to-face), where, as the name implies, the bodhisattva stands at the intersection between SAMSARA and NIRVAnA, turning away from the compounded dharmas of saMsAra and turning to face the profound wisdom of the buddhas, thus placing him "face-to-face" with both the compounded (SAMSKṚTA) and uncompounded (ASAMSKṚTA) realms; this bhumi is correlated with mastery of the perfection of wisdom (PRAJNAPARAMITA); (7) DuRAnGAMA (far-reaching, transcendent), which marks the bodhisattva's freedom from the four perverted views (VIPARYASA) and his mastery of the perfection of expedients (UPAYAPARAMITA), which he uses to help infinite numbers of sentient beings; (8) ACALA (immovable, steadfast), which is marked by the bodhisattva's acquiescence or receptivity to the nonproduction of dharmas (ANUTPATTIKADHARMAKsANTI); because he is now able to project transformation bodies (NIRMAnAKAYA) anywhere in the universe to help sentient beings, this bhumi is correlated with mastery of the perfection of aspiration or resolve (PRAnIDHANAPARAMITA); (9) SADHUMATĪ (eminence, auspicious intellect), where the bodhisattva acquires the four analytical knowledges (PRATISAMVID), removing any remaining delusions regarding the use of the supernatural knowledges or powers (ABHIJNA), and giving the bodhisattva complete autonomy in manipulating all dharmas through the perfection of power (BALAPARAMITA); and (10) DHARMAMEGHA (cloud of dharma), the final bhumi, where the bodhisattva becomes autonomous in interacting with all material and mental factors, and gains all-pervasive knowledge that is like a cloud producing a rain of dharma that nurtures the entire world; this stage is also described as being pervaded by meditative absorption (DHYANA) and mastery of the use of codes (DHARAnĪ), just as the sky is filled by clouds; here the bodhisattva achieves the perfection of knowledge (JNANAPARAMITA). As the bodhisattva ascends through the ten bhumis, he acquires extraordinary powers, which CANDRAKĪRTI describes in the eleventh chapter of his MADHYAMAKAVATARA. On the first bhumi, the bodhisattva can, in a single instant (1) see one hundred buddhas, (2) be blessed by one hundred buddhas and understand their blessings, (3) live for one hundred eons, (4) see the past and future in those one hundred eons, (5) enter into and rise from one hundred SAMADHIs, (6) vibrate one hundred worlds, (7) illuminate one hundred worlds, (8) bring one hundred beings to spiritual maturity using emanations, (9) go to one hundred BUDDHAKsETRA, (10), open one hundred doors of the doctrine (DHARMAPARYAYA), (11) display one hundred versions of his body, and (12) surround each of those bodies with one hundred bodhisattvas. The number one hundred increases exponentially as the bodhisattva proceeds; on the second bhumi it becomes one thousand, on the third one hundred thousand, and so on; on the tenth, it is a number equal to the particles of an inexpressible number of buddhaksetra. As the bodhisattva moves from stage to stage, he is reborn as the king of greater and greater realms, ascending through the Buddhist cosmos. Thus, on the first bhumi he is born as king of JAMBUDVĪPA, on the second of the four continents, on the third as the king of TRAYATRIMsA, and so on, such that on the tenth he is born as the lord of AKANIstHA. ¶ According to the rather more elaborate account in chapter eleven of the CHENG WEISHI LUN (*VijNaptimAtratAsiddhi), each of the ten bhumis is correlated with the attainment of one of the ten types of suchness (TATHATA); these are accomplished by discarding one of the ten kinds of obstructions (Avarana) by mastering one of the ten perfections (pAramitA). The suchnesses achieved on each of the ten bhumis are, respectively: (1) universal suchness (sarvatragatathatA; C. bianxing zhenru), (2) supreme suchness (paramatathatA; C. zuisheng zhenru), (3) ubiquitous, or "supreme outflow" suchness (paramanisyandatathatA; C. shengliu zhenru), (4) unappropriated suchness (aparigrahatathatA; C. wusheshou zhenru), (5) undifferentiated suchness (abhinnajAtīyatathatA; C. wubie zhenru), (6) the suchness that is devoid of maculations and contaminants (asaMklistAvyavadAtatathatA; C. wuranjing zhenru), (7) the suchness of the undifferentiated dharma (abhinnatathatA; C. fawubie zhenru), (8) the suchness that neither increases nor decreases (anupacayApacayatathatA; C. buzengjian), (9) the suchness that serves as the support of the mastery of wisdom (jNAnavasitAsaMnisrayatathatA; C. zhizizai suoyi zhenru), and (10) the suchness that serves as the support for mastery over actions (kriyAdivasitAsaMnisrayatathatA; C. yezizai dengsuoyi). These ten suchnessses are obtained by discarding, respectively: (1) the obstruction of the common illusions of the unenlightened (pṛthagjanatvAvarana; C. yishengxing zhang), (2) the obstruction of the deluded (mithyApratipattyAvarana; C. xiexing zhang), (3) the obstruction of dullness (dhandhatvAvarana; C. andun zhang), (4) the obstruction of the manifestation of subtle afflictions (suksmaklesasamudAcArAvarana; C. xihuo xianxing zhang), (5) the obstruction of the lesser HĪNAYANA ideal of parinirvAna (hīnayAnaparinirvAnAvarana; C. xiasheng niepan zhang), (6) the obstruction of the manifestation of coarse characteristics (sthulanimittasamudAcArAvarana; C. cuxiang xianxing zhang), (7) the obstruction of the manifestation of subtle characteristics (suksmanimittasamudAcArAvarana; C. xixiang xianxing zhang), (8) the obstruction of the continuance of activity even in the immaterial realm that is free from characteristics (nirnimittAbhisaMskArAvarana; C. wuxiang jiaxing zhang), (9) the obstruction of not desiring to act on behalf of others' salvation (parahitacaryAkAmanAvarana; C. buyuxing zhang), and (10) the obstruction of not yet acquiring mastery over all things (fa weizizai zhang). These ten obstructions are overcome by practicing, respectively: (1) the perfection of giving (dAnapAramitA), (2) the perfection of morality (sīlapAramitA), (3) the perfection of forbearance (ksAntipAramitA), (4) the perfection of energetic effort (vīryapAramitA), (5) the perfection of meditation (dhyAnapAramitA), (6) the perfection of wisdom (prajNApAramitA), (7) the perfection of expedient means (upAyapAramitA), (8) the perfection of the vow (to attain enlightenment) (pranidhAnapAramitA), (9) the perfection of power (balapAramitA), and (10) the perfection of knowledge (jNAnapAramitA). ¶ The eighth, ninth, and tenth bhumis are sometimes called "pure bhumis," because, according to some commentators, upon reaching the eighth bhumi, the bodhisattva has abandoned all of the afflictive obstructions (KLEsAVARAnA) and is thus liberated from any further rebirth. It appears that there were originally only seven bhumis, as is found in the BODHISATTVABHuMI, where the seven bhumis overlap with an elaborate system of thirteen abidings or stations (vihAra), some of the names of which (such as pramuditA) appear also in the standard bhumi schema of the Dasabhumikasutra. Similarly, though a listing of ten bhumis appears in the MAHAVASTU, a text associated with the LOKOTTARAVADA subsect of the MAHASAMGHIKA school, only seven are actually discussed there, and the names given to the stages are completely different from those found in the later Dasabhumikasutra; the stages there are also a retrospective account of how past buddhas have achieved enlightenment, rather than a prescription for future practice. ¶ The dasabhumi schema is sometimes correlated with other systems of classifying the bodhisattva path. In the five levels of the YogAcAra school's outline of the bodhisattva path (PANCAMARGA; C. wuwei), the first bhumi (pramuditA) is presumed to be equivalent to the level of proficiency (*prativedhAvasthA; C. tongdawei), the third of the five levels; while the second bhumi onward corresponds to the level of cultivation (C. xiuxiwei), the fourth of the five levels. The first bhumi is also correlated with the path of vision (DARsANAMARGA), while the second and higher bhumis correlate with the path of cultivation (BHAVANAMARGA). In terms of the doctrine of the five acquiescences (C. ren; S. ksAnti) listed in the RENWANG JING, the first through the third bhumis are equivalent to the second acquiescence, the acquiescence of belief (C. xinren; J. shinnin; K. sinin); the fourth through the sixth stages to the third, the acquiescence of obedience (C. shunren; J. junnin; K. sunin); the seventh through the ninth stages to the fourth, the acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas (anutpattikadharmaksAnti; C. wushengren; J. mushonin; K. musaengin); the tenth stage to the fifth and final acquiescence, to extinction (jimieren; J. jakumetsunin; K. chongmyorin). FAZANG's HUAYANJING TANXUAN JI ("Notes Plumbing the Profundities of the AVATAMSAKASuTRA") classifies the ten bhumis in terms of practice by correlating the first bhumi to the practice of faith (sRADDHA), the second bhumi to the practice of morality (sĪLA), the third bhumi to the practice of concentration (SAMADHI), and the fourth bhumi and higher to the practice of wisdom (PRAJNA). In the same text, Fazang also classifies the bhumis in terms of vehicle (YANA) by correlating the first through third bhumis with the vehicle of humans and gods (rentiansheng), the fourth through the seventh stage to the three vehicles (TRIYANA), and the eighth through tenth bhumis to the one vehicle (EKAYANA). ¶ Besides the list of the dasabhumi outlined in the Dasabhumikasutra, the MAHAPRAJNAPARAMITASuTRA and the DAZHIDU LUN (*MahAprajNApAramitAsAstra) list a set of ten bhumis, called the "bhumis in common" (gongdi), which are shared between all the three vehicles of sRAVAKAs, PRATYEKABUDDHAs, and bodhisattvas. These are the bhumis of: (1) dry wisdom (suklavidarsanAbhumi; C. ganhuidi), which corresponds to the level of three worthies (sanxianwei, viz., ten abidings, ten practices, ten transferences) in the srAvaka vehicle and the initial arousal of the thought of enlightenment (prathamacittotpAda) in the bodhisattva vehicle; (2) lineage (gotrabhumi; C. xingdi, zhongxingdi), which corresponds to the stage of the "aids to penetration" (NIRVEDHABHAGĪYA) in the srAvaka vehicle, and the final stage of the ten transferences in the fifty-two bodhisattva stages; (3) eight acquiescences (astamakabhumi; C. barendi), the causal incipiency of stream-enterer (SROTAAPANNA) in the case of the srAvaka vehicle and the acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas (anutpattikadharmaksAnti) in the bodhisattva path (usually corresponding to the first or the seventh through ninth bhumis of the bodhisattva path); (4) vision (darsanabhumi; C. jiandi), corresponding to the fruition or fulfillment (PHALA) level of the stream-enterer in the srAvaka vehicle and the stage of nonretrogression (AVAIVARTIKA), in the bodhisattva path (usually corresponding to the completion of the first or the eighth bhumi); (5) diminishment (tanubhumi; C. baodi), corresponding to the fulfillment level (phala) of stream-enterer or the causal incipiency of the once-returner (sakṛdAgAmin) in the srAvaka vehicle, or to the stage following nonretrogression before the attainment of buddhahood in the bodhisattva path; (6) freedom from desire (vītarAgabhumi; C. liyudi), equivalent to the fulfillment level of the nonreturner in the srAvaka vehicle, or to the stage where a bodhisattva attains the five supernatural powers (ABHIJNA); (7) complete discrimination (kṛtAvibhumi), equivalent to the fulfillment level of the ARHAT in the srAvaka vehicle, or to the stage of buddhahood (buddhabhumi) in the bodhisattva path (buddhabhumi) here refers not to the fruition of buddhahood but merely to the state in which a bodhisattva has the ability to exhibit the eighteen qualities distinctive to the buddhas (AVEnIKA[BUDDHA]DHARMA); (8) pratyekabuddha (pratyekabuddhabhumi); (9) bodhisattva (bodhisattvabhumi), the whole bodhisattva career prior to the fruition of buddhahood; (10) buddhahood (buddhabhumi), the stage of the fruition of buddhahood, when the buddha is completely equipped with all the buddhadharmas, such as omniscience (SARVAKARAJNATĀ). As is obvious in this schema, despite being called the bhumis "common" to all three vehicles, the shared stages continue only up to the seventh stage; the eighth through tenth stages are exclusive to the bodhisattva vehicle. This anomaly suggests that the last three bhumis of the bodhisattvayāna were added to an earlier srāvakayāna seven-bhumi scheme. ¶ The presentation of the bhumis in the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ commentarial tradition following the ABHISAMAYĀLAMKĀRA uses the names found in the Dasabhumikasutra for the bhumis and understands them all as bodhisattva levels; it introduces the names of the ten bhumis found in the Dazhidu lun as levels that bodhisattvas have to pass beyond (S. atikrama) on the tenth bodhisattva level, which it calls the buddhabhumi. This tenth bodhisattva level is not the level of an actual buddha, but the level on which a bodhisattva has to transcend attachment (abhinivesa) to not only the levels reached by the four sets of noble persons (ĀRYAPUDGALA) but to the bodhisattvabhumis as well. See also BHuMI.
David-Néel, Alexandra. (1868-1969). A famous traveler to Tibet. Born Alexandra David to a bourgeois family in Paris, she was educated in a Calvinist convent before studying Indian and Chinese philosophy at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France. In 1888, she traveled to London, where she became interested in Theosophy. In 1891, she journeyed to Ceylon and India (where she studied Vedānta) and traveled as far as Sikkim over eighteen months. Upon returning to France, she began a career as a singer and eventually was offered the position of female lead in the Hanoi Opera. Some years later, in Tunis, she met and married a railroad engineer, Philippe Néel, who insisted that she retire from the stage. She agreed to do so if he would finance a one-year trip to India for her. He ended up not seeing his wife again for another fourteen years. David-Néel became friends with THOMAS and CAROLINE RHYS DAVIDS in London, leading scholars of THERAVĀDA Buddhism, and corresponded with the ZEN scholar DAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI, before publishing her first book on Buddhism in 1911, entitled, Le modernisme bouddhiste et le bouddhisme du Bouddha. She continued to Sikkim, where she met the thirteenth DALAI LAMA in Darjeeling in 1912, while he was briefly in residence there after fleeing a Chinese invasion of Tibet. David-Néel spent two years in retreat receiving instructions from a RNYING MA hermit-lama. In 1916, the British expelled her from Sikkim, so she traveled to Japan, where she was the guest of D. T. Suzuki. From there she went to China, traveling west in the company of a young Sikkimese monk named Yongden. Disguised as a pilgrim, she arrived in LHA SA in 1924, presumably the first European woman to reach the Tibetan capital. She returned to France as a celebrity the following year. She published the best-selling book My Journey to Lhasa, followed by a succession of books based on her travels in Tibet and her study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. She built a home in Digne, which she named Samten Dzong, "Fortress of Concentration." David-Néel made one final trip to Asia as World War II began, but spent the rest of her life writing in Digne, where she died at the age of one hundred.
decentralize ::: v. t. --> To prevent from centralizing; to cause to withdraw from the center or place of concentration; to divide and distribute (what has been united or concentrated); -- esp. said of authority, or the administration of public affairs.
deconcentrate ::: v. t. --> To withdraw from concentration; to decentralize.
deconcentration ::: n. --> Act of deconcentrating.
dephlegmation ::: n. --> The operation of separating water from spirits and acids, by evaporation or repeated distillation; -- called also concentration, especially when acids are the subject of it.
dharana. ::: concentration; one-pointedness of mind; the sixth of the eight limbs of ashtanga yoga
DHARANA. ::: Holding of the one object of concentration to the exclusion of all other ideas and mental activities.
Dharana (Sanskrit) Dhāraṇā [from the verbal root dhṛ to hold, carry, maintain, resolve] Intense concentration of the mind when directed to “some one interior object, accompanied by complete abstraction from everything pertaining to the external Universe, or the world of the Senses” (VS 73). It is the sixth stage of spiritual yoga, the effort to unite the human with the divine within, in which training “every sense as an individual faculty has to be ‘killed’ (or paralyzed) on this plane, passing into and merging with the Seventh sense, the most spiritual” (VS 78-9).
dharmameghā. (T. chos kyi sprin; C. fayun di; J. hounji; K. pobun chi 法雲地). In Sanskrit, "cloud of dharma," the tenth and final "ground" or stage (BHuMI) of the BODHISATTVA path, just prior to the attainment of buddhahood. On the dharmameghā bhumi, the bodhisattva is at the point of attaining the dharma-body (DHARMAKĀYA) that is as vast as the sky, becomes autonomous in interacting with all material and mental factors, and gains all-pervasive knowledge, which causes the excellent dharma to fall like rain from a cloud, nurturing the entire world and increasing the harvest of virtue for sentient beings. This stage is also described as being pervaded by meditative absorption (DHYĀNA) and mastery of the use of DHĀRAnĪ, just as the sky is filled with clouds. According to the CHENG WEISHI LUN (*VijNaptimātratāsiddhisāstra; chap. 11), each of the ten stages of the bodhisattva path leads to the attainment of one of the ten types of suchness (TATHATĀ); these are accomplished by discarding one of the ten kinds of obstructions (ĀVARAnA) through practicing one of the ten perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). In the case of the dharmameghā bhumi, the obstruction of not yet acquiring mastery over all dharmas (fa wei zizai zhang) is removed through the perfection of knowledge (JNĀNAPĀRAMITĀ), leading to the suchness that serves as the support for mastery over action (ye zizai deng suoyi zhenru; *kriyādivasitāsaMnisrayatathatā) and the ability of the bodhisattva to ripen the minds of sentient beings. The tenth stage thus removes any remaining delusions regarding the use of the supernatural knowledges or powers (ABHIJNĀ) or the subtle mysteries, giving the bodhisattva complete autonomy in manipulating all dharmas. As the culminating stage of the "path of cultivation" (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), the dharmameghā bhumi still contains the last and most subtle remnants of the cognitive obstructions (JNEYĀVARAnA). These obstructions will be completely eradicated through the adamantine-like concentration (VAJROPAMASAMĀDHI), which marks the transition to the "ultimate path" (NIstHĀMĀRGA), or "path where no further training is necessary" (AsAIKsAMĀRGA), i.e., an eleventh stage of the buddhas (TATHĀGATABHuMI) that is sometimes also known as the "universally luminous" (samantaprabhā).
dharmānusārin. (P. dhammānusāri; T. chos kyi rjes su 'brang ba; C. suifaxing; J. zuihogyo; K. subophaeng 隨法行). In Sanskrit, "follower of the dharma," one who arrives at a realization of the dharma or truth through his or her own analysis of the teachings; contrasted with "follower of faith" (sRADDHĀNUSĀRIN) whose religious experience is grounded in the faith or confidence in what others tell him about the dharma. The SARVĀSTIVĀDA (e.g., as described in the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA) and THERAVĀDA (e.g., VISUDDHIMAGGA) schools of mainstream Buddhism both recognize seven types of noble ones (ĀRYA, P. ariya), listed in order of their intellectual superiority: (1) follower of faith (S. sraddhānusārin; P. saddhānusāri); (2) follower of the dharma (S. dharmānusārin; P. dhammānusāri); (3) one who is freed by faith (S. sRADDHĀVIMUKTA; P. saddhāvimutta); (4) one who has formed right view (S. DṚstIPRĀPTA; P. ditthippatta), by developing both faith and wisdom; (5) one who has bodily testimony (S. KĀYASĀKsIN; P. kāyasakkhi), viz., through the temporary suspension of mentality in the absorption of cessation (NIRODHASAMĀPATTI); (6) one who is freed by wisdom (S. PRAJNĀVIMUKTA; P. paNNāvimutta), by freeing oneself through analysis; and (7) one who is freed both ways (S. UBHAYATOBHĀGAVIMUKTA; P. ubhatobhāgavimutta), by freeing oneself through both meditative absorption and wisdom. According to the Sarvāstivāda VAIBHĀsIKA school of ABHIDHARMA, an ARHAT whose liberation is grounded in faith may be subject to backsliding from that state, whereas those who are dharmānusārin are unshakable (AKOPYA), because they have experienced the knowledge of nonproduction (ANUTPĀDAJNĀNA), viz., that the afflictions (klesa) can never occur again, the complement of the knowledge of extinction (KsAYAJNĀNA). ¶ The Theravāda school, which does not accept this dynamic interpretation of an arhat's spiritual experience, develops a rather different interpretation of these types of individuals. BUDDHAGHOSA explains in his VISUDDHIMAGGA that one who develops faith by contemplating the impermanent nature of things is a follower of faith at the moment of becoming a stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA) and is one who is freed by faith at the subsequent moments of the fruition of the path; one who is tranquil and develops concentration by contemplating the impermanent nature of things is one who has bodily testimony at all moments; one who develops the immaterial meditative absorptions (arupajhāna; S. ARuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) is one freed both ways; one who develops wisdom is one who follows the dharma (dhammānusāri) at the moment of entry into the rank of stream-enterer and is one who has formed right view at the subsequent moments of path entry. When one achieves highest spiritual attainment, one is called freed by wisdom. In another classification of six individuals found in the Pāli CulAGOPĀLAKASUTTA, dhammānusāri is given as the fifth type, the other five being the worthy one (arahant; S. ARHAT), nonreturner (anāgāmi; S. ANĀGĀMIN), once-returner (sakadāgāmi; S. SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. srotaāpanna), and follower of faith (saddhānusāri). The IndriyasaMyutta in the SAMYUTTANIKĀYA also mentions these same six individuals and explains their differences in terms of their development of the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA): faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. An arahant has matured the five faculties; a nonreturner has all five faculties, but they are slightly less developed than in the arahant; a once-returner is slightly less developed than a nonreturner; a stream-enterer slightly less than a once-returner; a dhammānusāri slightly less than a stream-enterer; and a saddhānusāri slightly less than a dhammānusāri. The saddhāvimutta and dhammānusāri are also distinguished depending on when they reach higher spiritual attainment: one who is following faith at the moment of accessing the path (maggakkhana) is called saddhāvimutta, one liberated through faith; the other, who is following wisdom, is called dhammānusāri, one who is liberated by wisdom at the moment of attainment (phalakkhana). ¶ The dharmānusārin is also found in the list of the members of the saMgha when it is subdivided into twenty (VIMsATIPRABHEDASAMGHA). Among the dharmānusārin there are candidates for the fruit of stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNAPRATIPANNAKA), once-returner (SAKṚDĀGĀMIPRATIPANNAKA), and nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIPRATIPANNAKA). The Mahāyāna carries over the division of dharmānusārin and sraddhānusārin into its discussion of the path to enlightenment. The PANCAVIMsATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ takes the seven types of noble ones (ārya) listed in order of intellectual superiority, and the eight noble beings (stream-enterer and so on) as examples for bodhisattvas at different stages of the path; the dharmānusārin more quickly reaches the AVAIVARTIKA (irreversible) stage, the sraddhānusārin more slowly, based on the development of wisdom (PRAJNĀ) that has forbearance for the absence of any ultimately existing goal to be reached, and skillful means (UPĀYA) that places pride of place on the welfare of others (PARĀRTHA).
dharmaprīti. (P. dhammapīti; T. chos la dga' ba; C. faxi; J. hoki; K. pophŭi 法喜). In Sanskrit, "joy of the dharma"; the uplifting feelings of joy or enthusiasm that derive from properly observing the precepts (i.e., to be morally "blameless" and thus harboring no regrets or shame) and from hearing, understanding, or practicing the dharma. Depending on its intensity, this joy may manifest itself in several different ways, ranging from a radiant complexion, horripilation (the body hair standing on end), and goose bumps, to ecstatic physical levitation. In the context of meditative training, such joy is said to be conducive to the development of concentration (SAMĀDHI) and serenity (PRAsRABDHI).
DHYAI^A . Meditation ; contemplation ; inner concentration of the consciousness ; going inside in samadhi ; prolonged absorp- tion of the mind in the object of concentration.
dhyana ::: concentration..Dieu sorti de l"école
dhyana ::: meditation, contemplation; mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge.
dhyānapāramitā. (P. jhānapāramī; T. bsam gtan gyi pha rol tu phyin pa; C. jinglü boluomiduo; J. joryoharamita; K. chongnyo paramilta 靜慮波羅蜜多). In Sanskrit, the "perfection of meditative absorption" or "concentration"; the fifth of the six [alt. ten] perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) cultivated on the BODHISATTVA path. It is perfected on the fifth of the ten stages (DAsABHuMI) of the bodhisattva path, SUDURJAYĀ (invincibility), where the bodhisattva comprehends the various permutations of truth (SATYA), including the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, the provisional (NEYĀRTHA) and definitive (NĪTĀRTHA), etc., and masters infinite numbers of samādhis.
dhyāna. (P. jhāna; T. bsam gtan; C. chan/chanding; J. zen/zenjo; K. son/sonjong 禪/禪定). In Sanskrit, "meditative absorption," specific meditative practices during which the mind temporarily withdraws from external sensory awareness and remains completely absorbed in an ideational object of meditation. The term can refer both to the practice that leads to full absorption and to the state of full absorption itself. Dhyāna involves the power to control the mind and does not, in itself, entail any enduring insight into the nature of reality; however, a certain level of absorption is generally said to be necessary in order to prepare the mind for direct realization of truth, the destruction of the afflictions (KLEsA), and the attainment of liberation (VIMUKTI). Dhyāna is classified into two broad types: (1) meditative absorption associated with the realm of subtle materiality (RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) and (2) meditative absorption of the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). Each of these two types is subdivided into four stages or degrees of absorption, giving a total of eight stages of dhyāna. The four absorptions of the realm of subtle materiality are characterized by an increasing attenuation of consciousness as one progresses from one stage to the next. The deepening of concentration leads the meditator temporarily to allay the five hindrances (NĪVARAnA) and to put in place the five constituents of absorption (DHYĀNĀnGA). The five hindrances are: (1) sensuous desire (KĀMACCHANDA), which hinders the constituent of one-pointedness of mind (EKĀGRATĀ); (2) malice (VYĀPĀDA), hindering physical rapture (PRĪTI); (3) sloth and torpor (STYĀNA-MIDDHA), hindering applied thought (VITARKA); (4) restlessness and worry (AUDDHATYA-KAUKṚTYA), hindering mental ease (SUKHA); and (5) skeptical doubt (VICIKITSĀ), hindering sustained thought (VICĀRA). These hindrances thus specifically obstruct one of the specific factors of absorption and, once they are allayed, the first level of the subtle-materiality dhyānas will be achieved. In the first dhyāna, all five constituents of dhyāna are present; as concentration deepens, these gradually fall away, so that in the second dhyāna, both types of thought vanish and only prīti, sukha, and ekāgratā remain; in the third dhyāna, only sukha and ekāgratā remain; and in the fourth dhyāna, concentration is now so rarified that only ekāgratā is left. Detailed correlations appear in meditation manuals describing specifically which of the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA) and seven constituents of enlightenment (BODHYAnGA) serves as the antidote to which hindrance. Mastery of the fourth absorption of the realm of subtle materiality is required for the cultivation of the supranormal powers (ABHIJNĀ) and for the cultivation of the four ārupyāvacaradhyānas, or meditative absorptions of the immaterial realm. The immaterial absorptions themselves represent refinements of the fourth rupāvacaradhyāna, in which the "object" of meditation is gradually attenuated. The four immaterial absorptions instead are named after their respective objects: (1) the sphere of infinite space (ĀKĀsĀNANTYĀYATANA), (2) the sphere of infinite consciousness (VIJNĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA), (3) the sphere of nothingness (ĀKINCANYĀYATANA), and (4) the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (NAIVASAMJNĀNĀSAMJYYATANA). Mastery of the subtle-materiality realm absorptions can also result in rebirth as a divinity (DEVA) in the subtle-materiality realm, and mastery of the immaterial absorptions can lead to rebirth as a divinity in the immaterial realm (see ANINJYAKARMAN). Dhyāna occurs in numerous lists of the constituents of the path, appearing, for example, as the fifth of the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). The term CHAN (J. zen), the name adopted by an important school of indigenous East Asian Buddhism, is the Chinese phonetic transcription of the Sanskrit term dhyāna. See also JHĀNA; SAMĀDHI; SAMĀPATTI.
dhyānasamāpatti. [alt. samāpattidhyāna] (P. jhānasamāpatti; T. bsam gtan snyoms 'jug; C. xiude ding; J. shutokujo; K. sudŭk chong 修得定). In Sanskrit, "meditative absorption attained through cultivation"; one of the two types of meditative absorption, along with "innate meditative absorption" (DHYĀNOPAPATTI). Whereas "innate meditative absorption" is attained once one is reborn into the "field of meditative concentration" (dhyānabhumi), i.e., the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU) or the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU), this "meditative absorption attained by cultivation" is the meditative state attained in the "field of distraction" (asamāhitatva) of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) through meditative practice. Rebirth into the subtle-materiality or immaterial realms is presumed to occur as the reward for having performed in the preceding lifetime cultivation of the subtle-material absorptions (RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) or immaterial absorptions (ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). The ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA and related MAHĀYĀNA accounts parse the compound dhyānasamāpatti as a dual compound (dvandva) and construe dhyāna as referring to the four levels of the dhyānas of the subtle-materiality realm and samāpatti to the four levels of dhyāna of the immaterial realm.
Dhyana ::: There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of Dhyana, "meditation" and "contemplation". Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana; for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. There are other forms of dhyana. There is a passage in which Vivekananda advises you to stand back from your thoughts, let them occur in your mind as they will and simply observe them & see what they are. This may be called concentration in self-observation. This form leads to another, the emptying of all thought out of the mind so as to leave it a sort of pure vigilant blank on which the divine knowledge may come and imprint itself, undisturbed by the inferior thoughts of the ordinary human mind and with the clearness of a writing in white chalk on a blackboard. You will find that the Gita speaks of this rejection of all mental thought as one of the methods of Yoga and even the method it seems to prefer. This may be called the dhyana of liberation, as it frees the mind from slavery to the mechanical process of thinking and allows it to think or not think as it pleases and when it pleases, or to choose its own thoughts or else to go beyond thought to the pure perception of Truth called in our philosophy Vijnana. Meditation is the easiest process for the human mind, but the narrowest in its results; contemplation more difficult, but greater; self-observation and liberation from the chains of Thought the most difficult of all, but the widest and greatest in its fruits. One can choose any of them according to one’s bent and capacity. The perfect method is to use them all, each in its own place and for its own object.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 36, Page: 293-294
dhyānopapatti. (C. shengde ding; J. shotokujo; K. saengdŭk chong 生得定). In Sanskrit, "innate meditative absorption"; one of the two types of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA), along with "meditative absorption attained through cultivation" (DHYĀNASAMĀPATTI). The innate type of meditative absorption refers to the state of deep concentration that is possessed congenitally by a being who is born into either the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU) or the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). For this reason, the subtle-materiality and the immaterial realms are termed "fields of meditative concentration" (dhyānabhumi), while the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) is the "field of distraction" (asamāhitatva).
Dhyānottarapatala. (T. Bsam gtan phyi ma rim par phye ba). In Sanskrit, the "Chapter on the Subsequent Stages of Concentration"; a brief work in seventy-four verses regarded as a chapter of the lost Vajrosnīsatantra. It also is related to the fifth chapter of the MAHĀVAIROCANĀBHISAMBODHISuTRA. The work, preserved only in Tibetan, is classified as a KRIYĀTANTRA, and provides instruction on MANTRA recitation and yogic breath practice (PRĀnĀYĀMA), which are to be undertaken subsequent to the practice of DHYĀNA. There is a detailed commentary on the text by BUDDHAGUHYA.
DKine above is the second way of concentration. It is impor- tant however, to remember that the concentration of the conscious- ness in the head is only a preparation for its rising to the centre
Doppelganger (German) Double-goer; usually, a species of real phantom, seen before, after, or at the time of the death of an individual, and serving as a notification or warning of the death. In some cases the double seen is that of the seer himself, though this is not the true doppelganger. The doppelganger is most often the mayavi-rupa which can be seen at even immense distances from the individual whose presentation it is, yet the term doppelganger can likewise incorrectly be applied to the very occasional projections of the astral body which, however, can at no time wander far from its physical frame. The true doppelganger or mayavi-rupa, whether seen or unseen, falls into two classes, without counting the rare cases involving the linga-sarira mentioned above: the mayavi-rupa projected by hpho-wa, by will and with the consciousness of the ego; and the occasional automatic or involuntary projections of the mayavi-rupa due to intense concentration of the mind upon something or someone.
Dreams of physical mind and yogic dreams ; The dreams of the physical mind are an incoherent jumble made up partly of responses to vague touches from the physical world round which the lower mind-faculties disconnected from the will and reason, the bttddhi, weave a web of wandering phantasy, partly of disordered associations from the bram-memory, partly of reflections from the soul travelling on the mental plane, reflections which are, ordinarily, received without intelligence or co-ordination, wildly distorted in the reception and mixed up confusedly with the other dream elements, wnlh brain-memories and fantastic responses to any sensory touch from the physical world. In the yogic dream-state, on the other hand, the mind is in clear pos- session of itself, though not of the physical world, works cohe- rently and is able to use either its ordinary will and intelligence with a concentrated power or else the higher will and intelli- gence of the more exalted planes of mind. It withdraws from experience of the outer world, it puts its seals upon the physical senses and their doors of communication with material things ; but everything that is proper to itself, thought, reasoning, reflec- tion, vision, it can continue to execute with an increased purity and power of sovereign concentration free from the distractions and unsteadiness of the waking mind. It can use too its will and produce upon itself or upon its environment mental, moral and even physical effects which may continue and have their after-consequences on the waking state subsequent to the cessa- tion of the trance.
ego ::: [Madhav: “Ego is the point of concentration that involves us in the rounds of life.” The Book of the Divine Mother]
Eicke, Theodor ::: (1928-1943) Eicke joined the Nazi party and the SA in 1928. He transferred to the SS in 1930. Appointed commandant of Dachau in 1933, Eicke later became the inspector of concentration camps. He was known for his cruel treatment of prisoners and in 1939 he was given command of the Death's Head division of the Waffen-SS. He was killed on the eastern front on February 16, 1943.
eightfold path. (S. astāngamārga; P. atthangikamagga; T. lam yan lag brgyad; C. bazhengdao; J. hasshodo; K. p'alchongdo 八正道). One of the basic formulations of the Buddhist path (MĀRGA) to enlightenment, comprised of the following: (1) right views (SAMYAGDṚstI; P. sammāditthi), (2) right intention (SAMYAKSAMKALPA; P. sammāsankappa), (3) right speech (SAMYAGVĀC; P. sammāvācā), (4) right conduct (SAMYAKKARMĀNTA; P. sammākammanta), (5) right livelihood (SAMYAGĀJĪVA; P. sammājīva), (6) right effort (SAMYAGVYĀYĀMA; P. sammāvāyāma), (7) right mindfulness (SAMYAKSMṚTI; P. sammāsati), and (8) right concentration (SAMYAKSAMĀDHI; P. sammāsamādhi). For a full treatment of this formulation, see ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA s.v..
Eisenhower, Dwight D. ::: (1890-1969) American general and 34th president of the United States between 1953-61. In 1942 he was named U.S. Commander of the European Theater of Operations. He commanded the American landings in North Africa and in February 1943 became chief of all the Allied forces in North Africa. After successfully directing the invasions of Sicily and Italy, he was called to England to become chief commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. He was largely responsible for the cooperation of the Allied armies in the battle for the liberation of the European continent and was present when Nazi concentration camps were first liberated.
ekagrata. ::: one-pointedness of the mind; concentration; close attention
Ekagrata or Ekagratva(Sanskrit) ::: A term signifying "onepointedness" or "absolute intentness" in the mental contemplation of anobject of meditation. The perfect concentration of the percipient mind on a single point of thought, andthe holding of it there.
Ekagrata or Ekagratva (Sanskrit) Ekāgratā, Ekāgratva One-pointedness, absolute intentness in the contemplation of an object of meditation, holding the mind in perfect concentration on a single point of thought.
electrochemical equilibrium ::: The condition in which no net ionic flux occurs across a membrane because ion concentration gradients and opposing transmembrane potentials are in exact balance.
ershiwu yuantong. (J. nijugoenzu; K. isibo wont'ong 二十五圓通). In Chinese, "twenty-five kinds of consummate interpenetration." According to the *suRAMGAMASuTRA (Shoulengyan jing), twenty-five of the Buddha's disciples and bodhisattvas have each mastered a concentration (SAMĀDHI) pertaining to one of the twenty-five objects of meditation. The latter include the six sensory objects (liu chen; S. ĀLAMBANA), the six sensory faculties (liu gen; S. INDRIYA), the six sensory consciousnesses (liu shi; S. VIJNĀNA), and the seven primary elements (qi da). It is said that enlightenment is possible by accessing any of the twenty-five masteries even though the bodhisattva AVALOKITEsVARA's mastery over the "ear faculty," or auditory sense-base, has been singled out as a particularly efficacious method for practice.
Exposure Concentration ::: The concentration of a chemical or other pollutant representing a health threat in a given environment.
Exposure Level ::: The amount (concentration) of a chemical at the absorptive surfaces of an organism.
Exposure to an environmental pollutant whose concentration remains constant for a period of time.
Field of consciousness: The sum total of items embraced within an individual’s consciousness at any given moment. The total field consists of: (a) the focus, where the concentration of attention is maximal, and (b) a margin, periphery or fringe of a diminishing degree of attention which gradually fades to zero.
focus ::: n. --> A point in which the rays of light meet, after being reflected or refrcted, and at which the image is formed; as, the focus of a lens or mirror.
A point so related to a conic section and certain straight line called the directrix that the ratio of the distace between any point of the curve and the focus to the distance of the same point from the directrix is constant.
A central point; a point of concentration.
"For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere.” Essays Divine and Human
“For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere.” Essays Divine and Human
For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere.
From time immemorial (some scholars say 8000 years before the Christian era) India has been the land of spiritual knowledge and practice, of the discovery of the Supreme Reality and union with it. It is the country that has practised concentration most and best. The methods, called Yoga in Sanskrit, that are taught and used in this country are countless. Some are merely material, others purely intellectual, others religious and devotional; lastly, some of them combine these various processes in order to achieve a more integral result.
Gefangenschaft ::: (Ger. Imprisonment) Term used to describe life in Nazi concentration camps and the Jewish ghettos during the Holocaust
gif: is not a freak or an abnormaiity ; it is a universal faculty present in all human beings, but latent in most, in some rarely or intermittently active, occurring as if by accident in others, frequent or normally active in a few. But just as anyone can, uith some training, learn science and do things which would have seemed miracles to his forefathers, so almost anyone, if he wants, can with a little concentration and training develop the faculty of supraphjsical vision. When one starts Yoga, this power is often, though not in\'ariably — for some find it difficult — one of the first to come out from its latent condition and manifest itself, most often without any efTori, Intention or previous know- ledge on the part of the sadhaka. It comes more easily with the eyes shut than with the eyes open, but it does come in both ways. Tlic first sign of its opening in the externalised way is very often that seeing of “sparkles’* or small luminous dots, shapes, etc. ; a second is, often enough, most easily, round lumi- nous objects like a star ; seeing of colours 1$ a third initial experi- cnee — but (hey do not alw'ay's come in that order.
gift is not a freak or an abnonnality ; it is a universal faculty present in all human beings, but latent In most, in some rarely or intermittently active, occurring as if by accident in others, frequent or normally active in a few. But just as aayoas can, with some training, learn sdence and do things which would have seemed miracles to his forefathers, so almost anyone, if he wants, can with a little concentration and training develop the faculty of supraphysical rision. When one starts Yoga, this power is often, though not invariably — for some find it diScult — one of the first to come out from its latent condition and manifest itself, most often without any effort, intention or previous know- ledge on the part of the sadbaka. It comes more easily with the eyes shut than with the eyes open, but it does come in both ways. The first sign of its opening in the externalised way is very often that seeing of “ sparkles ” or small luminous dots, shapes, etc. ; a second is, often enough, most easily, round lumi- nous objects like a star ; seeing of colours is a third initial experi- ence'— but they do not always come in that order.
Glücks, Richard (1889-1945) ::: In 1936 Glücks became chief aide to Theodor Eicke and eventually succeeded Eicke as the inspector of the Nazi concentration camps. Glücks was responsible for the construction of Auschwitz and the creation of the gas chambers. In 1942 he was made head of an SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltunghauptamt unit. He died in May 1945, presumably a suicide.
Goerlitz ::: One of about 60 sub-camps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp located in Lower Silesia.
gotra. (P. gotta; T. rigs; C. zhongxing; J. shusho; K. chongsong 種姓/種性). In Sanskrit, "family" or "lineage," used in a figurative sense. The VINAYA explains that those in a noble family or line are those monks who are content with their robes, with whatever they receive in their begging bowls, and with low-quality bedding, and who take pleasure in forsaking the unwholesome (AKUsALA) and cultivating the wholesome (KUsALA). In the Pāli ABHIDHAMMA, the moment when one's concentration or insight moves from one "family" to another is called "change of lineage" (GOTRABHu). In Mahāyāna literature (especially that associated with the YOGĀCĀRA), gotra refers to a destiny, almost in the sense of a spiritual disposition, that prompts one to follow a particular path to enlightenment. There is typically a list of five such spiritual destinies (paNcagotra) found in Yogācāra literature: (1) the TATHĀGATA lineage, for those destined to become buddhas; (2) the PRATYEKABUDDHA lineage, for those destined to become ARHATs via the PRATYEKABUDDHAYĀNA; (3) the sRĀVAKA lineage, for those who will become arhats via the sRĀVAKAYĀNA; (4) those of indefinite (ANIYATA) lineage, who may change from any of three vehicles to another; and (5) those without lineage (agotra), who are ineligible for liberation or who have lost the prospect of becoming enlightened by being "incorrigibles" (ICCHANTIKA). Another division of lineage is into PRAKṚTISTHAGOTRA (naturally present) and SAMUDĀNĪTAGOTRA (developed). According to the YOGĀCĀRABHuMIsĀSTRA, the former refers to one's innate potential for spiritual achievement; the latter refers to the specific individual habits one can develop that will help speed the mastery of that potential. See also FAXIANG ZONG; sRĀVAKABHuMI.
gradate ::: v. t. --> To grade or arrange (parts in a whole, colors in painting, etc.), so that they shall harmonize.
To bring to a certain strength or grade of concentration; as, to gradate a saline solution.
gradient ::: A systematic variation of the concentration of a molecule (or some other agent) that influences cell behavior.
Gross-Rosen ::: Nazi concentration camp located near a granite quarry of the same name in Lower Silesia. The working conditions involved backbreaking labor in the quarry and special work assignments during what were supposed to be hours of rest. The camp was expanded into a network of 60 sub-camps involved in armaments production. The main camp held 10,000 and the sub-camps 80,000 prisoners.
hack mode "jargon" Engaged in {hack}ing. A Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Ability to enter such concentration at will correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one of the most important skills learned during {larval stage}. Sometimes amplified as "deep hack mode". Being yanked out of hack mode (see {priority interrupt}) may be experienced as a physical shock, and the sensation of being in hack mode is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted out of positions where they can code. See also {cyberspace}. Some aspects of hackish etiquette will appear quite odd to an observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode. For example, if someone appears at your door, it is perfectly okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type, and interact with the computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the other's presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to leave without a word). The understanding is that you might be in {hack mode} with a lot of delicate state in your head, and you dare not {swap} that context out until you have reached a good point to pause. See also {juggling eggs}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-07-31)
Häftlingspersonalbogen ::: (Ger.) Prisoner registration forms at the Nazi concentration camps.
HASAG ::: (Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft-Metalwarenfabrik, Leipzig), one of the privately owned German industrial companies that used concentration camp prisoners to manufacture armaments. HASAG was the third largest after I.G. Farben and the Hermann Goring Werke.
Heavy Metals::: Metallic elements like mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, and lead, with high molecular weights. They can damage living things at low concentrations and tend to accumulate in the food chain.
Himmler, Heinrich (1900-1945) ::: As head of the SS and the secret police, Himmler had control over the vast network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps, the Einsatzgruppen, and the Gestapo. Himmler committed suicide in 1945, after his arrest.
Holocaust Orchestras ::: Concentration camp orchestras established by the Nazis during WWII to greet incoming prisoners and entertain the officers. There existed six orchestras at Auschwitz including a women's orchestra at Birkenau and a male orchestra at Auschwitz, together there were approximately 100 musicians in total.
holocaust: The contemporary meaning of this term refers to the genocide of European Jews during the Second World War. This occurred in Nazi concentration camps. Classically the term also refers to the sacrifices offered to Greek gods through burning.
Human Equivalent Concentration ::: Exposure concentration for humans that has been adjusted for dosimetric differences between experimental animal species and humans to be equivalent to the exposure concentration associated with observed effects in the experimental animal species. If occupational human exposures are used for extrapolation, the human equivalent concentration represents the equivalent human exposure concentration adjusted to a continuous basis.
hyperfocus: is an intense form of mental concentration or visualisation that focuses consciousness on a narrow subject, or beyond objective reality and onto subjective mental planes, daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and other objects of the mind.
idea ::: Madhav: “Each form in Creation is governed by the Real-Idea which has impelled it into existence. Behind every object in manifestation, every formation that comes into being, there is a truth which demands fulfilment in and through it. It is a truth from the Being of the Divine that seeks expression. Each truth that so urges to manifest forms itself into a source-Idea, a concentration of the perception and the power to effectuate it. This Idea is always there in the depths of every manifestation ruling its forms and its movements according to its Will in execution. All formation and activities proceed according to the law of this indwelling Truth-Idea.” Readings in Savitri, Vol. I.
"If discipline of all the members of our being by purification and concentration may be described as the right arm of the body of Yoga, renunciation is its left arm. By discipline or positive practice we confirm in ourselves the truth of things, truth of being, truth of knowledge, truth of love, truth of works and replace with these the falsehoods that have overgrown and perverted our nature; by renunciation we seize upon the falsehoods, pluck up their roots and cast them out of our way so that they shall no longer hamper by their persistence, their resistance or their recurrence the happy and harmonious growth of our divine living.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
“If discipline of all the members of our being by purification and concentration may be described as the right arm of the body of Yoga, renunciation is its left arm. By discipline or positive practice we confirm in ourselves the truth of things, truth of being, truth of knowledge, truth of love, truth of works and replace with these the falsehoods that have overgrown and perverted our nature; by renunciation we seize upon the falsehoods, pluck up their roots and cast them out of our way so that they shall no longer hamper by their persistence, their resistance or their recurrence the happy and harmonious growth of our divine living.” The Synthesis of Yoga
indriyasaMvara. (T. dbang po sdom pa; C. genlüyi; J. konritsugi; K. kŭnyurŭi 根律儀). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "sensory restraint," or "guarding the sense organs"; an important factor in the development of mindfulness (SMṚTI, P. SATI) and eventually concentration (SAMĀDHI), in which the meditator trains to see things as they actually are, rather than only in terms of oneself-i.e., as things we like, dislike, or are indifferent toward. In addition to its role in formal meditative training, indriyasaMvara should also be maintained throughout the ordinary activities of everyday life, in order to control the inveterate tendency toward craving. Maintaining sensory restraint helps the meditator to control one's reaction to the generic signs (NIMITTA) or secondary characteristics (ANUVYANJANA) of an object; instead, one halts the perceptual process at the level of simple recognition, simply noting what is seen, heard, etc. By not seizing on these signs and characteristics, perception is maintained at a level prior to an object's conceptualization and the resulting proliferation of concepts (PRAPANCA) throughout the full range of one's sensory experience. As the frequent refrain in the sutras states, "In the seen, there is only the seen," and not the superimpositions created by the intrusion of ego (ĀTMAN) into the perceptual process. Mastery of this technique of sensory restraint provides access to the signless (ĀNIMITTA) gate to deliverance (VIMOKsAMUKHA).
indriya. (T. dbang po; C. gen; J. kon; K. kŭn 根). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "faculty," "dominant," or "predominant factor"; a polysemous term of wide import in Buddhist soteriological and epistemological literature. In the SuTRA literature, indriya typically refers to the five or six sense bases: e.g., the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile faculties associated with the physical sense organs and the mental base associated with the mind; in the case of the physical senses, the indriya are forms of subtle matter located within the organs of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body that enable the functioning of the senses. The mind (MANAS) is typically listed as a sixth, internal sensory faculty. The six sense faculties (sadindriya) are subsumed as well within the list of the twelve ĀYATANA (sense-fields) and eighteen DHĀTU (elements). ¶ Indriya is also used soteriologically to describe the five "dominants" or "spiritual faculties" that are crucial to development along the path: faith (sRADDHĀ), effort (VĪRYA), mindfulness (SMṚTI), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ). These two denotations for indriya are subsumed by the VAIBHĀsIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA abhidharma into a more extensive list of twenty-two faculties: (1-5) the five physical sense faculties, which are the predominant factors in the rise of the sensory consciousnesses, etc.; (6-7) the "female" (strīndriya) and "male" (purusendriya) faculties, which are the predominant factors in distinguishing sex organs and marking physical gender; (8) the "life force" (jīvitendriya; see JĪVITA), the predominant factor in birth and prolonging the physical continuum up through the "intermediate state" (ANTARĀBHAVA); (9) the mental faculty (MANENDRIYA), the predominant factor that governs both rebirth and the associations between an individual and the world at large; (10-14) the five faculties of sensation or feeling-viz., pleasure (SUKHA), suffering (DUḤKHA), satisfaction (saumanasya), dissatisfaction (daurmanasya), and indifference (UPEKsĀ)-the predominant factors with regard to contamination (SAMKLEsA), for passions such as attachment, hatred, conceit, delusion, etc., attach themselves to these five sensations, creating bondage to worldly objects; (15-22) the eight faculties-viz., the five moral faculties of faith (sraddhā), energy (vīrya), mindfulness (smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajNā), and the three immaculate faculties of (1) anājNātam ājNāsyāmī 'ndriyam ("the faculty of resolving to understand that which is yet to be understood"), (2) ājNātendriya ("the faculty of having understood"), and (3) ājNātāvīndriya ("the faculty of perfecting one's understanding")-which are the predominant factors regarding purification (VIsUDDHI); this is because the five moral faculties are the predominant factors that purify beings of their bondage to worldly objects and offer access to NIRVĀnA, and the three immaculate faculties are the predominant factors in the origin, duration, and enjoyment of nirvāna. ¶ Indriya is also used to refer to "three capacities" (see TRĪNDRIYA) of the disciples of the Buddha or of a particular teaching, based on their level of aptitude or capacity for understanding: viz., those of dull faculties (MṚDVINDRIYA), those of intermediate faculties (MADHYENDRIYA), and those of sharp faculties (TĪKsnENDRIYA).
Inspektor der Konzentrationslager (IKL ::: (Ger.) Concentration camp inspector during the Holocaust.
"Inspiration comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it.” Letters on Yoga*
“Inspiration comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it.” Letters on Yoga
INSPIRATION. ::: It comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it.
INTEGRAL YOGA ::: This yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and holds it to be a reality; its object is to enter into a higher Truth-Consciousness or Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action and creation are the expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of the Truth, the Light, the Divine Ānanda. But for that, the surrender of the mortal mind, life and body to the Higher Consciousnessis indispensable, since it is too difficult for the mortal human being to pass by its own effort beyond mind to a Supramental Consciousness in which the dynamism is no longer mental but of quite another power. Only those who can accept the call to such a change should enter into this yoga.
Aim of the Integral Yoga ::: It is not merely to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter.
Conditions of the Integral Yoga ::: This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total earnest about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its demands in order to find themselves in the Divine. It cannot be done in a spirit of levity or laxity; the work is too high and difficult, the adverse powers in the lower Nature too ready to take advantage of the least sanction or the smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasyā needed too constant and intense.
Method in the Integral Yoga ::: To concentrate, preferably in the heart and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness. One can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is the beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.
Integral method ::: The method we have to pursue is to put our whole conscious being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform Our entire being into His, so that in a sense God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes the sādhaka of the sādhana* as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal activity.
In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its whole field and all its apparatus to the Beyond-ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sādhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to enter into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for the weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It” makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills.” The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a Succour that upholds; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who upholds through all stumblings. Therefore this path is at once the most difficult imaginable and yet in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.
There are three outstanding features of this action of the higher when it works integrally on the lower nature. In the first place, it does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in the specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by the temperament of the individual in whom it operates, the helpful materials which his nature offers and the obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, therefore, each man in this path has his own method of Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but yet some kind of Shastra or scientific method of the synthetic Yoga.
Secondly, the process, being integral, accepts our nature such as it stands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential compels all to undergo a divine change. Everything in us is seized by the hands of a mighty Artificer and transformed into a clear image of that which it now seeks confusedly to present. In that ever-progressive experience we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation is constituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is the more or less distorted or imperfect figure of some elements or action in the harmony of the divine Nature. We begin to understand what the Vedic Rishis meant when they spoke of the human forefathers fashioning the gods as a smith forges the crude material in his smithy.
Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in Nature, in the other it becomes swift and selfconscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.
Key-methods ::: The way to devotion and surrender. It is the psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion and the removal of the ego that makes it possible to surrender.
The way to knowledge. Meditation in the head by which there comes the opening above, the quietude or silence of the mind and the descent of peace etc. of the higher consciousness generally till it envelops the being and fills the body and begins to take up all the movements.
Yoga by works ::: Separation of the Purusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being from the outer active one, so that one has two consciousnesses or a double consciousness, one behind watching and observing and finally controlling and changing the other which is active in front. The other way of beginning the yoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for the Mother, and not for oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one concretely feels the Divine Force taking up the activities and doing them for one.
Object of the Integral Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine.
Principle of the Integral Yoga ::: The whole principle of Integral Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone and to nobody else, and to bring down into ourselves by union with the Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power, wideness, peace, purity, truth-consciousness and Ānanda of the Supramental Divine.
Central purpose of the Integral Yoga ::: Transformation of our superficial, narrow and fragmentary human way of thinking, seeing, feeling and being into a deep and wide spiritual consciousness and an integrated inner and outer existence and of our ordinary human living into the divine way of life.
Fundamental realisations of the Integral Yoga ::: The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union with the Mother and in her Presence. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. The perception of the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and living in that infinite consciousness.
Results ::: First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by the relative consciousness; not only realisation of unity in the Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures.
Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sāyujya mukti, by which it becomes free even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the sālokya mukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of Sachchidananda ; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the divine, sādharmya mukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.
By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play remain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the Beloved. And by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.
The divine existence is of the nature not only of freedom, but of purity, beatitude and perfection. In integral purity which shall enable on the one hand the perfect reflection of the divine Being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its Truth and Law in us in the terms of life and through the right functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ānanda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ānanda of that which is not-world. And it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga.
Sādhanā of the Integral Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by a self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
The yoga does not proceed by upadeśa but by inner influence.
Integral Yoga and Gita ::: The Gita’s Yoga consists in the offering of one’s work as a sacrifice to the Divine, the conquest of desire, egoless and desireless action, bhakti for the Divine, an entering into the cosmic consciousness, the sense of unity with all creatures, oneness with the Divine. This yoga adds the bringing down of the supramental Light and Force (its ultimate aim) and the transformation of the nature.
Our yoga is not identical with the yoga of the Gita although it contains all that is essential in the Gita’s yoga. In our yoga we begin with the idea, the will, the aspiration of the complete surrender; but at the same time we have to reject the lower nature, deliver our consciousness from it, deliver the self involved in the lower nature by the self rising to freedom in the higher nature. If we do not do this double movement, we are in danger of making a tamasic and therefore unreal surrender, making no effort, no tapas and therefore no progress ; or else we make a rajasic surrender not to the Divine but to some self-made false idea or image of the Divine which masks our rajasic ego or something still worse.
Integral Yoga, Gita and Tantra ::: The Gita follows the Vedantic tradition which leans entirely on the Ishvara aspect of the Divine and speaks little of the Divine Mother because its object is to draw back from world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation beyond it.
The Tantric tradition leans on the Shakti or Ishvari aspect and makes all depend on the Divine Mother because its object is to possess and dominate the world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation through it.
This yoga insists on both the aspects; the surrender to the Divine Mother is essential, for without it there is no fulfilment of the object of the yoga.
Integral Yoga and Hatha-Raja Yogas ::: For an integral yoga the special methods of Rajayoga and Hathayoga may be useful at times in certain stages of the progress, but are not indispensable. Their principal aims must be included in the integrality of the yoga; but they can be brought about by other means. For the methods of the integral yoga must be mainly spiritual, and dependence on physical methods or fixed psychic or psychophysical processes on a large scale would be the substitution of a lower for a higher action. Integral Yoga and Kundalini Yoga: There is a feeling of waves surging up, mounting to the head, which brings an outer unconsciousness and an inner waking. It is the ascending of the lower consciousness in the ādhāra to meet the greater consciousness above. It is a movement analogous to that on which so much stress is laid in the Tantric process, the awakening of the Kundalini, the Energy coiled up and latent in the body and its mounting through the spinal cord and the centres (cakras) and the Brahmarandhra to meet the Divine above. In our yoga it is not a specialised process, but a spontaneous upnish of the whole lower consciousness sometimes in currents or waves, sometimes in a less concrete motion, and on the other side a descent of the Divine Consciousness and its Force into the body.
Integral Yoga and other Yogas ::: The old yogas reach Sachchidananda through the spiritualised mind and depart into the eternally static oneness of Sachchidananda or rather pure Sat (Existence), absolute and eternal or else a pure Non-exist- ence, absolute and eternal. Ours having realised Sachchidananda in the spiritualised mind plane proceeds to realise it in the Supramcntal plane.
The suprcfhe supra-cosmic Sachchidananda is above all. Supermind may be described as its power of self-awareness and W’orld- awareness, the world being known as within itself and not out- side. So to live consciously in the supreme Sachchidananda one must pass through the Supermind.
Distinction ::: The realisation of Self and of the Cosmic being (without which the realisation of the Self is incomplete) are essential steps in our yoga ; it is the end of other yogas, but it is, as it were, the beginning of outs, that is to say, the point where its own characteristic realisation can commence.
It is new as compared with the old yogas (1) Because it aims not at a departure out of world and life into Heaven and Nir- vana, but at a change of life and existence, not as something subordinate or incidental, but as a distinct and central object.
If there is a descent in other yogas, yet it is only an incident on the way or resulting from the ascent — the ascent is the real thing. Here the ascent is the first step, but it is a means for the descent. It is the descent of the new coosdousness attain- ed by the ascent that is the stamp and seal of the sadhana. Even the Tantra and Vaishnavism end in the release from life ; here the object is the divine fulfilment of life.
(2) Because the object sought after is not an individual achievement of divine realisation for the sake of the individual, but something to be gained for the earth-consciousness here, a cosmic, not solely a supra-cosmic acbievement. The thing to be gained also is the bringing of a Power of consciousness (the Supramental) not yet organised or active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active.
(3) Because a method has been preconized for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods, but only as a part action and present aid to others that are distinctive.
Integral Yoga and Patanjali Yoga ::: Cilia is the stuff of mixed mental-vital-physical consciousness out of which arise the movements of thought, emotion, sensation, impulse etc.
It is these that in the Patanjali system have to be stilled altogether so that the consciousness may be immobile and go into Samadhi.
Our yoga has a different function. The movements of the ordinary consciousness have to be quieted and into the quietude there has to be brought down a higher consciousness and its powers which will transform the nature.
In The Secret Doctrine (1:103), three great universal causes of manifestation are named in connection with intelligent cosmic motion, namely the breath, love or attraction, and hate or repulsion, the latter being merely polar antitheses of the same underlying cosmic energy. Through the interaction of these three, universes and worlds come into being, have their periods of manvantaric growth, and finally decay and disappear, only to reappear after a period of rest or pralaya. Herbert Spencer intuitively refers to manvantara and pralaya, and what takes place within each: “the universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the Universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes — produce now an immeasurable period during which the attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, causes universal diffusion — alternate eras of Evolution and dissolution” (SD 1:12).
In this yoga heart should be the main centre of concentration until the consciousness rises above.
In this yoga there is no fixed Mantra, no stress is laid on Mantras although sadhakas can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the Consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a Mantra is found helpful for that, one uses if.
ion exchangers ::: Membrane transporters that translocate one or more ions against their concentration gradient by using the electrochemical gradient of other ions as an energy source.
It is here, when this foundation has been secured, that the practice of Asana and Pranayama come in and can then bear their perfect fruits. By itself the control of the mind and moral being only puts our normal consciousness into the right preliminary condition; it cannot bring about that evolution or manifestation of the higher psychic being which is necessary for the greater aims of Yoga. In order to bring about this manifestation the present nodus of the vital and physical body with the mental being has to be loosened and the way made clear for the ascent through the greater psychic being to the union with the superconscient Purusha. This can be done by Pranayama. Asana is used by the Rajayoga only in its easiest and most natural position, that naturally taken by the body when seated and gathered together, but with the back and head strictly erect and in a straight line, so that there may be no deflection of the spinal cord. The object of the latter rule is obviously connected with the theory of the six chakras and the circulation of the vital energy between the muladhara and the brahmarandhra. The Rajayogic Pranayama purifies and clears the nervous system; it enables us to circulate the vital energy equally through the body and direct it also where we will according to need, and thus maintain a perfect health and soundness of the body and the vital being; it gives us control of all the five habitual operations of the vital energy in the system and at the same time breaks down the habitual divisions by which only the ordinary mechanical processes of the vitality are possible to the normal life. It opens entirely the six centres of the psycho-physical system and brings into the waking consciousness the power of the awakened Shakti and the light of the unveiled Purusha on each of the ascending planes. Coupled with the use of the mantra it brings the divine energy into the body and prepares for and facilitates that concentration in Samadhi which is the crown of the Rajayogic method. Rajayogic concentration is divided into four stages; it commences with the drawing both of the mind and senses from outward things, proceeds to the holding of the one object of concentration to the exclusion of all other ideas and mental activities, then to the prolonged absorption of the mind in this object, finally, to the complete ingoing of the consciousness by which it is lost to all outward mental activity in the oneness of Samadhi. The real object of this mental discipline is to draw away the mind from the outward and the mental world into union with the divine Being. Th
refore in the first three stages use has to be made of some mental means or support by which the mind, accustomed to run about from object to object, shall fix on one alone, and that one must be something which represents the idea of the Divine. It is usually a name or a form or a mantra by which the thought can be fixed in the sole knowledge or adoration of the Lord. By this concentration on the idea the mind enters from the idea into its reality, into which it sinks silent, absorbed, unified. This is the traditional method. There are, however, others which are equally of a Rajayogic character, since they use the mental and psychical being as key. Some of them are directed rather to the quiescence of the mind than to its immediate absorption, as the discipline by which the mind is simply watched and allowed to exhaust its habit of vagrant thought in a purposeless running from which it feels all sanction, purpose and interest withdrawn, and that, more strenuous and rapidly effective, by which all outward-going thought is excluded and the mind forced to sink into itself where in its absolute quietude it can only
reflect the pure Being or pass away into its superconscient existence. The method differs, the object and the result are the same. Here, it might be supposed, the whole action and aim of Rajayoga must end. For its action is the stilling of the waves of consciousness, its manifold activities, cittavrtti, first, through a habitual replacing of the turbid rajasic activities by the quiet and luminous sattwic, then, by the stilling of all activities; and its object is to enter into silent communion of soul and unity with the Divine. As a matter of fact we find that the system of Rajayoga includes other objects,—such as the practice and use of occult powers,—some of which seem to be unconnected with and even inconsistent with its main purpose. These powers or siddhis are indeed frequently condemned as dangers and distractions which draw away the Yogin from his sole legitimate aim of divine union. On the way, th
refore, it would naturally seem as if they ought to be avoided; and once the goal is reached, it would seem that they are then frivolous and superfluous. But Rajayoga is a psychic science and it includes the attainment of all the higher states of consciousness and their powers by which the mental being rises towards the superconscient as well as its ultimate and supreme possibility of union with the Highest. Moreover, the Yogin, while in the body, is not always mentally inactive and sunk in Samadhi, and an account of the powers and states which are possible to him on the higher planes of his being is necessary to the completeness of the science. These powers and experiences belong, first, to the vital and mental planes above this physical in which we live, and are natural to the soul in the subtle body; as the dependence on the physical body decreases, these abnormal activities become possible and even manifest themselves without being sought for. They can be acquired and fixed by processes which the science gives, and their use then becomes subject to the will; or they can be allowed to develop of themselves and used only when they come, or when the Divine within moves us to use them; or else, even though thus naturally developing and acting, they may be rejected in a single-minded devotion to the one supreme goal of the Yoga. Secondly, there are fuller, greater powers belonging to the supramental planes which are the very powers of the Divine in his spiritual and supramentally ideative being. These cannot be acquired at all securely or integrally by personal effort, but can only come from above, or else can become natural to the man if and when he ascends beyond mind and lives in the spiritual being, power, consciousness and ideation. They then become, not abnormal and laboriously acquired siddhis, but simply the very nature and method of his action, if he still continues to be active in the world-existence.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 539-40-41-42
“It is not necessary to have the mind quiet in order to see the lights—that depends only on the opening of the subtle vision in the centre which is in the forehead between the eyebrows. Many people get that as soon as they start sadhana. It can even be developed by effort and concentration without sadhana by some who have it to a small extent as an inborn faculty.” Letters on Yoga
It is only the ordinaiy vital emotions which waste the energy and disturb the concentration and peace that have to be dis- couraged. Emotion itself is not a bad thing ; it is a necessary part of nature and psychic emoiion is one of the most powerful helps to the sadhana. Psychic emotion, bringing tears of love for the Divine or tears of Ananda, ought not to be suppressed ::: it is only a vital mixture that brings disturbance in the sadhana.
Its thoughts or run about among the objects it pursues, remaining at the back of the mind quiet and separate ; (2) to practise quietude and concentration in this separateness, until the habit of quiet takes hold of the physical mind and replaces the habit of these activities.
Jhana ::: A Pali term describing an advanced meditative state of awareness. There are both vipassana jhanas and samatha jhanas. The former describes states of meditative insight that are found through progressing through the stages of mindfulness meditation and the latter describes states of advanced concentration whereupon the object of observation becomes increasingly prounounced in the locus of one's awareness (at least in the early states, in later states that object can drop away entirely). The jhanic states are genuinely preternatural to the mundane mind and are somewhat advanced, so a discussion of them will need to await further research and experience.
jhāna. In Pāli, "meditative absorption," corresponding to the Sanskrit DHYĀNA (s.v.). Jhāna refers to the attainment of single-pointed concentration, whereby the mind is withdrawn from external sensory input and completely absorbed in an ideational object of meditation (see KAMMAttHĀNA). Jhāna involves the power to control the mind and does not, in itself, entail any enduring insight into the nature of reality; however, a certain level of concentration is generally said to be necessary in order to prepare the mind for direct realization of truth, the destruction of the afflictions, and the attainment of liberation. Jhāna is classified into two broad types: (1) meditative absorption of the subtle-materiality realm (P. rupāvacarajhāna; S. RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA) and (2) meditative absorption of the immaterial realm (P. arupāvacarajhāna; S. ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). Each of these two types is subdivided into four stages or degrees of absorption, giving a total of eight stages of jhāna. These stages are sometimes called the eight "attainments" (SAMĀPATTI). The four absorptions of the subtle-materiality realm are characterized by an increasing attenuation of consciousness as one progresses from one stage to the next. By entering into any one of the jhānas, the meditator temporarily overcomes the five hindrances (NĪVARAnA) through the force of concentration. This is called "overcoming by repression" (P. vikkhambhanappahāna). The five hindrances are (1) "sensuous desire" (KĀMACCHANDA), which hinders one-pointedness of mind (P. cittekaggatā; S. CITTAIKĀGRATĀ); (2) "malice" (P. byāpāda; S. VYĀPĀDA), hindering rapture (P. pīti; S. PRĪTI); (3) "sloth and torpor" (P. thīnamiddha; S. STHYĀNA-MIDDHA), hindering applied thought (P. vitakka; S. VITARKA); (4) "restlessness and worry" (P. uddhaccakukkucca; S. AUDDHATYA-KAUKṚTYA), hindering joy (SUKHA); and (5) "skeptical doubt" (P. vicikicchā; S. VICIKITSĀ), which hinders sustained thought (VICĀRA). These hindrances thus specifically obstruct one of the factors of absorption (P. jhānanga; S. DHYĀNĀnGA), and once they are allayed the first level of the subtle-materiality jhānas will be achieved. In the first jhāna, all five constituents of jhāna are present; as concentration deepens, these gradually fall away, so that in the second jhāna, both types of thought vanish and only pīti, sukha, and ekaggatā remain; in the third jhāna, only sukha and ekaggatā remain; and in the fourth jhāna, concentration is now so rarified that only ekaggatā is left. Detailed correlations appear in meditation manuals describing specifically which of the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA) and seven constituents of enlightenment (P. bojjhanga; S. BODHYAnGA) serve as the antidote to which hindrance. Mastery of the fourth absorption of the subtle-materiality realm is required for the cultivation of supranormal powers (P. abhiNNā; S. ABHIJNĀ) and for the cultivation of the four arupāvacarajhānas, or meditative absorptions of the immaterial realm. The immaterial absorptions themselves represent refinements of the fourth rupāvacarajhāna, in which the "object" of meditation is gradually attenuated. The four immaterial absorptions instead take as their objects: (1) the sphere of infinite space (P. ākāsānaNcāyatana; S. ĀKĀsĀNANTYĀYATANA), (2) the sphere of infinite consciousness (P. viNNānaNcāyatana; S. VIJNĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA), (3) the sphere of nothingness (P. ākiNcaNNāyatana; S. ĀKINCANYĀYATANA), and (4) the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (P. nevasaNNānāsaNNāyatana; S. NAIVASAMJNĀNĀSAMJNĀYATANA). Mastery of the absorptions of either the subtle-materiality or immaterial realms results in rebirth in the corresponding heaven of each respective absorption.
Jingzhong zong. (J. Joshushu; K. Chongjung chong 淨衆宗). A branch of the early CHAN ZONG that flourished at the monastery Jingzhongsi in Chengdu (present-day Sichuan province). The history of the Jingzhong line is documented in the LIDAI FABAO JI. According to this text, the Jingzhong line is derived from the Chan master Zhishen (609-702), a disciple of the fifth patriarch HONGREN. Zhishen is also said to have received the purple robe of the Chan founder BODHIDHARMA from Empress Dowager WU ZETIAN, which was ostensibly transmitted to Zhishen's disciple Chuji (648-734/650-732/669-736) and then to CHoNGJUNG MUSANG (C. Jingzhong Wuxiang) and BAOTANG WUZHU. The Lidai fabao ji, authored by a disciple of Wuzhu, claims that the Jingzhong lineage is eventually absorbed into the BAOTANG ZONG, though the two seem in fact to have been distinct lineages. The eminent Chan masters MAZU DAOYI and GUIFENG ZONGMI are also known to have once studied under teachers of the Jingzhong line of Chan. The school is most closely associated with the so-called three propositions (sanju), a unique set of Chan precepts that were equated with the traditional roster of the three trainings (TRIsIKsĀ): "no recollection" (wuyi), which was equated with morality (sĪLA); "no thought" (WUNIAN) with concentration (SAMĀDHI); and "no forgetting" (mowang) with wisdom (PRAJNĀ). These three propositions are associated most closely with Musang, but other texts attribute them instead to Musang's putative successor, Wuzhu. The portrayal in the literature of the teachings of the Jingzhong school divides along the fault line of these two great teachers, with Musang's Chan adaptation of mainstream Buddhist teachings contrasting markedly with Wuzhu's more radical, even antinomian approach, deriving from HEZE SHENHUI. The Jingzhong masters are also said to have had some influence in Tibet (see BSAM YAS DEBATE), including on the development of MAHĀYOGA and RDZOGS CHEN.
jNānadarsana. (P. Nānadassana; T. ye shes mthong ba; C. zhijian; J. chiken; K. chigyon 知見). In Sanskrit, "knowledge and vision"; the direct insight into the reality of the three marks of existence (TRILAKsAnA)-impermanence (ANITYA), suffering (DUḤKHA), and nonself/insubstantiality (ANĀTMAN)-and one of the qualities perfected on the path leading to the stage of a worthy one (ARHAT). The term often appears in a stock description of the transition from the meditative absorption that is experienced during the four levels of DHYĀNA to the insight generated through wisdom (PRAJNĀ): after suffusing one's mind with concentration, purity, malleability, and imperturbability, the meditator directs his or her attention to "knowledge and vision." In this vision of truth, the meditator then recognizes that the self (ĀTMAN) is but the conjunction of a physical body constructed from the four great elements (MAHĀBHuTA) and a mentality (VIJNĀNA, CITTA) that is bound to and dependent upon that physical body (see NĀMARuPA). Letting go of attachment to body and mind, the meditator finally gains the knowledge that he is no longer subject to rebirth and becomes an arhat. The Pāli abhidhamma includes "knowledge and vision" within the last three types of purifications of practice (P. visuddhi; S. VIsUDDHI): the fifth "purification of the knowledge and vision of what constitutes the path" (P. MAGGĀMAGGANĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI), the sixth "purification of the knowledge and vision of the method of salvation" (P. PAtIPADĀNĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI), and finally the seventh "purification of knowledge and vision" itself (P. NĀnADASSANAVISUDDHI), which constitutes the pure wisdom that derives from the experience of enlightenment. In the MAHĀYĀNA, the perfection of knowledge and vision (jNānadarsanapāramitā) is also said to be an alternate name for the perfection of wisdom (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ), one of the six or ten perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) of the BODHISATTVA path.
Kālacakratantra. (T. Dus kyi 'khor lo rgyud). A late ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA that was highly influential in Tibet. Although the title of the tantra is often translated as "Wheel of Time," this translation is not attested in the text itself. Kālacakra is the name of the central buddha of the tantra, and the tantra deals extensively with time (kāla) as well as various macrocosmic and microcosmic cycles or wheels (CAKRA). According to legend, King SUCANDRA came to India from his kingdom of sAMBHALA and asked that the Buddha set forth a teaching that would allow him to practice the dharma without renouncing the world. In response, the Buddha, while remaining at Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKutAPARVATA) in RĀJAGṚHA in the guise of a monk, set forth the Kālacakratantra at Dhānyakataka in southern India (near present-day Amarāvatī) in the guise of the buddha Kālacakra. The king returned to sambhala, where he transcribed the tantra in twelve thousand verses. This text is referred to as the root tantra (mulatantra) and is no longer extant. He also wrote a commentary in sixty thousand verses, also lost. He built a three-dimensional Kālacakra MAndALA at the center of the country, which was transformed into an ideal realm for Buddhist practice, with 960 million villages. The eighth king of sambhala, MaNjusrīkīrti, condensed the original version of the tantra into the abridged version (the Laghukālacakra). A later king of sambhala, Pundarīka, composed the VIMALAPRABHĀ commentary, considered crucial for understanding the tantra. These two texts were eventually transported from sambhala to India. Internal evidence in the text makes it possible to date the composition of the tantra rather precisely to between the dates 1025 and 1040 CE. This was the period of Muslim invasions of northern India under Mahmud of Ghazni, during which great destruction of Buddhist institutions occurred. The tantra, drawing on Hindu mythology, describes a coming apocalyptic war in which Buddhist armies will sweep out of sambhala, defeat the barbarians (mleccha), described as being followers of Madhumati (i.e., Muhammad), and restore the dharma in India. After its composition in northern India, the tantra was promulgated by such figures as Pindo and his disciple ATIsA, as well as NĀROPA. From India, it spread to Nepal and Tibet. The millennial quality of the tantra has manifested itself at particular moments in Tibetan history. Prior to World War II, the PAn CHEN LAMA bestowed the Kālacakra initiation in China in an effort to repel the Japanese invaders. The fourteenth DALAI LAMA has given the initiation many times around the world to promote world peace. ¶ The tantra is an anuttarayogatantra dedicated to the buddha Kālacakra and his consort Visvamātā. However, it differs from other tantras of this class in several ways, including its emphasis on the attainment of a body of "empty form" (sunyatābimba) and on its six-branched yoga (sadangayoga). The tantra itself, that is, the Laghukālacakra or "Abridged Kālacakra," has five chapters, which in the Tibetan commentarial tradition is divided into three sections: outer, inner, and other or alternative. The outer, corresponding to the first chapter, deals with the cosmos and treats such topics as cosmology, astrology, chronology, and eschatology (the story of the apocalyptic war against the barbarians is told there). For example, this section describes the days of the year; each of the days is represented in the full Kālacakra mandala as 360 golden (day/male) and dark (night/female) deities in union, with a single central Kālacakra and consort (YAB YUM) in the center. The universe is described as a four-tiered mandala, whose various parts are homologous to the cosmic body of a buddha. This section was highly influential in Tibetan astrology and calendrics. The new calendar of the Tibetans, used to this day, starts in the year 1027 and is based on the Kālacakra system. The inner Kālacakra, corresponding to the second chapter, deals with human embryology, tantric physiology, medicine, yoga, and alchemy. The human body is described as a microcosm of the universe. The other or alternative Kālacakra, corresponding to the third, fourth, and fifth chapters, sets forth the practice of Kālacakra, including initiation (ABHIsEKA), SĀDHANA, and knowledge (JNĀNA). Here, in the stage of generation (UTPATTIKRAMA), the initiate imagines oneself experiencing conception, gestation, and birth as the child of Kālacakra and Vismamātā. In the stage of completion (NIsPANNAKRAMA), one practices the six-branched yoga, which consists of retraction (pratyāhāra), concentration (DHYĀNA), breath control (PRĀnĀYĀMA), retention (dhāranā), recollection (ANUSMṚTI), and SAMĀDHI. In the last of these six branches, 21,600 moments of immutable bliss are created, which course through the system of channels and CAKRAS to eliminate the material aspects of the body, resulting in a body of "empty form" and the achievement of buddhahood as Kālacakra. The Sekoddesatīkā of Nadapāda (or Nāropa) sets forth this distinctive six-branched yoga, unique to the Kālacakra system. ¶ BU STON, the principal redactor of the canon in Tibetan translation, was a strong proponent of the tantra and wrote extensively about it. DOL PO PA SHES RAB RGYAL MTSHAN, a fourteenth-century JO NANG PA writer, championed the Kālacakra over all other Buddhist writings, assigning its composition to a golden age (kṛtayuga). Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros, an important scholar associated with SA SKYA sect, regarded the tantra as spurious. TSONG KHA PA, who was influenced by all of these writers, accepted the Kālacakratantra as an authentic ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA but put it in a category by itself.
Kalis ::: A small labor camp located outside of the Vilna ghetto. It housed about 1250 workers and their families. The camp resembled a ghetto more than a concentration camp in that families were not separated and the clothing was ordinary. The workers were engaged in making fur garments for the German army. This involved re-manufacturing confiscated civilian fur coats into winter uniforms.
kammatthāna. In Pāli, lit. "working ground," viz., "meditative topic"; a topic or object of meditation (BHĀVANĀ) used for training the mind and cultivating mental concentration (SAMĀDHI). The term originally referred to an occupation or vocation, such as farmer, merchant, or mendicant, but was adopted as a technical term to refer generically to various types of meditative exercises. The VISUDDHIMAGGA lists forty topics used for this purpose. First are ten "visualization devices" (KASInA)-devices that are constructed from the elements earth, water, fire, and air; the colors blue, yellow, red, and white, and light and space-to develop concentration. Kasina exercises can produce all four of the "meditative absorptions" (JHĀNA; DHYĀNA) associated with the realm of subtle materiality. Next are ten "loathsome topics" (asubha; see S. AsUBHABHĀVANĀ), such as the decaying of a corpse, which can lead only to the first meditative absorption (dhyāna). These are followed by ten "recollections" (P. anussati; S. ANUSMṚTI): viz., of (1) the Buddha, (2) the dhamma (DHARMA), (3) the sangha (SAMGHA), (4) morality, (5) generosity, (6) the divinities, (7) death, (8) the body, (9) the inbreath and outbreath (P. ānāpānasati, S. ĀNĀPĀNASMṚTI), and (10) peace. Of these, recollection or mindfulness (P. sati; S. SMṚTI) of the inbreath and outbreath can produce all four meditative absorptions, while recollection of the body can produce the first absorption; the remaining recollections only lead to "access concentration" (UPACĀRASAMĀDHI), which immediately precedes but does not reach the level of the first absorption. Next are four "immaterial spheres" (arupāyatana), viz., the "sphere of infinite space" (ākāsānaNcāyatana, S. ĀKĀsĀNANTYĀYATANA); of "infinite consciousness" (viNNānaNcāyatana, S. VIJNĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA); of "nothingness" (ākiNcaNNāyatana, S. ĀKINCANYĀYATANA); and of "neither perception nor nonperception" (nevasaNNānāsaNNāyatana, S. NAIVASAMJNĀNĀSAMJNĀYATANA). Meditation on these objects involves the increasing refinement of the fourth absorption and leads to the acquisition of the "immaterial attainments" (ARuPASAMĀPATTI), also called "immaterial absorptions" (P. arupāvacarajhāna; S. ĀRuPYĀVACARADHYĀNA, see DHYĀNA, SAMĀPATTI). Four positive affective states or "divine abidings" (BRAHMAVIHĀRA; [alt. P. appamaNNa]; S. APRAMĀnA), are loving-kindness (mettā; MAITRĪ), compassion (KARUnĀ), altruistic or empathetic joy (MUDITĀ), and equanimity or impartiality (upekkhā; UPEKsĀ). Of these, loving-kindness, compassion, and altruistic joy can produce only the first three meditative absorptions, but equanimity can produce all four. There is one perception of the loathsomeness of food (āhāre patikkulasaNNā) and one analysis of the four elements (catudhātu vavatthāna), both of which can produce access concentration. Certain of these topics were said to be better suited to specific character types, such as the loathsome topics to persons with strong tendencies toward lust or the perception of the loathsomeness of food for gluttons; others, such as the meditation on the in- and outbreaths, were universally suitable to all character types. The Buddha was said to have had the ability to assess his disciples' character types and determine which topics of meditation would best suit them; as later generations lost this assessment ability, the number of kammatthānas in regular use dropped dramatically, with mindfulness of breathing being by far the most popular topic.
Kapo ::: Prisoner in charge of a group of inmates in Nazi concentration camps.
karmāvarana. (P. kammāvarana; T. las kyi sgrib pa; C. yezhang; J. gosho/gossho; K. opchang 業障). In Sanskrit, "karmic obstruction," or "hindered by KARMAN." The term is used in the VISUDDHIMAGGA with reference to meditators who are incapable of making any progress in concentration (SAMĀDHI) exercises, specifically involving the KASInA visualization devices. The text notes that a practitioner who has engaged in any of the five types of unwholesome "acts that are of immediate effect" (P. ānantariyakamma; S. ĀNANTARYAKARMAN), such as patricide or causing schism in the community of monks (SAMGHBHEDA), is "obstructed by his acts" and will therefore never be able to develop a viable meditation practice. ¶ The relation of karmāvarana to meditation practice continues in Korean Buddhism, where the term opchang is colloquially used to refer to any kind of persistent physical, mental, or emotional obstacle to meditation practice, whether that be, for example, constant pain in one's legs that makes it difficult to sit in meditation for long periods, an inability to concentrate, or emotional distress caused by being apart from one's family. Anything that continually inhibits one's ability to practice effectively may be termed an opchang (karmāvarana). In the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, obstacles to meditation practice are referred to as vimoksāvarana, obstruction to the production of the eight VIMOKsAs, that is, physical and mental inflexibility (akarmanyatā). The ARHAT who is free in both ways (ubhayatobhāgavimukta) is free from this as well as from the KLEsĀVARAnA.
Kasher, Kashrut ::: See kosher. ::: Kaupering ::: Complex of eleven sub-camps of the Dachau concentration camp existing from June 1944 to end of April 1945. .
kasina. (S. *kṛtsna/*kṛtsnāyatana; T. zad par gyi skye mched; C. bianchu; J. hensho; K. p'yonch'o 遍處). In Pāli, lit. "totality" or "universal" [alt. kasināyatana], a "visualization device" that serves as the meditative foundation for the "totality" of the mind's attention to an object of concentration. Ten kasina are generally enumerated: visualization devices that are constructed from the physical elements (MAHĀBHuTA) of earth, water, fire, and air; the colors blue, yellow, red, and white; and light and empty space. The earth device, for example, might be constructed from a circle of clay of even texture, the water device from a tub of water, and the red device from a piece of red cloth or a painted red disc. The meditation begins by looking at the physical object; the perception of the device is called the "beginning sign" or "preparatory sign" (P. PARIKAMMANIMITTA). Once the object is clearly perceived, the meditator then memorizes the object so that it is seen as clearly in his mind as with his eyes. This perfect mental image of the device is called the "eidetic sign," or "learning sign" (P. UGGAHANIMITTA) and serves subsequently as the object of concentration. As the internal visualization of this eidetic sign deepens and the five hindrances (NĪVARAnA) to mental absorption (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) are temporarily allayed, a "representational sign" or "counterpart sign" (P. PAtIBHĀGANIMITTA) will emerge from out of the eidetic image, as if, the texts say, a sword is being drawn from its scabbard or the moon is emerging from behind clouds. The representational sign is a mental representation of the visualized image, which does not duplicate what was seen with the eyes but represents its abstracted, essentialized quality. The earth disc may now appear like the moon, the water device like a mirror suspended in the sky, or the red device like a bright jewel. Whereas the eidetic sign was an exact mental copy of the visualized beginning sign, the representational sign has no fixed form but may be manipulated at will by the meditator. Continued attention to the representational sign will lead to all four of the meditative absorptions associated with the realm of subtle materiality. Perhaps because of the complexity of preparing the kasina devices, this type of meditation was superseded by techniques such as mindfulness of breathing (P. ānāpānasati; S. ĀNĀPĀNASMṚTI) and is rarely practiced in the THERAVĀDA world today. But its notion of a purely mental object being somehow a purer "representation" of the external sense object viewed by the eyes has compelling connections to later YOGĀCĀRA notions of the world being a projection of mind.
Kavanah ::: (Heb. intention). A mystical instrument of the Jewish kabbalists; a meditation that accompanies a ritual act, devotion, inner concentration during prayer.
Kavvanah: A Hebrew mystical term, meaning intention or devotion. (Plural: Kavvanoth.) “The intention directed towards God while performing a (religious) deed. In the Kabbalah, kavvanoth denote the permutations of the divine name that aim at overcoming the separation of forces in the Upper World.” (M. Buber.) The word means also a devoted prayer delivered with great concentration.
Kether (Heb.): The first concentration of the Am (Void), repre sented by the first Sephira of The Tree of Life. Kether forms the apex of the Supernal Triad, above the Abyss, of which the two bases are Chokmah and Binah (q.v.).
khanikasamādhi. In Pāli, "momentary concentration"; a type of rudimentary concentration ancillary to UPACĀRASAMĀDHI and APPANĀSAMĀDHI, which is used with reference to meditators who are developing insight (vipassanā; S. VIPAsYANĀ) practice. Although a meditator specializing in insight techniques may not be developing advanced forms of meditative absorption (JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA), he still requires a modicum of concentration in order to maintain his intensive analysis of experience. Hence, the commentators posit that even insight practice requires "momentary concentration" in order to succeed.
Khóa Hư Lục. (課). In Vietnamese, "Instructions on Emptiness," composed by Tràn Thái Tông (1218-1277); the first prose work on Buddhism written in Vietnamese. It is a collection of sermons and essays, most of them fragmentary, on the philosophy and practice of Buddhism from the perspective of the three trainings in morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ). It also marks one of the earliest efforts to assimilate the worldview of the Southern school (NAN ZONG) of CHAN into Vietnamese Buddhism. The Khóa Hư Lu㈱c consists of two books. The first (lit. "upper") book includes twenty-one short essays, which can be classified as follows according to their literary styles: one "verse" on the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS; two "general discourses" on the contemplation of the body and the Buddhist path; six "essays" on generating the thought of enlightenment (BODHICITTA), not taking life, not stealing, not indulging in sensual pleasures, not telling lies, and not using intoxicants; five "treatises" on the topics of morality, concentration, wisdom, receiving precepts, buddha-contemplation (NIANFO), sitting in meditation, and the mirror of wisdom; four "prefaces" to longer complete works (three of which are no longer extant), viz., "A Guide to the Chan School," "A Commentary on thE VAJRASAMĀDHISuTRA," "Liturgy of the Six-Period Repentance," and "An Essay on the Equality Repentance Liturgy"; "recorded encounter dialogues with disciples" that record dialogues between Tràn Thái Tông and his students; a "verse commentary" on the ancient public cases (GONG'AN) of Chan; and an "afterword." The second (lit. "lower") book includes a complete essay entitled "Liturgy of the Six-Period Repentance," which offers a detailed instruction on the performance of the repentance liturgy.
KL ::: (Ger. Konzentrationslager). Concentration camp.
Knowledge ::: A concentration which culminates in a living realisation and the constant sense of the presence of the One in ourselves and in all of which we are aware, is what we mean in Yoga by knowledge and the effort after knowledge.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 81
knowledge ::: “A concentration which culminates in a living realisation and the constant sense of the presence of the One in ourselves and in all of which we are aware, is what we mean in Yoga by knowledge and the effort after knowledge.” The Synthesis of Yoga
knowledge ::: Sri Aurobindo: "A concentration which culminates in a living realisation and the constant sense of the presence of the One in ourselves and in all of which we are aware, is what we mean in Yoga by knowledge and the effort after knowledge.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
Kosambiyasutta. (C. Changshou; J. Choju; K. Changsu 長壽). In Pāli, "Discourse to the Kosambians"; the forty-eighth sutta contained in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (scholars had presumed that an unidentified recension, perhaps MAHĀSĀMGHIKA or DHARMAGUPTAKA, appears in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARĀGAMA, but this putative affiliation seems to be in error); delivered by the Buddha to a gathering of monks in Ghosita's park at Kosambī (S. Kausambī). The monks living in Kosambī had fallen into dispute over trivial matters, and the Buddha admonishes them to make loving-kindness (mettā; S. MAITRĪ) the basis of their mutual relations. He describes six principles of cordiality that contribute to the cohesion, harmony, and unity of the SAMGHA; viz., (1) bodily acts of loving-kindness, (2) verbal acts of loving-kindness, (3) mental acts of loving-kindness, (4) sharing and cooperation, (5) public and private virtue conducive to meditative concentration, and (6) public and private virtue conducive to enlightenment and liberation. The Buddha then describes seven knowledges possessed by the stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA). The stream-enterer knows that (1) his mind is well prepared for awakening to the truth, and (2) his mind is serene; (3) the Buddha's teachings are not contained in the wrong views of other teachers, and (4) he confesses his misdeeds and makes amends for future restraint; and (5) he completes the work that is to be done for the holy life. Furthermore, he knows (6) the strength of one who adheres to right view and (7) that he possesses that strength.
Kugel ::: Baked pudding-like casserole. ::: Kugel [bullet] Decree ::: A decree that directed that every escaped officer and NCO prisoner of war who had not been put to work, with the exception of British and American prisoners of war, should on recapture be handed over to the SIP0 and SD. These escaped officers and NCOs were to be sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen, to be executed upon arrival, by means of a bullet shot in the neck.
Kyo. (C. jiao; J. kyo 敎). In Korean, "doctrine" or "teaching," generally referring to doctrinally oriented Buddhist schools and their tenets, as distinguished from meditation-oriented Buddhist schools and practices (SoN; C. CHAN). While the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist traditions appear to have used the term doctrine only to describe one of two generic approaches to Buddhism, in Korea Buddhist schools have often been categorized as belonging to either the Doctrine (Kyo) or the Meditation (Son) schools; indeed, during the period of Buddhist suppression under the Choson dynasty, Kyo and Son became the specific designations for the two officially sanctioned schools of the tradition. During the stable political environment of the Unified Silla period (668-935), five major Kyo schools are traditionally presumed to have developed in Korean Buddhism: NIRVĀnA (Yolban chong), VINAYA (Kyeyul chong), Dharma-nature (PoPSoNG CHONG), Hwaom [alt. Wonyung chong], and YOGĀCĀRA (Popsang chong). Toward the end of the Unified Silla period, however, the newly imported Son (C. Chan, Meditation) lineages, which were associated with local gentry on the frontier of the kingdom, began to criticize the main doctrinal school, Hwaom, that was supported by the old Silla aristocracy in the capital of KYoNGJU; these schools came to be called the "Nine Mountains School of Son" (KUSAN SoNMUN). These various doctrine and meditation schools were collectively referred to as the "Five Doctrinal [Schools] and Nine Mountains [Schools of Son]" (OGYO KUSAN). The Ogyo Kusan designation continued to be used into the succeeding Koryo dynasty (937-1392), which saw the first attempts to bring together these two distinct strands of the Korean Buddhist tradition. Attempts to find common ground between the Kyo and Son schools are seen, for example, in ŬICH'oN's "cultivation together of scriptural study and contemplation" (kyogwan kyomsu) and POJO CHINUL's "cultivation in tandem of concentration [viz., Son] and wisdom [viz., scripture]" (chonghye ssangsu). The Ch'ont'ae (C. TIANTAI) and CHOGYE schools that are associated respectively with these two monks were both classified as Son schools during the mid- to late-Koryo dynasty; together with the five previous Kyo schools, these schools were collectively called the "Five Kyo and Two [Son] Traditions" (OGYO YANGJONG). This designation continued to be used into the early Choson dynasty (1392-1910). The Confucian orientation of the new Choson dynasty led to an increasing suppression of these Buddhist traditions. In 1407, King T'aejong (r. 1400-1418) restructured the various schools then current in Korean Buddhism into three schools of Son and four of Kyo; subsequently, in 1424, King Sejong (r. 1418-1450) reduced all these remaining schools down to, simply, the "Two Traditions, Son and Kyo" (SoN KYO YANGJONG), a designation that continued to be used through the remainder of the dynasty. The modern Chogye order of Korean Buddhism claims to be a synthetic tradition that combines both strands of Son meditation practice and Kyo doctrinal study into a single denomination.
Lagerfuhrer ::: Kommandant (commander) of a concentration camp.
larval stage Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers. Common symptoms include the perpetration of more than one 36-hour {hacking run} in a given week; neglect of all other activities including usual basics like food, sleep, and personal hygiene; and a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye. Can last from 6 months to 2 years, the apparent median being around 18 months. A few so afflicted never resume a more "normal" life, but the ordeal seems to be necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed to merely competent) programmers. See also {wannabee}. A less protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting about a month) may recur when one is learning a new {OS} or programming language. [{Jargon File}]
larval stage ::: Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers. Common symptoms include the perpetration of protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting about a month) may recur when one is learning a new OS or programming language.[Jargon File]
laukikamārga. (T. 'jig rten pa'i lam; C. shijiandao; J. sekendo; K. segando 世間道). In Sanskrit, lit. "mundane path," those practices that precede the moment of insight (DARsANAMĀRGA) and thus result in a salutary rebirth in SAMSĀRA rather than liberation (VIMUKTI); also called laukika-BHĀVANĀMĀRGA (the mundane path of cultivation). In the five-stage soteriology of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school, the mundane path corresponds to the first two stages, the path of accumulation (SAMBHĀRAMĀRGA) and the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), because they do not involve the direct perception of reality that transforms an ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) into a noble one (ĀRYA). The mundane path is developed when a practitioner has begun to cultivate the three trainings (TRIsIKsĀ) of morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ) but has yet to eradicate any of the ten fetters (SAMYOJANA) or to achieve insight (DARsANA). The eightfold path (ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA) is also formulated in terms of the spiritual ascension from mundane (LAUKIKA) to supramundane (LOKOTTARA). For example, mundane right view (SAMYAGDṚstI), the first stage of the eightfold path, refers to the belief in the efficacy of KARMAN and its effects and the reality of a next life after death, thus leading to better rebirths; wrong view (MITHYĀDṚstI), by contrast, denies such beliefs and leads to unsalutary rebirths. After continuing on to cultivate the moral trainings of right speech, action, and livelihood based on this right view, the practitioner next devotes himself to right concentration (SAMYAKSAMĀDHI). Concentration then leads in turn to supramundane right view, which results in direct insight into the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS and the removal of the initial fetters. ¶ In the MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGA, a Mahāyāna work associated with the name of MAITREYA, the eightfold path is reformulated as a "worldly" path that a bodhisattva treads after the path of vision (darsanamārga), on the model of the Buddha's work for the world after his awakening beneath the BODHI TREE in BODHGAYĀ. The bodhisattva's supramundane vision, described by the seven factors of enlightenment (BODHYAnGA), is an equipoise (SAMĀHITA) in which knowledge is beyond all proliferation (PRAPANCA) and conceptualization (VIKALPA); the states subsequent (pṛsthalabdha) to that equipoise are characterized as the practice of skillful means (UPĀYA) to lead others to liberation, on the model of the Buddha's compassionate activities for the sake of others. The practice serves to accumulate the bodhisattva's merit collection (PUnYASAMBHĀRA); there is no further vision to be gained, only a return to the vision in the supramundane stages characterized as the fundamental (maula) stages of the ten bodhisattva stages (BODHISATTVABHuMI) or a supramundane cultivation (lokottarabhāvanā). All other acts are laukika ("worldly") skillful means.
LC50 ::: Lethal concentration fifty. A calculated concentration [in air] which when administered by the respiratory route is expected to kill 50% of a population of experimental animals during an exposure of four hours. Ambient concentration is expressed in milligrams per liter. A calculated concentration in water which is expected to kill 50% of a population of aquatic organisms after a specified time of exposure.
Level of Concern ::: The concentration in air of an extremely hazardous substance above which there may be serious immediate health effects to anyone exposed to it for short periods.
Lidice ::: Czech mining village (pop. 700). In reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazis “liquidated” the village in 1942. They shot the men, deported the women and children to concentration camps, razed the village to the ground, and struck its name from the maps. After World War II, a new village was built near the site of the old Lidice, which is now a national park and memorial. (see Heydrich, Reinhard).
light ::: Sri Aurobindo: ". . . light is primarily a spiritual manifestation of the Divine Reality illuminative and creative; material light is a subsequent representation or conversion of it into Matter for the purposes of the material Energy.” *The Life Divine
"Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision"s limited range.
For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere.
God is everywhere and wherever God is, there is Light.” *The Hour of God
"Light is a general term. Light is not knowledge but the illumination that comes from above and liberates the being from obscurity and darkness.” The Mother
The Mother: "The light is everywhere, the force is everywhere. And the world is so small.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15. ::: *Light, light"s, lights, light-petalled, light-tasselled, half-light.
Liuzu tan jing. (J. Rokuso dangyo; K. Yukcho tan kyong 六祖壇經). In Chinese, "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch," the written transcription of the sermons of the sixth patriarch (LIUZU) HUINENG (638-713); the composition is attributed to the monk FAHAI; also known as the Nan zong dunjiao zuishang dasheng mohe bore boluomi jing, Liuzu dashi fabao tan jing, Fabao tan jing, or simply Tan jing ("Platform Sutra"). The Liuzu tan jing is one of the most influential texts of the CHAN tradition. The text is ostensibly a record of the lectures delivered by the reputed sixth patriarch Huineng at the monastery of Dafansi in Shaozhou (present-day Guangdong province). The lectures contain the famous story of Huineng's verse competition with his rival SHENXIU, which wins Huineng the Chan patriarchy (see ZUSHI), in which Huineng distinguished his own "sudden teachings" (DUNJIAO) of a so-called Southern school (NAN ZONG) of Chan from the "gradual teachings" (jianjiao) of Shenxiu's Northern school (BEI ZONG). As Huineng defines the term later in this sermon, the "sudden teaching" involves an approach to Buddhist training that is free from all dualistic forms of practice (see ADVAYA) and that correspondingly rejects any and all expedient means (UPĀYA) of realizing truth. This sudden teaching comes to be considered emblematic of the so-called Southern school (Nan zong) of Chan, which retrospectively comes to be considered the mainstream of the Chan tradition. The teachings of the text also focus on the unity of concentration (SAMĀDHI) and wisdom (PRAJNĀ), in which concentration is conceived to be the essence (TI) of wisdom and wisdom the functioning (YONG) of concentration; "no-thought" (WUNIAN), which the text defines as "not to think even when involved in thought"; seeing one's own nature (JIANXING); and the conferral of the formless precepts (WUXIANG JIE). Indeed, the "platform" in the title refers to the ordination platform (jietan; cf. SĪMĀ) where Huineng conferred these formless precepts. Although the Liuzu tan jing has been traditionally heralded as the central scripture of the Nan zong, and certainly is beholden to the teachings of the Southern-school champion HEZE SHENHUI, the text seems to have been influenced as well by the teachings of both the Northern and Oxhead schools (NIUTOU ZONG). Within the Chan tradition, a Yuan-dynasty edition of the Liuzu tan jing, which included an important preface by FORI QISONG, was most widely disseminated. SIR MARC AUREL STEIN's rediscovery in the DUNHUANG manuscript cache of a previously unknown, and quite different, recension of the text, dating to the mid-ninth century, did much to launch the modern scholarly reappraisal of the received history of the Chan school. See also DUNWU.
Loading ::: Using awareness, concentration, and even breath to charge an object of focus with a particular archetype, current, idea, or intent. The object can be tangible (specific materia or a talisman for instance) or intangible (e.g. a sigil). See also Patterning.
Locus of Focus ::: Refers to the field and breadth of one's awareness. Most find in mundane consciousness that the mind is constantly jumping around and very broadly focused, but through practicing meditation (especially concentration meditation in this case) the locus of focus narrows so that some deeper mysteries of reality can be revealed and so that sense of self can be shaken off more easily.
lokiyasamādhi. (S. laukikasamādhi; T. 'jig rten pa'i ting nge 'dzin; C. shunshi sanmei; J. junse sanmai; K. sunse sammae 順世三昧). In Pāli, "mundane concentration," or "worldly concentration"; any type of mental concentration that is disassociated from the four paths (P. magga; S. MĀRGA) and four fruits (PHALA) of liberation. The term denotes all moments of concentration that are involved in ordinary mundane consciousness, whether virtuous or nonvirtuous, and states of meditative absorption (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) cultivated through tranquillity meditation (P. samathabhāvanā; S. sAMATHA), which do not as yet involve insight or wisdom (P. paNNā; S. PRAJNĀ). See also LOKUTTARASAMĀDHI.
lokuttarasamādhi. (S. lokottarasamādhi; T. 'jig rten las 'das pa'i ting nge 'dzin; C. chushi sanmei; J. shusse sanmai; K. ch'ulse sammae 出世三昧). In Pāli, "supramundane concentration"; concentration associated with the attainment of any of the four paths (magga, S. MĀRGA) and/or four fruitions (PHALA) of enlightenment, which constitute collectively eight moments along the path to complete liberation from SAMSĀRA. The eight moments in order of their occurrence are the (1) path and (2) fruition of a stream-enterer (S. SROTAĀPANNA), the (3) path and (4) fruition of a once-returner (S. SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), the (5) path and (6) fruition of a nonreturner (S. ANĀGĀMIN), and the (7) path and (8) fruition of a worthy one (S. ARHAT). All other forms of concentration not associated with the paths and fruits of enlightenment are deemed of this world or "mundane concentrations" (LOKIYASAMĀDHI). Supramundane concentration is also characterized by its singular object, NIRVĀnA.
Ludwigsdorf ::: One of about 60 sub-camps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp located in Lower Silesia.
Madhav: “All around is space, infinite space and in it is the Divine consciousness, the Divine concentration of consciousness, which is the ‘mystic heart’ of the world. The earth [She] is in communion with that ‘mystic heart’.” The Book of the Divine Mother`
Madhav: “There is an eternal light in every one of us. But it is as if guarded, protected from the profane, vulgar sight by a cave of darkness. Cave signifies a narrowing, dimming enclosure. This blanket of darkness guards that Light. Where there is such a concentration of thick darkness in yourself, you can be sure that deep inside there is the ‘Light Eternal’. This is the light of the Self of which the Rishi’s speak. It stands veiled by layers and layers of the darkness of Ignorance.” The Book of the Divine Mother
mahābhumika. (T. sa chen po pa; C. dadi fa; J. daijiho; K. taeji pop 大地法). In Sanskrit, lit. "factors of wide extent"; "omnipresent mental factors" (DHARMA) that ground all conscious activity; also known as CITTAMAHĀBHuMIKA. In the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA system, ten specific factors are said universally to accompany all consciousness activity and are therefore known as "omnipresent mental factors." The ten are: (1) "sensation" or "feeling" (VEDANĀ), (2) "volition" or "intention" (CETANĀ), (3) "perception" (SAMJNĀ), (4) "zest" or "desire to act" (CHANDA), (5) "sensory contact" (SPARsA), (6) "discernment" (MATI), (7) "mindfulness" (SMṚTI), (8) "attention" (MANASIKĀRA), (9) "determination" (ADHIMOKsA), (10) "concentration" (SAMĀDHI). To give but one example of how these factors are viewed as ubiquitous, even such mental states as distraction are still characterized by a relative "lack" of concentration, not a complete absence thereof; hence, "concentration" remains an omnipresent mental factor even amid distraction. There is also a list of six "fundamental afflictions" or "defiled factors of wide extent" (KLEsA-mahābhumika) that are associated with all defiled thoughts: delusion (MOHA), heedlessness (pramāda; see APRAMĀDA), lassitude (KAUSĪDYA), lack of faith (ĀsRADDHYA), sloth (STYĀNA), and restlessness (AUDDHATYA). Finally, there are also two "unwholesome factors of wide extent" (AKUsALA-mahābhumika): lack of shame (ahrī; cf. HRĪ) and lack of dread (anapatrāpya; cf. APATRĀPYA).
mahābrahmā. (T. Tshang pa chen po; C. Dafan tian; J. Daibonten; K. Taebom ch'on 大梵天). In Sanskrit and Pāli, the "great BRAHMĀ"; the highest of the three heavens that constitute the first absorption (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RuPADHĀTU) in the Buddhist cosmological system. The term often appears in plural, as mahābrahmānaḥ (P. mahābrahmāno), suggesting that this heaven is not the domain of a single brahmā, of whom the divinities of the two lower heavens are his subjects and ministers, but rather that a number of mahābrahmā gods inhabit this heaven. However, it is typically a single Brahmā, often called Brahmā SAHĀMPATI, who appears in the sutras. In the BRAHMAJĀLASUTTA, the false belief in a creator god derives from the fact that the first mahābrahmā divinity to be reborn in this heaven at the beginning of world cycle falsely imagined himself to be the creator of the beings who were reborn after him in the brahmā heavens, with those beings in turn believing his claim and professing it on earth after they were reborn as humans. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity there through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyāna) as the gods of that heaven during one's practice of meditation in a previous lifetime. See also BRAHMALOKA.
Mahānāman. (P. Mahānāma; T. Ming chen; C. Mohenan; J. Makanan; K. Mahanam 摩訶男). The Sanskrit proper name of two significant disciples of the buddha. ¶ Mahānāman was one of the five ascetics (S. PANCAVARGIKA; P. paNcavaggiyā; alt. S. bhadravargīya) who was a companion of Prince SIDDHĀRTHA during his practice of austerities and hence one of the first disciples converted by the Buddha at the Deer Park (MṚGADĀVA) in ṚsIPATANA following his enlightenment. Together with his companions, Mahānāman heard the Buddha's first sermon, the "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma" (S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA), and he attained the state of a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA) three days later. He and the others became ARHATs while listening to the buddha preach the ANATTALAKKHAnASUTTA. Mahānāman later traveled to the town of Macchikāsanda, and, while he was out on alms rounds, the householder CITTA saw him. Citta was greatly impressed by Mahānāman's dignified deportment, and invited him to his house for an meal offering. Having served Mahānāman the morning meal and listened to his sermon, Citta was inspired to offer his pleasure garden Ambātakavana to Mahānāman as a gift to the SAMGHA, and built a monastery there. ¶ Another Mahānāman was also an eminent lay disciple, whom the Buddha declared to be foremost among laymen who offer choice alms food. According to the Pāli account, Mahānāman was Anuruddha's (S. ANIRUDDHA) elder brother and the Buddha's cousin. It was with Mahānāman's permission that Anuruddha joined the order with other Sākiyan (S. sĀKYA) kinsmen of the Buddha. Mahānāman was very generous in his support of the order. During a period of scarcity when the Buddha was dwelling at VeraNja, he supplied the monks with medicines for three periods of four months each. Mahānāman was keenly interested in the Buddha's doctrine and there are several accounts in the scriptures of his conversations with the Buddha. Once while the Buddha lay ill in the Nigrodhārāma, ĀNANDA took Mahānāman aside to answer his questions on whether concentration (SAMĀDHI) preceded or followed upon knowledge. Mahānāman attained the state of a once-returner (sakadāgāmi; S. SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), but his deception toward Pasenadi (S. PRASENAJIT), the king of Kosala (S. KOsALA), precipitated the eventual destruction of the Sākiya (S. sĀKYA) clan. Pasenadi had asked Mahānāman for the hand of a true Sākiyan daughter in marriage, but the latter, out of pride, instead sent Vāsabhakkhattiyā, a daughter born to him by a slave girl. To conceal the treachery, Mahānāman feigned to eat from the same dish as his daughter, thus convincing Pasenadi of her pure lineage. The ruse was not discovered until years later when Vidudabha, the son of Pasenadi and Vāsabhakkhattiyā, was insulted by his Sākiyan kinsmen who refused to treat him with dignity because of his mother's status as the offspring of a slave. Vidudabha vowed revenge and later marched against Kapilavatthu (S. KAPILAVASTU) and slaughtered all who claimed Sākiyan descent. ¶ Another Mahānāma was the c. fifth century author of the Pāli MAHĀVAMSA.
Mahāparinibbānasuttanta. (S. MAHĀPARINIRVĀnASuTRA; C. Youxing jing/Da banniepan jing; J. Yugyokyo/Daihatsunehangyo; K. Yuhaeng kyong/Tae panyolban kyong 遊行經/大般涅槃經). In Pāli, the "Discourse on the Great Decease" or the "Great Discourse on the Final Nirvāna"; the sixteenth sutta of the Pāli DĪGHANIKĀYA and longest discourse in the Pāli canon. (There were also either Sanskrit or Middle Indic recensions of this mainstream Buddhist version of the scripture, which should be distinguished from the longer MAHĀYĀNA recension of the scripture that bears the same title; see MAHĀPARINIRVĀnASuTRA.) There are six different Chinese translations of this mainstream version of the text, including a DHARMAGUPTAKA recension in the Chinese translation of the DĪRGHĀGAMA and an independent translation in three rolls by FAXIAN. This scripture recounts in six chapters the last year of Buddha's life, his passage into PARINIRVĀnA, and his cremation. In the text, the Buddha and ĀNANDA travel from Rājagaha (S. RĀJAGṚHA) to Kusināra (S. KUsINAGARĪ) in fourteen stages, meeting with different audiences to whom the Buddha gives a variety of teachings. The narrative contains numerous sermons on such subjects as statecraft, the unity of the SAMGHA, morality, the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, and the four great authorities (MAHĀPADEsA) for determining the authenticity of Buddhist doctrines following the Buddha's demise. The Buddha crosses a river using his magical powers and describes to the distraught where their deceased loved ones have been reborn. Becoming progressively more ill, the Buddha decides to spend his final rains retreat (P. vassa; S. VARsĀ) with Ānanda meditating in the forest near VEnUGRĀMAKA, using his powers of deep concentration to hold his disease in check. He is eighty years old and describes his body as being like an old cart held together by straps. When the Buddha expresses his wish to address the saMgha, Ānanda assumes that there is a teaching that the Buddha has not yet taught. The Buddha replies that he was not one who taught with a "teacher's fist" (P. ācariyamutthi) or "closed fist," holding back some secret teaching, but that he has in fact already revealed everything. The Buddha also says that he is not the head of the saMgha and that after his death each monk should "be an island unto himself" with the DHARMA as his island (P. dīpa; S. dvīpa) and his refuge. ¶ While meditating at the CĀPĀLACAITYA, the Buddha mentions to Ānanda three times that a TATHĀGATA has the power to live for an eon or until the end of an eon. (The Pāli commentaries take "eon" here to mean "his full allotted lifespan," not a cosmological period.) Ānanda, however, misses the hint and does not ask him to do so. MĀRA then appears to remind the Buddha of what he told him at the time of his enlightenment: that he would not enter nibbāna (NIRVĀnA) until he had trained monks and disciples who were able to teach the dhamma (S. DHARMA). Māra tells the Buddha that that task has now been accomplished, and the Buddha eventually agrees, "consciously and deliberately" renouncing his remaining lifespan and informing Māra that he will pass away in three months' time. The earth then quakes, causing the Buddha to explain to Ānanda the eight reasons for an earthquake, one of which is that a tathāgata has renounced his life force. It is only at that point that Ānanda implores the Buddha to remain until the end of the eon, but the Buddha tells him that the appropriate time for his request has passed, and recalls fifteen occasions on which he had told Ānanda of this remarkable power and how each time Ānanda had failed to ask him to exercise it. The Buddha then explains to a group of monks the four great authorities (MAHĀPADEsA), the means of determining the authenticity of a particular doctrine after the Buddha has died and is no longer available to arbitrate. He then receives his last meal from the smith CUNDA. The dish that the Buddha requests is called SuKARAMADDAVA, lit., "pig's delight." There has been a great deal of scholarly discussion on the meaning of this term, centering upon whether it is a pork dish, such as mincemeat, or something eaten by pigs, such as truffles or mushrooms. At the meal, the Buddha announces that he alone should be served the dish and what was left over should be buried, for none but a buddha could survive eating it. Shortly after finishing the dish, the Buddha is afflicted with the dysentery from which he would eventually die. The Buddha then converts a layman named Pukkusa, who offers him gold robes. Ānanda notices that the color of the robes pales next to the Buddha's skin, and the Buddha informs him that the skin of the Buddha is particularly bright on two occasions, the night when he achieves enlightenment and the night that he passes away. Proceeding to the outskirts of the town of Kusinagarī, the Buddha lies down on his right side between twin sāla (S. sĀLA) trees, which immediately bloom out of season. Shortly before dying, the Buddha instructs Ānanda to visit Cunda and reassure him that no blame has accrued to him; rather, he should rejoice at the great merit he has earned for having given the Buddha his last meal. Monks and divinities assemble to pay their last respects to the Buddha. When Ānanda asks how monks can pay respect to the Buddha after he has passed away, the Buddha explains that monks, nuns, and laypeople should visit four major places (MAHĀSTHĀNA) of pilgrimage: the site of his birth at LUMBINĪ, his enlightenment at BODHGAYĀ, his first teaching at ṚsIPATANA (SĀRNĀTH), and his PARINIRVĀnA at Kusinagarī. Anyone who dies while on pilgrimage to one of these four places, the Buddha says, will be reborn in the heavens. Scholars have taken these instructions as a sign of the relatively late date of this sutta (or at least this portion of it), arguing that this admonition by the Buddha is added to promote pilgrimage to four already well-established shrines. The Buddha instructs the monks to cremate his body in the fashion of a CAKRAVARTIN. He says that his remains (sARĪRA) should be enshrined in a STuPA to which the faithful should offer flowers and perfumes in order to gain happiness in the future. The Buddha then comforts Ānanda, telling him that all things must pass away and praising him for his devotion, predicting that he will soon become an ARHAT. When Ānanda laments the fact that the Buddha will pass away at such a "little mud-walled town, a backwoods town, a branch township," rather than a great city, the Buddha disabuses him of this notion, telling him that Kusinagarī had previously been the magnificent capital of an earlier cakravartin king named Sudarsana (P. Sudassana). The wanderer SUBHADRA (P. Subhadda) then becomes the last person to be ordained by the Buddha. When Ānanda laments that the monks will soon have no teacher, the Buddha explains that henceforth the dharma and the VINAYA will be their teacher. As his last disciplinary act before he dies, the Buddha orders that the penalty of brahmadanda (lit. the "holy rod") be passed on CHANDAKA (P. Channa), his former charioteer, which requires that he be completely shunned by his fellow monks. Then, asking three times whether any of the five hundred monks present has a final question, and hearing none, the Buddha speaks his last words, "All conditioned things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence." The Buddha's mind then passed into the first stage of meditative absorption (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) and then in succession through the other three levels of the subtle-materiality realm (RuPADHĀTU) and then through the four levels of the immaterial realm (ĀRuPYADHĀTU). He then passed back down through the same eight levels to the first absorption, then back up to the fourth absorption, and then passed away, at which point the earth quaked. Seven days later, his body was prepared for cremation. However, the funeral pyre could not be ignited until the arrival of MAHĀKĀsYAPA (P. Mahākassapa), who had been away at the time of the Buddha's death. After he arrived and paid his respects, the funeral pyre ignited spontaneously. The relics (sARĪRA) of the Buddha remaining after the cremation were taken by the Mallas of Kusinagarī, but seven other groups of the Buddha's former patrons also came to claim the relics. The brāhmana DROnA (P. Dona) was called upon to decide the proper procedure for apportioning the relics. Drona divided the relics into eight parts that the disputing kings could carry back to their home kingdoms for veneration. Drona kept for himself the urn he used to apportion the relics; a ninth person was given the ashes from the funeral pyre. These ten (the eight portions of relics, the urn, and the ashes) were each then enshrined in stupas. At this point the scripture's narrative ends. A similar account, although with significant variations, appears in Sanskrit recensions of the Mahāparinirvānasutra.
Mahāsāropamasutta. In Pāli, "Great Discourse on the Simile of the Heartwood"; the twenty-ninth sutta contained in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate recension appears, but without title, in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha to an assembly of monks at Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKutAPARVATA) outside the town of Rājagaha (RĀJAGṚHA) to address DEVADATTA's secession from the Buddha's dispensation. Devadatta left because he was infatuated with the personal fame and profit he earned through his mastery of supernormal powers. The Buddha explained that the teachings were not spoken for the purpose of acquiring gain or profit, which were like the twigs and leaves of a tree, nor were they for mere morality (sĪLA), meditative concentration (SAMĀDHI), or supranormal powers (ABHIJNĀ), which are like the inner and outer bark of a tree. Rather, the teachings were elucidated for the attainment of becoming a worthy one (ARHAT), which is like the heartwood of a tree.
manaskāra. [alt. manasikāra] (P. manasikāra; T. yid la byed pa; C. zuoyi; J. sai; K. chagŭi 作意). In Sanskrit, "mental engagement," or "attention"; a general term for mental activity, concentration, or attention, with at least two technical senses: as one of the five omnipresent (SARVATRAGA) or seven universal (P. sabbacittasādhārana) mental concomitants (CAITTA), it is the factor that directs the mind to a specific object; in the process of developing calmness or serenity (sAMATHA), there are four levels of increasingly powerful and continuous mental engagement with the object of concentration. See also AYONIsOMANASKĀRA.
manas. ::: mind; reason; mentality; the middle levels of mind which exist as or include the mental body &
Manas-samyama (Sanskrit) Manas-saṃyama [from manas mind + saṃyama concentration] Concentration of the mind; the perfect control and concentration of the mind during yoga practices. See also SANNYASA
Manduka Yoga (Sanskrit) Maṇḍūka-yoga [from maṇḍūka frog] A “particular kind of abstract meditation in which an ascetic sits motionless like a frog” (Monier-Williams). However, all true yoga practice involves complete mental abstraction from exterior concerns and the outer environment, so that all yogis, while practicing yoga sit motionless “like a frog.” It is not a particularly high kind of yoga, in any case, for true spiritual yoga is the yoga of the inner man, implying intense intellectual and spiritual concentration on affairs and subjects of spiritual character, and need not necessarily involve any sitting in yoga whatsoever. The true disciple may be doing his master’s business and going about in pursuit of his duties from day to day, and yet be practicing this spiritual yoga without a moment’s intermission. All forms of yoga practice which involve postures, sittings or similar things in which the physical body is active or inactive, technically belong to one of the various kinds of hatha yoga and are to be discouraged.
maranānusmṛti. (P. maranānussati; T. 'chi ba rjes su dran pa; C. niansi; J. nenshi; K. yomsa 念死). In Sanskrit, "recollection of death"; one of the most widely described forms of Buddhist meditation. This practice occurs as one of the forty objects of meditation (KAMMAttHĀNA) for the development of concentration. One of the most detailed descriptions of the practice is found in the VISUDDHIMAGGA of BUDDHAGHOSA. Among six generic personality types (greedy, hateful, ignorant, faithful, intelligent, and speculative), Buddhaghosa states that mindfulness of death is a suitable object for persons of intelligent temperament. Elsewhere, however, Buddhaghosa says that among the two types of objects of concentration, the generically useful objects and specific objects, only two among the forty are generically useful: the cultivation of loving-kindness (P. mettā; S. MAITRĪ) and the recollection of death. In describing the actual practice, Buddhaghosa explains that the meditator who wishes to take death as his object of concentration should go to a remote place and repeatedly think, "Death will take place" or "Death, death." Should that not result in the development of concentration, Buddhaghosa provides eight ways of contemplating death. The first of the eight is contemplation of death as a murderer, where one imagines that death will appear to deprive one of life. Death is certain from the moment of birth; beings move progressively toward their demise without ever turning back, just as the sun never reverses its course through the sky. The second contemplation is to think of death as the ruin of all the accomplishments and fortune acquired in life. The third contemplation is to compare oneself to others who have suffered death, yet who are greater than oneself in fame, merit, strength, supranormal powers (P. iddhi; S. ṚDDHI), or wisdom. Death will come to oneself just as it has come to these beings. The fourth contemplation is that the body is shared with many other creatures. Here one contemplates that the body is inhabited by the eighty families of worms, who may easily cause one's death, as may a variety of accidents. The fifth contemplation is of the tenuous nature of life, that life requires both inhalation and exhalation of breath, requires a balanced alternation of the four postures (ĪRYĀPATHA) of standing, sitting, walking, and lying down. It requires moderation of hot and cold, a balance of the four physical constituents, and nourishment at the proper time. The sixth contemplation is that there is no certainty about death; that is, there is no certainty as to the length of one's life, the type of illness of which one will die, when one will die, nor where, and there is no certainty as to where one will then be reborn. The seventh contemplation is that life is limited in length. In general, human life is short; beyond that, there is no certainty that one will live as long as it takes "to chew and swallow four or five mouthfuls." The final contemplation is of the shortness of the moment, that is, that life is in fact just a series of moments of consciousness. Buddhaghosa also describes the benefits of cultivating mindfulness of death. A monk devoted to the mindfulness of death is diligent and disenchanted with the things of the world. He is neither acquisitive nor avaricious and is increasingly aware of impermanence (S. ANITYA), the first of the three marks of mundane existence. From this develops an awareness of the other two marks, suffering and nonself. He dies without confusion or fear. If he does not attain the deathless state of NIRVĀnA in this lifetime, he will at least be reborn in an auspicious realm. Similar instructions are found in the literatures of many other Buddhist traditions.
mārga. (P. magga; T. lam; C. dao; J. do; K. to 道). In Sanskrit, "path"; a polysemous term in Sanskrit, whose root denotation is a road, track, way, or course. As one of the most important terms in Buddhism, it refers to the metaphorical route from one state to another, typically from suffering to liberation, from SAMSĀRA to NIRVĀnA. The term derives in part from the view that the means of achieving liberation from suffering have been identified by the Buddha, and he himself has successfully followed the route to that goal, leaving behind tracks or footprints that others can follow. Indeed, it is the Buddhist view that each of the buddhas of the past has followed the same path to enlightenment. However, in the interval between buddhas, that path becomes forgotten, and the purpose of the next buddha's advent in the world is to rediscover and reopen that same path. The term mārga occurs in the Buddha's first sermon (S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA) as the fourth constituent of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (CATVĀRY ĀRYASATYĀNI), where it is identified as the eightfold path (ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA) between the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. Elsewhere, the path is associated with the threefold training (TRIsIKsĀ) in morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ). However, there are numerous delineations of the path to enlightenment. For example, both the mainstream Buddhist schools and the MAHĀYĀNA describe three paths: (1) the path of the sRĀVAKA, culminating in attainment of NIRVĀnA as an ARHAT; (2) the path of the PRATYEKABUDDHA, also culminating in the nirvāna of an arhat; and (3) the path of the BODHISATTVA, culminating in the attainment of buddhahood. Each of these paths has its own stages, with a common system describing five (PANCAMĀRGA): (1) the path of accumulation (SAMBHĀRAMĀRGA), (2) the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), (3) the path of vision (DARsANAMĀRGA), (4) the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), and (5) the adept path, "where there is nothing more to learn" (AsAIKsAMĀRGA). In more technical descriptions, the path to enlightenment is described as a series of moments of consciousness in a process of purification, in which increasingly subtle states of contaminants (ĀSRAVA) and afflictions (KLEsA) are permanently cleansed from the mind. The term "path" figures in the title of a number of highly important Buddhist works, such as the VISUDDHIMAGGA ("Path of Purification") by the Pāli commentator BUDDHAGHOSA. The Tibetan exegete TSONG KHA PA wrote of the "three principal aspects of the path" (lam rtso rnam gsum): renunciation, BODHICITTA, and correct view. See also DAO.
mārgasatya. (P. maggasacca; T. lam gyi bden pa; C. daodi; J. dotai; K. toje 道諦). In Sanskrit, "the truth of the path"; the fourth of the so-called FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni) set forth by the Buddha in his first sermon (S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASuTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA) in the Deer Park (MṚGADĀVA) at SĀRNĀTH. In that sermon, the Buddha identified the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering to be the eightfold path (ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA). In later literature, the truth of the path is also described in terms of the three trainings (TRIsIKsĀ) in morality (SĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ). Like the three other truths, the truth of the path has four aspects. They are: (1) path (mārga), because the path leads to liberation from suffering and rebirth; stated more technically, it leads from the state of the ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) to the state of the noble one (ĀRYA); (2) suitability (nyāya), because the path contains the antidotes suitable to destroy suffering and the origin of suffering; (3) achievement (PRATIPATTI) because the path brings about liberation; and (4) deliverance (nairyānika), because wisdom destroys the afflictions (KLEsA) and delivers one to a state of liberation.
Mauthausen ::: A camp for men, opened in August 1938, near Linz in northern Austria, Mauthausen was classified by the SS as a camp of utmost severity. Conditions there were brutal, even by concentration camp standards. Nearly 125,000 prisoners of various nationalities were either worked or tortured to death at the camp before liberating American troops arrived in May 1945.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) ::: Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, a non-enforceable concentration of a drinking water contaminant, set at the level at which no known or anticipated adverse effects on human health occur and which allows an adequate safety margin. The MCLG is usually the starting point for determining the regulated Maximum Contaminant Level.
::: "Meditation, by the way, is a process leading towards knowledge and through knowledge, it is a thing of the head and not of the heart, so if you want dhyana , you can"t have an aversion to knowledge. Concentration in the heart is not meditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the Beloved.” Letters on Yoga
“Meditation, by the way, is a process leading towards knowledge and through knowledge, it is a thing of the head and not of the heart, so if you want dhyana , you can’t have an aversion to knowledge. Concentration in the heart is not meditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the Beloved.” Letters on Yoga
meditation ::: Sri Aurobindo: "There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation" and ‘contemplation". Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. *Letters on Yoga
meditation ::: “There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’. Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. Letters on Yoga
Meditation ::: What meditation exactly means. There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of Dhyana, "meditation" and "contemplation". Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana; for the principle of dhyanais mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 36, Page: 293-294
Mixed Waste::: Any radioactive waste that meets the requirements of LLW that contains a RCRA hazardous component. Also, mixed waste is waste that contains both hazardous waste and radioactive material (source, special nuclear, or by-product material as regulated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.]). Mixed waste is classified by DOE according to the type of radioactive waste that it contains as either mixed low-level waste (MLLW), or mixed transuranic waste (MTRU). DOE's high-level waste (HLW) is assumed to be mixed waste because it contains hazardous components or exhibits the characteristic of corrosivity. If the radionuclides are those that have an atomic number greater than 92, have a half life longer than 20 years, and are present in concentrations greater than 100 nanocuries/gram the waste is termed Mixed TRU waste. The waste in Oak Ridge is predominantly Mixed Low Level Waste.
Mohe zhiguan. (J. Makashikan; K. Maha chigwan 摩訶止觀). In Chinese, "The Great Calming and Contemplation"; a comprehensive treatise on soteriological theory and meditation according to the TIANTAI ZONG; attributed to TIANTAI ZHIYI (538-597). The Mohe zhiguan is based on a series of lectures Zhiyi delivered in 594, which were transcribed and edited by his disciple GUANDING. Zhi (lit. "stopping") is the Chinese translation for sAMATHA (calmness, serenity) and guan (lit. "observation") is the Chinese for VIPAsYANĀ (insight); the work as a whole seeks to establish a proper balance between meditative practice and philosophical insight. Zhi and guan practice are treated in three different ways in this treatise. Zhi in its denotation of "stopping" means calming the mind so that it is not buffeted by distracting thoughts; fixing the mind so that it stays focused on the present; and recognizing that distraction and concentration are both manifestations of a unitary, nondual reality. Guan in its denotation of "observation" means to illuminate the illusory nature of thought so that distractions are brought to an end; to have insight into the suchness (TATHATĀ) that is the ultimate nature of all phenomena in the universe; and to recognize that in suchness both insight and noninsight ultimately are identical. The original text of the Mohe zhiguan consists of ten chapters, but only the titles of the last three chapters survive. The last extant chapter, Chapter 7 on "Proper Contemplation," comprises approximately half of the entire treatise and, as the title suggests, provides a detailed description of the ten modes of contemplation and the ten spheres of contemplation. The first of the ten spheres of contemplation is called "the realm of the inconceivable" (S. ACINTYA). In his discussion of this realm in the first part of the fifth roll, Zhiyi covers one of the most famous of Tiantai doctrines: "the TRICHILIOCOSM in a single instant of thought" (YINIAN SANQIAN), which Zhiyi frames here as the "the trichiliocosm contained in the mind during an instant of thought" (sanqian zai yinian xin), viz., that any given thought-moment perfectly encompasses all reality, both temporally and spatially. By emphatically noting the "inconceivable" ability of the mind to contain the trichiliocosm, Zhiyi sought to emphasize the importance and mystery of the mind during the practice of meditation. This chapter, however, remains incomplete. The work also offers an influential presentation of the "four SAMĀDHIs," that is, the samādhis of constant sitting, constant walking, both sitting and walking, and neither sitting nor walking. Along with Zhiyi's FAHUA XUANYI and FAHUA WENJU, the Mohe zhiguan is considered to be one of the three most important treatises in the Tiantai tradition and is regarded as Zhiyi's magnum opus. The Tiantai monk ZHANRAN's MOHE ZHIGUAN FUXING ZHUANHONG JUE is considered to be the most authoritative commentary on the Mohe zhiguan.
moksabhāgīya. (T. thar pa cha mthun; C. shunjietuofen; J. jungedatsubun; K. sunhaet'albun 順解分). In Sanskrit, "aids to liberation"; abbreviation for the moksabhāgīya-kusalamula (wholesome faculties associated with liberation), the second of the three types of wholesome faculties (literally, "virtuous root") (KUsALAMuLA) recognized in the VAIBHĀsIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA, along with the punyabhāgīya (aids to creating merit) and NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYA (aids to penetration). This type of wholesome faculty involves the intent to listen to (sruta) and reflect upon (cintā) the Buddhist teachings and then make the resolution (PRAnIDHĀNA) to follow the DHARMAVINAYA to such an extent that all one's physical and verbal actions (KARMAN) will come into conformity with the prospect of liberation. The moksabhāgīyas are constituents of the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), the second segment of the five-path schema outlined in the Vaibhāsika ABHIDHARMA system, which mark the transition from the mundane sphere of cultivation (LAUKIKA-BHĀVANĀMĀRGA) to the supramundane vision (viz., DARsANAMĀRGA) of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni). In distinction to the nirvedhabhāgīyas, however, which are the proximate path of preparation, the moksabhāgīyas constitute instead the remote path of preparation and are associated only with the types of wisdom developed from learning (sRUTAMAYĪPRAJNĀ) and reflection (CINTĀMAYĪPRAJNĀ), not meditative practice (BHĀVANĀMAYĪPRAJNĀ). The moksabhāgīyas are generally concerned with the temporary allayment of the influence of the three major afflictions (KLEsA)-viz., greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEsA), and ignorance (MOHA)-by cultivating the three kusalamulas of nongreed (ALOBHA), nonhatred (ADVEsA), and nondelusion (AMOHA). These factors are "conducive to liberation" by encouraging such salutary actions as giving (DĀNA), keeping precepts (sĪLA), and learning the dharma. The moksabhāgīya are associated with the development of the first twelve of the BODHIPĀKsIKADHARMAs, or "thirty-seven factors pertaining to awakening." Among them, the first set of four develop SMṚTI (mindfulness) as described in the four SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA (applications of mindfulness), the second set of four develop VĪRYA (effort) as described in the four PRAHĀnA (efforts or abandonments), and the third set of four develop SAMĀDHI (concentration) as described in the four ṚDDHIPĀDA (bases of psychic powers). According to a different enumeration, there are five moksabhāgīya: (1) faith (sRADDHĀ), (2) effort (VĪRYA), (3) mindfulness (SMṚTI), (4) concentration (SAMĀDHI), and (5) wisdom (PRAJNĀ).
monomania ::: n. --> Derangement of the mind in regard of a single subject only; also, such a concentration of interest upon one particular subject or train of ideas to show mental derangement.
Municipal camps for the confinement of German Roma and Sinti, established post-1935. Roma and Sinti who were stateless, or held other nationalities, had already mostly been expelled from German soil: "These gypsy camps were in essence SS-Sonderlager: special internment camps combining elements of protective custody, concentration camps and embryonic ghettoes. Usually located on the outskirts of cities, these Zigeunerlager were guarded by the SS, the gendarmerie, or the uniformed city police. After 1935 these camps became reserve depots for forced labor, genealogical registration, and compulsory sterilization. Between 1933 and 1939, Zigeunerlager were created in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and other German cities. These camps evolved from municipal internment camps into assembly centres for systematic deportation to concentration camps after 1939." [Source: "Holocaust: The Gypsies." Sybil Milton. In S Totten, W S Parsons, I W Charny (eds.) Century of Genocide. Eyewitness Accounts and
mystical concentration—a gift of grace, a charisma? I left that an open question, for the time being.
Nacht und Nebel ::: (Ger.) “Night and Fog,” the code name given to the decree of December 12, 1941, by the German High Command of the Armed Forces which directed that persons in occupied territories guilty of activities against Germany's armed forces were to be deported to Germany for trial by special courts and held in concentration camps.
naiskramya. (P. nekkhamma; T. nges 'byung; C. chuyaozhi/chuli; J. shutsuyoshi/shutsuri; K. ch'uryoji/ch'ulli 出要志/出離). In Sanskrit, "renunciation" (see also NIḤSARAnA; NIRVEDA) especially in the sense of leaving mundane life and embarking on a religious vocation. The Buddha repeatedly exhorts monks to develop renunciation as a means of eliminating attachment to the pleasures of the senses. As such, in the cultivation of the path (MĀRGA), renunciation is associated with right intention (SAMYAKSAMKALPA) and is essential for all three trainings (TRIsIKsĀ) in morality (sĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJNĀ). In the Pāli tradition, renunciation constitutes the third perfection (P. pāramī; S. PĀRAMITĀ) mastered by the bodhisatta (S. BODHISATTVA) on the path leading to buddhahood. In the MAHĀYĀNA traditions, renunciation is lauded as a prerequisite to developing the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTA), since it is impossible to develop a wish to liberate all beings from SAMSĀRA unless one is dissatisfied with saMsāra oneself. In order to develop renunciation, the adept is advised to contemplate the rarity of human birth (KsAnASAMPAD), the suffering inherent in the realms of saMsāra, the cause and effect of actions (KARMAN), and the inevitability and unpredictability of death.
nānādhimuktijNānabala. (P. nānādhimuttikaNāna; T. mos pa sna tshogs mkhyen pa'i stobs; C. zhongzhong shengjie zhili; J. shujushoge chiriki; K. chongjong sŭnghae chiryok 種種勝解智力). In Sanskrit, "power of knowing diverse aspirations," one of the ten special powers (BALA) of a buddha (S. tathāgatabala). One of the keys to the Buddha's extraordinary pedagogical skill was said to be his telepathic ability to understand the predilections or interests of each member of his audience, so that he could tailor his message to the aspirations of each individual. Thus, it is said that when the Buddha taught the practice of SAMĀDHI, he set forth forty different objects of concentration, each appropriate for a different personality. For those who were lustful, he taught meditation on the foulness of the human body; for those who were hateful, he taught meditation on loving-kindness; for those who were proud, he taught meditation on the twelve links of dependent origination; for those who were distracted, he taught meditation on the breath. Whereas the NĀNĀDHĀTUJNĀNABALA reflects a buddha's ability to discern the level of intelligence of a disciple in a particular lifetime, the nānādhimuktijNānabala reflects a buddha's ability to discern the interests or personality of a disciple in a particular lifetime.
Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)::: NORM is a subset of NARM and refers to materials not covered under the Atomic Energy Act whose radioactivity has been enhanced (radionuclide concentrations are either increased or redistributed where they are more likely to cause exposure to man) usually by mineral extraction or processing activities. Examples are exploration and production wastes from the oil and natural gas industry and phosphate slag piles from the phosphate mining industry. This term is not used to describe or discuss the natural radioactivity of rocks and soils, or background radiation, but instead refers to materials whose radioactivity is technologically enhanced by controllable practices.
Ngal gso skor gsum. (Ngalso khorsum). In Tibetan, "Trilogy on Rest"; one of the major works by the Tibetan master KLONG CHEN RAB 'BYAMS. It is composed of three cycles of teachings, each of which contains a root text, summary, autocommentary, and essential instruction (don khrid), as well as additional texts, for a total of fifteen works. The three cycles of teachings are (1) Sems nyid ngal gso ("Resting in Mind Itself'); (2) Sgyu ma ngal gso ("Resting in Illusion"); and (3) Bsam gtan ngal so ("Resting in Concentration [DHYĀNA]").
nianfo. (J. nenbutsu; K. yombul 念佛). In Chinese, "recollection, invocation, or chanting of [the name of] the Buddha." The term nianfo has a long history of usage across the Buddhist tradition and has been used to refer to a variety of practices. The Chinese term nianfo is a translation of the Sanskrit term BUDDHĀNUSMṚTI (recollection of [the qualities of] the Buddha), one of the common practices designed to help develop meditative absorption (DHYĀNA) in the mainstream traditions. Buddhānusmṛti is listed as the first of six fundamental contemplative practices, along with recollection of the DHARMA, SAMGHA, giving (DĀNA), morality (sĪLA), and the divinities (DEVA). Buddhānusmṛti (P. buddhānussati) is also the first in the Pāli list of ten "recollections" (P. anussati; S. ANUSMṚTI), which are included among the forty meditative exercises (see KAMMAttHĀNA) discussed in the VISUDDHIMAGGA. The meditator is instructed to reflect on the good qualities of the Buddha, often through contemplating a series of his epithets, contemplation that is said to lead specifically to "access concentration" (UPACĀRASAMĀDHI). In early Mahāyāna texts, the term seems to refer to the meditative practice of recollecting, invoking, or visualizing an image of a buddha or advanced BODHISATTVA, such as sĀKYAMUNI, MAITREYA, or AMITĀBHA. In East Asia, the term nianfo came to be used primarily in the sense of reciting the name of the Buddha, referring especially to recitation of the Chinese phrase namo Amituo fo (K. namu Amit'abul; J. NAMU AMIDABUTSU; Homage to the buddha Amitābha). This recitation was often performed in a ritual setting and accompanied by the performance of prostrations, the burning of incense, and the intonation of scriptures, all directed toward gaining a vision of Amitābha's PURE LAND of SUKHĀVATĪ, a vision that was considered proof that one would be reborn there in the next lifetime. New forms of chanting Amitābha's name developed in China, such as WUHUI NIANFO (five-tempo intonation of [the name of] the Buddha), which used leisurely and increasingly rapid tempos, and YINSHENG NIANFO (intoning [the name of] the Buddha by drawing out the sound). Nianfo practice was often portrayed as a relatively easy means of guaranteeing rebirth in Amitābha's pure land. Many exegetes referred to the vows of the bodhisattva DHARMĀKARA (the bodhisattva who became Amitābha) as set forth in the SUKHĀVATĪVYuHASuTRA, as evidence of the efficacy of nianfo practice in the degenerate age of the dharma (MOFA). In China, these various forms of nianfo were advocated by such famous monks as TANLUAN, DAOCHUO, and SHANDAO; these monks later came to be retroactively regarded as patriarchs of a so-called pure land school (JINGTU ZONG). In fact, however, nianfo was widely practiced across schools and social strata in both China and Korea and was not exclusively associated with a putative pure land tradition. In Japan, nenbutsu, or repetition of the phrase "namu Amidabutsu" (homage to Amitābha Buddha) became a central practice of the Japanese PURE LAND schools of Buddhism, such as JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu, and JISHu. The practice spread rapidly among common people largely through the efforts of such itinerant holy men (HIJIRI) as KuYA and IPPEN. Influential pure land teachers, such as HoNEN and his disciple SHINRAN, also promoted the exclusive practice of chanting the phrase NAMU AMIDABUTSU and debated whether multiple recitations of the Buddha's name (TANENGI) were expected of pure land adherents or whether a single recitation (ICHINENGI) would be enough to ensure rebirth. Despite periodic suppressions of this movement, Honen and Shinran's schools, known as the Jodoshu and Jodo Shinshu, became the largest Buddhist communities in Japan.
Niemoller, Martin ::: Former W.W.I Submarine Commander & war hero turned Evangelical Priest. Active member in the Confessing Church. Pastor Niemoller spent the duration of the war in various concentration camps as "personal prisoner of the Fuhrer".
nimitta. (T. mtshan ma; C. xiang/ruixiang; J. so/zuiso; K. sang/sosang 相/瑞相). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "mark" or "sign," in the sense of a distinguishing characteristic, or a meditative "image." Among its several denotations, three especially deserve attention. (1) In Buddhist epistemology, nimitta refers to the generic appearance of an object, in distinction to its secondary characteristics, or ANUVYANJANA. Advertence toward the generic sign and secondary characteristics of an object produces a recognition or perception (SAMJNĀ) of that object, which may in turn lead to clinging or rejection and ultimately suffering. Thus nimitta often carries the negative sense of false or deceptive marks that are imagined to inhere in an object, resulting in the misperception of that object as real, intrinsically existent, or endowed with self. Thus, the apprehension of signs (nimittagrāha) is considered a form of ignorance (AVIDYĀ), and the perception of phenomena as signless (ĀNIMITTA) is a form of wisdom that constitutes one of three "gates to deliverance" (VIMOKsAMUKHA), along with emptiness (suNYATĀ) and wishlessness (APRAnIHITA). (2) In the context of THERAVĀDA meditation practice (BHĀVANĀ), as set forth in such works as the VISUDDHIMAGGA, nimitta refers to an image that appears to the mind after developing a certain degree of mental concentration (SAMĀDHI). At the beginning of a meditation exercise that relies, e.g., on an external visual support (KASInA), such as a blue circle, the initial mental image one recalls is termed the "preparatory image" (PARIKAMMANIMITTA). With the deepening of concentration, the image becomes more refined but is still unsteady; at that stage, it is called the "acquired image" or "eidetic image" (UGGAHANIMITTA). When one reaches access or neighborhood concentration (UPACĀRASAMĀDHI), a clear, luminous image appears to the mind, which is called the "counterpart image" or "representational image" (PAtIBHĀGANIMITTA). It is through further concentration on this stable "representational image" that the mind finally attains "full concentration" (APPANĀSAMĀDHI), i.e, meditative absorption (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA). (3) The term also appears in CATURNIMITTA, the "four signs," "sights," or "portents," which were the catalysts that led the future buddha SIDDHĀRTHA GAUTAMA to renounce the world (see PRAVRAJITA) and pursue liberation from the cycle of birth and death (SAMSĀRA): specifically, the sight of an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a religious mendicant (sRAMAnA).
nirvedhabhāgīya. (T. nges par 'byed pa'i cha dang mthun pa; C. shunjuezefen; J. junketchakubun; K. sun'gyolt'aekpum 順決擇分). In Sanskrit, "aids to penetration," the constituent stages developed during the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), the second segment of the five-path schema outlined in the VAIBHĀsIKA ABHIDHARMA system, which mark the transition from the mundane sphere of cultivation (LAUKIKA[BHĀVANĀ]MĀRGA) to the supramundane vision (DARsANA) of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni); also called the "virtuous faculties associated with penetration" (nirvedhabhāgīya-KUsALAMuLA) or the "four virtuous faculties" (CATUsKUsALAMuLA). The nirvedhabhāgīya are the third of the three types of virtuous faculties (KUsALAMuLA) recognized in the VAIBHĀsIKA school, along with the punyabhāgīya and MOKsABHĀGĪYA kusalamulas. In distinction to the moksabhāgīyas, however, which are the remote path of preparation, the nirvedhabhāgīyas constitute instead the proximate path of preparation and are associated specifically with the type of wisdom that is generated through one's own meditative experience (BHĀVANĀMĀYĪPRAJNĀ). The four aids to penetration are (1) heat (usMAN [alt. usmagata]), (2) summit (MuRDHAN), (3) acquiescence or receptivity (KSĀnTI), (4) and highest worldly dharmas (LAUKIKĀGRADHARMA). After accumulating the preliminary skills necessary for religious cultivation on the preceding path of accumulation (SAMBHĀRAMĀRGA), the practitioner continues on to develop the mindfulness of mental constituents (dharma-SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA) on the path of preparation. This path involves the four aids to penetration, which mark successive stages in understanding the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths and are each subdivided into various categories, such as weak, medium, and strong experiences. While the first two of these NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYAs are subject to retrogression and thus belong to the worldly path of cultivation (laukikabhāvanāmārga), the latter two are nonretrogressive (AVAIVARTIKA) and lead inevitably to insight (DARsANA). Mastery of the four aids to penetration culminates in the "unimpeded concentration" (ĀNANTARYASAMĀDHI), in which the meditator acquires fully all the highest worldly dharmas; this distinctive concentration provides access to the third stage of the path, the path of vision (DARsANAMĀRGA), which marks the entrance into sanctity (ĀRYA) as a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA). Thus the nirvedhabhāgīyas are the pivotal point in the progression of an ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) to the status of a noble one (ĀRYA). According to the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀsĀ, disciples (sRĀVAKA) and solitary buddhas (PRATYEKABUDDHA) may develop the nirvedhabhāgīyas either before or during any of the four stages of the meditative absorptions (DHYĀNA), while bodhisattvas develop all four in one sitting during their final lifetimes.
nisthah ::: fixed and steady concentration; concentrated will of devotion; faith.
nisthāmārga. (T. mthar phyin pa'i lam; C. jiujingdao/wei; J. kukyodo/i; K. kugyongdo/wi 究竟道/位). In Sanskrit, "path of completion," the fifth of the "five-path" (PANCAMĀRGA) schema described in both SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA and the YOGĀCĀRA school of MAHĀYĀNA. With the consummation of the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), the adept achieves the "adamantine-like concentration" (VAJROPAMASAMĀDHI), which leads to the permanent destruction of even the subtlest and most persistent of the ten fetters (SAMYOJANA), resulting in the "knowledge of cessation" (KsAYAJNĀNA) and in some presentations an accompanying "knowledge of nonproduction" (ANUTPĀDAJNĀNA), viz., the knowledges that the fetters are destroyed and can never again recur. Because the adept now has full knowledge of the eightfold path (ĀRYĀstĀnGAMĀRGA) and has achieved liberation (VIMOKsA), he no longer needs any further instruction; for this reason, this path is also described as the "path where there is nothing more to learn" (AsAIKsAMĀRGA). With the attainment of this path, the practitioner is freed from the possibility of any further rebirth due to the causal force of KARMAN.
nīvarana. [alt. nivarana] (T. sgrib pa; C. gai; J. gai; K. kae 蓋). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "hindrance" or "obstruction," referring specifically to five hindrances to the attainment of the first meditative absorption of the subtle-materiality realm (RuPĀVACARADHYĀNA). Each of these five hindrances specifically obstructs one of the five constituents of absorption (DHYĀNĀnGA) and must therefore be at least temporarily allayed in order for absorption (DHYĀNA) to occur. The five are: (1) "sensual desire" (KĀMACCHANDA), which hinders one-pointedness of mind (EKĀGRATĀ); (2) "malice" or "ill will" (VYĀPĀDA), hindering physical rapture (PRĪTI); (3) "sloth and torpor" (STYĀNA-MIDDHA), hindering the initial application of thought (VITARKA); (4) "restlessness and worry" (AUDDHATYA-KAUKṚTYA), hindering mental ease (SUKHA); and (5) "skeptical doubt" (VICIKITSĀ), hindering sustained consideration (VICĀRA). Buddhist sutras and meditation manuals, such as the VISUDDHIMAGGA, provide extensive discussion of various antidotes or counteragents (PRATIPAKsA, see also KAMMAttHĀNA) to these hindrances, such as the contemplation on the decomposition of a corpse (AsUBHABHĀVANĀ) to counter sensual desire; the meditation on loving-kindness (MAITRĪ) to counter malice; the recollection of death to counter sloth and torpor; quietude of mind to counter restlessness and worry; and studying the scriptures to counter skeptical doubt. In addition, the five faculties or dominants (INDRIYA) are also specifically designed to allay the five hindrances: faith (sRADDHĀ) counters malice; effort (VĪRYA) counters sloth and torpor; mindfulness (SMṚTI) counters sensual desire; concentration (SAMĀDHI) counters restlessness and worry; and wisdom (PRAJNĀ) counters skeptical doubt. A similar correlation is made between the seven factors of enlightenment (BODHYAnGA) and the hindrances. These five hindrances are permanently eliminated at various stages of the noble path (ĀRYAMĀRGA): worry (kaukṛtya) and skeptical doubt are permanently overcome at the point of becoming a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA); sensual desire and malice on becoming a nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN); and sloth and torpor and restlessness (auddhatya) on becoming a worthy one (ARHAT).
NIYAMA. ::: Control ; ducipUoe of the mind by regular prac- tices of which the highest is meditation on the Divine Being, and their object is to create a sattwic calm, purity and preparation for concentration upon which the scoire permanence of the rest of the yoga can te founded.
NJDIDHYASANA. ::: Fixing in concentration.
One can go forward even if there is not peace — quietude and concentration are necessary. Peace is necessary for the higher states to develop.
Originally members of these units guarded the concentration camps. In 1938 they participated, alongside the Verfügunstruppen, in the occupation of Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. In 1939, 6,500 of their most experienced members, under the command of the former commandant of the concentration camp Dachau, and Inspector of Concentration Camps 1933-1939, Theodore Eicke, formed the first Waffen SS unit, the Totenkopfdivision. Until mid-1941 its units were employed in policing occupied territories, and the supervision and implementation of deportations and executions. Immediately prior to the assault on the USSR, the Totenkopfverbände were incorporated in units of the Waffen SS.
Oswiecim ::: City in southern Poland that translates to Auschwitz in German. It was 80 percent Jewish in 1939, with 11 synagogues. Also refers to the forced-labor camp that became a concentration camp in the suburbs of Cracow. Established in 1942, it was destroyed by departing Nazis on January 14, 1944, when the last of its prisoners went to Auschwitz.
Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision's limited range. For do not imagine that light is created by the Suns. The Suns are only physical concentrations of Light, but the splendour they concentrate for us is self-born and everywhere. God is everywhere and wherever God is, there is Light.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 12, Page: 188
Our subliminal self is not, like our surface physical being, an outcome of the energy of the Inconscient; it is a meeting-place of the consciousness that emerges from below by evolution and the consciousness that has descended from above for involution. There is in it an inner mind, an inner vital being of ourselves, an inner or subtle-physical being larger than our outer being and nature. This inner existence is the concealed origin of almost all in our surface self that is not a construction of the first inconscient World-Energy or a natural developed functioning of our surface consciousness or a reaction of it to impacts from the outside universal Nature,—and even in this construction, these functionings, these reactions the subliminal takes part and exercises on them a considerable influence. There is here a consciousness which has a power of direct contact with the universal unlike the mostly indirect contacts which our surface being maintains with the universe through the sense-mind and the senses. There are here inner senses, a subliminal sight, touch, hearing; but these subtle senses are rather channels of the inner being’s direct consciousness of things than its informants: the subliminal is not dependent on its senses for its knowledge, they only give a form to its direct experience of objects; they do not, so much as in waking mind, convey forms of objects for the mind’s documentation or as the starting-point or basis for an indirect constructive experience. The subliminal has the right of entry into the mental and vital and subtle-physical planes of the universal consciousness, it is not confined to the material plane and the physical world; it possesses means of communication with the worlds of being which the descent towards involution created in its passage and with all corresponding planes or worlds that may have arisen or been constructed to serve the purpose of the re-ascent from Inconscience to Superconscience. It is into this large realm of interior existence that our mind and vital being retire when they withdraw from the surface activities whether by sleep or inward-drawn concentration or by the inner plunge of trance. Our waking state is unaware of its connection with the subliminal being, although it receives from it—but without any knowledge of the place of origin—the inspirations, intuitions, ideas, will-suggestions, sense-suggestions, urges to action that rise from below or from behind our limited surface existence. Sleep like trance opens the gate of the subliminal to us; for in sleep, as in trance, we retire behind the veil of the limited waking personality and it is behind this veil that the subliminal has its existence. But we receive the records of our sleep experience through dream and in dream figures and not in that condition which might be called an inner waking and which is the most accessible form of the trance state, nor through the supernormal clarities of vision and other more luminous and concrete ways of communication developed by the inner subliminal cognition when it gets into habitual or occasional conscious connection with our waking self. The subliminal, with the subconscious as an annexe of itself,—for the subconscious is also part of the behind-the-veil entity,—is the seer of inner things and of supraphysical experiences; the surface subconscious is only a transcriber. It is for this reason that the Upanishad describes the subliminal being as the Dream Self because it is normally in dreams, visions, absorbed states of inner experience that we enter into and are part of its experiences...
Ref: CWSA Vol. 21-22, Page: 236
paccavekkhanaNāna. In Pāli, "reviewing knowledge"; the recollection of any meditative absorption (P. JHĀNA, S. DHYĀNA) or object of concentration, the attainment of any of the four noble paths (P. magga, S. MĀRGA), or the fruition (PHALA) of a noble path. In the case of a noble attainment, reviewing knowledge arises in the following manner. According to the Pāli ABHIDHAMMA analysis, first, path consciousness (MAGGACITTA) gives rise to two or three moments of fruition consciousness (PHALACITTA), after which the mind subsides into the subconscious mental continuum or life stream (BHAVAnGASOTA). The subconscious life stream continues until the mind adverts to the previous path moment for the purpose of reviewing it. This is followed by seven moments of mental excitation, called impulsion or advertence (javana), that take as their object the past path moment. Thereafter the mind again subsides into the subconscious life stream. The mind then adverts to previous moments of fruition for the purpose of reviewing them. This is followed by seven moments of mental excitation that take as their object the past fruition moments. In the same way that the practitioner reviews the path and fruition, he also reviews the afflictions (P. kilesa; S. KLEsA) eradicated from his mind, those remaining to be eradicated, nibbāna (S. NIRVĀnA) as an object, etc. He knows thereby what he has attained, what remains to be attained, and what he has experienced.
Padmasana (Sanskrit) Padmāsana [from padma lotus + āsana seat, posture] The posture of a lotus; a yoga posture taken to develop concentration and religious meditation.
pasu-asura (pashu-asura; pashu asura) ::: the pasu stage of the asura pasu-asura .... with which the first manvantara of the sixth pratikalpa begins, when mind having evolved to the buddhi returns temporarily to a concentration on the bodily life.
flux density - The concentration of magnetic lines of force. Determines strength of the magnetic field.
Sunspot - A temporary disturbed area in the solar photosphere that appears dark because it is cooler than the surrounding areas. Sunspots consist of concentrations of strong magnetic flux. They usually occur in pairs or groups of opposite polarity that move in unison across the face of the Sun as it rotates.
Performance Data (for incinerators)::: Information collected, during a trial burn, on concentrations of designated organic compounds and pollutants found in incinerator emissions. Data analysis must show that the incinerator meets performance standards under operating conditions specified in the RCRA permit.
Pranayama ::: Sanskrit, roughly, for "breath control". Refers to practices that utilize control of the breath for spiritual advancement and general wellness. Can also refer to a specific type of samatha (concentration) or insight (mindfulness) meditation where the practitioner follows the breath or uses awareness of the breath to dissect the moment.
Raja yoga ::: This is the first step only. Afterwards, the ordinary activities of the mind and sense must be entirely quieted in order that the soul may be free to ascend to higher states of consciousness and acquire the foundation for a perfect freedom and self-mastery. But Rajayoga does not forget that the disabilities of the ordinary mind proceed largely from its subjection to the reactions of the nervous system and the body. It adopts th
refore from the Hathayogic system its devices of asana and pranayama, but reduces their multiple and elaborate forms in each case to one simplest and most directly effective process sufficient for its own immediate object. Thus it gets rid of the Hathayogic complexity and cumbrousness while it utilises the swift and powerful efficacy of its methods for the control of the body and the vital functions and for the awakening of that internal dynamism, full of a latent supernormal faculty, typified in Yogic terminology by the kundalinı, the coiled and sleeping serpent of Energy within. This done, the system proceeds to the perfect quieting of the restless mind and its elevation to a higher plane through concentration of mental force by the successive stages which lead to the utmost inner concentration or ingathered state of the consciousness which is called Samadhi. By Samadhi, in which the mind acquires the capacity of withdrawing from its limited waking activities into freer and higher states of consciousness, Rajayoga serves a double purpose. It compasses a pure mental action liberated from the confusions of the outer consciousness and passes thence to the higher supra-mental planes on which the individual soul enters into its true spiritual existence. But also it acquires the capacity of that free and concentrated energising of consciousness on its object which our philosophy asserts as the primary cosmic energy and the method of divine action upon the world. By this capacity the Yogin, already possessed of the highest supracosmic knowledge and experience in the state of trance, is able in the waking state to acquire directly whatever knowledge and exercise whatever mastery may be useful or necessary to his activities in the objective world. For the ancient system of Rajayoga aimed not only at Swarajya, self-rule or subjective empire, the entire control by the subjective consciousness of all the states and activities proper to its own domain, but included Samrajya as well, outward empire, the control by the subjective consciousness of its outer activities and environment.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 23-24, Page: 36-37
Rajayogic concentration is divided into four stages ; h com- mences with the drawing both of the mind and senses from out- ward things, proceeds to the bolding of the one object of con- centration to the exclusion of all tjther ideas and mental activi- ties, then to the prolonged absorption of the mind in this object, finally, to the complete ingoing of the consciousness by which it is lost to all outward mental activity in the oneness of Samadhi.
Reference Concentration (RfC) ::: An estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a continuous inhalation exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious noncancer effects during a lifetime.
reflection ::: 1. Mental concentration; careful and deep consideration. 2. An image; representation. reflections.
sadhana chatushtaya. ::: the four-fold aids to spiritual practice &
samadhana. ::: perfect concentration of the mind on the one Reality; concentration and contemplation upon the vedantic texts and the words of the Guru
Samadhi and norma! sleep, between the dream*state of Yoga and the physical state of dream. The latter belongs to the physical mind ; in the former the mind proper and subtle is at work liberated from the immixture of the physical mentality. The dreams of the physical mind are an incoherent jumble made up partly of responses to vague touches from the physical world round which the lower mind*faculttes disconnected from the will and reason, the buddhi, weave a web of wandering phantasy, partly of disordered associations from the brain>memory, partly of refieclions from the soul travelling on the mental plane, reflec- tions which arc, ordinarily, received without intelligence or co- ordination, wildly distorted in the reception and mixed up confusedly with the other dream elements, with brain-memories and fantastic responses to any sensory touch from the physical world. In the Yogic dream-state, on the other hand, the mind is in clear possession of itself, though not of the physical world, works coherently and is able to use either its ordinary will and intelligence with a concentrated power or else the higher will and intelligence of the more exalted planes of mind. It withdraws from experience of the outer world, it puts its seals upon the physical senses and their doors of conununicatinn with maJerJal things ; but everything that is proper to itself, thought, reasoning, reflection, vision, it can continue to execute with an increased purity and power of sovereign concentration free from the dis- tractions and unsteadiness of the waking mind. It can use too its will and produce upon itself or upon its environment mental, moral and even physical effects which may continue and have
samadhi ::: concentration; trance; the last member of the vijñana samadhi catus.t.aya: the placing of the consciousness in particular conditions that give it access to larger fields of experience, so that "one can become aware of things in this world outside our ordinary range or go into other worlds or other planes of existence". The term samadhi includes three principal states corresponding to those of waking (jagrat), dream (svapna) and deep sleep (sus.upti), but it is applied especially to states of consciousness "in which the mind is withdrawn from outward things" and is often equivalent to svapnasamadhi
Samadhi(Sanskrit) ::: A compound word formed of sam, meaning "with" or "together"; a, meaning "towards"; andthe verbal root dha, signifying "to place," or "to bring"; hence samadhi, meaning "to direct towards,"generally signifies to combine the faculties of the mind with a direction towards an object. Hence, intensecontemplation or profound meditation, with the consciousness directed to the spiritual. It is the highestform of self-possession, in the sense of collecting all the faculties of the constitution towards reachingunion or quasi-union, long or short in time as the case may be, with the divine-spiritual. One whopossesses and is accustomed to use this power has complete, absolute control over all his faculties, andis, therefore, said to be "completely self- possessed." It is the highest state of yoga or "union."Samadhi, therefore, is a word of exceedingly mystical and profound significance implying the completeabstraction of the percipient consciousness from all worldly or exterior or even mental concerns orattributes, and its absorption into or, perhaps better, its becoming the pure unadulterate, undilutesuperconsciousness of the god within. In other words, samadhi is self-conscious union with the spiritualmonad of the human constitution. Samadhi is the eighth or final stage of genuine occult yoga, and can beattained at any time by the initiate without conscious recourse to the other phases or practices of yogaenumerated in Oriental works, and which other and inferior practices are often misleading, in some casesdistinctly injurious, and at the best mere props or aids in the attaining of complete mental abstractionfrom worldly concerns.The eight stages of yoga usually enumerated are the following: (1) yama, signifying "restraint" or"forbearance"; (2) niyama, religious observances of various kinds, such as watchings or fastings,prayings, penances, etc.; (3) asana (q.v.), postures of various kinds; (4) pranayama, various methods ofregulating the breath; (5) pratyahara, a word signifying "withdrawal," but technically and esoterically the"withdrawal" of the consciousness from sensual or sensuous concerns, or from external objects; (6)dharana (q.v.), firmness or steadiness or resolution in holding the mind set or concentrated on a topic orobject of thought, mental concentration; (7) dhyana (q.v.), abstract contemplation or meditation whenfreed from exterior distractions; and finally, (8) samadhi, complete collection of the consciousness and ofits faculties into oneness or union with the monadic essence.It may be observed, and should be carefully taken note of by the student, that when the initiate hasattained samadhi he becomes practically omniscient for the solar universe in which he dwells, becausehis consciousness is functioning at the time in the spiritual-causal worlds. All knowledge is then to himlike an open page because he is self-consciously conscious, to use a rather awkward phrase, of nature'sinner and spiritual realms, the reason being that his consciousness has become kosmic in its reaches.
Samadhi ::: See Absorption Concentration.
Samapatti (Sanskrit) Samāpatti [from sam-ā-pad to progress to perfect fulfillment from the verbal root pad to go, progress] In Buddhism, a subdivision of the fourth stage of abstract meditation (there being eight samapattis); “perfect concentration” in the raja yoga system of occult training, a state of intellectual, spiritual, and psychic unfolding in which meditation becomes vision, and there ensues perfect indifference to things of this world. Said to be the final degree of development, upon reaching which the possibility of entering into samadhi is attained.
Samatha Meditation ::: One of the two general categories of meditative practice described on this site. Refers to concentration meditation where an object of focus is chosen and held onto with the mind. The object of focus can vary considerably, but enough attention consistently leads to the emergence and development of states called the samatha jhanas. Also Concentration Meditation.
Samyak-Samadhi (Sanskrit) Samyaksamādhi Perfect or complete meditation. As “Right Concentration,” one Path of the Holy Eightfold Path of Buddhism.
samyama ::: 1. self-control, rejection or self-dissociation. ::: 2. concentration, directing or dwelling of the consciousness (by which one becomes aware of all that is in an object).
saṁyama (sanyama; samyama) ::: self-control; concentration; identisamyama fication; dwelling of the consciousness on an object until the mind of the observer becomes one with the observed and the contents of the object, including its past, present and future, are known from within.
scatter-brain ::: n. --> A giddy or thoughtless person; one incapable of concentration or attention.
Self. But there is another, a hidden consciousness within behind the surface one in which we can become aware of the real Self and of a larger, deeper truth of nature, can realise the Self and liberate and transform the nature. To quiet the surface mind and begin to live within is the object of concentration. Of this true consciousness other than the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The con- centration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psy- chic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it and all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the conscious- ness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and
selfism ::: n. --> Concentration of one&
Sex-dreams ::: What is rejected in the waking often attacks in sleep — especially the sexual suggestions. You have to con- centrate before sleeping with a strong will that nothing of the kind should happen. After some time this concentration is usually successful.
shatkasampatti &
Shiva is the Eternal"s Personality of Force; through him all is created, through his passion, through his rhythm, through his concentration.
Shiva is the Eternal’s Personality of Force; through him all is created, through his passion, through his rhythm, through his concentration.
SIVA. ::: The Eternal’s Personality of Force ; through him all is created, through bis passion, through his rhythm, through his concentration.
&
Sortilegium (Latin) [from sors lot + lego choose] Divination by drawing lots; a practice of wide diffusion in antiquity, and constantly mentioned in literature of classical Greek and Latin as well as of other countries, and still practiced in some places. One form of it consisted in picking at random in the pages of a book, after due concentration of the mind on the object to be obtained. This was done by the Romans in their sortes Virgilianae, and the early Christians practiced it with the Bible, as a means of ascertaining the divine will or obtaining guidance. Augustine even sanctioned this practice, provided it was not done for worldly ends, and indulged in it himself. The word sorcery is also derived from sors through late Latin and French, and sortilege was often regarded as a form of sorcery — as indeed it was when the knowledge sought was desired for the purposes of evil. It is the motive in these matters which distinguishes the good from the bad. See also DIVINATION
Spiritual effort by concentration of the energies in a spiritual discipline or process.
Sri Aurobindo: "Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” *Letters on Yoga
SS ::: (Schutzstaffel, Protection Squad), originally Adolf Hitler's bodyguard, it became the elite guard of the Nazi state and its main tool of terror. The SS maintained control over the concentration camp system and was instrumental in the mass shootings conducted by the Einsatzgruppen. Led by Heinrich Himmler, its members had to submit with complete obedience to the authority of the supreme master, Hitler and himself. SS officers had to prove their own and their wives' racial purity back to the year 1700, and membership was conditional on Aryan appearance.
stria vascularis ::: Specialized epithelium lining the cochlear duct that maintains the high potassium concentration of the endolymph.
Sub-camp ::: Auxiliary forced labor camp linked administratively to one of the major concentration camps. There were thousands of sub-camps in the concentration camp system, which numbered nearly 3,000 camps.
subtle vision ("s) ::: Sri Aurobindo: " This power of vision is sometimes inborn and habitual even without any effort of development, sometimes it wakes up of itself and becomes abundant or needs only a little practice to develop; it is not necessarily a sign of spiritual attainment, but usually when by practice of yoga one begins to go inside or live within, the power of subtle vision awakes to a greater or less extent; . . . .”*Letters on Yoga
"It is not necessary to have the mind quiet in order to see the lights — that depends only on the opening of the subtle vision in the centre which is in the forehead between the eyebrows. Many people get that as soon as they start sadhana. It can even be developed by effort and concentration without sadhana by some who have it to a small extent as an inborn faculty.” Letters on Yoga
"When the centres begin to open, inner experiences such as the seeing of light or images through the subtle vision in the forehead centre or psychic experiences and perceptions in the heart, become frequent — gradually one becomes aware of one"s inner being as separate from the outer, and what can be called a yogic consciousness with all its deeper movements develops in the place of the ordinary superficial mental and vital movements.” Letters on Yoga
Sun is the concentration of the Light.
Suppression of the needed sleep makes (he body tamasic and unfit for the necessary concentration during the waking hours.
T’ai hsu: Chinese for the Ultimate Vacuity, the course, the basis and the being of the material principle or the universal vital force (ch’i), the concentration and extension of which is to the Ultimate Vacuity as ice is to water.
T'ai Hsu: The Ultimate Vacuity, the course, the basis and the being of the material principle, ch'i, or the universal vital force the concentration and extension of which is to the Ultimate Vacuity as ice is to water. (Chang: Heng-ch'u, 1020-1077). -- W.T.C.
TANSTAAFL /tan'stah-fl/ (From Robert Heinlein's classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". Often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly {heavyweight} technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of {free software}, or at the {signal-to-noise ratio} of unmoderated {Usenet} newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a {database} back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well, TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-28)
TANSTAAFL ::: /tan'stah-fl/ (From Robert Heinlein's classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.Often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software, or the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom.[Jargon File] (1995-02-28)
tapas ::: "concentration of power of consciousness"; will-power; the force that acts through aisvarya, isita and vasita, or the combination of these siddhis of power themselves, sometimes listed as the fourth of five members of the vijñana catus.t.aya; the divine force of action into which rajas is transformed in the liberation (mukti) of the nature from the trigun.a of the lower prakr.ti, a power "which has no desire because it exercises a universal possession and a spontaneous Ananda .. of its movements"; the force manifested by an aspect of daivi prakr.ti (see Mahakali tapas, Mahasarasvati tapas); (also called cit-tapas)"infinite conscious energy", the principle that is the basis of tapoloka; limited mental will and power. Tapas is "the will of the transcendent spirit who creates the universal movement, of the universal spirit who supports and informs it, of the free individual spirit who is the soul centre of its multiplicities. . . . But the moment the individual soul leans away from the universal and transcendent truth of its being, . . . that will changes its character: it becomes an effort, a straining". tapas ananda
TAPAS. ::: Energisni and concentration of capacities ; tranquilly intense divine force ; austerity of conscious force acting upon itself or its object ; the principle of spiritual power and force in the highest or divine Nature.
tapasya ::: concentration of will and energy to control the nature; tapasya rigorous discipline; physical austerity.
tapasya ::: effort, energism, austerity of the personal will, ascetic force, askesis; concentration of the will and energy to control the mind, vital and physical and to change them or to bring down the higher consciousness or for any other yogic purpose or high purpose.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge
The bases for the acquirement of the iddhis rested upon four completed steps in training (iddhipada): determination in respect of concentration on purpose, on will, on thoughts, and on investigation.
The four heavenly kings of the first and lowest of the six heavens are DHṚTARĀstRA in the east, VIRudHAKA in the south, VIRuPĀKsA in the west, and VAIsRAVAnA in the north. There are many devas inhabiting this heaven: GANDHARVAs in the east, KUMBHĀndAs in the south, NĀGAs in the west, and YAKsAs in the north. As vassals of sAKRO DEVĀNĀM INDRAḤ (lit. "sakra, the lord of the gods"; see INDRA; sAKRA; DEVARĀJAN), the four heavenly kings serve as protectors of the dharma (DHARMAPĀLA) and of sentient beings who are devoted to the dharma. They dwell at the four gates in each direction at the midslope of the world's central axis, Mt. Sumeru. The thirty-three gods of the second heaven are the eight vāsava, two asvina, eleven rudra, and twelve āditya. They live on the summit of Mt. Sumeru and are arrayed around the city of Sudarsana, the capital of their lord sakra. sakra is also known as Indra, the war god of the Āryans, who became a devotee of the Buddha as well as a protector of the dharma. The remaining four heavens are located in the sky above Mt. Sumeru. At the highest level of the sensuous realm, the paranirmitavasavartin heaven, dwells MĀRA, the Evil One. The four heavenly kings and the thirty-three gods are called the "divinities residing on the ground" (bhumyavacaradeva) because they dwell on Mt. Sumeru, while the gods from the Yāma heaven up to the gods of the realm of subtle materiality are known as "divinities residing in the air" (antariksavāsin, antarīksadeva), because they reside in the sky above the mountain. The higher one ascends into the heavens of both the sensuous realm and the subsequent realm of subtle materiality, the larger and more splendid the bodies of those gods become and the longer their life spans. Related to the devas of the sensuous realm are the demigods or titans (S. ASURA), jealous gods whom Indra drove out of the heaven of the thirty-three; they now live in exile in the shadows of Mt. Sumeru. ¶ The heavens of the realm of subtle materiality (rupadhātu) consist of sixteen (according to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school), seventeen (the SAUTRĀNTIKA school), or eighteen (the THERAVĀDA/STHAVIRANIKĀYA school) levels of devas. These levels, which are collectively called the BRAHMALOKA (world of the Brahmā gods), are subdivided into the four classes of the dhyāna or "concentration" heavens, and rebirth there is dependent on specific meditative attainments in previous lives. One of the most extensive accounts on these heavens appears in the ABHIDHARMAKOsABHĀsYA, which presents seventeen levels of the subtle-materiality devas. Whereas rebirth in the heavens of the sensuous realm are the result of a variety of virtuous deeds done in a previous life, rebirth in the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality or in the immaterial realm is the result of what is called a "nonfluctuating" or "unwavering" action (ANINJYAKARMAN). Here, the only cause that will produce rebirth in one of these heavens is the achievement of the level of meditative concentration or absorption of that particular heaven in the immediately preceding lifetime. Such meditation is called a "nonfluctuating deed" because it always produces the effect of that particular type of rebirth. The first set of dhyāna heavens, where those who practiced the first meditative absorption in the previous lifetime are born, is comprised of three levels:
The function of a mantra is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness that will prepare it for the realisation of what the mantra symbolises and is supposed indeed to carry within itself. As a rule the only mantra used in this sadhana is that of the Mother or of my name and the Mother.In this Yoga there is no fixed mantra, no stress is laid on mantras, although sadhaks can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a mantra is found helpful for that, one uses it.
Ref: SABCL Vol. 22-23-24, Page: 745
The Lights one secs in concentration are the lights of various powers or forces and often lights that come down from the higher consciousness.
The niyamas are equally a discipline of the mind by regular practices of which the highest -is meditation on the divine Being, and their object is to create a sattwic calm, purity and prepa- ration for concentration upon which the secure pursuance of the rest of the Yoga can be founded.
The Rajayogic Pranayama purifies and clears- theaiervous system ; it enables us to circulate the vital energy equally through the body and direct it also where we will nccarding to need, and thus maintain a perfect health and soundness of the body and the vital being ; it gives us control of all the five habitual opera- tions of the vital energy in the system and at the same time breaks down the habitual divisions by which only the ordinary mechanical processes of the vitality arc possible (o the norma! life. It opens entirely the six centres of the psycho-physical system and brings Into (he waking consciousness the power of the awakened Shakti and the light of the unveiled Furusba on each of the as^nding planes. Cbupled with (be use of the mantra it brings the ^vine energy into the body and prepares for and facilitates that concentration in Samadbi which is the crown of the Rajayogic method.
The real object of this mental discipline is to draw away the mind from ic outward and the mental world into union with the divine Being. Therefore in the first three stages use has to be made of some mental means or support by which the mind accustomed to run about from object to object, shall fix on one alone, and that one must be something which represents the idea of the Divine. It is usually a name or a form or a mantra by which the thought can be feed io the sole knowledge or adora- tion of the Lord. By this concentration on the idea (he mind enters from the idea into its reality, into which h sinks silent, absorbed, unified. This is the traditional method. There are,
There are several states leading to spiritual powers and perception. The eight stages of yoga usually enumerated are: 1) yama (restraint, forbearance); 2) niyama, religious observances such as fastings, prayer, penances; 3) asana, postures of various kinds; 4) pranayama, methods of regulating the breath; 5) pratyahara (withdrawal), withdrawal of the consciousness from external objects; 6) dharana (firmness, steadiness, resolution) mental concentration, holding the mind on an object of thought; 7) dhyana, abstract contemplation or meditation freed from exterior distractions; and 8) samadhi, complete collection of the consciousness and its faculties into union with the monadic essence.
There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana, * meditation ’ and ‘ contemplation ’. Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the know- ledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana, for the principle of dh)ona is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. There are other forms of dhyana. You stand back from your thoughts, let them occur in your mind as they will and simply observe them and see what they are. This may be called concentration in self-observation.
There should be full concentration in the work if it is to take the place of meditation.
These heavens are said to be equal in size to a medium chiliocosm; its inhabitants also possess only the mind organ and experience great joy. The fourth set of dhyāna heavens, where those who practiced the fourth meditative concentration in the previous lifetime are reborn, is comprised of eight levels:
These heavens are said to be equal in size to a small chiliocosm. The third set of dhyāna heavens, where those who practiced the third meditative concentration in the previous lifetime are reborn, is also comprised of three levels:
These means are quite unnecessary and besides, they may lead to a passive concentration in which one is open to all sorts of things and cannot choose the nght ones.
These were the units of the SS which guarded the concentration camps during the war, whose members were drawn from the Allgemeine SS. As the military situation worsened in 1942/43, their more able-bodied members were transferred to the Waffen SS. The place of these was taken by older members of the SA, soldiers from the armed services who had been wounded and were no longer fit for active duty, and members of the Waffen SS who were not fit for field duties.
“The Unknown Absolute, above all number, manifested Itself through an emanation in which it was immanent yet as to which it was transcendental. It first withdrew Itself into Itself, to form an infinite Space, the Abyss; which It then filled with a modified and gradually diminishing Light or Vitalization, first appearing in the Abyss, as the centre of a mathematical point which gradually spread Its Life-giving energy or force throughout all Space. This concentration or contraction and its expansion, being the centripetal and centrifugal energies of creation and existence, the Qabbalists called Tzimtzum. The Will of Ain Soph then manifests Itself through the Ideal Perfect Model or Vitalizing Form, first principle and perfect prototype in idea, of all the to be created, whether spiritual or material. This is the Mikrokosm to the Ain Soph, the Makrokosm as to all the created. It is called the Son of Elohim, i.e., God, and the Adam Illa-ah or Adam Qadmon, the Man of the East or Heavenly Adam” (Myer, Qabbalah p. 231).
Threshold ::: A pollutant concentration [or dose] below which no deleterious effect occurs.
Threshold Level ::: Time-weighted average pollutant concentration values, exposure beyond which is likely to adversely affect human health.
Threshold Limit Value (TLV)::: Refers to airborne concentrations of substances and represents conditions under which it is believed that nearly all workers are protected while repeatedly exposed for an 8-hr day, 5 days a week (expressed as parts per million (ppm) for gases and vapors and as milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) for fumes, mists, and dusts).
To arrive at full possession of the powers of the dream-state, it is necessary first to exclude the attack of the sights, sounds etc. of the outer world upon the physical organs. It is quite possible indeed to be aware in the dream-trance of the outer physical world through the subtle senses which belong to the subtle body ; one may be aware of them just so far as one chooses and on a much wider scale than In the waking condition ; for the subtle senses have a far more powerful range than the gross physical organs, a range which may be made practically unlimited. But this awareness of the phj-sical world through the subtle senses is something quite different from our normal awareness of it through the physical organs ; the latter is incompatible with the settled state of trance, for the pressure of the physical senses breaks the Samadhi and calls back the mind to live in their normal field where alone they have power. But the subtle senses have power both upon their own planes and upon the physical world, though this is to them more remote than their own world of being. In Yoga various devices are used to seal up the doors of the physical sense, some of them physical devices ; but the one all-sufficient means is a force of concentration by which the mind is drawn inward to depths where the call of physical things can no longer easily attain to it. A second necessity is to get rid of the intervention of physical sleep. The ordinary habit of the mind when it goes in away from contact with physical things is to fall into the torpor of sleep or its dreams, and therefore when called in for the purposes of Samadhi, it gives or lends to give, at the first chance, by sheer force of habit, not the response demanded, but its usual response of ph)sical slumber. This habit of the mind has to be got rid of ; the mind has to Icam to be awake in the dream-stale, in possession of itself, not with the outgoing, but with an ingathered wakefulness in which, though immersed in itself, it exercises all its powers.
Trace ::: A very small amount of a material. Usually used in reference to concentrations which are on the order of or less than 1-10 parts per million.
transporters (active transporters) ::: Cell membrane molecules that consume energy to move ions up their concentration gradients, thus restoring and/or maintaining normal concentration gradients across cell membranes.
trat.aka (trataka; tratak) ::: concentration of the vision on a single trataka point.
trataka (Tratak) ::: concentration of the vision on a single point or object, preferably a luminous object.
Triangle ::: A color badge worn on the clothes of a concentration camp inmate that disclosed the reason for his incarceration. Green triangles were for criminals; yellow triangles were for Jews; red triangles for political prisoners; purple triangles for Jehovah's Witnesses; pink triangles for homosexuals; black triangles for Roma (Gypsies) and "asocials"; and blue triangles for emigrants.
"Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time.” The Life Divine
“Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time.” The Life Divine
::: "Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time. Universe seeks in infinite extension the divine totality it feels itself to be but cannot entirely realise; for in extension existence drives at a pluralistic sum of itself which can neither be the primal nor the final unit, but only a recurring decimal without end or beginning.” *The Life Divine
“Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time. Universe seeks in infinite extension the divine totality it feels itself to be but cannot entirely realise; for in extension existence drives at a pluralistic sum of itself which can neither be the primal nor the final unit, but only a recurring decimal without end or beginning.” The Life Divine
vasita (vashita) ::: concentration of the will on a person or object so vasita as to control it, one of the three siddhis of power; an instance of such a concentration of the will.
' Vide Concentration ; Dhyana.
vikshepa. ::: distractions; dispersion; scattering; illusory projection; the tossing of the mind which obstructs concentration; consequent bewilderment or perplexity bringing agitation; the mental activity which brings upon the screen of the Self enveloping illusions producing the apparently real appearance of an external world
vyavasaya ::: resolution; settled concentration and perseverance.
Water Pollution ::: The addition of sewage, industrial wastes, or other harmful or objectionable material to water in concentrations or in sufficient quantities to result in measurable degradation of water quality.
weenie 1. [on BBSes] Any of a species of {luser} resembling a less amusing version of {BIFF} that infests many {BBS}es. The typical weenie is a teenage boy with poor social skills travelling under a grandiose {handle} derived from fantasy or heavy-metal rock lyrics. Among {sysops}, "the weenie problem" refers to the marginally literate and profanity-laden {flamage} weenies tend to spew all over a newly-discovered BBS. Compare {spod}, {computer geek}, {terminal junkie}. 2. Among hackers, when used with a qualifier (for example, as in {Unix weenie}, {VMS} weenie, {IBM} weenie) this can be either an insult or a term of praise, depending on context, tone of voice, and whether or not it is applied by a person who considers him or herself to be the same sort of weenie. It implies that the weenie has put a major investment of time, effort and concentration into the area indicated; whether this is good or bad depends on the hearer's judgment of how the speaker feels about that area. See also {bigot}. 3. The {semicolon} character, ";" ({ASCII} 59). (1995-01-18)
What is here called selfishness corresponds in the minds of Buddhist philosophers and scholars to the ideas they disputed grouped about the word atman. They never intended to deny the fundamental meaning of atman or selfhood, and yet this misconception of ancient Buddhist teaching has brought about the false idea that Gautama Buddha and his followers taught that man has no essential self or selfhood. Because selfishness was popularly considered the permanent soulhood in man, the doctrine of anatma (in Pali, anatta) was strongly and continuously taught. The deduction shows clearly that even in India at the time of the Buddha, selfhood in its popular sense of concentration on the lower self and its interests was as popular and widespread as today. It is a paradox that in selflessness is found the noblest and highest emanation of self-expression of the atman or spiritual self in man.
Wirtschafts-und Verwaltungshauptamt ::: The Economic and Administrative Office of the SS. Created in 1942 it controlled the vast economic interests of the SS. These were tied up with concentration camp and extermination programs through the administration of slave labor and the saleable outputs from the Jewish ghettoes and concentration and extermination camps. The SS official in charge was Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl.
Work for the Mother done with the right concentration on her is as much a sadhana as meditation and inner experiences.
Yama (Sanskrit) Yama [from the verbal root yam to subdue, control] A curb, rein, bridle; hence the act of curbing, suppression, self-control. Especially prominent in yoga as self-restraint: it is the first of the eight angas or means of attaining mental concentration.
Yoga: Sanskrit for union. The development of the powers latent in man for achieving union with the Divine Spirit. It is defined as “the restraint of mental modifications.” Eight stages are enumerated, viz. moral restraint (yama), self-culture (niyama), posture (asana) breath-control (pranayama), control of the senses (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and a state of superconsciousness (samadhi). The techniques of Yoga are recognized and applied by all schools of occultism.
Yoga: (Skr. "yoking") Restraining of the mind (see Manas), or, in Patanjali's (q.v.) phrase: citta vrtti nirodha, disciplining the activity of consciousness. The object of this universally recommended practice in India is the gaining of peace of mind and a deeper insight into the nature of reality. On psycho-physical assumptions, several aids are outlined in all works on Yoga, including moral preparation, breath-control, posture, and general toning up of the system. Karma or kriya Yoga is the attainment of Yoga ends primarily by doing, bhakti Yoga by devotion, jnana Yoga by mental or spiritual means. The Yogasutras (q.v.) teach eight paths: Moral restraint (see yama), self-culture (see niyama), posture (see asana), breath-control (see prandyama), control of the senses (see pratyahara), concentration (see dharana), meditation or complete surrender to the object of meditation (see samadhi). See Hathayoga. -- K.F.L.
KEYS (10k)
72 Sri Aurobindo
30 The Mother
6 Sri Ramana Maharshi
5 Sri Ramakrishna
3 Ramakrishna
2 Vivekananda
2 Sri Ramana Maharshi
2 Peter J Carroll
2 Mouni Sadhu
2 Bruce Lee
2 Aleister Crowley
1 Viktor E Frankl
1 SWAMI RAMA TIRTHA
1 Sri Sarada Devi
1 Shunryu Suzuki
1 Satprem
1 SATM?
1 Robert Anton Wilson
1 Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 9
1 Patanjali : Aphroisms III. 38
1 Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 34
1 Patanjali : Aphroisms I. 30
1 Katha Upanishad II.24
1 Howard Gardner
1 Haruki Murakami
1 Dion Fortune
1 Chamtrul Rinpoche
1 Bhagavad Gita.XII. 12
1 Bhagavad Gita 11. 53
1 Anonymous
1 Albert Einstein
1 Swami Vivekananda
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
32 Cal Newport
31 Sri Aurobindo
28 Viktor E Frankl
28 Thich Nhat Hanh
27 Anonymous
18 Frederick Lenz
17 Kevin Horsley
16 The Mother
16 Henepola Gunaratana
15 Noam Chomsky
15 Haruki Murakami
12 Sri Ramana Maharshi
11 Swami Vivekananda
11 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
10 Nhat Hanh
9 Sri Ramakrishna
8 Israelmore Ayivor
7 Timothy Snyder
7 Sharon Salzberg
7 Ralph Waldo Emerson
1:One great cause of failure is lack of concentration. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
2:Concentration is the root of all the higher abilities in man. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
3:Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life.
~ Haruki Murakami,#KEYS
4:Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self criticism.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
5:Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine." ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
6:Concentration has to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #KEYS
7:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
8:Concentration of the powers of the mind is our only instrument to help us see God. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
9:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
10:The mind is a thing that dwells in diffusion, in succession. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
11:It is by the thought that we dissipate ourselves in the phenomenal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
12:You must persevere in your concentration till you come to the point when you no longer lose the inner contact. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
13:Being dwelling in consciousness upon itself for bliss, this is the divine Tapas. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
14:An all-inclusive concentration is the difficult achievement towards which we must labour
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#KEYS
15:The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
16:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
17:At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
18:In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. With my blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 8th,#KEYS
19:Prakriti is the action of the All-conscient. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Exclusive Concentration of Consciousness-Force and the Ignorance, #KEYS
20:The power of the human intelligence is without bounds; it increases by concentration: that is the secret. ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
21:What is the good in doing Japa for a whole day if there is no concentration of mind? Collectedness of one's mind is essential, then only His grace descends. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
22:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#KEYS
23:The cause of mediocre work is neither the variety nor the number of activities, but lack of the power of concentration.
~ The Mother, On Education, [T5],#KEYS
24:When one is able to effect mental concentration in any environment, the mind will always rise above the environment and rest in God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
25:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
26:Concentration should be all on the immediate step—whatever is being done at the time. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Experiences on the Higher Planes, #KEYS
27:Inspiration comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Divine Force in Work, #KEYS
28:When thy understanding shall stand immovable and unshakeable in concentration, then thou shalt attain to the divine Union. ~ Bhagavad Gita 11. 53, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
29:Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of the same status of being . ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
30:We must aim indeed at the Highest, the Source of all, the Transcendent but not to the exclusion of that which it transcends. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
31:Not only in your inward concentration, but in your outward acts and movements you must take the right attitude. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Wrong Movements of the Vital, #KEYS
32:To control the mind the best and easiest method is to repeat constantly God's Name. Concentration is attained by fixing the attention on the sound of the Name. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
33:What is the best method to find the Divine who is in each of us and in all things?
Aspiration. Silence. Concentration in the solar plexus region.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
34:So we should acquire the power of concentration by fixing the mind first on forms and when we have obtained in this a full success, we can easily fix it on the formless. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
35:Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Man in the Universe, #KEYS
36:Concentration upon oneself means decay and death. Concentration on the Divine alone brings life and growth and realisation.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You,#KEYS
37:Concentration on the Divine is the only truly valid thing. To do what the Divine wants us to do is the only thing valid.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The True Aim of Life, [T0],#KEYS
38:And the statement made nearly 2,000 years ago came to my mind:
'Not even a hair dares to fall from your head without My Father's will . . .'
To realize this means to reach the inner peace. ~ Mouni Sadhu, Concentration,#KEYS
39:The fault of our nature is first an inert subjection to the impacts of things as they come in upon the mind pell-mell without order or control. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #KEYS
40:Knowledge is better than practice, concentration excels knowledge, the renunciation of fruits concentration; peace is the immediate result of renunciation. ~ Bhagavad Gita.XII. 12, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
41:One has to keep a certain balance by which the fundamental consciousness remains able to turn from one concentration to another with ease. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Becoming Conscious in Work, #KEYS
42:So we should acquire the power of concentration by fixing the mind first on forms and when we have obtained in this a full success, we can easily fix it on the formless. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
43:Attachment with worldly objects and pleasures is the greatest obstacle in the path of Realization, while worldly detachment with full concentration on the one Truth, the Divinity within, gives immediate Self-realization. ~ SWAMI RAMA TIRTHA, #KEYS
44:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
45:One who has not ceased from evil living or is without peace or without concentration or whose mind has not been tranquillised, cannot attain to Him by the intelligence. ~ Katha Upanishad II.24, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
46:In whatever centre the concentration takes place the Yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Descent and Other Kinds of Experience, #KEYS
47:And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
48:The powers developed are liable to become obstacles to a perfect concentration by reason of the possibility of wonder and admiration which results from their exercise. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms III. 38, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
49:If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Concentration and Meditation, #KEYS
50:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
51:Just as light destroys darkness,
Generosity destroys miserliness,
Discipline destroys harmfulness.
Patience destroys intolerance,
Perseverance destroys laziness,
Concentration destroys distraction,
Wisdom destroys ignorance. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche,#KEYS
52:When we render natural and easy to us perfect concentration (or the operation which consists in fixing attention, contemplation and meditation), a power of exact discernment develops. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 9, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
53:Thinking-mind
There throned on concentration's native seat
He opens that third mysterious eye in man,
The Unseen's eye that looks at the unseen, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
54:Concentration of the mind is in a way common to both Knowledge and Yoga. Yoga aims at union of the individual with the universal, the Reality. This Reality cannot be new. It must exist even now, and it does exist. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
55:After long practice one who is master of himself can dispense with diverse aids to concentration...and he will be able to make himself master of any result whatsoever simply by desiring it. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 34, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
56:Studies strengthen the mind and turn its concentration away from the impulses and desires of the vital. Concentrating on study is one of the most powerful ways of controlling the mind and the vital; that is why it is so important to study.
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
57:The obstacles met by the seeker after concentration are illness, langour, doubt, negligence, idleness, the domination of the senses, false perception, impotence to attain and instability in a state of meditation once attained. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms I. 30, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
58:We must not be bewildered by appearances. Sri Aurobindo has not left us. Sri Aurobindo is here, as living and as present as ever and it is left to us to realise his work with all the sincerity, eagerness and concentration necessary. 15 December 1950 ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, #KEYS
59:An intensive and concentrated sadhana once begun has to be persistently continued in the right atmosphere. If it is kept up only for a short time and then dropped for another kind of life in which the concentration is diffused and weakened, there is no likelihood of fruition ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
60:When you want to think and find a solution, instead of following the deductions of thought, you stop everything and try to concentrate and concentrate, intensify the point of the problem. You stop everything and wait until, by the intensity of the concentration, you obtain an answer. ~ The Mother, #KEYS
61:the centre in her brow
Where the mind's Lord in his control-room sits;
There throned on concentration's native seat
He opens that third mysterious eye in man,
The Unseen's eye that looks at the unseen. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
62:In each case it is Tapas that is effective, but it acts in a different manner according to the thing that has to be done, according to the predetermined process, dynamism, self-deploying of the Infinite.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Exclusive Concentration of Consciousness-Force and the Ignorance,#KEYS
63:A highest Godward tension liberates the mind through an absolute seeing of knowledge, liberates the heart through an absolute love and delight, liberates the whole existence through an absolute concentration of will towards a greater existence. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, The Theory of the Vibhuti, #KEYS
64:Everything must be given to the Divine within us, to the universal All and to the transcendent Supreme. An absolute concentration of our will, our heart and our thought on that one and manifold Divine, an unreserved self-consecration of our whole being to the Divine alone
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, 89,#KEYS
65:There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." I can see in these words a motto which holds true for any psychotherapy. In the Nazi concentration camps, one could have witnessed that those who knew that there was a task waiting for them to fulfill were most apt to survive. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #KEYS
66:Concentration, for our Yoga, means when the consciousness is fixed in a particular state (e.g. peace) or movement (e.g. aspiration, will, coming into contact with the Mother, taking the Mother's name); meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [concentration is:],#KEYS
67:D.: In the practice of meditation are there any signs of the nature of subjective experience or otherwise, which will indicate the aspirant's progress towards Self-Realisation
M.: The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measure to gauge the progress.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 427,#KEYS
68:Meditation here is not reflection or any other kind of discursive thinking. It is pure concentration: training the mind to dwell on an interior focus without wandering, until it becomes absorbed in the object of its contemplation. But absorption does not mean unconsciousness. The outside world may be forgotten, but meditation is a state of intense inner wakefulness. ~ Anonymous, The Upanishads, #KEYS
69:If concentration is made with the brain, sensations of heat and even headache ensue.
Concentration has to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing.
Relax and your meditation will be easy.
Keep your mind steady by gently warding off all intruding thoughts, but without strain - soon you will succeed. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Ramana II. XI,#KEYS
70:From the point of view of action (physical action), it is the will: you must work and build up an unshakable will. From the intellectual point of view, you must work and build up a power of concentration which nothing can shake. And if you have both, concentration and will, you will be a genius and nothing will resist you.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953, [T4],#KEYS
71:For concentration does indeed unlock all doors; it lies at the heart of every practice as it is of the essence of all theory; and almost all the various rules and regulations are aimed at securing adeptship in this matter. All the subsidiary work—awareness, one-pointedness, mindfulness and the rest—is intended to train you to this. ~ Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, #KEYS
72:Addicts of drunkenness or other habit-forming vices cannot possibly hope to be students of concentration for the simple reason that their real will-power is too close to zero. If they cannot stop their bad habits, which they know perfectly well are harmful for them, where then would they find enough inner strength to overcome their mental apathy and laziness? ~ Mouni Sadhu, Concentration, Obstacles and Aids, #KEYS
73:When you give us a subject for meditation, what should we do about it? Keep thinking of it?
Keep your thought focused upon it in a concentrated way.
And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
74:The force of attention properly guided and directed towards the inner life allows us to analyse our soul and will shed light on many things. The forces of the mind resemble scattered rays; concentrate them and they illumine everything. That is the sole source of knowledge we possess. To conquer this knowledge there is only one method, concentration. ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
75:There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits you. [how to concentrate?]
~ SATM?,#KEYS
76:Man carries within himself perfect power, perfect wisdom, and perfect knowledge, and if he wants to possess them, he must discover them in the depth of his being, by introspection and concentration. These divine qualities are identical at the centre, at the heart of all beings; this implies the essential unity of all, and all the consequences of solidarity and fraternity that follow from it.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
77:In the first movement of self-preparation, the period of personal effort, the method we have to use is this concentration of the whole being on the Divine that it seeks and, as its corollary, this constant rejection, throwing out, katharsis, of all that is not the true Truth of the Divine. An entire consecration of all that we are, think, feel and do will be the result of this persistence.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
78:to become conscious of the psychic :::
The psychic being always has an influence on the thoughts and actions, but one is rarely conscious of it. To become conscious of the psychic being, one must want to do so, make one's mind as silent as possible, and enter deep into the heart of one's being, beyond sensations and thoughts. One must form the habit of silent concentration and descent into the depths of one's being.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
79:Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine-there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
80:Sadhana is the practice of Yoga.
Tapasya is the concentration of the will to get the results of sadhana and to conquer the lower nature.
Aradhana is worship of the Divine, love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer.
Dhyana is inner concentration of the consciousness, meditation, going inside in Samadhi.
Dhyana, tapasya and aradhana are all parts of sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, 215 [sadhana is:],#KEYS
81:Meditation means thinking on one subject in a concentrated way. In concentration proper there is not a series of thoughts, but the mind is silently fixed on one object, name, idea, place etc. There are other kinds of concentration, e.g. concentrating the whole consciousness in one place, as between the eyebrows, in the heart, etc. One can also concentrate to get rid of thought altogether and remain in a complete silence.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
82:... The sadhana of inner concentration consists in:
(1) Fixing the consciousness in the heart and concentrating there on the idea, image or name of the Divine Mother, whichever comes easiest to you.
(2) A gradual and progressive quieting of the mind by this concentration in the heart.
(3) An aspiration for the Mother's presence in the heart and the control by her of mind, life and action. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, Combining Work, Meditation and Bhakti,#KEYS
83:The sadhana of this Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart, and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [T3],#KEYS
84:way of the Integral Yogin :::
Nor is the seeker of the integral fulfilment permitted to solve too arbitrarily even the conflict of his own inner members. He has to harmonise deliberate knowledge with unquestioning faith; he must conciliate the gentle soul of love with the formidable need of power; the passivity of the soul that lives content in transcendent calm has to be fused with the activity of the divine helper and the divine warrior. ... An all-inclusive concentration is the difficult achievement towards which he must labour.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration, 78,#KEYS
85:As a rule the only mantra used in this sadhana is that of the Mother or of my name and the Mother. The concentration in the heart and the concentration in the head can both be used - each has its own result. The first opens up the psychic being and brings bhakti, love and union with the Mother, her presence within the heart and the action of her Force in the nature. The other opens the mind to self-realisation, to the consciousness of what is above mind, to the ascent of the consciousness out of the body and the descent of the higher consciousness into the body. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, #KEYS
86:That status of knowledge is then the aim of this path and indeed of all paths when pursued to their end, to which intellectual discrimination and conception and all concentration and psychological self-knowledge and all seeking by the heart through love and by the senses through beauty and by the will through power and works and by the soul through peace and joy are only keys, avenues, first approaches and beginnings of the ascent which we have to use and to follow till the wide and infinite levels are attained and the divine doors swing open into the infinite Light.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
87:The Yoga must start with an effort or at least a settled turn towards this total concentration. A constant and unfailing will of consecration of all ourselves to the Supreme is demanded of us, an offering of our whole being and our many-chambered nature to the Eternal who is the All. The effective fullness of our concentration on the one thing needful to the exclusion of all else will be the measure of our self-consecration to the One who is alone desirable. But this exclusiveness will in the end exclude nothing except the falsehood of our way of seeing the world and our will's ignorance. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5], #KEYS
88:It is said that the faculty of concentrated attention is at the source of all successful activity. Indeed the capacity and value of a man can be measured by his capacity of concentrated attention.[2]
In order to obtain this concentration, it is generally recommended to reduce one's activities, to make a choice and confine oneself to this choice alone, so as not to disperse one's energy and attention. For the normal man, this method is good, sometimes even indispensable. But one can imagine something better.
[2] Generally it comes through interest and a special attraction for a subject - Mother's note.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, [T4],#KEYS
89:Einstein was remarkable for his powers of concentration; he could work uninterruptedly for hours and even days on the same problem. Some of the topics that interested him remained on his mind for decades. For relaxation he turned to music and to sailing, but often his work would continue during these moments as well; he usually had a notebook in his pocket so that he could jot down any idea that came to him. Once, after the theory of relativity had been put forth, he confessed to his colleague Wolfgang Pauli, "For the rest of my life I want to reflect on what light is." It is perhaps not entirely an accident that a focus on light is also the first visual act of the newborn child. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
90:conditions of the psychic opening :::
For the opening of the psychic being, concentration on the Mother and self-offering to her are the direct way. The growth of Bhakti which you feel is the first sign of the psychic development. A sense of the Mother's presence or force or the remembrance of her supporting and strengthening you is the next sign. Eventually, the soul within begins to be active in aspiration and psychic perception guiding the mind to the right thoughts, the vital to the right movements and feelings, showing and rejecting all that has to be put away and turning the whole being in all its movements to the Divine alone. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - III,#KEYS
91:There is no method in this Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one's own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother's Power and Presence.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
92:Magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. The will can only become magically effective when the mind is focused and not interfering with the will The mind must first discipline itself to focus its entire attention on some meaningless phenomenon. If an attempt is made to focus on some form of desire, the effect is short circuited by lust of result. Egotistical identification, fear of failure, and the reciprocal desire not to achieve desire, arising from our dual nature, destroy the result.
Therefore, when selecting topics for concentration, choose subjects of no spiritual, egotistical, intellectual, emotional, or useful significance - meaningless things.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null, Liber MMM, The Magical Trances [15],#KEYS
93:My child, if you can concentrate deeply into my eyes, then you will get all that you want to know, all that you want to comprehend, all that you want to realise, just by an intense concentration, just by the power of your will which expresses itself through your eyes.
You can have all that you aspire for, all that you need. You can see the whole world in my eyes: the whole universe unfolds in my eyes, all that is beautiful in nature as well as in the heavens. And you will not need to go here and there looking for the so-called attractions and revelations of this world. All is in me, and all expresses itself through me. Take the trouble to find me there (Mother points to the heart) and you will see everything, everything through my eyes. Voilà! ~ The Mother,#KEYS
94:It is only when after long and persistent concentration or by other means the veil of the mind is rent or swept aside, only when a flood of light breaks over the awakened mentality, jyotirmaya brahman, and conception gives place to a knowledge-vision in which the Self is as present, real, concrete as a physical object to the physical eye, that we possess in knowledge; for we have seen. After that revelation, whatever fadings of the light, whatever periods of darkness may afflict the soul, it can never irretrievably lose what it has once held. The experience is inevitably renewed and must become more frequent till it is constant; when and how soon depends on the devotion and persistence with which we insist on the path and besiege by our will or our love the hidden Deity.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [305],#KEYS
95:Therefore there is only one solution: to unite ourselves by aspiration, concentration, interiorisation and identification with the supreme Will. And that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom at the same time. And that is the only omnipotence and the only freedom; everything else is an approximation. You may be on the way, but it is not the entire thing. So if you experience this, you realise that with this supreme freedom and supreme power there is also a total peace and a serenity that never fails.
Therefore, if you feel something which is not that, a revolt, a disgust, something which you cannot accept, it means that in you there is a part which has not been touched by the transformation, something which has kept the old consciousness, something which is still on the path - that is all.
~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms,#KEYS
96:It is to bring back all the scattered threads of consciousness to a single point, a single idea. Those who can attain a perfect attention succeed in everything they undertake; they will always make rapid progress. And this kind of concentration can be developed exactly like the muscles; one may follow different systems, different methods of training. Today we know that the most pitiful weakling, for example, can with discipline become as strong as anyone else. One should not have a will that flickers out like a candle. The will, the concentration must be cultivated; it is a question of method, of regular exercise. If you will, you can. But the thought Whats the use? must not come in to weaken the will. The idea that one is born with a certain character and can do nothing about it is a stupidity.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951,#KEYS
97:The transformation of our superficial, narrow and fragmentary human way of thinking, seeing, feeling and being into a deep and wide spiritual consciousness and an integrated inner and outer existence and of our ordinary human living into the divine way of life must be its central purpose. The means towards this supreme end is a self-giving of all our nature to the Divine. Everything must be given to the Divine within us, to the universal All and to the transcendent Supreme. An absolute concentration of our will, our heart and our thought on that one and manifold Divine, an unreserved self-consecration of our whole being to the Divine alone - this is the decisive movement, the turning of the ego to That which is infinitely greater than itself, its self-giving and indispensable surrender
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Surrender in Works - The Way of the Gita, 89,#KEYS
98:The universe and the individual are necessary to each other in their ascent. Always indeed they exist for each other and profit by each other. Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time. Universe seeks in infinite extension the divine totality it feels itself to be but cannot entirely realise; for in extension existence drives at a pluralistic sum of itself which can neither be the primal nor the final unit, but only a recurring decimal without end or beginning. Therefore it creates in itself a self-conscious concentration of the All through which it can aspire. In the conscious individual Prakriti turns back to perceive Purusha, World seeks after Self; God having entirely become Nature, Nature seeks to become progressively God. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Man in the Universe, 50, [T9], #KEYS
99:Please initiate me into a tangible form of Yoga. I make this assurance that I shall follow your instructions to the very letter and refer to you my doubts and difficulties on the way.
There is no method in this Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one's own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother's Power and Presence. 30 November 1934 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
100:an all-inclusive concentration is required for an Integral Yoga :::
Concentration is indeed the first condition of any Yoga, but it is an all-receiving concentration that is the very nature of the integral Yoga. A separate strong fixing of the thought, of the emotions or of the will on a single idea, object, state, inner movement or principle is no doubt a frequent need here also; but this is only a subsidiary helpful process. A wide massive opening, a harmonised concentration of the whole being in all its parts and through all its powers upon the One who is the All is the larger action of this Yoga without which it cannot achieve its purpose. For it is the consciousness that rests in the One and that acts in the All to which we aspire; it is this that we seek to impose on every element of our being and on every movement of our nature. This wide and concentrated totality is the essential character of the sadhana and its character must determine its practice.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
101:There are two Paths to the Innermost: the Way of the Mystic, which is the way of devotion and meditation, a solitary and subjective path; and the way of the occultist, which is the way of the intellect, of concentration, and of trained will; upon this path the co-operation of fellow workers is required, firstly for the exchange of knowledge, and secondly because ritual magic plays an important part in this work, and for this the assistance of several is needed in most of the greater operations. The mystic derives his knowledge through the direct communion of his higher self with the Higher Powers; to him the wisdom of the occultist is foolishness, for his mind does not work in that way; but, on the other hand, to a more intellectual and extrovert type, the method of the mystic is impossible until long training has enabled him to transcend the planes of form. We must therefore recognize these two distinct types among those who seek the Way of Initiation, and remember that there is a path for each. ~ Dion Fortune, Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate, #KEYS
102:This concentration proceeds by the Idea, using thought, form and name as keys which yield up to the concentrating mind the Truth that lies concealed behind all thought, form and name; for it is through the Idea that the mental being rises beyond all expression to that which is expressed, to that of which the Idea itself is only the instrument. By concentration upon the Idea the mental existence which at present we are breaks open the barrier of our mentality and arrives at the state of consciousness, the state of being, the state of power of conscious-being and bliss of conscious-being to which the Idea corresponds and of which it is the symbol, movement and rhythm. Concentration by the Idea is, then, only a means, a key to open to us the superconscient planes of our existence; a certain self-gathered state of our whole existence lifted into that superconscient truth, unity and infinity of self-aware, self-blissful existence is the aim and culmination; and that is the meaning we shall give to the term Samadhi.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Integral Knowledge, Concentration [321],#KEYS
103:The triple way takes for its chosen instruments the three main powers of the mental soul-life of the human being. Knowledge selects the reason and the mental vision and it makes them by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of a Goddirected seeking its means for the greatest knowledge and the greatest vision of all, God-knowledge and God-vision. Its aim is to see, know and be the Divine. Works, action selects for its instrument the will of the doer of works; it makes life an offering of sacrifice to the Godhead and by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of subjection to the divine Will a means for contact and increasing unity of the soul of man with the divine Master of the universe. Devotion selects the emotional and aesthetic powers of the soul and by turning them all Godward in a perfect purity, intensity, infinite passion of seeking makes them a means of God-possession in one or many relations of unity with the Divine Being. All aim in their own way at a union or unity of the human soul with the supreme Spirit.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 610 [T3],#KEYS
104:In Hathayoga the instrument is the body and life. All the power of the body is stilled, collected, purified, heightened, concentrated to its utmost limits or beyond any limits by Asana and other physical processes; the power of the life too is similarly purified, heightened, concentrated by Asana and Pranayama. This concentration of powers is then directed towards that physical centre in which the divine consciousness sits concealed in the human body. The power of Life, Nature-power, coiled up with all its secret forces asleep in the lowest nervous plexus of the earth-being,-for only so much escapes into waking action in our normal operations as is sufficient for the limited uses of human life,-rises awakened through centre after centre and awakens, too, in its ascent and passage the forces of each successive nodus of our being, the nervous life, the heart of emotion and ordinary mentality, the speech, sight, will, the higher knowledge, till through and above the brain it meets with and it becomes one with the divine consciousness.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfection, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 609,#KEYS
105:It is always better to try to concentrate in a centre, the centre of aspiration, one might say, the place where the flame of aspiration burns, to gather in all the energies there, at the solar plexus centre and, if possible, to obtain an attentive silence as though one wanted to listen to something extremely subtle, something that demands a complete attention, a complete concentration and a total silence. And then not to move at all. Not to think, not to stir, and make that movement of opening so as to receive all that can be received, but taking good care not to try to know what is happening while it is happening, for it one wants to understand or even to observe actively, it keeps up a sort of cerebral activity which is unfavourable to the fullness of the receptivity - to be silent, as totally silent as possible, in an attentive concentration, and then be still. If one succeeds in this, then, when everything is over, when one comes out of meditation, some time later - usually not immediately - from within the being something new emerges in the consciousness: a new understanding, a new appreciation of things, a new attitude in life - in short, a new way of being.
~ Sri Aurobindo, [where to concentrate?],#KEYS
106:all is the method of God's workings; all life is Yoga :::
Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognize in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of the might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in Nature, in the other it becomes swift and self-conscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and there for right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Conditions of the Synthesis [47] [T1],#KEYS
107:For our concentration on the Eternal will be consummated by the mind when we see constantly the Divine in itself and the Divine in ourselves, but also the Divine in all things and beings and happenings. It will be consummated by the heart when all emotion is summed up in the love of the Divine, - of the Divine in itself and for itself, but love too of the Divine in all its beings and powers and personalities and forms in the Universe. It will be consummated by the will when we feel and receive always the divine impulsion and accept that alone as our sole motive force; but this will mean that, having slain to the last rebellious straggler the wandering impulses of the egoistic nature, we have universalised ourselves and can accept with a constant happy acceptance the one divine working in all things. This is the first fundamental siddhi of the integral Yoga.
It is nothing less that is meant in the end when we speak of the absolute consecration of the individual to the Divine. But this total fullness of consecration can only come by a constant progression when the long and difficult process of transforming desire out of existence is completed in an ungrudging measure. Perfect self-consecration implies perfect self-surrender.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, 85-86, [T1],#KEYS
108:Equally must the sense-mind be stilled and taught to leave the function of thought to the mind that judges and understands. When the understanding in us stands back from the action of the sense-mind and repels its intermiscence, the latter detaches itself from the understanding and can be watched in its separate action. It then reveals itself as a constantly swirling and eddying undercurrent of habitual concepts, associations, perceptions, desires without any real sequence, order or principle of light. It is a constant repetition in a circle unintelligent and unfruitful. Ordinarily the human understanding accepts this undercurrent and tries to reduce it to a partial order and sequence; but by so doing it becomes itself subject to it and partakes of that disorder, restlessness, unintelligent subjection to habit and blind purposeless repetition which makes the ordinary human reason a misleading, limited and even frivolous and futile instrument. There is nothing to be done with this fickle, restless, violent and disturbing factor but to get rid of it whether by detaching it and then reducing it to stillness or by giving a concentration and singleness to the thought by which it will of itself reject this alien and confusing element.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Purified Understanding,#KEYS
109:In Rajayoga the chosen instrument is the mind. our ordinary mentality is first disciplined, purified and directed towards the divine Being, then by a summary process of Asana and Pranayama the physical force of our being is stilled and concentrated, the life-force released into a rhythmic movement capable of cessation and concentrated into a higher power of its upward action, the mind, supported and strengthened by this greater action and concentration of the body and life upon which it rests, is itself purified of all its unrest and emotion and its habitual thought-waves, liberated from distraction and dispersion, given its highest force of concentration, gathered up into a trance of absorption. Two objects, the one temporal, the other eternal,are gained by this discipline. Mind-power develops in another concentrated action abnormal capacities of knowledge, effective will, deep light of reception, powerful light of thought-radiation which are altogether beyond the narrow range of our normal mentality; it arrives at the Yogic or occult powers around which there has been woven so much quite dispensable and yet perhaps salutary mystery. But the one final end and the one all-important gain is that the mind, stilled and cast into a concentrated trance, can lose itself in the divine consciousness and the soul be made free to unite with the divine Being.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfection, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 609,#KEYS
110:It is, then, in the highest mind of thought and light and will or it is in the inner heart of deepest feeling and emotion that we must first centre our consciousness, -in either of them or, if we are capable, in both together,- and use that as our leverage to lift the nature wholly towards the Divine. The concentration of an enlightened thought, will and heart turned in unison towards one vast goal of our knowledge, one luminous and infinite source of our action, one imperishable object of our emotion is the starting-point of the Yoga. And the object of our seeking must be the very fount of the Light which is growing in us, the very origin of the Force which we are calling to move our members. our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly, something always aspires in our secret nature. There must be a large, many-sided yet single concentration of the thought on the idea, the perception, the vision, the awakening touch, the souls realisation of the one Divine. There must be a flaming concentration of the heart on the All and Eternal -and, when once we have found him, a deep plunging and immersion in the possession and ecstasy of the All-Beautiful. There must be a strong and immovable concentration of the will on the attainment and fulfilment of all that the Divine is and a free and plastic opening of it to all that he intends to manifest in us. This is the triple way of the Yoga.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Works, Self-Consecration, 80 [where to concentrate?],#KEYS
111:challenge for the Integral Yogin :::
Nor is the seeker of the integral fulfilment permitted to solve too arbitrarily even the conflict of his own inner members. He has to harmonise deliberate knowledge with unquestioning faith; he must conciliate the gentle soul of love with the formidable need of power; the passivity of the soul that lives content in transcendent calm has to be fused with the activity of the divine helper and the divine warrior. To him as to all seekers of the spirit there are offered for solution the oppositions of the reason, the clinging hold of the senses, the perturbations of the heart, the ambush of the desires, the clog of the physical body; but he has to deal in another fashion with their mutual and internal conflicts and their hindrance to his aim, for he must arrive at an infinitely more difficult perfection in the handling of all this rebel matter. Accepting them as instruments for the divine realisation and manifestation, he has to convert their jangling discords, to enlighten their thick darknesses, to transfigure them separately and all together, harmonising them in themselves and with each other, -- integrally, omitting no grain or strand or vibration, leaving no iota of imperfection anywhere. All exclusive concentration, or even a succession of concentrations of that kind, can be in his complex work only a temporary convenience; it has to be abandoned as soon as its utility is over. An all-inclusive concentration is the difficult achievement towards which he must labour.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, 78, [T9],#KEYS
112:the powers of concentration :::
By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself, we can become whatever we choose; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fear, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, [318],#KEYS
113:Concentrating the Attention:
Whatever you may want to do in life, one thing is absolutely indispensable and at the basis of everything, the capacity of concentrating the attention. If you are able to gather together the rays of attention and consciousness on one point and can maintain the concentration with a presistent will, nothing can resist it - whatever it may be, from the most material physical development to the highest spiritual one. But this discipline must be followed in a constant and, it may be said, imperturbable way; not that you should always be concentrated on the same thing - thats not what I mean, I mean learning to concentrate. And materially, for studies, sports, all physical or mental development, it is absolutely indispensble. And the value of an individual is proportionate to the value of his attention. And from the spiritual point of view it is still more important. There is no spiritual obstacle which can resist a penetrating power of concentration. For instance, the discovery of the psychic being, union with the inner Divine, opening to the higher spheres, all can be obtained by an intense and obstinate power of concentration - but one must learn how to do it. There is nothing in the human or even in the superhuman field, to which the power of concentration is not the key. You can be the best athlete, you can be the best student, you can be an artistic, literary or scientific genius, you can be the greatest saint with that faculty. And everyone has in himself a tiny little beginning of it - it is given to everybody, but people do not cultivate it.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1957-1958,#KEYS
114:37 - Some say Krishna never lived, he is a myth. They mean on earth; for if Brindavan existed nowhere, the Bhagavat (6) could not have been written. - Sri Aurobindo
Does Brindavan exist anywhere else than on earth?
The whole earth and everything it contains is a kind of concentration, a condensation of something which exists in other worlds invisible to the material eye. Each thing manifested here has its principle, idea or essence somewhere in the subtler regions. This is an indispensable condition for the manifestation. And the importance of the manifestation will always depend on the origin of the thing manifested.
In the world of the gods there is an ideal and harmonious Brindavan of which the earthly Brindavan is but a deformation and a caricature.
Those who are developed inwardly, either in their senses or in their minds, perceive these realities which are invisible (to the ordinary man) and receive their inspiration from them.
So the writer or writers of the Bhagavat were certainly in contact with a whole inner world that is well and truly real and existent, where they saw and experienced everything they have described or revealed.
Whether Krishna existed or not in a human form, living on earth, is only of very secondary importance (except perhaps from an exclusively historical point of view), for Krishna is a real, living and active being; and his influence has been one of the great factors in the progress and transformation of the earth.
8 June 1960
(6 The story of Krishna, as related in the Bhagavat Purana.) ~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms, volume-10, page no.60-61),#KEYS
115:the second aid, the need for effort and aspiration, utsaha :::
The development of the experience in its rapidity, its amplitude, the intensity and power of its results, depends primarily, in the beginning of the path and long after, on the aspiration and personal effort of the sadhaka. The process of Yoga is a turning of the human soul from the egoistic state of consciousness absorbed in the outward appearances and attractions of things to a higher state in which the Transcendent and Universal can pour itself into the individiual mould and transform it. The first determining element in the siddhi is, therefore, the intensity of the turning, the force which directs the soul inward. The power of aspiration of the heart, the force of the will, the concentration of the mind, the perseverance and determination of the applied energy are the measure of that intensity. The ideal sadhaka should be able to say in the Biblical phrase, 'My zeal for the Lord has eaten me up.' It is this zeal for the Lord, -utsaha, the zeal of the whole nature for its divine results, vyakulata, the heart's eagerness for the attainment of the Divine, - that devours the ego and breaks up the petty limitations ...
So long as the contact with the Divine is not in some considerable degree established, so long as there is not some measure of sustained identity, sayujya, the element of personal effort must normally predominate. But in proportion as this contact establishes itself, the sadhaka must become conscious that a force other than his own, a force transcending his egoistic endeavour and capacity, is at work in him and to this Power he learns progressively to submit himself and delivers up to it the charge of his Yoga.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Four Aids,#KEYS
116:One can concentrate in any of the three centres which is easiest to the sadhak or gives most result. The power of the concentration in the heart-centre is to open that centre and by the power of aspiration, love, bhakti, surrender remove the veil which covers and conceals the soul and bring forward the soul or psychic being to govern the mind, life and body and turn and open them all-fully-to the Divine, removing all that is opposed to that turning and opening.
This is what is called in this Yoga the psychic transformation. The power of concentration above the head is to bring peace, silence, liberation from the body sense, the identification with mind and life and open the way for the lower (mental vital-physical) consciousness to rise up to meet the higher Consciousness above and for the powers of the higher (spiritual or divine) Consciousness to descend into mind, life and body. This is what is called in this Yoga the spiritual transformation. If one begins with this movement, then the Power from above has in its descent to open all the centres (including the lowest centre) and to bring out the psychic being; for until that is done there is likely to be much difficulty and struggle of the lower consciousness obstructing, mixing with or even refusing the Divine Action from above. If the psychic being is once active this struggle and these difficulties can be greatly minimised. The power of concentration in the eyebrows is to open the centre there, liberate the inner mind and vision and the inner or Yogic consciousness and its experiences and powers. From here also one can open upwards and act also in the lower centres; but the danger of this process is that one may get shut up in one's mental spiritual formations and not come out of them into the free and integral spiritual experience and knowledge and integral change of the being and nature.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [where to concentrate?],#KEYS
117:mastering the lower self and leverage for the march towards the Divine :::
In proportion as he can thus master and enlighten his lower self, he is man and no longer an animal. When he can begin to replace desire altogether by a still greater enlightened thought and sight and will in touch with the Infinite, consciously subject to a diviner will than his own, linked to a more universal and transcendent knowledge, he has commenced the ascent towards tile superman; he is on his upward march towards the Divine.
It is, then, in the highest mind of thought and light and will or it is in the inner heart of deepest feeling and emotion that we must first centre our consciousness, -- in either of them or, if we are capable, in both together, -- and use that as our leverage to lift the nature wholly towards the Divine. The concentration of an enlightened thought, will and heart turned in unison towards one vast goal of our knowledge, one luminous and infinite source of our action, one imperishable object of our emotion is the starting-point of the Yoga. And the object of our seeking must be the very fount of the Light which is growing in us, the very origin of the Force which we are calling to move our members. Our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly, something always aspires in our secret nature. There must be a large, many-sided yet single concentration of the thought on the idea, the perception, the vision, the awakening touch, the soul's realisation of the one Divine. There must be a flaming concentration of the heart on the All and Eternal and, when once we have found him, a deep plunging and immersion in the possession and ecstasy of the All-Beautiful. There must be a strong and immovable concentration of the will on the attainment and fulfilment of all that the Divine is and a free and plastic opening of it to all that he intends to manifest in us. This is the triple way of the Yoga.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration, 80-81,#KEYS
118:What is the most useful idea to spread and what is the best example to set?
The question can be considered in two ways, a very general one applicable to the whole earth, and another specific one which concerns our present social environment.
From the general point of view, it seems to me that the most useful idea to spread is twofold:
1) Man carries within himself perfect power, perfect wisdom and perfect knowledge, and if he wants to possess them, he must discover them in the depth of his being, by introspection and concentration.
2) These divine qualities are identical at the centre, at the heart of all beings; this implies the essential unity of all, and all the consequences of solidarity and fraternity that follow from it.
The best example to give would be the unalloyed serenity and immutably peaceful happiness which belong to one who knows how to live integrally this thought of the One God in all.
From the point of view of our present environment, here is the idea which, it seems to me, it is most useful to spread:
True progressive evolution, an evolution which can lead man to his rightful happiness, does not lie in any external means, material improvement or social change. Only a deep and inner process of individual self-perfection can make for real progress and completely transform the present state of things, and change suffering and misery into a serene and lasting contentment.
Consequently, the best example is one that shows the first stage of individual self-perfection which makes possible all the rest, the first victory to be won over the egoistic personality: disinterestedness.
At a time when all rush upon money as the means to sat- isfy their innumerable cravings, one who remains indifferent to wealth and acts, not for the sake of gain, but solely to follow a disinterested ideal, is probably setting the example which is most useful at present.
~ The Mother, Words Of Long Ago, Volume-2, 22-06-1912, page no.66-67,#KEYS
119:It must also be kept in mind that the supramental change is difficult, distant, an ultimate stage; it must be regarded as the end of a far-off vista; it cannot be and must not be turned into a first aim, a constantly envisaged goal or an immediate objective. For it can only come into the view of possibility after much arduous self-conquest and self-exceeding, at the end of many long and trying stages of a difficult self-evolution of the nature. One must first acquire an inner Yogic consciousness and replace by it our ordinary view of things, natural movements, motives of life; one must revolutionise the whole present build of our being. Next, we have to go still deeper, discover our veiled psychic entity and in its light and under its government psychicise our inner and outer parts, turn mind-nature, life-nature, body-nature and all our mental, vital, physical action and states and movements into a conscious instrumentation of the soul. Afterwards or concurrently we have to spiritualise the being in its entirety by a descent of a divine Light, Force, Purity, Knowledge, freedom and wideness. It is necessary to break down the limits of the personal mind, life and physicality, dissolve the ego, enter into the cosmic consciousness, realise the self, acquire a spiritualised and universalised mind and heart, life-force, physical consciousness. Then only the passage into the supramental consciousness begins to become possible, and even then there is a difficult ascent to make each stage of which is a separate arduous achievement. Yoga is a rapid and concentrated conscious evolution of the being, but however rapid, even though it may effect in a single life what in an instrumental Nature might take centuries and millenniums or many hundreds of lives, still all evolution must move by stages; even the greatest rapidity and concentration of the movement cannot swallow up all the stages or reverse natural process and bring the end near to the beginning.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Supermind and the Yoga of Works, 281,#KEYS
120:The capacity for visions, when it is sincere and spontaneous, can put you in touch with events which you are not capable of knowing in your outer consciousness.... There is a very interesting fact, it is that somewhere in the terrestrial mind, somewhere in the terrestrial vital, somewhere in the subtle physical, one can find an exact, perfect, automatic recording of everything that happens. It is the most formidable memory one could imagine, which misses nothing, forgets nothing, records all. And if you are able to enter into it, you can go backward, you can go forward, and in all directions, and you will have the "memory" of all things - not only of things of the past, but of things to come. For everything is recorded there.
In the mental world, for instance, there is a domain of the physical mind which is related to physical things and keeps the memory of physical happenings upon earth. It is as though you were entering into innumerable vaults, one following another indefinitely, and these vaults are filled with small pigeon-holes, one above another, one above another, with tiny doors. Then if you want to know something and if you are conscious, you look, and you see something like a small point - a shining point; you find that this is what you wish to know and you have only to concentrate there and it opens; and when it opens, there is a sort of an unrolling of something like extremely subtle manuscripts, but if your concentration is sufficiently strong you begin to read as though from a book. And you have the whole story in all its details. There are thousands of these little holes, you know; when you go for a walk there, it is as though you were walking in infinity. And in this way you can find the exact facts about whatever you want to know. But I must tell you that what you find is never what has been reported in history - histories are always planned out; I have never come across a single "historical" fact which is like history.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951, 109 [T7],#KEYS
121:... The first opening is effected by a concentration in the heart, a call to the Divine to manifest within us and through the psychic to take up and lead the whole nature. Aspiration, prayer, bhakti, love, surrender are the main supports of this part of the sadhana - accompanied by a rejection of all that stands in the way of what we aspire for. The second opening is effected by a concentration of the consciousness in the head (afterwards, above it) and an aspiration and call and a sustained will for the descent of the divine Peace, Power, Light, Knowledge, Ananda into the being - the Peace first or the Peace and Force together. Some indeed receive Light first or Ananda first or some sudden pouring down of knowledge. With some there is first an opening which reveals to them a vast infinite Silence, Force, Light or Bliss above them and afterwards either they ascend to that or these things begin to descend into the lower nature. With others there is either the descent, first into the head, then down to the heart level, then to the navel and below and through the whole body, or else an inexplicable opening - without any sense of descent - of peace, light, wideness or power or else a horizontal opening into the cosmic consciousness or, in a suddenly widened mind, an outburst of knowledge. Whatever comes has to be welcomed - for there is no absolute rule for all, - but if the peace has not come first, care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance. The capital movement however is when the Divine Force or Shakti, the power of the Mother comes down and takes hold, for then the organisation of the consciousness begins and the larger foundation of the Yoga.
The result of the concentration is not usually immediate - though to some there comes a swift and sudden outflowering; but with most there is a time longer or shorter of adaptation or preparation, especially if the nature has not been prepared already to some extent by aspiration and tapasya. ... ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
122:outward appearances..." I did not quite understand "the egoistic state of consciousness absorbed in the outward People are occupied with outward things. That means that the consciousness is turned towards external things - that is, all the things of life which one sees, knows, does - instead of being turned inwards in order to find the deeper truth, the divine Presence. This is the first movement. You are busy with all that you do, with the people around you, the things you use; and then with life: sleeping, eating, talking, working a little, having a little fun also; and then beginning over again: sleeping, eating, etc., etc., and then it begins again. And then what this one has said, what that one has done, what one ought to do, the lesson one ought to learn, the exercise one ought to prepare; and then again whether one is keeping well, whether one is feeling fit, etc.
This is what one usually thinks about.
So the first movement - and it is not so easy - is to make all that pass to the background, and let one thing come inside and in front of the consciousness as the important thing: the discovery of the very purpose of existence and life, to learn what one is, why one lives, and what there is behind all this. This is the first step: to be interested more in the cause and goal than in the manifestation. That is, the first movement is a withdrawal of the consciousness from this total identification with outward and apparent things, and a kind of inward concentration on what one wants to discover, the Truth one wants to discover.
This is the first movement.
Many people who are here forget one thing. They want to begin by the end. They think that they are ready to express in their life what they call the supramental Force or Consciousness, and they want to infuse this in their actions, their movements, their daily life. But the trouble is that they don't at all know what the supramental Force or Consciousness is and that first of all it is necessary to take the reverse path, the way of interiorisation and of withdrawal from life, in order to find within oneself this Truth which has to be expressed.
For as long as one has not found it, there is nothing to ~ The Mother,#KEYS
123:the ways of the Bhakta and man of Knowledge :::
In the ordinary paths of Yoga the method used for dealing with these conflicting materials is direct and simple. One or another of the principal psychological forces in us is selected as our single means for attaining to the Divine; the rest is quieted into inertia or left to starve in its smallness. The Bhakta, seizing on the emotional forces of the being, the intense activities of the heart, abides concentrated in the love of God, gathered up as into a single one-pointed tongue of fire; he is indifferent to the activities of thought, throws behind him the importunities of the reason, cares nothing for the mind's thirst for knowledge. All the knowledge he needs is his faith and the inspirations that well up from a heart in communion with the Divine. He has no use for any will to works that is not turned to the direct worship of the Beloved or the service of the temple. The man of Knowledge, self-confined by a deliberate choice to the force and activities of discriminative thought, finds release in the mind's inward-drawn endeavour. He concentrates on the idea of the self, succeeds by a subtle inner discernment in distinguishing its silent presence amid the veiling activities of Nature, and through the perceptive idea arrives at the concrete spiritual experience. He is indifferent to the play of the emotions, deaf to the hunger-call of passion, closed to the activities of Life, -- the more blessed he, the sooner they fall away from him and leave him free, still and mute, the eternal non-doer. The body is his stumbling-block, the vital functions are his enemies; if their demands can be reduced to a minimum, that is his great good fortune. The endless difficulties that arise from the environing world are dismissed by erecting firmly against them a defence of outer physical and inner spiritual solitude; safe behind a wall of inner silence, he remains impassive and untouched by the world and by others. To be alone with oneself or alone with the Divine, to walk apart with God and his devotees, to entrench oneself in the single self-ward endeavour of the mind or Godward passion of the heart is the trend of these Yogas. The problem is solved by the excision of all but the one central difficulty which pursues the only chosen motive-force; into the midst of the dividing calls of our nature the principle of an exclusive concentration comes sovereignly to our rescue.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration. 76-77,#KEYS
124:Who could have thought that this tanned young man with gentle, dreamy eyes, long wavy hair parted in the middle and falling to the neck, clad in a common coarse Ahmedabad dhoti, a close-fitting Indian jacket, and old-fashioned slippers with upturned toes, and whose face was slightly marked with smallpox, was no other than Mister Aurobindo Ghose, living treasure of French, Latin and Greek?" Actually, Sri Aurobindo was not yet through with books; the Western momentum was still there; he devoured books ordered from Bombay and Calcutta by the case. "Aurobindo would sit at his desk," his Bengali teacher continues, "and read by the light of an oil lamp till one in the morning, oblivious of the intolerable mosquito bites. I would see him seated there in the same posture for hours on end, his eyes fixed on his book, like a yogi lost in the contemplation of the Divine, unaware of all that went on around him. Even if the house had caught fire, it would not have broken this concentration." He read English, Russian, German, and French novels, but also, in ever larger numbers, the sacred books of India, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, although he had never been in a temple except as an observer. "Once, having returned from the College," one of his friends recalls, "Sri Aurobindo sat down, picked up a book at random and started to read, while Z and some friends began a noisy game of chess. After half an hour, he put the book down and took a cup of tea. We had already seen him do this many times and were waiting eagerly for a chance to verify whether he read the books from cover to cover or only scanned a few pages here and there. Soon the test began. Z opened the book, read a line aloud and asked Sri Aurobindo to recite what followed. Sri Aurobindo concentrated for a moment, and then repeated the entire page without a single mistake. If he could read a hundred pages in half an hour, no wonder he could go through a case of books in such an incredibly short time." But Sri Aurobindo did not stop at the translations of the sacred texts; he began to study Sanskrit, which, typically, he learned by himself. When a subject was known to be difficult or impossible, he would refuse to take anyone's word for it, whether he were a grammarian, pandit, or clergyman, and would insist upon trying it himself. The method seemed to have some merit, for not only did he learn Sanskrit, but a few years later he discovered the lost meaning of the Veda. ~ Satprem, Sri Aurobindo Or The Adventure of Consciousness, #KEYS
125: There is also the consecration of the thoughts to the Divine. In its inception this is the attempt to fix the mind on the object of adoration, -for naturally the restless human mind is occupied with other objects and, even when it is directed upwards, constantly drawn away by the world, -- so that in the end it habitually thinks of him and all else is only secondary and thought of only in relation to him. This is done often with the aid of a physical image or, more intimately and characteristically, of a Mantra or a divine name through which the divine being is realised. There are supposed by those who systematise, to be three stages of the seeking through the devotion of the mind, first, the constant hearing of the divine name, qualities and all that has been attached to them, secondly, the constant thinking on them or on the divine being or personality, thirdly, the settling and fixing of the mind on the object; and by this comes the full realisation. And by these, too, there comes when the accompanying feeling or the concentration is very intense, the Samadhi, the ecstatic trance in which the consciousness passes away from outer objects. But all this is really incidental; the one thing essential is the intense devotion of the thought in the mind to the object of adoration. Although it seems akin to the contemplation of the way of knowledge, it differs from that in its spirit. It is in its real nature not a still, but an ecstatic contemplation; it seeks not to pass into the being of the Divine, but to bring the Divine into ourselves and to lose ourselves in the deep ecstasy of his presence or of his possession; and its bliss is not the peace of unity, but the ecstasy of union. Here, too, there may be the separative self-consecration, which ends in the giving up of all other thought of life for the possession of this ecstasy, eternal afterwards in planes beyond, or the comprehensive consecration in which all the thoughts are full of the Divine and even in the occupations of life every thought remembers him. As in the other Yogas, so in this, one comes to see the Divine everywhere and in all and to pour out the realisation of the Divine in all ones inner activities and outward actions. But all is supported here by the primary force of the emotional union: for it is by love that the entire self-consecration and the entire possession is accomplished, and thought and action become shapes and figures of the divine love which possesses the spirit and its members.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Way of Devotion [T2],#KEYS
126:What is the difference between meditation and concentration?
Meditation is a purely mental activity, it interests only the mental being. One can concentrate while meditating but this is a mental concentration; one can get a silence but it is a purely mental silence, and the other parts of the being are kept immobile and inactive so as not to disturb the meditation. You may pass twenty hours of the day in meditation and for the remaining four hours you will be an altogether ordinary man because only the mind has been occupied-the rest of the being, the vital and the physical, is kept under pressure so that it may not disturb. In meditation nothing is directly done for the other parts of the being.
Certainly this indirect action can have an effect, but... I have known in my life people whose capacity for meditation was remarkable but who, when not in meditation, were quite ordinary men, even at times ill-natured people, who would become furious if their meditation was disturbed. For they had learnt to master only their mind, not the rest of their being.
Concentration is a more active state. You may concentrate mentally, you may concentrate vitally, psychically, physically, and you may concentrate integrally. Concentration or the capacity to gather oneself at one point is more difficult than meditation. You may gather together one portion of your being or consciousness or you may gather together the whole of your consciousness or even fragments of it, that is, the concentration may be partial, total or integral, and in each case the result will be different.
If you have the capacity to concentrate, your meditation will be more interesting and easieR But one can meditate without concentrating. Many follow a chain of ideas in their meditation - it is meditation, not concentration.
Is it possible to distinguish the moment when one attains perfect concentration from the moment when, starting from this concentration, one opens oneself to the universal Energy?
Yes. You concentrate on something or simply you gather yourself together as much as is possible for you and when you attain a kind of perfection in concentration, if you can sustain this perfection for a sufficiently long time, then a door opens and you pass beyond the limit of your ordinary consciousness-you enter into a deeper and higher knowledge. Or you go within. Then you may experience a kind of dazzling light, an inner wonder, a beatitude, a complete knowledge, a total silence. There are, of course, many possibilities but the phenomenon is always the same.
To have this experience all depends upon your capacity to maintain your concentration sufficiently long at its highest point of perfection. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
127:The preliminary movement of Rajayoga is careful self-discipline by which good habits of mind are substituted for the lawless movements that indulge the lower nervous being. By the practice of truth, by renunciation of all forms of egoistic seeking, by abstention from injury to others, by purity, by constant meditation and inclination to the divine Purusha who is the true lord of the mental kingdom, a pure, clear state of mind and heart is established.
This is the first step only. Afterwards, the ordinary activities of the mind and sense must be entirely quieted in order that the soul may be free to ascend to higher states of consciousness and acquire the foundation for a perfect freedom and self-mastery. But Rajayoga does not forget that the disabilities of the ordinary mind proceed largely from its subjection to the reactions of the nervous system and the body. It adopts therefore from the Hathayogic system its devices of asana and pranayama, but reduces their multiple and elaborate forms in each case to one simplest and most directly effective process sufficient for its own immediate object. Thus it gets rid of the Hathayogic complexity and cumbrousness while it utilises the swift and powerful efficacy of its methods for the control of the body and the vital functions and for the awakening of that internal dynamism, full of a latent supernormal faculty, typified in Yogic terminology by the kundalini, the coiled and sleeping serpent of Energy within. This done, the system proceeds to the perfect quieting of the restless mind and its elevation to a higher plane through concentration of mental force by the successive stages which lead to the utmost inner concentration or ingathered state of the consciousness which is called Samadhi.
By Samadhi, in which the mind acquires the capacity of withdrawing from its limited waking activities into freer and higher states of consciousness, Rajayoga serves a double purpose. It compasses a pure mental action liberated from the confusions of the outer consciousness and passes thence to the higher supra-mental planes on which the individual soul enters into its true spiritual existence. But also it acquires the capacity of that free and concentrated energising of consciousness on its object which our philosophy asserts as the primary cosmic energy and the method of divine action upon the world. By this capacity the Yogin, already possessed of the highest supracosmic knowledge and experience in the state of trance, is able in the waking state to acquire directly whatever knowledge and exercise whatever mastery may be useful or necessary to his activities in the objective world.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Conditions of the Synthesis, The Systems of Yoga, 36,#KEYS
128:the process of unification, the perfecting our one's instrumental being, the help one needs to reach the goal :::
If we truly want to progress and acquire the capacity of knowing the truth of our being, that is to say, what we are truly created for, what we can call our mission upon earth, then we must, in a very regular and constant manner, reject from us or eliminate in us whatever contradicts the truth of our existence, whatever is opposed to it. In this way, little by little, all the parts, all the elements of our being can be organised into a homogeneous whole around our psychic centre. This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance, with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavor.
As you pursue this labor of purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care to perfect the external and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection. ... It is therefore of capital importance to become conscious of its presence in us [the psychic being], to concentrate on this presence until it becomes a living fact for us and we can identify ourselves with it.
In various times and places many methods have been prescribed for attaining this perfection and ultimately achieving this identification. Some methods are psychological, some religious, some even mechanical. In reality, everyone has to find the one which suits him best, and if one has an ardent and steadfast aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet, in one way or another - outwardly through reading and study, inwardly through concentration, meditation, revelation and experience - the help one needs to reach the goal. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover and to realize. This discovery and realization should be the primary preoccupation of our being, the pearl of great price which we must acquire at any cost. Whatever you do, whatever your occupations and activities, the will to find the truth of your being and to unite with it must be always living and present behind all that you do, all that you feel, all that you think.
~ The Mother, On Education, [T1],#KEYS
129:Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can be also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it. ... Of this true consciousness other than the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it and all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other ways.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it begins to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head in only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one's own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental concentration is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternatively - but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the most desirable.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
130:3. Conditions internal and external that are most essential for meditation. There are no essential external conditions, but solitude and seculsion at the time of meditation as well as stillness of the body are helpful, sometimes almost necessary to the beginning. But one should not be bound by external conditions. Once the habit of meditation is formed, it should be made possible to do it in all circumstances, lying, sitting, walking, alone, in company, in silence or in the midst of noise etc.
The first internal condition necessary is concentration of the will against the obstacles to meditation, i.e. wandering of the mind, forgetfulness, sleep, physical and nervous impatience and restlessness etc. If the difficulty in meditation is that thoughts of all kinds come in, that is not due to hostile forces but to the ordinary nature of the human mind. All sadhaks have this difficulty and with many it lasts for a very long time. There are several was of getting rid of it. One of them is to look at the thoughts and observe what is the nature of the human mind as they show it but not to give any sanction and to let them run down till they come to a standstill - this is a way recommended by Vivekananda in his Rajayoga. Another is to look at the thoughts as not one's own, to stand back as the witness Purusha and refuse the sanction - the thoughts are regarded as things coming from outside, from Prakriti, and they must be felt as if they were passers-by crossing the mind-space with whom one has no connection and in whom one takes no interest. In this way it usually happens that after the time the mind divides into two, a part which is the mental witness watching and perfectly undisturbed and quiet and a part in which the thoughts cross or wander. Afterwards one can proceed to silence or quiet the Prakriti part also. There is a third, an active method by which one looks to see where the thoughts come from and finds they come not from oneself, but from outside the head as it were; if one can detect them coming, then, before enter, they have to be thrown away altogether. This is perhaps the most difficult way and not all can do it, but if it can be done it is the shortest and most powerful road to silence. It is not easy to get into the Silence. That is only possible by throwing out all mental-vital activities. It is easier to let the Silence descend into you, i.e., to open yourself and let it descend. The way to do this and the way to call down the higher powers is the same. It is to remain quiet at the time of efforts to pull down the Power or the Silence but keeping only a silent will and aspiration for them. If the mind is active one has to learn to look at it, drawn back and not giving sanction from within, until its habitual or mechanical activities begin to fall quiet for want of support from within. if it is too persistent, a steady rejection without strain or struggle is the one thing to be done.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes,#KEYS
131:An integral Yoga includes as a vital and indispensable element in its total and ultimate aim the conversion of the whole being into a higher spiritual consciousness and a larger divine existence. Our parts of will and action, our parts of knowledge, our thinking being, our emotional being, our being of life, all our self and nature must seek the Divine, enter into the Infinite, unite with the Eternal. But mans present nature is limited, divided, unequal, -- it is easiest for him to concentrate in the strongest part of his being and follow a definite line of progress proper to his nature: only rare individuals have the strength to take a large immediate plunge straight into the sea of the Divine Infinity. Some therefore must choose as a starting-point a concentration in thought or contemplation or the minds one-pointedness to find the eternal reality of the Self in them; others can more easily withdraw into the heart to meet there the Divine, the Eternal: yet others are predominantly dynamic and active; for these it is best to centre themselves in the will and enlarge their being through works. United with the Self and source of all by their surrender of their will into its infinity, guided in their works by the secret Divinity within or surrendered to the Lord of the cosmic action as the master and mover of all their energies of thought, feeling, act, becoming by this enlargement of being selfless and universal, they can reach by works some first fullness of a spiritual status. But the path, whatever its point of starting, must debouch into a vaster dominion; it must proceed in the end through a totality of integrated knowledge, emotion, will of dynamic action, perfection of the being and the entire nature. In the supramental consciousness, on the level of the supramental existence this integration becomes consummate; there knowledge, will, emotion, the perfection of the self and the dynamic nature rise each to its absolute of itself and all to their perfect harmony and fusion with each other, to a divine integrality, a divine perfection. For the supermind is a Truth-Consciousness in which the Divine Reality, fully manifested, no longer works with the instrumentation of the Ignorance; a truth of status of being which is absolute becomes dynamic in a truth of energy and activity of the being which is self-existent and perfect. Every movement there is a movement of the self-aware truth of Divine Being and every part is in entire harmony with the whole. Even the most limited and finite action is in the Truth-Consciousness a movement of the Eternal and Infinite and partakes of the inherent absoluteness and perfection of the Eternal and Infinite. An ascent into the supramental Truth not only raises our spiritual and essential consciousness to that height but brings about a descent of this Light and Truth into all our being and all our parts of nature. All then becomes part of the Divine Truth, an element and means of the supreme union and oneness; this ascent and descent must be therefore an ultimate aim of this Yoga.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Divine Works, The Supermind and the Yoga of Works [279-280],#KEYS
132:Talk 26
...
D.: Taking the first part first, how is the mind to be eliminated or relative consciousness transcended?
M.: The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind.
D.: How is restlessness removed from the mind?
M.: External contacts - contacts with objects other than itself - make the mind restless. Loss of interest in non-Self, (vairagya) is the first step. Then the habits of introspection and concentration follow. They are characterised by control of external senses, internal faculties, etc. (sama, dama, etc.) ending in samadhi (undistracted mind).
Talk 27.
D.: How are they practised?
M.: An examination of the ephemeral nature of external phenomena leads to vairagya. Hence enquiry (vichara) is the first and foremost step to be taken. When vichara continues automatically, it results in a contempt for wealth, fame, ease, pleasure, etc. The 'I' thought becomes clearer for inspection. The source of 'I' is the Heart - the final goal. If, however, the aspirant is not temperamentally suited to Vichara Marga (to the introspective analytical method), he must develop bhakti (devotion) to an ideal - may be God, Guru, humanity in general, ethical laws, or even the idea of beauty. When one of these takes possession of the individual, other attachments grow weaker, i.e., dispassion (vairagya) develops. Attachment for the ideal simultaneously grows and finally holds the field. Thus ekagrata (concentration) grows simultaneously and imperceptibly - with or without visions and direct aids.
In the absence of enquiry and devotion, the natural sedative pranayama (breath regulation) may be tried. This is known as Yoga Marga. If life is imperilled the whole interest centres round the one point, the saving of life. If the breath is held the mind cannot afford to (and does not) jump at its pets - external objects. Thus there is rest for the mind so long as the breath is held. All attention being turned on breath or its regulation, other interests are lost. Again, passions are attended with irregular breathing, whereas calm and happiness are attended with slow and regular breathing. Paroxysm of joy is in fact as painful as one of pain, and both are accompanied by ruffled breaths. Real peace is happiness. Pleasures do not form happiness. The mind improves by practice and becomes finer just as the razor's edge is sharpened by stropping. The mind is then better able to tackle internal or external problems. If an aspirant be unsuited temperamentally for the first two methods and circumstantially (on account of age) for the third method, he must try the Karma Marga (doing good deeds, for example, social service). His nobler instincts become more evident and he derives impersonal pleasure. His smaller self is less assertive and has a chance of expanding its good side. The man becomes duly equipped for one of the three aforesaid paths. His intuition may also develop directly by this single method. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramanasramam,#KEYS
133:[desire and its divine form:]
Into all our endeavour upward the lower element of desire will at first naturally enter. For what the enlightened will sees as the thing to be done and pursues as the crown to be conquered, what the heart embraces as the one thing delightful, that in us which feels itself limited and opposed and, because it is limited, craves and struggles, will seek with the troubled passion of an egoistic desire. This craving life-force or desire-soul in us has to be accepted at first, but only in order that it may be transformed. Even from the very beginning it has to be taught to renounce all other desires and concentrate itself on the passion for the Divine. This capital point gained, it has to be aught to desire, not for its own separate sake, but for God in the world and for the Divine in ourselves; it has to fix itself upon no personal spiritual gain, though of all possible spiritual gains we are sure, but on the great work to be done in us and others, on the high coming manifestation which is to be the glorious fulfilment of the Divine in the world, on the Truth that has to be sought and lived and enthroned for eveR But last, most difficult for it, more difficult than to seek with the right object, it has to be taught to seek in the right manner; for it must learn to desire, not in its own egoistic way, but in the way of the Divine. It must insist no longer, as the strong separative will always insists, on its own manner of fulfilment, its own dream of possession, its own idea of the right and the desirable; it must yearn to fulfil a larger and greater Will and consent to wait upon a less interested and ignorant guidance. Thus trained, Desire, that great unquiet harasser and troubler of man and cause of every kind of stumbling, will become fit to be transformed into its divine counterpart. For desire and passion too have their divine forms; there is a pure ecstasy of the soul's seeking beyond all craving and grief, there is a Will of Ananda that sits glorified in the possession of the supreme beatitudes.
When once the object of concentration has possessed and is possessed by the three master instruments, the thought, the heart and the will,-a consummation fully possible only when the desire-soul in us has submitted to the Divine Law,-the perfection of mind and life and body can be effectively fulfilled in our transmuted nature. This will be done, not for the personal satisfaction of the ego, but that the whole may constitute a fit temple for the Divine Presence, a faultless instrument for the divine work. For that work can be truly performed only when the instrument, consecrated and perfected, has grown fit for a selfless action,-and that will be when personal desire and egoism are abolished, but not the liberated individual. Even when the little ego has been abolished, the true spiritual Person can still remain and God's will and work and delight in him and the spiritual use of his perfection and fulfilment. Our works will then be divine and done divinely; our mind and life and will, devoted to the Divine, will be used to help fulfil in others and in the world that which has been first realised in ourselves,- all that we can manifest of the embodied Unity, Love, Freedom, Strength, Power, Splendour, immortal Joy which is the goal of the Spirit's terrestrial adventure.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration [83] [T1],#KEYS
134:The Teachings of Some Modern Indian Yogis
Ramana Maharshi
According to Brunton's description of the sadhana he (Brunton) practised under the Maharshi's instructions,1 it is the Overself one has to seek within, but he describes the Overself in a way that is at once the Psychic Being, the Atman and the Ishwara. So it is a little difficult to know what is the exact reading.
*
The methods described in the account [of Ramana Maharshi's technique of self-realisation] are the well-established methods of Jnanayoga - (1) one-pointed concentration followed by thought-suspension, (2) the method of distinguishing or finding out the true self by separating it from mind, life, body (this I have seen described by him [Brunton] more at length in another book) and coming to the pure I behind; this also can disappear into the Impersonal Self. The usual result is a merging in the Atman or Brahman - which is what one would suppose is meant by the Overself, for it is that which is the real Overself. This Brahman or Atman is everywhere, all is in it, it is in all, but it is in all not as an individual being in each but is the same in all - as the Ether is in all. When the merging into the Overself is complete, there is no ego, no distinguishable I, or any formed separative person or personality. All is ekakara - an indivisible and undistinguishable Oneness either free from all formations or carrying all formations in it without being affected - for one can realise it in either way. There is a realisation in which all beings are moving in the one Self and this Self is there stable in all beings; there is another more complete and thoroughgoing in which not only is it so but all are vividly realised as the Self, the Brahman, the Divine. In the former, it is possible to dismiss all beings as creations of Maya, leaving the one Self alone as true - in the other it is easier to regard them as real manifestations of the Self, not as illusions. But one can also regard all beings as souls, independent realities in an eternal Nature dependent upon the One Divine. These are the characteristic realisations of the Overself familiar to the Vedanta. But on the other hand you say that this Overself is realised by the Maharshi as lodged in the heart-centre, and it is described by Brunton as something concealed which when it manifests appears as the real Thinker, source of all action, but now guiding thought and action in the Truth. Now the first description applies to the Purusha in the heart, described by the Gita as the Ishwara situated in the heart and by the Upanishads as the Purusha Antaratma; the second could apply also to the mental Purusha, manomayah. pran.asarı̄ra neta of the Upanishads, the mental Being or Purusha who leads the life and the body. So your question is one which on the data I cannot easily answer. His Overself may be a combination of all these experiences, without any distinction being made or thought necessary between the various aspects. There are a thousand ways of approaching and realising the Divine and each way has its own experiences which have their own truth and stand really on a basis, one in essence but complex in aspects, common to all, but not expressed in the same way by all. There is not much use in discussing these variations; the important thing is to follow one's own way well and thoroughly. In this Yoga, one can realise the psychic being as a portion of the Divine seated in the heart with the Divine supporting it there - this psychic being takes charge of the sadhana and turns the ......
1 The correspondent sent to Sri Aurobindo two paragraphs from Paul Brunton's book A Message from Arunachala (London: Rider & Co., n.d. [1936], pp. 205 - 7). - Ed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#KEYS
135:The true Mantra must come from within OR it must be given by a Guru
Nobody can give you the true mantra. It's not something that is given; it's something that wells up from within. It must spring from within all of a sudden, spontaneously, like a profound, intense need of your being - then it has power, because it's not something that comes from outside, it's your very own cry.
I saw, in my case, that my mantra has the power of immortality; whatever happens, if it is uttered, it's the Supreme that has the upper hand, it's no longer the lower law. And the words are irrelevant, they may not have any meaning - to someone else, my mantra is meaningless, but to me it's full, packed with meaning. And effective, because it's my cry, the intense aspiration of my whole being.
A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn't even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced "yoga" for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light.... I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, "Well!" Then I didn't give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration - there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.
It's the same with my mantra. When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, "Glory to You, O Lord," into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolini's help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was there - not because Nolini put his power into it (!), God knows he had no intention of "giving" me a mantra! But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and that's the japa I do now - I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time.[[Mother later clarified: "'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't MY mantra, it's something I ADDED to it - my mantra is something else altogether, that's not it. When I say that my mantra has the power of immortality, I mean the other, the one I don't speak of! I have never given the words.... You see, at the end of my walk, a kind of enthusiasm rises, and with that enthusiasm, the 'Glory to You' came to me, but it's part of the prayer I had written in Prayers and Meditations: 'Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme' etc. (it's a long prayer). It came back suddenly, and as it came back spontaneously, I kept it. Moreover, when Sri Aurobindo read this prayer in Prayers and Meditations, he told me it was very strong. So I added this phrase as a kind of tail to my japa. But 'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't my spontaneous mantra - it came spontaneously, but it was something written very long ago. The two things are different."
And that's how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your being - there is no need of effort or concentration: it's your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within.... No guru can give you that. ~ The Mother, Agenda, May 11 1963,#KEYS
136:The principle of Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching the divine Being. In an ordinary Yoga one main power of being or one group of its powers is made the means, vehicle, path. In a synthetic Yoga all powers will be combined and included in the transmuting instrumentation.
In Hathayoga the instrument is the body and life. All the power of the body is stilled, collected, purified, heightened, concentrated to its utmost limits or beyond any limits by Asana and other physical processes; the power of the life too is similarly purified, heightened, concentrated by Asana and Pranayama. This concentration of powers is then directed towards that physical centre in which the divine consciousness sits concealed in the human body. The power of Life, Nature-power, coiled up with all its secret forces asleep in the lowest nervous plexus of the earth-being,-for only so much escapes into waking action in our normal operations as is sufficient for the limited uses of human life,-rises awakened through centre after centre and awakens, too, in its ascent and passage the forces of each successive nodus of our being, the nervous life, the heart of emotion and ordinary mentality, the speech, sight, will, the higher knowledge, till through and above the brain it meets with and it becomes one with the divine consciousness.
In Rajayoga the chosen instrument is the mind. our ordinary mentality is first disciplined, purified and directed towards the divine Being, then by a summary process of Asana and Pranayama the physical force of our being is stilled and concentrated, the life-force released into a rhythmic movement capable of cessation and concentrated into a higher power of its upward action, the mind, supported and strengthened by this greater action and concentration of the body and life upon which it rests, is itself purified of all its unrest and emotion and its habitual thought-waves, liberated from distraction and dispersion, given its highest force of concentration, gathered up into a trance of absorption. Two objects, the one temporal, the other eternal,are gained by this discipline. Mind-power develops in another concentrated action abnormal capacities of knowledge, effective will, deep light of reception, powerful light of thought-radiation which are altogether beyond the narrow range of our normal mentality; it arrives at the Yogic or occult powers around which there has been woven so much quite dispensable and yet perhaps salutary mystery. But the one final end and the one all-important gain is that the mind, stilled and cast into a concentrated trance, can lose itself in the divine consciousness and the soul be made free to unite with the divine Being.
The triple way takes for its chosen instruments the three main powers of the mental soul-life of the human being. Knowledge selects the reason and the mental vision and it makes them by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of a Goddirected seeking its means for the greatest knowledge and the greatest vision of all, God-knowledge and God-vision. Its aim is to see, know and be the Divine. Works, action selects for its instrument the will of the doer of works; it makes life an offering of sacrifice to the Godhead and by purification, concentration and a certain discipline of subjection to the divine Will a means for contact and increasing unity of the soul of man with the divine Master of the universe. Devotion selects the emotional and aesthetic powers of the soul and by turning them all Godward in a perfect purity, intensity, infinite passion of seeking makes them a means of God-possession in one or many relations of unity with the Divine Being. All aim in their own way at a union or unity of the human soul with the supreme Spirit.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfection, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, 609,#KEYS
137:To arrive then at this settled divine status must be the object of our concentration. The first step in concentration must be always to accustom the discursive mind to a settled unwavering pursuit of a single course of connected thought on a single subject and this it must do undistracted by all lures and alien calls on its attention. Such concentration is common enough in our ordinary life, but it becomes more difficult when we have to do it inwardly without any outward object or action on which to keep the mind; yet this inward concentration is what the seeker of knowledge must effect. Nor must it be merely the consecutive thought of the intellectual thinker, whose only object is to conceive and intellectually link together his conceptions. It is not, except perhaps at first, a process of reasoning that is wanted so much as a dwelling so far as possible on the fruitful essence of the idea which by the insistence of the soul's will upon it must yield up all the facets of its truth. Thus if it be the divine Love that is the subject of concentration, it is on the essence of the idea of God as Love that the mind should concentrate in such a way that the various manifestation of the divine Love should arise luminously, not only to the thought, but in the heart and being and vision of the Sadhaka. The thought may come first and the experience afterwards, but equally the experience may come first and the knowledge arise out of the experience. Afterwards the thing attained has to be dwelt on and more and more held till it becomes a constant experience and finally the Dharma or law of the being.
This is the process of concentrated meditation; but a more strenuous method is the fixing of the whole mind in concentration on the essence of the idea only, so as to reach not the thought-knowledge or the psychological experience of the subject, but the very essence of the thing behind the idea. In this process thought ceases and passes into the absorbed or ecstatic contemplation of the object or by a merging into it m an inner Samadhi. If this be the process followed, then subsequently the state into which we rise must still be called down to take possession of the lower being, to shed its light, power and bliss on our ordinary consciousness. For otherwise we may possess it, as many do, in the elevated condition or in the inward Samadhi, but we shall lose our hold of it when we awake or descend into the contacts of the world; and this truncated possession is not the aim of an integral Yoga.
A third process is neither at first to concentrate in a strenuous meditation on the one subject nor in a strenuous contemplation of the one object of thought-vision, but first to still the mind altogether. This may be done by various ways; one is to stand back from the mental action altogether not participating in but simply watching it until, tired of its unsanctioned leaping and running, it falls into an increasing and finally an absolute quiet. Another is to reject the thought-suggestions, to cast them away from the mind whenever they come and firmly hold to the peace of the being which really and always exists behind the trouble and riot of the mind. When this secret peace is unveiled, a great calm settles on the being and there comes usually with it the perception and experience of the all-pervading silent Brahman, everything else at first seeming to be mere form and eidolon. On the basis of this calm everything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience no longer of the external phenomena of things but of the deeper truth of the divine manifestation.
Ordinarily, once this state is obtained, strenuous concentration will be found no longer necessary. A free concentration of will using thought merely for suggestion and the giving of light to the lower members will take its place. This Will will then insist on the physical being, the vital existence, the heart and the mind remoulding themselves in the forms of the Divine which reveal themselves out of the silent Brahman. By swifter or slower degrees according to the previous preparation and purification of the members, they will be obliged with more or less struggle to obey the law of the will and its thought-suggestion, so that eventually the knowledge of the Divine takes possession of our consciousness on all its planes and the image of the Divine is formed in our human existence even as it was done by the old Vedic Sadhakas. For the integral Yoga this is the most direct and powerful discipline.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Yoga of Integral Knowledge, Concentration,#KEYS
138:AUGOEIDES:
The magicians most important invocation is that of his Genius, Daemon, True Will, or Augoeides. This operation is traditionally known as attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is sometimes known as the Magnum Opus or Great Work.
The Augoeides may be defined as the most perfect vehicle of Kia on the plane of duality. As the avatar of Kia on earth, the Augoeides represents the true will, the raison detre of the magician, his purpose in existing. The discovery of ones true will or real nature may be difficult and fraught with danger, since a false identification leads to obsession and madness. The operation of obtaining the knowledge and conversation is usually a lengthy one. The magician is attempting a progressive metamorphosis, a complete overhaul of his entire existence. Yet he has to seek the blueprint for his reborn self as he goes along. Life is less the meaningless accident it seems. Kia has incarnated in these particular conditions of duality for some purpose. The inertia of previous existences propels Kia into new forms of manifestation. Each incarnation represents a task, or a puzzle to be solved, on the way to some greater form of completion.
The key to this puzzle is in the phenomena of the plane of duality in which we find ourselves. We are, as it were, trapped in a labyrinth or maze. The only thing to do is move about and keep a close watch on the way the walls turn. In a completely chaotic universe such as this one, there are no accidents. Everything is signifcant. Move a single grain of sand on a distant shore and the entire future history of the world will eventually be changed. A person doing his true will is assisted by the momentum of the universe and seems possessed of amazing good luck. In beginning the great work of obtaining the knowledge and conversation, the magician vows to interpret every manifestation of existence as a direct message from the infinite Chaos to himself personally.
To do this is to enter the magical world view in its totality. He takes complete responsibility for his present incarnation and must consider every experience, thing, or piece of information which assails him from any source, as a reflection of the way he is conducting his existence. The idea that things happen to one that may or may not be related to the way one acts is an illusion created by our shallow awareness.
Keeping a close eye on the walls of the labyrinth, the conditions of his existence, the magician may then begin his invocation. The genius is not something added to oneself. Rather it is a stripping away of excess to reveal the god within.
Directly on awakening, preferably at dawn, the initiate goes to the place of invocation. Figuring to himself as he goes that being born anew each day brings with it the chance of greater rebirth, first he banishes the temple of his mind by ritual or by some magical trance. Then he unveils some token or symbol or sigil which represents to him the Holy Guardian Angel. This symbol he will likely have to change during the great work as the inspiration begins to move him. Next he invokes an image of the Angel into his minds eye. It may be considered as a luminous duplicate of ones own form standing in front of or behind one, or simply as a ball of brilliant light above ones head. Then he formulates his aspirations in what manner he will, humbling himself in prayer or exalting himself in loud proclamation as his need be. The best form of this invocation is spoken spontaneously from the heart, and if halting at first, will prove itself in time. He is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images which correspond to the nature of his genius, and at the same time receive inspiration from that source. As the magician begins to manifest more of his true will, the Augoeides will reveal images, names, and spiritual principles by which it can be drawn into greater manifestation. Having communicated with the invoked form, the magician should draw it into himself and go forth to live in the way he hath willed.
The ritual may be concluded with an aspiration to the wisdom of silence by a brief concentration on the sigil of the Augoeides, but never by banishing. Periodically more elaborate forms of ritual, using more powerful forms of gnosis, may be employed. At the end of the day, there should be an accounting and fresh resolution made. Though every day be a catalog of failure, there should be no sense of sin or guilt. Magic is the raising of the whole individual in perfect balance to the power of Infinity, and such feelings are symptomatic of imbalance. If any unnecessary or imbalanced scraps of ego become identified with the genius by mistake, then disaster awaits. The life force flows directly into these complexes and bloats them into grotesque monsters variously known as the demon Choronzon. Some magicians attempting to go too fast with this invocation have failed to banish this demon, and have gone spectacularly insane as a result.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
139:CHAPTER XIII
OF THE BANISHINGS: AND OF THE PURIFICATIONS.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and had better come first. Purity means singleness. God is one. The wand is not a wand if it has something sticking to it which is not an essential part of itself. If you wish to invoke Venus, you do not succeed if there are traces of Saturn mixed up with it.
That is a mere logical commonplace: in magick one must go much farther than this. One finds one's analogy in electricity. If insulation is imperfect, the whole current goes back to earth. It is useless to plead that in all those miles of wire there is only one-hundredth of an inch unprotected. It is no good building a ship if the water can enter, through however small a hole.
That first task of the Magician in every ceremony is therefore to render his Circle absolutely impregnable.
If one littlest thought intrude upon the mind of the Mystic, his concentration is absolutely destroyed; and his consciousness remains on exactly the same level as the Stockbroker's. Even the smallest baby is incompatible with the virginity of its mother. If you leave even a single spirit within the circle, the effect of the conjuration will be entirely absorbed by it.> {101}
The Magician must therefore take the utmost care in the matter of purification, "firstly", of himself, "secondly", of his instruments, "thirdly", of the place of working. Ancient Magicians recommended a preliminary purification of from three days to many months. During this period of training they took the utmost pains with diet. They avoided animal food, lest the elemental spirit of the animal should get into their atmosphere. They practised sexual abstinence, lest they should be influenced in any way by the spirit of the wife. Even in regard to the excrements of the body they were equally careful; in trimming the hair and nails, they ceremonially destroyed> the severed portion. They fasted, so that the body itself might destroy anything extraneous to the bare necessity of its existence. They purified the mind by special prayers and conservations. They avoided the contamination of social intercourse, especially the conjugal kind; and their servitors were disciples specially chosen and consecrated for the work.
In modern times our superior understanding of the essentials of this process enables us to dispense to some extent with its external rigours; but the internal purification must be even more carefully performed. We may eat meat, provided that in doing so we affirm that we eat it in order to strengthen us for the special purpose of our proposed invocation.> {102}
By thus avoiding those actions which might excite the comment of our neighbours we avoid the graver dangers of falling into spiritual pride.
We have understood the saying: "To the pure all things are pure", and we have learnt how to act up to it. We can analyse the mind far more acutely than could the ancients, and we can therefore distinguish the real and right feeling from its imitations. A man may eat meat from self-indulgence, or in order to avoid the dangers of asceticism. We must constantly examine ourselves, and assure ourselves that every action is really subservient to the One Purpose.
It is ceremonially desirable to seal and affirm this mental purity by Ritual, and accordingly the first operation in any actual ceremony is bathing and robing, with appropriate words. The bath signifies the removal of all things extraneous to antagonistic to the one thought. The putting on of the robe is the positive side of the same operation. It is the assumption of the fame of mind suitable to that one thought.
A similar operation takes place in the preparation of every instrument, as has been seen in the Chapter devoted to that subject. In the preparation of theplace of working, the same considerations apply. We first remove from that place all objects; and we then put into it those objects, and only those {103} objects, which are necessary. During many days we occupy ourselves in this process of cleansing and consecration; and this again is confirmed in the actual ceremony.
The cleansed and consecrated Magician takes his cleansed and consecrated instruments into that cleansed and consecrated place, and there proceeds to repeat that double ceremony in the ceremony itself, which has these same two main parts. The first part of every ceremony is the banishing; the second, the invoking. The same formula is repeated even in the ceremony of banishing itself, for in the banishing ritual of the pentagram we not only command the demons to depart, but invoke the Archangels and their hosts to act as guardians of the Circle during our pre-occupation with the ceremony proper.
In more elaborate ceremonies it is usual to banish everything by name. Each element, each planet, and each sign, perhaps even the Sephiroth themselves; all are removed, including the very one which we wished to invoke, for that force ... ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA,#KEYS
140:Mother, how to change one's consciousness?
Naturally, there are many ways, but each person must do it by the means accessible to him; and the indication of the way usually comes spontaneously, through something like an unexpected experience. And for each one, it appears a little differently.
For instance, one may have the perception of the ordinary consciousness which is extended on the surface, horizontally, and works on a plane which is simultaneously the surface of things and has a contact with the superficial outer side of things, people, circumstances; and then, suddenly, for some reason or other - as I say for each one it is different - there is a shifting upwards, and instead of seeing things horizontally, of being at the same level as they are, you suddenly dominate them and see them from above, in their totality, instead of seeing a small number of things immediately next to yourself; it is as though something were drawing you above and making you see as from a mountain-top or an aeroplane. And instead of seeing each detail and seeing it on its own level, you see the whole as one unity, and from far above.
There are many ways of having this experience, but it usually comes to you as if by chance, one fine day.
Or else, one may have an experience which is almost its very opposite but which comes to the same thing. Suddenly one plunges into a depth, one moves away from the thing one perceived, it seems distant, superficial, unimportant; one enters an inner silence or an inner calm or an inward vision of things, a profound feeling, a more intimate perception of circumstances and things, in which all values change. And one becomes aware of a sort of unity, a deep identity which is one in spite of the diverse appearances.
Or else, suddenly also, the sense of limitation disappears and one enters the perception of a kind of indefinite duration beginningless and endless, of something which has always been and always will be.
These experiences come to you suddenly in a flash, for a second, a moment in your life, you don't know why or how.... There are other ways, other experiences - they are innumerable, they vary according to people; but with this, with one minute, one second of such an existence, one catches the tail of the thing. So one must remember that, try to relive it, go to the depths of the experience, recall it, aspire, concentrate. This is the startingpoint, the end of the guiding thread, the clue. For all those who are destined to find their inner being, the truth of their being, there is always at least one moment in life when they were no longer the same, perhaps just like a lightning-flash - but that is enough. It indicates the road one should take, it is the door that opens on this path. And so you must pass through the door, and with perseverance and an unfailing steadfastness seek to renew the state which will lead you to something more real and more total.
Many ways have always been given, but a way you have been taught, a way you have read about in books or heard from a teacher, does not have the effective value of a spontaneous experience which has come without any apparent reason, and which is simply the blossoming of the soul's awakening, one second of contact with your psychic being which shows you the best way for you, the one most within your reach, which you will then have to follow with perseverance to reach the goal - one second which shows you how to start, the beginning.... Some have this in dreams at night; some have it at any odd time: something one sees which awakens in one this new consciousness, something one hears, a beautiful landscape, beautiful music, or else simply a few words one reads, or else the intensity of concentration in some effort - anything at all, there are a thousand reasons and thousands of ways of having it. But, I repeat, all those who are destined to realise have had this at least once in their life. It may be very fleeting, it may have come when they were very young, but always at least once in one's life one has the experience of what true consciousness is. Well, that is the best indication of the path to be followed.
One may seek within oneself, one may remember, may observe; one must notice what is going on, one must pay attention, that's all. Sometimes, when one sees a generous act, hears of something exceptional, when one witnesses heroism or generosity or greatness of soul, meets someone who shows a special talent or acts in an exceptional and beautiful way, there is a kind of enthusiasm or admiration or gratitude which suddenly awakens in the being and opens the door to a state, a new state of consciousness, a light, a warmth, a joy one did not know before. That too is a way of catching the guiding thread. There are a thousand ways, one has only to be awake and to watch.
First of all, you must feel the necessity for this change of consciousness, accept the idea that it is this, the path which must lead to the goal; and once you admit the principle, you must be watchful. And you will find, you do find it. And once you have found it, you must start walking without any hesitation.
Indeed, the starting-point is to observe oneself, not to live in a perpetual nonchalance, a perpetual apathy; one must be attentive.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1956, [T6],#KEYS
141:What are these operations? They are not mere psychological self-analysis and self-observation. Such analysis, such observation are, like the process of right thought, of immense value and practically indispensable. They may even, if rightly pursued, lead to a right thought of considerable power and effectivity. Like intellectual discrimination by the process of meditative thought they will have an effect of purification; they will lead to self-knowledge of a certain kind and to the setting right of the disorders of the soul and the heart and even of the disorders of the understanding. Self-knowledge of all kinds is on the straight path to the knowledge of the real Self. The Upanishad tells us that the Self-existent has so set the doors of the soul that they turn outwards and most men look outward into the appearances of things; only the rare soul that is ripe for a calm thought and steady wisdom turns its eye inward, sees the Self and attains to immortality. To this turning of the eye inward psychological self-observation and analysis is a great and effective introduction.We can look into the inward of ourselves more easily than we can look into the inward of things external to us because there, in things outside us, we are in the first place embarrassed by the form and secondly we have no natural previous experience of that in them which is other than their physical substance. A purified or tranquillised mind may reflect or a powerful concentration may discover God in the world, the Self in Nature even before it is realised in ourselves, but this is rare and difficult. (2) And it is only in ourselves that we can observe and know the process of the Self in its becoming and follow the process by which it draws back into self-being. Therefore the ancient counsel, know thyself, will always stand as the first word that directs us towards the knowledge. Still, psychological self-knowledge is only the experience of the modes of the Self, it is not the realisation of the Self in its pure being.
The status of knowledge, then, which Yoga envisages is not merely an intellectual conception or clear discrimination of the truth, nor is it an enlightened psychological experience of the modes of our being. It is a "realisation", in the full sense of the word; it is the making real to ourselves and in ourselves of the Self, the transcendent and universal Divine, and it is the subsequent impossibility of viewing the modes of being except in the light of that Self and in their true aspect as its flux of becoming under the psychical and physical conditions of our world-existence. This realisation consists of three successive movements, internal vision, complete internal experience and identity.
This internal vision, dr.s.t.i, the power so highly valued by the ancient sages, the power which made a man a Rishi or Kavi and no longer a mere thinker, is a sort of light in the soul by which things unseen become as evident and real to it-to the soul and not merely to the intellect-as do things seen to the physical eye. In the physical world there are always two forms of knowledge, the direct and the indirect, pratyaks.a, of that which is present to the eyes, and paroks.a, of that which is remote from and beyond our vision. When the object is beyond our vision, we are necessarily obliged to arrive at an idea of it by inference, imagination, analogy, by hearing the descriptions of others who have seen it or by studying pictorial or other representations of it if these are available. By putting together all these aids we can indeed arrive at a more or less adequate idea or suggestive image of the object, but we do not realise the thing itself; it is not yet to us the grasped reality, but only our conceptual representation of a reality. But once we have seen it with the eyes,-for no other sense is adequate,-we possess, we realise; it is there secure in our satisfied being, part of ourselves in knowledge. Precisely the same rule holds good of psychical things and of he Self. We may hear clear and luminous teachings about the Self from philosophers or teachers or from ancient writings; we may by thought, inference, imagination, analogy or by any other available means attempt to form a mental figure or conception of it; we may hold firmly that conception in our mind and fix it by an entire and exclusive concentration;3 but we have not yet realised it, we have not seen God. It is only when after long and persistent concentration or by other means the veil of the mind is rent or swept aside, only when a flood of light breaks over the awakened mentality, jyotirmaya brahman, and conception gives place to a knowledge-vision in which the Self is as present, real, concrete as a physical object to the physical eye, that we possess in knowledge; for we have seen. After that revelation, whatever fadings of the light, whatever periods of darkness may afflict the soul, it can never irretrievably lose what it has once held. The experience is inevitably renewed and must become more frequent till it is constant; when and how soon depends on the devotion and persistence with which we insist on the path and besiege by our will or our love the hidden Deity.
(2) And it is only in ourselves that we can observe and know the 2 In one respect, however, it is easier, because in external things we are not so much hampered by the sense of the limited ego as in ourselves; one obstacle to the realisation of God is therefore removed.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Status of Knowledge,#KEYS
142:summary of the entire process of psychic awakening :::
You have asked what is the discipline to be followed in order to convert the mental seeking into a living spiritual experience. The first necessity is the practice of concentration of your consciousness within yourself. The ordinary human mind has an activity on the surface which veils the real Self. But there is another, a hidden consciousness within behind the surface one in which we can become aware of the real Self and of a larger deeper truth of nature, can realise the Self and liberate and transform the nature. To quiet the surface mind and begin to live within is the object of this concentration. Of this true consciousness other then the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it an d all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other way.
That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward to all that is above mind. After a time one feels the consciousness rising upward and it the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it behind to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head is only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one's own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental consciousness is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternatively - but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the more desirable.
The other side of the discipline is with regard to the activities of the nature, of the mind, of the life-self or vital, of the physical being. Here the principle is to accord the nature with the inner realisation so that one may not be divided into two discordant parts. There are here several disciplines or processes possible. One is to offer all the activities to the Divine and call for the inner guidance and the taking up of one's nature by a Higher Power. If there is the inward soul-opening, if the psychic being comes forward, then there is no great difficulty - there comes with it a psychic discrimination, a constant intimation, finally a governance which discloses and quietly and patiently removes all imperfections, bring the right mental and vital movements and reshapes the physical consciousness also. Another method is to stand back detached from the movements of the mind, life, physical being, to regard their activities as only a habitual formation of general Nature in the individual imposed on us by past workings, not as any part of our real being; in proportion as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us - inner mental, inner vital, inner physical - silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds a rejection of all that is to be rejected, an acceptance only of what can be kept and transformed, an inmost Will to perfection or a call to the Divine Power to do at each step what is necessary for the change of the Nature. It can also open mind, life and body to the inmost psychic entity and its guiding influence or its direct guidance. In most cases these two methods emerge and work together and finally fuse into one. But one can being with either, the one that one feels most natural and easy to follow.
Finally, in all difficulties where personal effort is hampered, the help of the Teacher can intervene and bring above what is needed for the realisation or for the immediate step that is necessary.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, 6, {871},#KEYS
143:For instance, a popular game with California occultists-I do not know its inventor-involves a Magic Room, much like the Pleasure Dome discussed earlier except that this Magic Room contains an Omniscient Computer.
To play this game, you simply "astrally project" into the Magic Room. Do not ask what "astral projection" means, and do not assume it is metaphysical (and therefore either impossible, if you are a materialist, or very difficult, if you are a mystic). Just assume this is a gedankenexperiment, a "mind game." Project yourself, in imagination, into this Magic Room and visualize vividly the Omniscient Computer, using the details you need to make such a super-information-processor real to your fantasy. You do not need any knowledge of programming to handle this astral computer. It exists early in the next century; you are getting to use it by a species of time-travel, if that metaphor is amusing and helpful to you. It is so built that it responds immediately to human brain-waves, "reading" them and decoding their meaning. (Crude prototypes of such computers already exist.) So, when you are in this magic room, you can ask this Computer anything, just by thinking of what you want to know. It will read your thought, and project into your brain, by a laser ray, the correct answer.
There is one slight problem. The computer is very sensitive to all brain-waves. If you have any doubts, it registers them as negative commands, meaning "Do not answer my question." So, the way to use it is to start simply, with "easy" questions. Ask it to dig out of the archives the name of your second-grade teacher. (Almost everybody remembers the name of their first grade teacher-imprint vulnerability again-but that of the second grade teacher tends to get lost.)
When the computer has dug out the name of your second grade teacher, try it on a harder question, but not one that is too hard. It is very easy to sabotage this machine, but you don't want to sabotage it during these experiments. You want to see how well it can be made to perform.
It is wise to ask only one question at a time, since it requires concentration to keep this magic computer real on the field of your perception. Do not exhaust your capacities for imagination and visualization on your first trial runs.
After a few trivial experiments of the second-grade-teacher variety, you can try more interesting programs. Take a person toward whom you have negative feelings, such as anger, disappointment, feeling-of-betrayal, jealousy or whatever interferes with the smooth, tranquil operation of your own bio-computer. Ask the Magic Computer to explain that other person to you; to translate you into their reality-tunnel long enough for you to understand how events seem to them. Especially, ask how you seem to them.
This computer will do that job for you; but be prepared for some shocks which might be disagreeable at first. This super-brain can also perform exegesis on ideas that seem obscure, paradoxical or enigmatic to us. For instance, early experiments with this computer can very profitably turn on asking it to explain some of the propositions in this book which may seem inexplicable or perversely wrong-headed to you, such as "We are all greater artists than we realize" or "What the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves" or "mind and its contents are functionally identical."
This computer is much more powerful and scientifically advanced than the rapture-machine in the neurosomatic circuit. It has total access to all the earlier, primitive circuits, and overrules any of them. That is, if you put a meta-programming instruction into this computer; it will relay it downward to the old circuits and cancel contradictory programs left over from the past. For instance, try feeding it on such meta-programming instructions as: 1. I am at cause over my body. 2. I am at cause over my imagination. 3.1 am at cause over my future. 4. My mind abounds with beauty and power. 5.1 like people, and people like me.
Remember that this computer is only a few decades ahead of present technology, so it cannot "understand" your commands if you harbor any doubts about them. Doubts tell it not to perform. Work always from what you can believe in, extending the area of belief only as results encourage you to try for more dramatic transformations of your past reality-tunnels.
This represents cybernetic consciousness; the programmer becoming self-programmer, self-metaprogrammer, meta-metaprogrammer, etc. Just as the emotional compulsions of the second circuit seem primitive, mechanical and, ultimately, silly to the neurosomatic consciousness, so, too, the reality maps of the third circuit become comic, relativistic, game-like to the metaprogrammer. "Whatever you say it is, it isn't, " Korzybski, the semanticist, repeated endlessly in his seminars, trying to make clear that third-circuit semantic maps are not the territories they represent; that we can always make maps of our maps, revisions of our revisions, meta-selves of our selves. "Neti, neti" (not that, not that), Hindu teachers traditionally say when asked what "God" is or what "Reality" is. Yogis, mathematicians and musicians seem more inclined to develop meta-programming consciousness than most of humanity. Korzybski even claimed that the use of mathematical scripts is an aid to developing this circuit, for as soon as you think of your mind as mind 1 , and the mind which contemplates that mind as mind2 and the mind which contemplates mind2 contemplating mind 1 as mind3, you are well on your way to meta-programming awareness. Alice in Wonderland is a masterful guide to the metaprogramming circuit (written by one of the founders of mathematical logic) and Aleister Crowley soberly urged its study upon all students of yoga. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising,#KEYS
144:[an Integral conception of the Divine :::
But on that which as yet we know not how shall we concentrate? And yet we cannot know the Divine unless we have achieved this concentration of our being upon him. A concentration which culminates in a living realisation and the constant sense of the presence of the One in ourselves and in all of which we are aware, is what we mean in Yoga by knowledge and the effort after knowledge. It is not enough to devote ourselves by the reading of Scriptures or by the stress of philosophical reasoning to an intellectual understanding of the Divine; for at the end of our long mental labour we might know all that has been said of the Eternal, possess all that can be thought about the Infinite and yet we might not know him at all. This intellectual preparation can indeed be the first stage in a powerful Yoga, but it is not indispensable : it is not a step which all need or can be called upon to take. Yoga would be impossible, except for a very few, if the intellectual figure of knowledge arrived at by the speculative or meditative Reason were its indispensable condition or a binding preliminary. All that the Light from above asks of us that it may begin its work is a call from the soul and a sufficient point of support in the mind. This support can be reached through an insistent idea of the Divine in the thought, a corresponding will in the dynamic parts, an aspiration, a faith, a need in the heart. Any one of these may lead or predominate, if all cannot move in unison or in an equal rhythm. The idea may be and must in the beginning be inadequate; the aspiration may be narrow and imperfect, the faith poorly illumined or even, as not surely founded on the rock of knowledge, fluctuating, uncertain, easily diminished; often even it may be extinguished and need to be lit again with difficulty like a torch in a windy pass. But if once there is a resolute self-consecration from deep within, if there is an awakening to the soul's call, these inadequate things can be a sufficient instrument for the divine purpose. Therefore the wise have always been unwilling to limit man's avenues towards God; they would not shut against his entry even the narrowest portal, the lowest and darkest postern, the humblest wicket-gate. Any name, any form, any symbol, any offering has been held to be sufficient if there is the consecration along with it; for the Divine knows himself in the heart of the seeker and accepts the sacrifice.
But still the greater and wider the moving idea-force behind the consecration, the better for the seeker; his attainment is likely to be fuller and more ample. If we are to attempt an integral Yoga, it will be as well to start with an idea of the Divine that is itself integral. There should be an aspiration in the heart wide enough for a realisation without any narrow limits. Not only should we avoid a sectarian religious outlook, but also all onesided philosophical conceptions which try to shut up the Ineffable in a restricting mental formula. The dynamic conception or impelling sense with which our Yoga can best set out would be naturally the idea, the sense of a conscious all-embracing but all-exceeding Infinite. Our uplook must be to a free, all-powerful, perfect and blissful One and Oneness in which all beings move and live and through which all can meet and become one. This Eternal will be at once personal and impersonal in his self-revelation and touch upon the soul. He is personal because he is the conscious Divine, the infinite Person who casts some broken reflection of himself in the myriad divine and undivine personalities of the universe. He is impersonal because he appears to us as an infinite Existence, Consciousness and Ananda and because he is the fount, base and constituent of all existences and all energies, -the very material of our being and mind and life and body, our spirit and our matter. The thought, concentrating on him, must not merely understand in an intellectual form that he exists, or conceive of him as an abstraction, a logical necessity; it must become a seeing thought able to meet him here as the Inhabitant in all, realise him in ourselves, watch and take hold on the movement of his forces. He is the one Existence: he is the original and universal Delight that constitutes all things and exceeds them: he is the one infinite Consciousness that composes all consciousnesses and informs all their movements; he is the one illimitable Being who sustains all action and experience; his will guides the evolution of things towards their yet unrealised but inevitable aim and plenitude. To him the heart can consecrate itself, approach him as the supreme Beloved, beat and move in him as in a universal sweetness of Love and a living sea of Delight. For his is the secret Joy that supports the soul in all its experiences and maintains even the errant ego in its ordeals and struggles till all sorrow and suffering shall cease. His is the Love and the Bliss of the infinite divine Lover who is drawing all things by their own path towards his happy oneness. On him the Will can unalterably fix as the invisible Power that guides and fulfils it and as the source of its strength. In the impersonality this actuating Power is a self-illumined Force that contains all results and calmly works until it accomplishes, in the personality an all wise and omnipotent Master of the Yoga whom nothing can prevent from leading it to its goal. This is the faith with which the seeker has to begin his seeking and endeavour; for in all his effort here, but most of all in his effort towards the Unseen, mental man must perforce proceed by faith. When the realisation comes, the faith divinely fulfilled and completed will be transformed into an eternal flame of knowledge.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Self-Consecration, 82-83 [T1],#KEYS
145:Intuition And The Value Of Concentration :::
Mother, how can the faculty of intuition be developed?
... There are different kinds of intuition, and we carry these capacities within us. They are always active to some extent but we don't notice them because we don't pay enough attention to what is going on in us. Behind the emotions, deep within the being, in a consciousness seated somewhere near the level of the solar plexus, there is a sort of prescience, a kind of capacity for foresight, but not in the form of ideas: rather in the form of feelings, almost a perception of sensations. For instance, when one is going to decide to do something, there is sometimes a kind of uneasiness or inner refusal, and usually, if one listens to this deeper indication, one realises that it was justified. In other cases there is something that urges, indicates, insists - I am not speaking of impulses, you understand, of all the movements which come from the vital and much lower still - indications which are behind the feelings, which come from the affective part of the being; there too one can receive a fairly sure indication of the thing to be done. These are forms of intuition or of a higher instinct which can be cultivated by observation and also by studying the results. Naturally, it must be done very sincerely, objectively, without prejudice. If one wants to see things in a particular way and at the same time practise this observation, it is all useless. One must do it as if one were looking at what is happening from outside oneself, in someone else. It is one form of intuition and perhaps the first one that usually manifests. There is also another form but that one is much more difficult to observe because for those who are accustomed to think, to act by reason - not by impulse but by reason - to reflect before doing anything, there is an extremely swift process from cause to effect in the half-conscious thought which prevents you from seeing the line, the whole line of reasoning and so you don't think that it is a chain of reasoning, and that is quite deceptive. You have the impression of an intuition but it is not an intuition, it is an extremely rapid subconscious reasoning, which takes up a problem and goes straight to the conclusions. This must not be mistaken for intuition. In the ordinary functioning of the brain, intuition is something which suddenly falls like a drop of light. If one has the faculty, the beginning of a faculty of mental vision, it gives the impression of something coming from outside or above, like a little impact of a drop of light in the brain, absolutely independent of all reasoning. This is perceived more easily when one is able to silence one's mind, hold it still and attentive, arresting its usual functioning, as if the mind were changed into a kind of mirror turned towards a higher faculty in a sustained and silent attention. That too one can learn to do. One must learn to do it, it is a necessary discipline.
When you have a question to solve, whatever it may be, usually you concentrate your attention here (pointing between the eyebrows), at the centre just above the eyes, the centre of the conscious will. But then if you do that, you cannot be in contact with intuition. You can be in contact with the source of the will, of effort, even of a certain kind of knowledge, but in the outer, almost material field; whereas, if you want to contact the intuition, you must keep this (Mother indicates the forehead) completely immobile. Active thought must be stopped as far as possible and the entire mental faculty must form - at the top of the head and a little further above if possible - a kind of mirror, very quiet, very still, turned upwards, in silent, very concentrated attention. If you succeed, you can - perhaps not immediately - but you can have the perception of the drops of light falling upon the mirror from a still unknown region and expressing themselves as a conscious thought which has no connection with all the rest of your thought since you have been able to keep it silent. That is the real beginning of the intellectual intuition.
It is a discipline to be followed. For a long time one may try and not succeed, but as soon as one succeeds in making a mirror, still and attentive, one always obtains a result, not necessarily with a precise form of thought but always with the sensations of a light coming from above. And then, if one can receive this light coming from above without entering immediately into a whirl of activity, receive it in calm and silence and let it penetrate deep into the being, then after a while it expresses itself either as a luminous thought or as a very precise indication here (Mother indicates the heart), in this other centre.
Naturally, first these two faculties must be developed; then, as soon as there is any result, one must observe the result, as I said, and see the connection with what is happening, the consequences: see, observe very attentively what has come in, what may have caused a distortion, what one has added by way of more or less conscious reasoning or the intervention of a lower will, also more or less conscious; and it is by a very deep study - indeed, almost of every moment, in any case daily and very frequent - that one succeeds in developing one's intuition. It takes a long time. It takes a long time and there are ambushes: one can deceive oneself, take for intuitions subconscious wills which try to manifest, indications given by impulses one has refused to receive openly, indeed all sorts of difficulties. One must be prepared for that. But if one persists, one is sure to succeed.
And there comes a time when one feels a kind of inner guidance, something which is leading one very perceptibly in all that one does. But then, for the guidance to have its maximum power, one must naturally add to it a conscious surrender: one must be sincerely determined to follow the indication given by the higher force. If one does that, then... one saves years of study, one can seize the result extremely rapidly. If one also does that, the result comes very rapidly. But for that, it must be done with sincerity and... a kind of inner spontaneity. If one wants to try without this surrender, one may succeed - as one can also succeed in developing one's personal will and making it into a very considerable power - but that takes a very long time and one meets many obstacles and the result is very precarious; one must be very persistent, obstinate, persevering, and one is sure to succeed, but only after a great labour.
Make your surrender with a sincere, complete self-giving, and you will go ahead at full speed, you will go much faster - but you must not do this calculatingly, for that spoils everything! (Silence) Moreover, whatever you may want to do in life, one thing is absolutely indispensable and at the basis of everything, the capacity of concentrating the attention. If you are able to gather together the rays of attention and consciousness on one point and can maintain this concentration with a persistent will, nothing can resist it - whatever it may be, from the most material physical development to the highest spiritual one. But this discipline must be followed in a constant and, it may be said, imperturbable way; not that you should always be concentrated on the same thing - that's not what I mean, I mean learning to concentrate.
And materially, for studies, sports, all physical or mental development, it is absolutely indispensable. And the value of an individual is proportionate to the value of his attention.
And from the spiritual point of view it is still more important.
There is no spiritual obstacle which can resist a penetrating power of concentration. For instance, the discovery of the psychic being, union with the inner Divine, opening to the higher spheres, all can be obtained by an intense and obstinate power of concentration - but one must learn how to do it. There is nothing in the human or even in the superhuman field, to which the power of concentration is not the key. You can be the best athlete, you can be the best student, you can be an artistic, literary or scientific genius, you can be the greatest saint with that faculty. And everyone has in himself a tiny little beginning of it - it is given to everybody, but people do not cultivate it.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1957-1958,#KEYS
146:
Can a Yogi attain to a state of consciousness in which he can know all things, answer all questions, relating even to abstruse scientific problems, such as, for example, the theory of relativity?
Theoretically and in principle it is not impossible for a Yogi to know everything; all depends upon the Yogi.
But there is knowledge and knowledge. The Yogi does not know in the way of the mind. He does not know everything in the sense that he has access to all possible information or because he contains all the facts of the universe in his mind or because his consciousness is a sort of miraculous encyclopaedia. He knows by his capacity for a containing or dynamic identity with things and persons and forces. Or he knows because he lives in a plane of consciousness or is in contact with a consciousness in which there is the truth and the knowledge.
If you are in the true consciousness, the knowledge you have will also be of the truth. Then, too, you can know directly, by being one with what you know. If a problem is put before you, if you are asked what is to be done in a particular matter, you can then, by looking with enough attention and concentration, receive spontaneously the required knowledge and the true answer. It is not by any careful application of theory that you reach the knowledge or by working it out through a mental process. The scientific mind needs these methods to come to its conclusions. But the Yogi's knowledge is direct and immediate; it is not deductive. If an engineer has to find out the exact position for the building of an arch, the line of its curve and the size of its opening, he does it by calculation, collating and deducing from his information and data. But a Yogi needs none of these things; he looks, has the vision of the thing, sees that it is to be done in this way and not in another, and this seeing is his knowledge.
Although it may be true in a general way and in a certain sense that a Yogi can know all things and can answer all questions from his own field of vision and consciousness, yet it does not follow that there are no questions whatever of any kind to which he would not or could not answer. A Yogi who has the direct knowledge, the knowledge of the true truth of things, would not care or perhaps would find it difficult to answer questions that belong entirely to the domain of human mental constructions. It may be, he could not or would not wish to solve problems and difficulties you might put to him which touch only the illusion of things and their appearances. The working of his knowledge is not in the mind. If you put him some silly mental query of that character, he probably would not answer. The very common conception that you can put any ignorant question to him as to some super-schoolmaster or demand from him any kind of information past, present or future and that he is bound to answer, is a foolish idea. It is as inept as the expectation from the spiritual man of feats and miracles that would satisfy the vulgar external mind and leave it gaping with wonder.
Moreover, the term "Yogi" is very vague and wide. There are many types of Yogis, many lines or ranges of spiritual or occult endeavour and different heights of achievement, there are some whose powers do not extend beyond the mental level; there are others who have gone beyond it. Everything depends on the field or nature of their effort, the height to which they have arrived, the consciousness with which they have contact or into which they enter.
Do not scientists go sometimes beyond the mental plane? It is said that Einstein found his theory of relativity not through any process of reasoning, but through some kind of sudden inspiration. Has that inspiration anything to do with the Supermind?
The scientist who gets an inspiration revealing to him a new truth, receives it from the intuitive mind. The knowledge comes as a direct perception in the higher mental plane illumined by some other light still farther above. But all that has nothing to do with the action of Supermind and this higher mental level is far removed from the supramental plane. Men are too easily inclined to believe that they have climbed into regions quite divine when they have only gone above the average level. There are many stages between the ordinary human mind and the Supermind, many grades and many intervening planes. If an ordinary man were to get into direct contact even with one of these intermediate planes, he would be dazzled and blinded, would be crushed under the weight of the sense of immensity or would lose his balance; and yet it is not the Supermind.
Behind the common idea that a Yogi can know all things and answer all questions is the actual fact that there is a plane in the mind where the memory of everything is stored and remains always in existence. All mental movements that belong to the life of the earth are memorised and registered in this plane. Those who are capable of going there and care to take the trouble, can read in it and learn anything they choose. But this region must not be mistaken for the supramental levels. And yet to reach even there you must be able to silence the movements of the material or physical mind; you must be able to leave aside all your sensations and put a stop to your ordinary mental movements, whatever they are; you must get out of the vital; you must become free from the slavery of the body. Then only you can enter into that region and see. But if you are sufficiently interested to make this effort, you can arrive there and read what is written in the earth's memory.
Thus, if you go deep into silence, you can reach a level of consciousness on which it is not impossible for you to receive answers to all your questions. And if there is one who is consciously open to the plenary truth of the supermind, in constant contact with it, he can certainly answer any question that is worth an answer from the supramental Light. The queries put must come from some sense of the truth and reality behind things. There are many questions and much debated problems that are cobwebs woven of mere mental abstractions or move on the illusory surface of things. These do not pertain to real knowledge; they are a deformation of knowledge, their very substance is of the ignorance. Certainly the supramental knowledge may give an answer, its own answer, to the problems set by the mind's ignorance; but it is likely that it would not be at all satisfactory or perhaps even intelligible to those who ask from the mental level. You must not expect the supramental to work in the way of the mind or demand that the knowledge in truth should be capable of being pieced together with the half-knowledge in ignorance. The scheme of the mind is one thing, but Supermind is quite another and it would no longer be supramental if it adapted itself to the exigencies of the mental scheme. The two are incommensurable and cannot be put together.
When the consciousness has attained to supramental joys, does it no longer take interest in the things of the mind?
The supramental does not take interest in mental things in the same way as the mind. It takes its own interest in all the movements of the universe, but it is from a different point of view and with a different vision. The world presents to it an entirely different appearance; there is a reversal of outlook and everything is seen from there as other than what it seems to the mind and often even the opposite. Things have another meaning; their aspect, their motion and process, everything about them, are watched with other eyes. Everything here is followed by the supermind; the mind movements and not less the vital, the material movements, all the play of the universe have for it a very deep interest, but of another kind. It is about the same difference as that between the interest taken in a puppet-play by one who holds the strings and knows what the puppets are to do and the will that moves them and that they can do only what it moves them to do, and the interest taken by another who observes the play but sees only what is happening from moment to moment and knows nothing else. The one who follows the play and is outside its secret has a stronger, an eager and passionate interest in what will happen and he gives an excited attention to its unforeseen or dramatic events; the other, who holds the strings and moves the show, is unmoved and tranquil. There is a certain intensity of interest which comes from ignorance and is bound up with illusion, and that must disappear when you are out of the ignorance. The interest that human beings take in things founds itself on the illusion; if that were removed, they would have no interest at all in the play; they would find it dry and dull. That is why all this ignorance, all this illusion has lasted so long; it is because men like it, because they cling to it and its peculiar kind of appeal that it endures.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931, 93?
,#KEYS
147:The Science of Living
To know oneself and to control oneself
AN AIMLESS life is always a miserable life.
Every one of you should have an aim. But do not forget that on the quality of your aim will depend the quality of your life.
Your aim should be high and wide, generous and disinterested; this will make your life precious to yourself and to others.
But whatever your ideal, it cannot be perfectly realised unless you have realised perfection in yourself.
To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For man's nature, especially his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable explanation for everything he thinks, feels, says and does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to form in ourselves a discernment that never errs. For if we truly want to progress and acquire the capacity of knowing the truth of our being, that is to say, what we are truly created for, what we can call our mission upon earth, then we must, in a very regular and constant manner, reject from us or eliminate in us whatever contradicts the truth of our existence, whatever is opposed to it. In this way, little by little, all the parts, all the elements of our being can be organised into a homogeneous whole around our psychic centre. This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance, with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavour.
As you pursue this labour of purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care to perfect the external and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all the movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection.
All this can be realised by means of a fourfold discipline, the general outline of which is given here. The four aspects of the discipline do not exclude each other, and can be followed at the same time; indeed, this is preferable. The starting-point is what can be called the psychic discipline. We give the name "psychic" to the psychological centre of our being, the seat within us of the highest truth of our existence, that which can know this truth and set it in movement. It is therefore of capital importance to become conscious of its presence in us, to concentrate on this presence until it becomes a living fact for us and we can identify ourselves with it.
In various times and places many methods have been prescribed for attaining this perception and ultimately achieving this identification. Some methods are psychological, some religious, some even mechanical. In reality, everyone has to find the one which suits him best, and if one has an ardent and steadfast aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet, in one way or another - outwardly through reading and study, inwardly through concentration, meditation, revelation and experience - the help one needs to reach the goal. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover and to realise. This discovery and realisation should be the primary preoccupation of our being, the pearl of great price which we must acquire at any cost. Whatever you do, whatever your occupations and activities, the will to find the truth of your being and to unite with it must be always living and present behind all that you do, all that you feel, all that you think.
To complement this movement of inner discovery, it would be good not to neglect the development of the mind. For the mental instrument can equally be a great help or a great hindrance. In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision, narrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions, and a constant effort is therefore needed to widen it, to make it more supple and profound. So it is very necessary to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. Towards this end, there is an exercise which gives great suppleness and elevation to the thought. It is as follows: a clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed its antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended until a synthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.
Many other exercises of the same kind can be undertaken; some have a beneficial effect on the character and so possess a double advantage: that of educating the mind and that of establishing control over the feelings and their consequences. For example, you must never allow your mind to judge things and people, for the mind is not an instrument of knowledge; it is incapable of finding knowledge, but it must be moved by knowledge. Knowledge belongs to a much higher domain than that of the human mind, far above the region of pure ideas. The mind has to be silent and attentive to receive knowledge from above and manifest it. For it is an instrument of formation, of organisation and action, and it is in these functions that it attains its full value and real usefulness.
There is another practice which can be very helpful to the progress of the consciousness. Whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, such as a decision to be taken, or an action to be carried out, one must never remain closed up in one's own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must make an effort to understand the other's point of view, to put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling or even fighting, find the solution which can reasonably satisfy both parties; there always is one for men of goodwill.
Here we must mention the discipline of the vital. The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depressions, of passions and revolts. It can set everything in motion, build and realise; but it can also destroy and mar everything. Thus it may be the most difficult part to discipline in the human being. It is a long and exacting labour requiring great patience and perfect sincerity, for without sincerity you will deceive yourself from the very outset, and all endeavour for progress will be in vain. With the collaboration of the vital no realisation seems impossible, no transformation impracticable. But the difficulty lies in securing this constant collaboration. The vital is a good worker, but most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused, totally or even partially, the vital gets vexed, sulks and goes on strike. Its energy disappears more or less completely and in its place leaves disgust for people and things, discouragement or revolt, depression and dissatisfaction. At such moments it is good to remain quiet and refuse to act; for these are the times when one does stupid things and in a few moments one can destroy or spoil the progress that has been made during months of regular effort. These crises are shorter and less dangerous for those who have established a contact with their psychic being which is sufficient to keep alive in them the flame of aspiration and the consciousness of the ideal to be realised. They can, with the help of this consciousness, deal with their vital as one deals with a rebellious child, with patience and perseverance, showing it the truth and light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill which has been veiled for a time. By means of such patient intervention each crisis can be turned into a new progress, into one more step towards the goal. Progress may be slow, relapses may be frequent, but if a courageous will is maintained, one is sure to triumph one day and see all difficulties melt and vanish before the radiance of the truth-consciousness.
Lastly, by means of a rational and discerning physical education, we must make our body strong and supple enough to become a fit instrument in the material world for the truth-force which wants to manifest through us.
In fact, the body must not rule, it must obey. By its very nature it is a docile and faithful servant. Unfortunately, it rarely has the capacity of discernment it ought to have with regard to its masters, the mind and the vital. It obeys them blindly, at the cost of its own well-being. The mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, the vital with its passions, its excesses and dissipations soon destroy the natural balance of the body and create in it fatigue, exhaustion and disease. It must be freed from this tyranny and this can be done only through a constant union with the psychic centre of the being. The body has a wonderful capacity of adaptation and endurance. It is able to do so many more things than one usually imagines. If, instead of the ignorant and despotic masters that now govern it, it is ruled by the central truth of the being, you will be amazed at what it is capable of doing. Calm and quiet, strong and poised, at every minute it will be able to put forth the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action and to recuperate, through contact with the universal forces, the energies it expends consciously and usefully. In this sound and balanced life a new harmony will manifest in the body, reflecting the harmony of the higher regions, which will give it perfect proportions and ideal beauty of form. And this harmony will be progressive, for the truth of the being is never static; it is a perpetual unfolding of a growing perfection that is more and more total and comprehensive. As soon as the body has learnt to follow this movement of progressive harmony, it will be possible for it to escape, through a continuous process of transformation, from the necessity of disintegration and destruction. Thus the irrevocable law of death will no longer have any reason to exist.
When we reach this degree of perfection which is our goal, we shall perceive that the truth we seek is made up of four major aspects: Love, Knowledge, Power and Beauty. These four attributes of the Truth will express themselves spontaneously in our being. The psychic will be the vehicle of true and pure love, the mind will be the vehicle of infallible knowledge, the vital will manifest an invincible power and strength and the body will be the expression of a perfect beauty and harmony.
Bulletin, November 1950
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
148:Mental Education
OF ALL lines of education, mental education is the most widely known and practised, yet except in a few rare cases there are gaps which make it something very incomplete and in the end quite insufficient.
Generally speaking, schooling is considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. And when a child has been made to undergo, for a number of years, a methodical training which is more like cramming than true schooling, it is considered that whatever is necessary for his mental development has been done. Nothing of the kind. Even conceding that the training is given with due measure and discrimination and does not permanently damage the brain, it cannot impart to the human mind the faculties it needs to become a good and useful instrument. The schooling that is usually given can, at the most, serve as a system of gymnastics to increase the suppleness of the brain. From this standpoint, each branch of human learning represents a special kind of mental gymnastics, and the verbal formulations given to these various branches each constitute a special and well-defined language.
A true mental education, which will prepare man for a higher life, has five principal phases. Normally these phases follow one after another, but in exceptional individuals they may alternate or even proceed simultaneously. These five phases, in brief, are:
(1) Development of the power of concentration, the capacity of attention.
(2) Development of the capacities of expansion, widening, complexity and richness.
(3) Organisation of one's ideas around a central idea, a higher ideal or a supremely luminous idea that will serve as a guide in life.
(4) Thought-control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants.
(5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being.
It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods to be employed in the application of these five phases of education to different individuals. Still, a few explanations on points of detail can be given.
Undeniably, what most impedes mental progress in children is the constant dispersion of their thoughts. Their thoughts flutter hither and thither like butterflies and they have to make a great effort to fix them. Yet this capacity is latent in them, for when you succeed in arousing their interest, they are capable of a good deal of attention. By his ingenuity, therefore, the educator will gradually help the child to become capable of a sustained effort of attention and a faculty of more and more complete absorption in the work in hand. All methods that can develop this faculty of attention from games to rewards are good and can all be utilised according to the need and the circumstances. But it is the psychological action that is most important and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in what you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. To love to learn is the most precious gift that one can give to a child: to love to learn always and everywhere, so that all circumstances, all happenings in life may be constantly renewed opportunities for learning more and always more.
For that, to attention and concentration should be added observation, precise recording and faithfulness of memory. This faculty of observation can be developed by varied and spontaneous exercises, making use of every opportunity that presents itself to keep the child's thought wakeful, alert and prompt. The growth of the understanding should be stressed much more than that of memory. One knows well only what one has understood. Things learnt by heart, mechanically, fade away little by little and finally disappear; what is understood is never forgotten. Moreover, you must never refuse to explain to a child the how and the why of things. If you cannot do it yourself, you must direct the child to those who are qualified to answer or point out to him some books that deal with the question. In this way you will progressively awaken in the child the taste for true study and the habit of making a persistent effort to know.
This will bring us quite naturally to the second phase of development in which the mind should be widened and enriched.
You will gradually show the child that everything can become an interesting subject for study if it is approached in the right way. The life of every day, of every moment, is the best school of all, varied, complex, full of unexpected experiences, problems to be solved, clear and striking examples and obvious consequences. It is so easy to arouse healthy curiosity in children, if you answer with intelligence and clarity the numerous questions they ask. An interesting reply to one readily brings others in its train and so the attentive child learns without effort much more than he usually does in the classroom. By a choice made with care and insight, you should also teach him to enjoy good reading-matter which is both instructive and attractive. Do not be afraid of anything that awakens and pleases his imagination; imagination develops the creative mental faculty and through it study becomes living and the mind develops in joy.
In order to increase the suppleness and comprehensiveness of his mind, one should see not only that he studies many varied topics, but above all that a single subject is approached in various ways, so that the child understands in a practical manner that there are many ways of facing the same intellectual problem, of considering it and solving it. This will remove all rigidity from his brain and at the same time it will make his thinking richer and more supple and prepare it for a more complex and comprehensive synthesis. In this way also the child will be imbued with the sense of the extreme relativity of mental learning and, little by little, an aspiration for a truer source of knowledge will awaken in him.
Indeed, as the child grows older and progresses in his studies, his mind too ripens and becomes more and more capable of forming general ideas, and with them almost always comes a need for certitude, for a knowledge that is stable enough to form the basis of a mental construction which will permit all the diverse and scattered and often contradictory ideas accumulated in his brain to be organised and put in order. This ordering is indeed very necessary if one is to avoid chaos in one's thoughts. All contradictions can be transformed into complements, but for that one must discover the higher idea that will have the power to bring them harmoniously together. It is always good to consider every problem from all possible standpoints so as to avoid partiality and exclusiveness; but if the thought is to be active and creative, it must, in every case, be the natural and logical synthesis of all the points of view adopted. And if you want to make the totality of your thoughts into a dynamic and constructive force, you must also take great care as to the choice of the central idea of your mental synthesis; for upon that will depend the value of this synthesis. The higher and larger the central idea and the more universal it is, rising above time and space, the more numerous and the more complex will be the ideas, notions and thoughts which it will be able to organise and harmonise.
It goes without saying that this work of organisation cannot be done once and for all. The mind, if it is to keep its vigour and youth, must progress constantly, revise its notions in the light of new knowledge, enlarge its frame-work to include fresh notions and constantly reclassify and reorganise its thoughts, so that each of them may find its true place in relation to the others and the whole remain harmonious and orderly.
All that has just been said concerns the speculative mind, the mind that learns. But learning is only one aspect of mental activity; the other, which is at least equally important, is the constructive faculty, the capacity to form and thus prepare action. This very important part of mental activity has rarely been the subject of any special study or discipline. Only those who want, for some reason, to exercise a strict control over their mental activities think of observing and disciplining this faculty of formation; and as soon as they try it, they have to face difficulties so great that they appear almost insurmountable.
And yet control over this formative activity of the mind is one of the most important aspects of self-education; one can say that without it no mental mastery is possible. As far as study is concerned, all ideas are acceptable and should be included in the synthesis, whose very function is to become more and more rich and complex; but where action is concerned, it is just the opposite. The ideas that are accepted for translation into action should be strictly controlled and only those that agree with the general trend of the central idea forming the basis of the mental synthesis should be permitted to express themselves in action. This means that every thought entering the mental consciousness should be set before the central idea; if it finds a logical place among the thoughts already grouped, it will be admitted into the synthesis; if not, it will be rejected so that it can have no influence on the action. This work of mental purification should be done very regularly in order to secure a complete control over one's actions.
For this purpose, it is good to set apart some time every day when one can quietly go over one's thoughts and put one's synthesis in order. Once the habit is acquired, you can maintain control over your thoughts even during work and action, allowing only those which are useful for what you are doing to come to the surface. Particularly, if you have continued to cultivate the power of concentration and attention, only the thoughts that are needed will be allowed to enter the active external consciousness and they then become all the more dynamic and effective. And if, in the intensity of concentration, it becomes necessary not to think at all, all mental vibration can be stilled and an almost total silence secured. In this silence one can gradually open to the higher regions of the mind and learn to record the inspirations that come from there.
But even before reaching this point, silence in itself is supremely useful, because in most people who have a somewhat developed and active mind, the mind is never at rest. During the day, its activity is kept under a certain control, but at night, during the sleep of the body, the control of the waking state is almost completely removed and the mind indulges in activities which are sometimes excessive and often incoherent. This creates a great stress which leads to fatigue and the diminution of the intellectual faculties.
The fact is that like all the other parts of the human being, the mind too needs rest and it will not have this rest unless we know how to provide it. The art of resting one's mind is something to be acquired. Changing one's mental activity is certainly one way of resting; but the greatest possible rest is silence. And as far as the mental faculties are concerned a few minutes passed in the calm of silence are a more effective rest than hours of sleep.
When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate it in receptive silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved, no mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found. When it is agitated, thought becomes confused and impotent; in an attentive tranquillity, the light can manifest itself and open up new horizons to man's capacity. Bulletin, November 1951
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
149:It does not matter if you do not understand it - Savitri, read it always. You will see that every time you read it, something new will be revealed to you. Each time you will get a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, things you did not understand arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexpected vision comes up through the words and lines. Every time you try to read and understand, you will see that something is added, something which was hidden behind is revealed clearly and vividly. I tell you the very verses you have read once before, will appear to you in a different light each time you re-read them. This is what happens invariably. Always your experience is enriched, it is a revelation at each step.
But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort.
Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to the highest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all the help one needs. For him who wishes to follow this path, it is a concrete help as though the Lord himself were taking you by the hand and leading you to the destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here, every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
*He has crammed the whole universe in a single book.* It is a marvellous work, magnificent and of an incomparable perfection.
You know, before writing Savitri Sri Aurobindo said to me, *I am impelled to launch on a new adventure; I was hesitant in the beginning, but now I am decided. Still, I do not know how far I shall succeed. I pray for help.* And you know what it was? It was - before beginning, I warn you in advance - it was His way of speaking, so full of divine humility and modesty. He never... *asserted Himself*. And the day He actually began it, He told me: *I have launched myself in a rudderless boat upon the vastness of the Infinite.* And once having started, He wrote page after page without intermission, as though it were a thing already complete up there and He had only to transcribe it in ink down here on these pages.
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may understand it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind the words and lines and one must rise to the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prophesies, all that is going to come is presented with the precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find the Truth, to discover the Consciousness, to solve the problem of what the universe is. He has also indicated how to open the door of the Inconscience so that the light may penetrate there and transform it. He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in the future; all this is found in the depth of Savitri. But one must have the knowledge to discover it all, the experience of the planes of consciousness, the experience of the Supermind, even the experience of the conquest of Death. He has noted all the stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in the integral Yoga.
All this is His own experience, and what is most surprising is that it is my own experience also. It is my sadhana which He has worked out. Each object, each event, each realisation, all the descriptions, even the colours are exactly what I saw and the words, phrases are also exactly what I heard. And all this before having read the book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, when He was writing He used to read it to me. Every morning I used to hear Him read Savitri. During the night He would write and in the morning read it to me. And I observed something curious, that day after day the experiences He read out to me in the morning were those I had had the previous night, word by word. Yes, all the descriptions, the colours, the pictures I had seen, the words I had heard, all, all, I heard it all, put by Him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, they were exactly my experiences of the previous night which He read out to me the following morning. And it was not just one day by chance, but for days and days together. And every time I used to compare what He said with my previous experiences and they were always the same. I repeat, it was not that I had told Him my experiences and that He had noted them down afterwards, no, He knew already what I had seen. It is my experiences He has presented at length and they were His experiences also. It is, moreover, the picture of Our joint adventure into the unknown or rather into the Supermind.
These are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of inconscience, even in the neighborhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to breathe the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda. He crossed all these realms, went through the consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into the joy of union with the Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in the history of the world. It is something that has never happened before, He is the first to have traced the path in the Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards the Supermind. He has made the work easy for us. Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for the first time in the earth-consciousness.
And I think that man is not yet ready to receive it. It is too high and too vast for him. He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand and assimilate it. The farther one advances on the path of Yoga, the more does one assimilate and the better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in The Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in the mind or through the mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
And men have the audacity to compare it with the work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. They do not understand, they cannot understand. What do they know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make them understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the number of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to describe it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet remains to be seen.
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he remains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he remains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the hand. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 November 1967
~ The Mother, Sweet Mother, The Mother to Mona Sarkar, [T0],#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Concentration is at the root of mental mastery. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 2:Prayer is a concentration of positive thoughts. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 3:One great cause of failure is lack of concentration. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 4:The only prudence in life is concentration. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 5:True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness. ~ b-k-s-iyengar, @wisdomtrove 6:Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 7:Concentration is the root of all the higher abilities in man. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 8:A certain color tones you up. It's the concentration of timbres. ~ henri-matisse, @wisdomtrove 9:The secret to success in any human endeavor is total concentration. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 10:Diversification may preserve wealth, but concentration builds wealth. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 11:High achievements in art, music, etc., are the results of concentration. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 12:Concentration is my motto - first honesty, then industry, then concentration. ~ andrew-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 13:One great cause of failure of young men in business is lack of concentration. ~ andrew-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 14:The power of concentration is the only key to the treasure-house of knowledge. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 15:Concentration is a part of life. It is not the consequence of a method of education. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 16:Concentration is the key that opens up to the child the latent treasures within him. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 17:If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 18:Study: concentration of the mind on whatever will ultimately put something in your pocket. ~ elbert-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 19:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 20:Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 21:Willpower is a concentration of force. You gather up all your energy and make a massive thrust forward. ~ steve-pavlina, @wisdomtrove 22:I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 23:Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 24:The first essential for the child‚Äôs development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 25:Single-minded concentration in the direction of your dreams intensifies your desires and increases your self-confidence. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 26:Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up. Well, maybe once.. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 27:Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all management of human affairs. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 28:Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 29:No effort is required to define or even attain happiness, but enormous concentration is needed to abandon everything else. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 30:I do not believe in God; his existence has been disproved by Science. But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 31:A person who undertakes the study of Zen and learns concentration and meditation is like a gymnast. You become a gymnast of the mind. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 32:I want the concentration and the romance, and the worlds all glued together, fused, glowing: have no time to waste any more on prose. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 33:probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 34:What is the difference between attention and inattention? What is attention and what is concentration? ... Attention has no centre. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 35:If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time. ~ peter-drucker, @wisdomtrove 36:In the concentration camps, we discovered this whole universe where everyone had his place. The killer came to kill, and the victims came to die. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 37:The Law of Concentration states that whatever you dwell upon, grows. The more you think about something, the more it becomes part of your reality. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 38:Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha’s path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom. ~ jack-kornfield, @wisdomtrove 39:The conjunction of effort, concentration and balance in asana forces us to live intensely in the present moment, a rare experience in modern life. ~ b-k-s-iyengar, @wisdomtrove 40:Perseverance does not always mean sticking to the same thing forever. It means giving full concentration and effort to whatever you are doing right now. ~ denis-waitley, @wisdomtrove 41:Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 42:You gain power through practicing meditation and concentration. You gain power by doing anything you like that makes you feel good. You gain power by being happy. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 43:In God's vision, no inside or outside exists. Still, in the beginning, Mother is asking all to meditate on Him in the heart, in order to achieve concentration. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 44:Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 45:If I wanted to write, I had to be willing to develop a kind of concentration found mostly in people awaiting execution. I had to learn technique and surrender my ignorance. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 46:You couldn’t have established a communist regime in sixteenth-century Russia, because communism necessitates the concentration of information and resources in one hub. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 47:From the standpoint of any sane person, the present problem of capitalist concentration is not only a question of law, but of criminal law, not to mention criminal lunacy. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 48:The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 49:By repeatedly bringing your attention back to the breath each time it wanders off, concentration builds and deepens, much as muscles develop by repetitively lifting weights. ~ jon-kabat-zinn, @wisdomtrove 50:Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 51:People can insert thoughts into your mind. This is more dangerous for psychic people. Use concentration exercises and read to combat this; boredom is an easy way to be drained. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 52:Persistence means giving full concentration to whatever you are doing right now. ... Persistence is success through trial, error, resetting your goals, and moving toward the target. ~ denis-waitley, @wisdomtrove 53:Atkinson, William Walker. The Complete Works of (Unabridged): The Key To Mental Power Development & Efficiency, The Power of Concentration, Thought-Force ... Raja Yoga ~ william-walker-atkinson, @wisdomtrove 54:The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is measured. It's uncontroversial. It's going up. We know that has a tendency to warm the atmosphere and we should be worried about that. ~ martin-rees, @wisdomtrove 55:Practice mediation and concentration exercises, and begin to think more about regaining your sensitivity by avoiding draining situations. Not because of fear but because of intelligence. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 56:Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 57:You must direct your full, intense concentration on the heart. You must feel that you are not the mind. You have to feel that you are growing into the heart. You are only the heart and nothing else. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 58:An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child's energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 59:Focus on one point and hold your attention there. The mind will waiver, you'll think a million thoughts, but each time you do, bring your mind back to the point of concentration, seeing it visually. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 60:If we know the divine art of concentration, if we know the divine art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite the inner world and the outer world. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 61:During the time of Atlantis, members of the Mystery Schools discovered and developed specific concentration exercises that they found would radically increase and sharpen their innate psychic abilities. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 62:a poet is someone who is abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement. Which is to say the highest form of concentration possible: fascination; to report on the electrifying experience of being ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 63:We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell. ~ pablo-picasso, @wisdomtrove 64:Brahman is beyond mind and speech, beyond concentration and meditation, beyond the knower, the known and knowledge, beyond even the conception of the real and unreal. In short, It is beyond all relativity. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 65:virtue, mindfulness (also called concentration), and wisdom. These are the three pillars of Buddhist practice, as well as the wellsprings of everyday well-being, psychological growth, and spiritual realization. ~ rick-hanson, @wisdomtrove 66:Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and willpower enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm, but also as experiences in the material realm. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 67:An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 68:The difference in men does not lie in the size of their hands, nor in the perfection of their bodies, but in this one sublime ability of concentration: to throw the weight in one blow, to live eternity in an hour. ~ elbert-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 69:Materialism has cast man into such depths that a mighty concentration of forces is necessary to raise him again. He is subject to illnesses of the nervous system which are veritable epidemics of the life of the soul. ~ rudolf-steiner, @wisdomtrove 70:Concentration is the key to economic results. No other principle of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration... . Our motto seems to be, "Let's do a little bit of everything." ~ peter-drucker, @wisdomtrove 71:If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 72:He who knows even how to prepare a smoke properly, knows also how to meditate. And he who cannot cook well cannot be a perfect sannyasin. Unless cooking is performed with a pure mind and concentration, the food is not palatable. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 73:We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 74:In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 75:If you focus the rays of the sun through a lens, they can burn cotton or a piece of paper; but, the scattered rays cannot do this act. If you collect the dissipated rays of the mind and focus them at a point, you will have wonderful concentration. ~ sivananda, @wisdomtrove 76:Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God; it is a sincere seeking for a good thing; and it is a concentration on the thing sought, with faith that it is obtainable. ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 77:As a boy begins to learn writing by drawing big scrawls, before he can master the small-hand, so we must learn concentration of the mind by fixing it first on forms; and when we have attained success therein, we can easily fix it upon the formless. ~ sri-ramakrishna, @wisdomtrove 78:Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power. ~ aldous-huxley, @wisdomtrove 79:The giants of the race have been men of concentration, who have struck sledge-hammer blows in one place until they have accomplished their purpose. The successful men of today are men of one overmastering idea, one unwavering aim, men of single and intense purpose. ~ orison-swett-marden, @wisdomtrove 80:The whole Christ seeks after each sinner, and when the Lord finds it, he gives himself to that one soul as if he had but that one soul to bless. How my heart admires the concentration of all the Godhead and humanity of Christ in his search after each sheep of his flock. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 81:To achieve that state of lasting happiness and absolute peace, we must first know how to calm the mind, to concentrate and go beyond the mind. By turning the mind's concentration inward, upon the self, we can deepen that experience of perfect concentration. This is the state of Meditation. ~ sivananda, @wisdomtrove 82:To concentrate implies bringing all your energy to focus on a certain point; but thought wanders away... Whereas attention has no control, no concentration. It is complete attention, which means giving all your energy, the energy of the brain, your heart, everything, to attending. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 83:Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy. ~ jon-kabat-zinn, @wisdomtrove 84:Children, in the present dark age of materialism, chanting the mantra is the easiest way for us to obtain inner purification and concentration. Japa can be done at any time, anywhere, without observing any rule regarding the purity of mind and body. Japa can be done while engaged in any task. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 85:There are no parallels to the life of the concentration camps. All seeming parallels create confusion and distract attention from what is essential. Forced labor in prisons and penal colonies, banishment, slavery, all seem for a moment to offer helpful comparisons, but on closer examination lead nowhere. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 86:[Speaking of his experience in a concentration camp:] As we said before, any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal... Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 87:Thinking is the activity I love best, and writing to me is simply thinking through my fingers. I can write up to 18 hours a day. Typing 90 words a minute, I've done better than 50 pages a day. Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up-well, maybe once. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 88:I want to emphasize in the great concentration which we now place upon scientists and engineers how much we still need the men and women educated in the liberal tradition, willing to take the long look, undisturbed by prejudices and slogans of the moment, who attempt to make an honest judgment on difficult events. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 89:I want to do a certain thing in the world, and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 90:If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 91:Most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 92:To say "I accept" in an age like our own is to say that you accept concentration-camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes, tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas-masks, submarines, spies, provocateurs, press-censorship, secret prisons, aspirins, Hollywood films and political murder. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 93:My secret for writing is going back to clarity. I'm very clear about what I want to accomplish-the goal-and then the next two are focus and concentration. And I've probably spent my whole life both practicing those two and teaching them. Focus. Focus on a single point and concentration. And concentrating on a single thing till it's done. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 94:By my monastic life and vows I am saying no to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials, the judicial murders, the racial injustices, the economic tyrannies, and the whole socioeconomic apparatus which seems geared for nothing but global destruction in spite of all its fair words in favor of peace. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 95:It is difficult for young players to learn - because of the great emphasis on records - but, ideally, the joy and frustration of sport should come from the performance itself, not the score. While he is playing, the worst thing a player can think about in terms of concentration - and therefore of success - is losing. The next worst is winning. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 96:When I was writing Dune there was no room in my mind for concerns about the book's success or failure. I was concerned only with the writing. Six years of research had preceded the day I sat down to put the story together, and the interweaving of the many plot layers I had planned required a degree of concentration I had never before experienced. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 97:To concentrate is not to meditate, even though that is what most of you do, calling it meditation. And if concentration is not meditation, then what is? Surely, meditation is to understand every thought that comes into being, and not to dwell upon one particular thought; it is to invite all thoughts so that you understand the whole process of thinking. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 98:An archer competing for a clay vessel shoots effortlessly, his or her skill and concentration unimpeded. If the prize is changed to a brass ornament, the hands begin to shake. If it is changed to gold, he or she squints as if going blind. The abilities do not deteriorate, but belief in them does, as he or she allows the supposed value of an external reward to cloud the vision. ~ zhuangzi, @wisdomtrove 99:The concentration camps, by making death itself anonymous (making it impossible to find out whether a prisoner is dead or alive), robbed death of its meaning as the end of a fulfilled life. In a sense they took away the individual's own death, proving that henceforth nothing belonged to him and he belonged to no one. His death merely set a seal on the fact that he had never existed. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 100:We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 101:It is a good practice to write at least on page of mantra daily. Many people get better concentration by writing than by chanting. Try also to inculcate in children the habit of chanting and neatly writing the mantra. This will help to improve their handwriting, too. The book in which the mantra is written should not be thrown around; it should be carefully kept in our meditation or shrine room. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 102:How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the powers of the mind? The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point; that is the secret. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 103:The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding. Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true peace and joy. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 104:As a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry, I am fully aware of the extent to which man is subject to biological, psychological and sociological conditions. But in addition to being a professor in two fields I am a survivor of four camps - concentration camps, that is - and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 105:I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones. And I thought that if the point were demonstrated in a situation as extreme as that in a concentration camp, my book might gain a hearing. I therefore felt responsible for writing down what I had gone through, for I thought it might be helpful to people who are prone to despair. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 106:Take for instance the study of Vedanta. Some seekers become completely drowned in it. Just as others may so lose themselves in kirtan as to fall into a trance, a student of Vedanta may become wholly absorbed in his texts, even more so than the one who gets carried away by kirtan. According to one’s specific line of approach, one will be able to achieve full concentration through the study of a particular Scripture, or by some other means. ~ anandamayi-ma, @wisdomtrove 107:There is no greater block to world peace or inner peace than fear. What we fear we tend to develop an unreasoning hatred for, so we come to hate and fear. This not only injures us psychologically and aggravates world tension, but through such negative concentration we tend to attract the things we fear. If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can expect good things to come. How much this world needs the message and example of love and of faith! ~ peace-pilgrim, @wisdomtrove 108:Listen to me, kid. Don't forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every many for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even you father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 109:Difficulties with material things often come to remind us that our concentration should be on spiritual things instead of material things. Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is just a transient garment, and that the reality is the indestructible essence which activates the body. But when we can say, & 110:To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 111:The strategy we've adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 112:So I'm not crazy after all! I thought it looked good myself once I cut it all off. Not one guy likes it, though. They all tell me I look like a first grader or a concentration camp survivor. What's this thing that guys have for girls with long hair? Fascists, the whole bunch of them! Why do guys all think girls with long hair are the classiest, the sweetest, the most feminine? I mean, I myself know at least two hundred and fifty unclassy girls with long hair. Really. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 113:Apply the blacksmith's homely principle when you are speaking. If you feel deeply about your subject you will be able to think of little else. Concentration is a process of distraction from less important matters. It is too late to think about the cut of your coat when once you are upon the platform, so centre your interest on what you are about to say—fill your mind with your speech-material and, like the infilling water in the glass, it will drive out your unsubstantial fears. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 114:While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race. ~ andrew-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 115:Just as Stalin’s gulags do not automatically nullify every socialist idea and argument, so too the horrors of Nazism should not blind us to whatever insights evolutionary humanism might offer. Nazism was born from the pairing of evolutionary humanism with particular racial theories and ultra-nationalist emotions. Not all evolutionary humanists are racists, and not every belief in humankind’s potential for further evolution necessarily calls for setting up police states and concentration camps. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 116:There are many other (besides testosterone) behaviour-eliciting hormones fundamental for humen well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females. The fact that complex behavioural patterns can be triggered by a tiny concentration of moleculas coursing through the bloodstream, and that different animals of the same species generate different amounts of these hormones, is something worth thinking about when it's time to judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 117:Real meditation is not about mastering a technique; it’s about letting go of control. This is meditation. Anything else is actually a form of concentration. Meditation and concentration are two different things. Concentration is a discipline; concentration is a way in which we are actually directing or guiding or controlling our experience. Meditation is letting go of control, letting go of guiding our experience in any way whatsoever. The foundation of True Meditation is that we are letting go of control. ~ adyashanti, @wisdomtrove 118:A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes - within the limits of endowment and environment- he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions. ~ viktor-frankl, @wisdomtrove 119:This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 120:Praise, help, or even a look, may be enough to interrupt him, or destroy the activity. It seems a strange thing to say, but this can happen even if the child merely becomes aware of being watched. After all, we too sometimes feel unable to go on working if someone comes to see what we are doing. The great principle which brings success to the teacher is this: as soon as concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist. Naturally, one can see what he is doing with a quick glance, but without his being aware of it. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 121:It should be for satsang that we go to spiritual centers. By going there, people who are involved in the world can attain peace and concentration. The concentration gained when one goes there cannot be achieved if one sits at home. Even though the breeze blows everywhere, coolness will be felt more if we sit in the shade of a tree. In the same way, although God is all-pervading, this presence will clearly shine in certain places more than others. That is the greatness of satsang. Satsang is the best thing for spiritual advancement. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove 122:Through concentration we become one-pointed and through meditation we expand our consciousness into the Vast. But in contemplation we grow into the Vast itself. We have seen the Truth. We have felt the Truth. But the most important thing is to grow into the Truth and become totally one with the Truth. If we are concentrating on God, we may feel God right in front of us or besides us. When we are meditating, we are bound to feel Infinity, Eternity, Immortality within us. But when we are contemplating, we will see that we ourselves are Infinity, Eternity, Immortality. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 123:We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character& 124:Mindfulness makes our eyes, our heart, our non-toothache, the moon, and the trees deep and beautiful. And when we touch our suffering with mindfulness, we begin to transform it. Mindfulness is like a mother holding her baby in her arms and caring for her baby’s pain. When our pain is held by mindfulness it loses some of its strength. . . . Mindfulness recognizes what is there, and concentration allows you to be deeply present with whatever it is. Concentration is the ground of happiness. If you live twenty-four hours a day in mindfulness and concentration, one day is a lot. ~ thich-nhat-hanh, @wisdomtrove 125:The greatest guilt of today is that of people who accept collectivism by moral default; the people who seek protection from the necessity of taking a stand, by refusing to admit to themselves the nature of that which they are accepting; the people who support plans specifically designed to achieve serfdom, but hide behind the empty assertion that they are lovers of freedom, with no concrete meaning attached to the word; the people who believe that the content of ideas need not be examined, that principles need not be defined, and that facts can be eliminated by keeping one's eyes shut. They expect, when they find themselves in a world of bloody ruins and concentration camps, to escape moral responsibility by wailing: "But I didn't mean this! ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 126:The autobiographical self (D’Amasio 2000) incorporates the reflective self and some of the emotional self, and it provides the sense of I having a unique past and future. The core self involves an underlying and largely nonverbal feeling of I that has little sense of the past or the future. If the PFC—which provides most of the neural substrate of the autobiographical self—were to be damaged, the core self would remain, though with little sense of continuity with the past or future. On the other hand, if the subcortical and brain stem structures which the core self relies upon were damaged, then both the core and autobiographical selves would disappear, which suggests that the core self is the neural and mental foundation of the autobiographical self (D’Amasio 2000). When your mind is very quiet, the autobiographical self seems largely absent, which presumably corresponds to a relative deactivation of its neural substrate. Meditations that still the mind, such as the concentration practices we explored in the previous chapter, improve conscious control over that deactivation process. ~ rick-hanson, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Concentration attracts luck factor. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
2:Chess demands total concentration ~ Bobby Fischer, #NFDB
3:concentration. “This time I kill you. ~ G L Breedon, #NFDB
4:Conflict is the opposite of concentration. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
5:Music for me, it demands full concentration. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
6:Concentration is the secret of srength. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
7:Concentration is at the root of mental mastery. ~ Robin Sharma, #NFDB
8:Concentration is the secret of strength. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
9:Your carbon dioxide is breaking my concentration. ~ Emma Lesko, #NFDB
10:There is no happiness. There is only concentration. ~ Al Pacino, #NFDB
11:One great cause of failure is lack of concentration. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
12:One great cause of failure is lack of concentration. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
13:The only prudence in life is concentration. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
14:Reduce the light, increase the concentration! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
15:I didn't equate a POW camp with a concentration camp. ~ Larry Hovis, #NFDB
16:Concentration is the other name of the success! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
17:So intense was Kennedy’s concentration that she hadn’t ~ Vince Flynn, #NFDB
18:Concentration is sometimes mistaken for grumpiness. ~ Michael Atherton, #NFDB
19:concentration, the suspension of time, an unobtrusive wit. ~ Teju Cole, #NFDB
20:True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness. ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
21:Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
22:Concentration is the root of all the higher abilities in man. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
23:I have a writer’s concentration: intense, but flickering. ~ Donald McCaig, #NFDB
24:...it forces concentration, and thus opens up the world. ~ Elizabeth Moon, #NFDB
25:The secret of concentration is to shut down the other windows. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
26:Concentration is the root of all the higher abilities in man. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
27:Distraction wastes our energy, concentration restores it. ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
28:Facing a wall when you write really aids your concentration. ~ Peter Straub, #NFDB
29:It's all about concentration and repetition. That's all it is. ~ Chris Bosh, #NFDB
30:...we are all voluntary members of a concentration camp. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
31:Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life.
~ Haruki Murakami,#NFDB
32:There were ten concentration camps in France from 1939 on. ~ Martha Gellhorn, #NFDB
33:Concentration of the mind is the source of all knowledge. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
34:Concentration Attention Multitasking Boredom Procrastination ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
35:Mental attitude and concentration are the keys to pitching. ~ Ferguson Jenkins, #NFDB
36:The Internet encourages superficial browsing, not concentration. ~ Tony Reinke, #NFDB
37:A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will. ~ Bobby Fischer, #NFDB
38:A certain color tones you up. It's the concentration of timbres. ~ Henri Matisse, #NFDB
39:The key to tipping point leadership is concentration, not diffusion ~ W Chan Kim, #NFDB
40:This galloping concentration in broadcast ownership is unhealthy. ~ Byron Dorgan, #NFDB
41:a concentration of young people who wanted to open their minds, ~ Jennifer Weiner, #NFDB
42:Life is like a concentration camp... you can't leave without dying. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
43:The creation of a thousand forests is in a single acorn. Concentration ~ Og Mandino, #NFDB
44:There are times when not thinking requires all of one's concentration. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
45:Even Eichmann was sickened when he toured the concentration camps. ~ Stanley Milgram, #NFDB
46:But my father, a thief in many ways, had robbed me of my concentration. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
47:Concentration is the magic key that opens the door to accomplishment. ~ Michael Korda, #NFDB
48:Resistance hates two qualities above all others: concentration and depth. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
49:Diversification may preserve wealth, but concentration builds wealth. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
50:Lack of concentration makes one tired, while concentration wakes one up. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
51:No doubt concentration camps were a means, a menace used to keep order. ~ Albert Speer, #NFDB
52:The stillness of the mind is prepared by the process of concentration. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
53:In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
54:In the Gita continuous concentration on God is the king of sacrifices. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
55:We would work side by side for hours, in a state of mutual concentration. ~ Patti Smith, #NFDB
56:With the Ethical Rules and a little concentration, anything is possible. ~ Dharma Mittra, #NFDB
57:Concentration is a process of distraction from less important matters. It ~ Dale Carnegie, #NFDB
58:Exceptional work is always associated with periods of deep concentration. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
59:It isn’t me,” Rand said, adopting a look of concentration. “Ah. I am shielded. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
60:without concentration, a complex activity breaks down into chaos. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
61:High achievements in art, music, etc., are the results of concentration. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
62:In deep meditation the flow of concentration is continuous like the flow of oil. ~ Patanjali, #NFDB
63:Meditation utilises concentration in its highest form. Concentration ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
64:He moves smoothly and slowly, carrying his concentration like a brimming cup. ~ Thomas Harris, #NFDB
65:Practice is not a matter of years and months. It is a matter of concentration. ~ Koichi Tohei, #NFDB
66:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
67:Concentration is my motto - first honesty, then industry, then concentration. ~ Andrew Carnegie, #NFDB
68:Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
69:One great cause of failure of young men in business is lack of concentration. ~ Andrew Carnegie, #NFDB
70:Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self criticism. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
71:The greater his aspiration and concentration, the more he finds the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
72:Fasting: Improves mental clarity and concentration Induces weight and body fat loss ~ Jason Fung, #NFDB
73:...I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentration camp. ~ Imre Kert sz, #NFDB
74:This special green is the result of high copper concentration in the soil. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
75:Every soul is born with concentration; it loses this faculty as it grows up. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan, #NFDB
76:If dictatorship is the concentration of power, freedom consists in its diffusion. ~ Lord Hailsham, #NFDB
77:Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self criticism.
~ Albert Einstein,#NFDB
78:The power of concentration is the only key to the treasure-house of knowledge. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
79:The vast majority of Jews killed in the Holocaust never saw a concentration camp. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
80:Being fit helps me improve my concentration, my will power and even my determination. ~ Arjun Rampal, #NFDB
81:No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt. ~ Max Beerbohm, #NFDB
82:Difficulties will assail you only when you lack in concentration and persistence. ~ Walter J Phillips, #NFDB
83:In science, as in love, a concentration on technique is likely to lead to impotence. ~ Peter L Berger, #NFDB
84:Ninety percent of my game is mental. It's my concentration that has gotten me this far. ~ Chris Evert, #NFDB
85:Pain was a form of art, after all: a concentration of the soul, an extension of time. ~ Max Gladstone, #NFDB
86:The magic of the pen lies in the concentration of your thoughts upon one object. ~ George Henry Lewes, #NFDB
87:When I play, I become entirely absorbed in the game. It may be a form of concentration. ~ Helen Wills, #NFDB
88:Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
89:But belligerence was a poor aid to concentration, as were three gins and a bottle of wine ~ Ian McEwan, #NFDB
90:Concentration of the powers of the mind is our only instrument to help us see God. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
91:She reads with great concentration. Her eyes rarely move from the pages of the book. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
92:single-minded, wholehearted, free and glad concentration on the business of pleasing God. ~ J I Packer, #NFDB
93:Concentration is a part of life. It is not the consequence of a method of education. ~ Maria Montessori, #NFDB
94:Concentration is the key that opens up to the child the latent treasures within him. ~ Maria Montessori, #NFDB
95:Concentration of the powers of the mind is our only instrument to help us see God. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
96:Without reason, there is no concentration. Without concentration, there is no reason. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
97:Along with the development of concentration we must develop the power of detachment. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
98:The concentration of the elite athlete is akin perhaps to the concentration of the writer. ~ Julia Leigh, #NFDB
99:concentration breeds efficiency while division brings inefficiency, error, and tension. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
100:Your level of your concentration decides the extent of the realization of your dreams. ~ Stephen Richards, #NFDB
101:After a war, after a concentration camp, I find it's not too difficult to be happy. ~ Loudon Wainwright III, #NFDB
102:Study: concentration of the mind on whatever will ultimately put something in your pocket. ~ Elbert Hubbard, #NFDB
103:Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration. ~ Willie Sutton, #NFDB
104:If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
105:It [concentration of wealth and power] has been a menace to . . . American democracy. ~ Franklin D Roosevelt, #NFDB
106:Learning to focus attention and concentration is very useful; meditation can help you do that. ~ Andrew Weil, #NFDB
107:Concentration on impermanence and nonself leads to the insight of impermanence and nonself. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
108:Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
109:My training was based on concentration, and it's impossible to cheat when you are concentrated ~ Serge Nubret, #NFDB
110:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there. ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
111:Concentration, as a foundation for mindfulness, is a key step on the path to greater sanity. ~ Ronald D Siegel, #NFDB
112:In few places is there such a high concentration of hypocrisy as at a writer’s funeral. ~ Juan Gabriel V squez, #NFDB
113:In the second Boer war 26,000 Boer women and children perished in British concentration camps. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
114:The degree of concentration you give to your dream will determine your success percentage! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
115:The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep. ~ Elia Kazan, #NFDB
116:Music taught me how to always be patient and focused, and to train the little concentration in myself. ~ Hiromi, #NFDB
117:Nothing erases unpleasant thoughts more effectively than conscious concentration on pleasant ones. ~ Hans Selye, #NFDB
118:The only secret I can claim to have is concentration, and that's something that can't be taught. ~ Lucian Freud, #NFDB
119:Any word spoken with clear realization and deep concentration has a materialising value. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
120:Concentration, Full Confidence, Pure Will. With these 3, what cannot be accomplished? ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #NFDB
121:Concentration is a form of exclusion, and where there is exclusion, there is a thinker who excludes. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
122:Don't attribute mishaps to a lapse in concentration - if you missed the note you don't know it. ~ William Westney, #NFDB
123:One makes their own luck, good or ill... and there are no guesses, merely faulty concentration. ~ Richard A Knaak, #NFDB
124:To focus our mind on the task at hand-with fierce concentration-m akes for a productive use of time. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
125:The mind is a thing that dwells in diffusion, in succession. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
126:We destroy our concentration by multitasking the moment and our peace away. Multitasking is a myth! ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
127:When we are most scared is the time to summon our clearest concentration and move forward, not back. ~ Peter Heller, #NFDB
128:Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
129:The problem in this world is to avoid concentration of power - we must have a dispersion of power. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
130:When we can play with the unself-conscious concentration of a child, this is: art: prayer: love. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
131:Concentration camps were entirely a matter for the police and had nothing to do with the administration. ~ Hans Frank, #NFDB
132:I find that when I am actually writing, I enter a zone of concentration too small to admit my troubles. ~ Roger Ebert, #NFDB
133:If you give it good concentration, good energy, good heart and good performance, the song will play you. ~ Levon Helm, #NFDB
134:I like swordwork. It's like riding, that way - it forces concentration, and thus opens up the world. ~ Elizabeth Moon, #NFDB
135:Cleave believed the concentration of carbohydrates in the refining process did its damage in three ways. ~ Gary Taubes, #NFDB
136:Evaluate every performance on: stage presence, concentration, delivery, material and lessons learned. ~ Franklyn Ajaye, #NFDB
137:Ability is the result of mental and physical toughness, resourcefulness, and powerful concentration. ~ Howard A Tullman, #NFDB
138:Concentration has to be made in the heart, which is cool and refreshing. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi #Meditation #SelfInquiry, #NFDB
139:The power of the human intelligence is without bounds; it increases by concentration: that is the secret. ~ Vivekananda, #NFDB
140:There are different kinds of concentration required to make a painting, different kinds of being present. ~ Joe Bradley, #NFDB
141:To be an actor you need four things: energy, concentration, a lot of luck and, of course, good roles. ~ Charlton Heston, #NFDB
142:With a great concentration, you shall become successful in eliminating the possibility of failure! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
143:By dedicating so much concentration to the issue of security, bilateral matters pass to a secondary level. ~ Vicente Fox, #NFDB
144:Dignity and quiet joy in all that we do are the expression of perfect concentration and perfect wisdom. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
145:Intense concentration for hour after hour can bring out resources in people that they didn't know they had. ~ Edwin Land, #NFDB
146:A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great Chess player ~ Bobby Fischer, #NFDB
147:Concentration is the act of building focus and meditation is the art of retaining it without losing awareness. ~ Om Swami, #NFDB
148:I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
149:...all perception is but a change in the concentration of hydrogen ions on the surface of the brain cells. ~ Stanis aw Lem, #NFDB
150:Anyone who has achieved excellence in any form knows that it comes as a result of ceaseless concentration. ~ Louise Brooks, #NFDB
151:It is by the thought that we dissipate ourselves in the phenomenal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
152:Specialization, concentration and consistency is the key to outstanding performance... Love your zone! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
153:Narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
154:When your concentration reaches it's highest point of being, then, and only then can there be a transformation. ~ Hs an Hua, #NFDB
155:Elegance is achieved when, having discarded all superfluous things, we discover simplicity and concentration. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
156:For reasons no one has yet explained, the Internet is at once riveting and a great killer of concentration. ~ Joseph Epstein, #NFDB
157:When we keep our silence we gather our power; when we speak we let loose the concentration of quiet reverie. ~ Bryant McGill, #NFDB
158:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.” ~ Jim Rohn ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
159:You must persevere in your concentration till you come to the point when you no longer lose the inner contact. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #NFDB
160:Concentration is about learning how to stay centered. When you concentrate your power, you can achieve anything. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
161:Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
162:I like the concentration, the crush; I like working with language, as others like working with clay, or notes. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks, #NFDB
163:An ethic gone wrong is an essential preliminary to the sweat shop or the concentration camp and the death march. ~ Simon Blackburn, #NFDB
164:As an actor, you deal in fantasy, imagination, and concentration. Those are your three weapons. Those are your bullets. ~ Rob Lowe, #NFDB
165:Building concentration is primarily a matter of removing certain mental factors that hinder its application. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
166:I can only reply that the secret to success in every human endeavor is total concentration. Ask any great athlete. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
167:It is easier to remove tyrants and destroy concentration camps than to kill the ideas that gave them birth. ~ Madeleine K Albright, #NFDB
168:the deeper meaning of focus—a concentration and coordination of action and resources that creates an advantage. ~ Richard P Rumelt, #NFDB
169:This was somehow a day on which concentration would not be possible, a day on which words must give way to images ~ Anita Brookner, #NFDB
170:Flow neatly separates the two forms of effort: concentration on the task and the deliberate control of attention. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
171:I majored in political science, and my concentration was U.S. involvement in Latin America in the 20th century. ~ Sebastian Arcelus, #NFDB
172:Meditation helps concentration of the mind. Then the mind is free from thoughts and is in the meditated form. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
173:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.” ~ Kevin Horsley ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
174:The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy. ~ Maria Montessori, #NFDB
175:Golf is a search for perfection, for balance. It's about meditation and concentration. You have to use hand and brain. ~ Celine Dion, #NFDB
176:I'm too passionate about my work...Acting takes not only concentration, it takes creativity; it takes... your soul. ~ Farrah Fawcett, #NFDB
177:Concentration, focus, long-term thinking—those are the qualities that separate a warrior from a mere flailing fighter. ~ Timothy Zahn, #NFDB
178:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
179:I never work with an audience - I can't do this. The process depends on the highest degree of nervous concentration. ~ Frank Auerbach, #NFDB
180:Jews in concentration camps had shaved heads and tattoos. You’d think the anti-Semites would go for a different look. ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
181:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
182:Are we facing a new Dark Age, Angus? Possibly, Lou. A dark age in which our concentration spell is this long. ~ Alexander McCall Smith, #NFDB
183:Concentration is the creation of the instrument; meditation is the right use of it; contemplation transcends it. ~ Christmas Humphreys, #NFDB
184:IF MENTAL EMOTIONAL CONCENTRATION FELT FLARED UP WELL MADLY BY TIME INFLUENCE ? MUTUAL SOUL ENJOYMENT IS PLEASINGLY ENSURED. ~ Various, #NFDB
185:In no other form of society in history has there been such a concentration of images, such a density of visual messages. ~ John Berger, #NFDB
186:Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too. ~ Gary Keller, #NFDB
187:Being dwelling in consciousness upon itself for bliss, this is the divine Tapas. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
188:I don't think more concentration is required for Robert De Niro to do what he does as for Jim Carrey to do what he does. ~ Eddie Murphy, #NFDB
189:I feel like, in a way, after doing it for so many years, you learn a certain concentration and how to turn it on and off. ~ Maria Bello, #NFDB
190:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases. ~ ~ The Mother, #NFDB
191:This thirst for personal success, and this continual concentration of the mind in one direction, makes people cold, and ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
192:An all-inclusive concentration is the difficult achievement towards which we must labour
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [T5],#NFDB
193:It is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers but by their distribution that good government is effected. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
194:Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up. Well, maybe once. ~ Isaac Asimov, #NFDB
195:Then I asked, “Do you lose concentration when a woman you want is in the room?”
“I hope not or tonight we’re fucked. ~ Kristen Ashley,#NFDB
196:The opposing tendencies of concentration and spread are of little consequence in the liberal model of political economy. ~ Robert Gilpin, #NFDB
197:Bee exhibits extraordinary concentration when working alone; when working in a group, she is a quiet and confident leader. ~ Maria Semple, #NFDB
198:Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short in all management of human affairs. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
199:Whatever you focus on, you become. That is the key line, you know. Meditation is the bow and concentration is the arrow. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
200:No effort is required to define or even attain happiness, but enormous concentration is needed to abandon everything else. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
201:Think about the brain as the densest concentration of youness. It's the peak of the mountain, but not the whole mountain. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
202:think about the brain as the densest concentration of youness. It’s the peak of the mountain, but not the whole mountain. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
203:When I came to power, I did not want the concentration camps to become old age pensioners homes, but instruments of terror. ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
204:While I am rehearsing a play, I try to read nothing that might distract my concentration from the work in progress. ~ Mercedes McCambridge, #NFDB
205:It was becoming a habit-this concentration on things behind him. Almost as though there were no future to be had. *Milkman* ~ Toni Morrison, #NFDB
206:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.” ~ Kevin Horsley Jim Rohn ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
207:The Seven Factors of Awakening are mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, diligence, joy, ease, concentration, and letting go. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
208:Concentration comes not from trying hard to focus on something, but from keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
209:You get involved with a character after spending a long time waiting, and this demands a lot of energy and concentration. ~ Catherine Deneuve, #NFDB
210:At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,#NFDB
211:Go on practicing. Your concentration will be as easy as breathing. That will be the crown of your achievements.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, [T5],#NFDB
212:Exceptional work is always associated with periods of deep concentration. Nothing excellent ever comes from a scattered effort. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
213:In a concentration camp Pinot Noir, amateur piano performances, and sparkling conversational skills would be totally useless. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
214:Life is a concentration camp. You're stuck here and there's no way out and you can only rage impotently against your persecutors. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
215:People getting their mercury fillings removed report immediate and dramatic changes in focus, attention, memory, concentration. ~ David Goodman, #NFDB
216:The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
217:...the concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
218:Toutes nos créations originales et puissantes sont le fruit
d'une concentration, d'une monomanie sublime, proche de la folie. ~ Stefan Zweig,#NFDB
219:Prakriti is the action of the All-conscient. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Exclusive Concentration of Consciousness-Force and the Ignorance, #NFDB
220:The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.”
~ Kevin Horsley Jim Rohn ~ Kevin Horsley,#NFDB
221:The repetition of the name of the Lord must be accompanied by concentration. Then alone one gets the grace of God. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
222:Concentration is another name for what we have called activity in reading. The good reader reads actively, with concentration. ~ Mortimer J Adler, #NFDB
223:higher concentration of dopamine appears to lower skepticism and result in greater vulnerability to pattern detection; an ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb, #NFDB
224:To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
225:When thy understanding shall stand immovable and unshakeable in concentration, then thou shalt attain to the divine Union. ~ Bhagavad Gita 11. 53, #NFDB
226:In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. With my blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 8th,#NFDB
227:So, this guy entered my store, browsed my crap in his suit, sandals, and stickered sombrero, and completely broke my concentration. ~ Graham Parke, #NFDB
228:The 7 factors of enlightenment: mindfullness, investigation of mental objects, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration and equanimity. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
229:The only way I could work properly was by using the absolute maximum of observation and concentration that I could possible muster. ~ Lucian Freud, #NFDB
230:The Supreme Court of the United States has validated the Nazi method of execution in concentration camps, starving them to death. ~ Jack Kevorkian, #NFDB
231:Dwarfs can often do the work of giants when they are transformed by the almost magic power of great mental concentration. ~ William Walker Atkinson, #NFDB
232:Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have. ~ James Dean, #NFDB
233:I do not believe in God; his existence has been disproved by Science. But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
234:Michael Caine is a movie star, but he's also a great actor. I can't say that about every movie star. It's the concentration he has. ~ Norman Jewison, #NFDB
235:The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house. ~ William F Buckley Jr, #NFDB
236:The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication. ~ Harold Geneen, #NFDB
237:I always train and prepare with highest concentration and focus on my next opponent. To me, it does not matter what his name is. ~ Wladimir Klitschko, #NFDB
238:There was something pathetic in his concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him anymore. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
239:A person who undertakes the study of Zen and learns concentration and meditation is like a gymnast. You become a gymnast of the mind. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
240:Art is the opposite of dissipation, in the physical and spiritual sense of the word: it is concentration, desire that seeks incarnation. ~ Octavio Paz, #NFDB
241:I want the concentration and the romance, and the worlds all glued together, fused, glowing: have no time to waste any more on prose. ~ Virginia Woolf, #NFDB
242:Every great religion is, in truth, a concentration of great ideas, capable, as all ideas are, of infinite expansion and adaptation. ~ Mary Augusta Ward, #NFDB
243:probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
244:there is clearly a kind of anger that is healthy. It is the concentration of one's whole being in the determination: this must change. ~ Barbara Deming, #NFDB
245:The United Nations is nothing but a trap-door to the Red World's immense concentration camp. We pretty much control the U.N. ~ Harold Wallace Rosenthal, #NFDB
246:What is the difference between attention and inattention? What is attention and what is concentration? ...Attention has no centre. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
247:I never found that love, either when it prospered or when it did not, interfered in the slightest with my intellectual concentration. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
248:You have a goofy grin on your face,” Cade says, breaking my concentration. “And your phone is vibrating more than my wife’s bedside drawer. ~ B J Harvey, #NFDB
249:Attention is not the same thing as concentration. Concentration is exclusion; attention, which is total awareness, excludes nothing. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
250:When your mind is at peace, you can enjoy the moment and your mind becomes like a laser beam. Peace and concentration are the same thing. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
251:cultivating “concentration so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems.”) ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
252:Acting is like racing, you need the same concentration. You have to reach inside you and bring forth a lot of broken glass. That's painful. ~ Steve McQueen, #NFDB
253:Clearly, this is at bottom the same ancient lament that the masses seek distraction whereas art demands concentration from the spectator. ~ Walter Benjamin, #NFDB
254:I tried to avoid it coming to that, but it was bound to happen...My attraction to you has tested my self-control and my concentration. ~ Allison van Diepen, #NFDB
255:My companion, with that look of concentration which comes over French faces when a meal is in the offing, did not wait to hear any of this. ~ Nancy Mitford, #NFDB
256:No matter how different the forms we choose, our concentration during the Trying Twenties is on mastering what we feel we are supposed to do. ~ Gail Sheehy, #NFDB
257:The cause of mediocre work is neither the variety nor the number of activities, but lack of the power of concentration.
~ The Mother, On Education, [T5],#NFDB
258:The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded. ~ Franklin Pierce, #NFDB
259:Everything that you do is a challenge. And acting is just building up your concentration and being able to listen and to do the ridiculous. ~ Clint Eastwood, #NFDB
260:Large corporations are amassing so much power in our economy. Sometimes it's called market concentration or even old-fashioned monopolies. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
261:Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe. ~ Adrienne Rich, #NFDB
262:What further concentration is needed, what added intensity must one's gaze attain, for the brain to enslave the visual image of a person? ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
263:drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat. ~ Alex Ferguson, #NFDB
264:If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time. ~ Peter Drucker, #NFDB
265:network tools are distracting us from work that requires unbroken concentration, while simultaneously degrading our capacity to remain focused. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
266:To be a scholar of mathematics you must be born with talent, insight, concentration, taste, luck, drive and the ability to visualize and guess. ~ Paul Halmos, #NFDB
267:Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too. And the light came on. ~ Gary Keller, #NFDB
268:But anyone who has experienced flow knows that the deep enjoyment it provieds requires an equal degree of disciplined concentration. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
269:Focused, directed thoughts reach the subjective levels; they must be of a certain degree of intensity. Intensity is acquired by concentration. ~ Joseph Murphy, #NFDB
270:To practice with an end in view is to have one eye on the practice and the other on the end, which is lack of concentration, lack of sincerity. ~ Alan W Watts, #NFDB
271:When a private talk over a bottle of wine is broadcast on the radio, what can it mean but that the world is turning into a concentration camp? ~ Milan Kundera, #NFDB
272:Concentration is not the approach towards God. Concentration is a mind approach. God is everywhere, so you have to relax, you have to be meditative. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
273:Concentration should be all on the immediate step—whatever is being done at the time. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Experiences on the Higher Planes, #NFDB
274:Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh - over fear...Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage. ~ Henri Frederic Amiel, #NFDB
275:In the concentration camps, we discovered this whole universe where everyone had his place. The killer came to kill, and the victims came to die. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
276:Light infantry operations often follow a cycle that can be divided into four steps: Dispersion, Orientation, Concentration, and Action (DOCA). ~ William S Lind, #NFDB
277:Sexual passion is the cause of war and the end of peace, the basis of what is serious... and consequently the concentration of all desire ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #NFDB
278:Teens think listening to music helps them concentrate. It doesn't. It relieves them of the boredom that concentration on homework induces. ~ Marilyn vos Savant, #NFDB
279:You can't keep your mind on fighting when you're thinking about a woman. You can't keep your concentration. You feel like sleeping all the time. ~ Muhammad Ali, #NFDB
280:According to the World Bank, the concentration of wealth and the structures of corporate economic power have no bearing on woman's rights. ~ Michel Chossudovsky, #NFDB
281:A contemplative should pay equal attention to concentration, energetic effort and equanimity, and not exclusively to one of these factors only. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
282:forty-nine thousand Jews in Italy at the time of the Nazi invasion, some forty-one thousand evaded arrest or survived the concentration camps. ~ Mark T Sullivan, #NFDB
283:Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
284:Looking deeply" means observing something or someone with so much concentration that the distinction between observer and observed disappears. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
285:Many of us have a mental conception of what a Christian should be, and the lives of the saints become a hindrance to our concentration on God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
286:Massive concentration of financial power, accompanied by the machinations of finance capital, can as easily de-stabilize as stabilize capitalism. ~ David Harvey, #NFDB
287:No society has gone the way of gulags or concentration camps by following the path of Spinoza and Einstein and Jefferson and Thomas Paine ~ Christopher Hitchens, #NFDB
288:Sow the seeds of hard work and you will reap the fruits of success. Find something to do, do it with all your concentration. You will excel. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
289:The cure from all difficulties can come only when the egoistic concentration upon one's desires and conveniences ceases.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
290:When you hold your cup and drink your tea in mindfulness and concentration, it’s like you’re performing a sacred ritual, and that is a prayer. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
291:Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha’s path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom. ~ Jack Kornfield, #NFDB
292:If there is any one “secret” of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time. ~ Peter F Drucker, #NFDB
293:Inspiration comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, The Divine Force in Work, #NFDB
294:Liberals are concerned about the concentration of wealth because it almost inevitably leads to a concentration of power that undermines democracy. ~ Robert Reich, #NFDB
295:Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Meditation is essential for our survival. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
296:When we mediate, we are raising the kundalini through focus, through concentration. There is a metaphysical astral process that's taking place. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
297:I think the most important thing for you to do in the meantime is live. It is a very involving job, which takes much concentration and practice. ~ Jewelle L G mez, #NFDB
298:simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
299:The conjunction of effort, concentration and balance in asana forces us to live intensely in the present moment, a rare experience in modern life. ~ B K S Iyengar, #NFDB
300:Actually the adrenaline of the game will probably help me out a little bit to regain command and concentration about the things that I have to do. ~ Pedro Martinez, #NFDB
301:Around 300 survivors from Auschwitz attended a ceremony at the former Nazi concentration camp in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of its liberation. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
302:Los Angeles has the greatest concentration of surviving movie palaces in the United States, yet most residents have never been inside one of them. ~ Leonard Maltin, #NFDB
303:For me drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat. ~ Alex Ferguson, #NFDB
304:Men have prayed in prison, men have prayed in slums and concentration camps. It's only the middle class who demand to pray in suitable surroundings. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
305:The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
306:Today’s mainstream political and economic theories deny a positive role for government policy to constrain the large-scale concentration of wealth. ~ Michael Hudson, #NFDB
307:A man will be effective to the degree that he is able to concentrate! Concentration is not basically a mode of doing but above all a mode of Being. ~ Lawrence LeShan, #NFDB
308:How much more the seeker of abstract truth, who needs periods of isolation, and rapt concentration, and almost a going out of thebody to think! ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
309:In a society that has very high concentration of capital in a narrow sector of the population, that's going to influence everything in different ways. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
310:Three to four hours a day, five days a week, of uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration, it turns out, can produce a lot of valuable output. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
311:To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
312:Feeling is one of the seven universal mental factors. The other six are contact, perception, attention, concentration, life force, and volition. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
313:My mother had a horrific life. At fourteen, she was in the Nazi concentration camps. Her sense about life now is, every day above ground is a good day. ~ Gene Simmons, #NFDB
314:Each day when you meditate, you should devote the first few minutes of your meditation to concentration. This will develop the power of the intellect. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
315:energy and concentration. For most people with ADD, the right diet is a higher-protein, higher-healthy-fat, lower-simple-carbohydrate diet.” I was able ~ Daniel G Amen, #NFDB
316:For me drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat. At ~ Alex Ferguson, #NFDB
317:If you fail at the large things it means you have not large ambitions. Concentration, focus - that is all. The aptitudes come, the tools forge themselves. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
318:Many countries persecute their own citizens and intern them in prisons or concentration camps. Oppression is becoming more and more a part of the systems. ~ Alva Myrdal, #NFDB
319:So she leapt without hesitation toward it trailing a silken thread behind her as they fell, she a model of concentration, he singing about sausages. ~ Jonathan L Howard, #NFDB
320:There are five stages of meditation, each one leading gradually into the next: concentration, meditation, contemplation, illumination, and inspiration. ~ Benjamin Creme, #NFDB
321:do you want to improve your concentration or don’t you? It is always up to you. Therefore, eliminate your excuses, clean up your beliefs, and be here now! ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
322:most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
323:Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, let's say fighting world war two, it's an assault on democracy. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
324:I was 16 and did a play at school. I was a rather good student... And then I did a play when I was 16 and completely lost all my concentration for academics. ~ Hank Azaria, #NFDB
325:Listening is the key to total concentration. You listen as the character would listen, closing the door on everything else. Then you are ready to respond. ~ Jean Stapleton, #NFDB
326:Root out the counterrevolutionaries without mercy, lock up suspicious characters in concentration camps... Shirkers will be shot, regardless of past service. ~ Leon Trotsky, #NFDB
327:There's a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
328:...these sleepless nights, when oddly enough my concentration was high, fueled perhaps by the effort to ignore the all-engrossing threat of bombs and rockets. ~ Azar Nafisi, #NFDB
329:The West is concentration of the mind: the East is meditation of the mind. The West is thinking: the East is non-thinking. The West is mind: the East is no-mind. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
330:He was as nervous as a praying mantis at an atheists' picnic, but he bore down gently, intensifying his concentration, letting go of his attachment to gravity. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
331:I am happy everywhere except in places where I see glitz and rich farts. I am happiest in Brooklyn, where the concentration of rich farts is minimal. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb, #NFDB
332:If you put on more garments, the cold cannot reach you. Similarly, increase your patience and concentration and even great injuries cannot vex your mind. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
333:I had a lot of it in my day, but I don't like it. It's a dumb drug. Your whole concentration goes on getting the next fix. I find caffeine easier to deal with. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
334:We can condition our bodies and minds to happiness with the five practices of letting go, inviting positive seeds, mindfulness, concentration, and insight. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
335:Each of us has his own inner concentration camp... We must deal with, with forgiveness and patience-as full human beings, as we are and what we will become. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
336:I worked with such concentration and focus and I had hundreds of obscure engineering or programming things in my head. I was just real exceptional in that way ~ Steve Wozniak, #NFDB
337:Then, with instantly one-pointed concentration, as if only he and the notebook existed- no sunshine, no fellow passengers, no ship- he began to turn the pages. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
338:What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration. ~ Elizabeth Bishop, #NFDB
339:And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. ~ Lord Acton, #NFDB
340:Dragoons arrested Jesuits in even the remotest parts of the frontier. Many Jesuits were marched to concentration camps at ports and then put on ships ~ David Hatcher Childress, #NFDB
341:His brows were lowered in concentration. Thick, sooty lashes hid his eyes.
They lifted and his lips spread into a grin.
I was in so much trouble. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout,#NFDB
342:In life we listen to other people. Listen with varying degrees of concentration and attention, right? Actors must learn to listen in a different way. ~ Constantin Stanislavski, #NFDB
343:Nothing was ever created by a human being that was not first created in the imagination through desire and then transformed into reality through concentration. ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
344:I'm an old git now, so I would say this, but television was better when there were less channels. There was more concentration and selection in terms of the output. ~ Ross Kemp, #NFDB
345:Peace can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart. ~ Patanjali, #NFDB
346:He main retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevsky said once, 'There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings'. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
347:Meditation or religion is a totally different world: it is relaxation, it is let-go - it is not concentration at all. It is not one-pointedness, it is no-pointedness. ~ Rajneesh, #NFDB
348:Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of the same status of being . ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
349:To control the mind the best and easiest method is to repeat constantly God's Name. Concentration is attained by fixing the attention on the sound of the Name. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
350:What I call innocence is the spirit's unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration. ~ Annie Dillard, #NFDB
351:Dachau-the significance of this name will never be erased from German history. It stands for all concentration camps which the Nazis established in their territory. ~ Eugen Kogon, #NFDB
352:I hate to try to be that person in my own skin, in my own way, in my own head, not through exercises or anything else, just by, I guess, belief, concentration. ~ Elizabeth Taylor, #NFDB
353:Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
354:Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
355:Old age is a time of humiliations, the most disagreeable of which, for me, is that I cannot work long at sustained high pressure with no leaks in concentration. ~ Igor Stravinsky, #NFDB
356:The focus and the concentration and the attention to detail that flying takes is a kind of meditation. I find it restful and engaging, and other things slip away. ~ Harrison Ford, #NFDB
357:To control the mind the best and easiest method is to repeat constantly God's Name. Concentration is attained by fixing the attention on the sound of the Name. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
358:When an experiment was to begin, all women were excluded for fear their irrational natures would influence the result, and an air of fervent concentration descended. ~ Iain Pears, #NFDB
359:In summary, all great work is the fruit of patience and perseverance, combined with tenacious concentration on a subject over a period of months or years. ~ Santiago Ramon y Cajal, #NFDB
360:Knowledge is better than practice, concentration excels knowledge, the renunciation of fruits concentration; peace is the immediate result of renunciation. ~ Bhagavad Gita.XII. 12, #NFDB
361:The key to writing is concentration, not inspiration. It requires deep attention to your characters, to the world they live in, and to the story you have to tell. ~ Salman Rushdie, #NFDB
362:We must aim indeed at the Highest, the Source of all, the Transcendent but not to the exclusion of that which it transcends. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
363:You gain power through practicing meditation and concentration. You gain power by doing anything you like that makes you feel good. You gain power by being happy. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
364:Concentration is inspiration. You must be completely overtaken by your work and your subject. Only then do all your influences and experience come up to the surface. ~ Cesar Chavez, #NFDB
365:Life is illuminated by right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
366:Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing. ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
367:Not only in your inward concentration, but in your outward acts and movements you must take the right attitude. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - IV, Wrong Movements of the Vital, #NFDB
368:To read a novel requires a certain kind of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. If you read a novel in more than two weeks, you don't read the novel really. ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
369:VIPASSANA MEDITATION is something of a mental balancing act. You are going to be cultivating two separate qualities of the mind—mindfulness and concentration. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
370:With concentration on nonself—the reality that we do not have a separate self—we become aware that suffering is there not only in us but also in the other person. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
371:Do the dynamics of private capital accumulation inevitably lead to the concentration of wealth in ever fewer hands, as Karl Marx believed in the nineteenth century? ~ Thomas Piketty, #NFDB
372:That there should be so great a concentration of vitality, so large a world contained within the mind of a single man, must in the end have been fatal to civilisation. ~ Victor Hugo, #NFDB
373:I find that everything I do is demanding, like Jack Bristow is a complicated man and I do a lot of explaining in the show, it takes a lot of energy and concentration. ~ Victor Garber, #NFDB
374:In God's vision, no inside or outside exists. Still, in the beginning, Mother is asking all to meditate on Him in the heart, in order to achieve concentration. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi, #NFDB
375:regret the choices I made that brought us here. I regret putting my family in danger. I breathe the sorrow in the wind, and its breaks my concentration. “Alejandra— ~ Zoraida C rdova, #NFDB
376:Socialism and federalism are necessarily political opposites, because the former demands that centralized concentration of power which the latter by definition denies. ~ Felix Morley, #NFDB
377:The concentration in my book on Marie Antoinette's childhood and on her family influences. It is surprising how some books actually start with her arrival in France! ~ Antonia Fraser, #NFDB
378:Concentration is about learning how to stay centered. When you concentrate your power, you can achieve anything. Imagine your mind was a torch. Most people allow their ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
379:I was planning to eat that," April says as Henry discovers a pudding and spoons it into his mouth with such intense concentration that I think his eyes have crossed. ~ Bethany Griffin, #NFDB
380:Speaking generally, punishment hardens and numbs, it produces concentration, it sharpens the consciousness of alienation, it strengthens the power of resistance. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, #NFDB
381:The two great aims of industrialism — replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy — seem close to fulfillment. ~ Wendell Berry, #NFDB
382:Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
383:It didn’t just boost your concentration. It made you enjoy work. You couldn’t wait to get back to the keyboard, the breadboard, the gesture table, the lab, the fabber. ~ Annalee Newitz, #NFDB
384:I thought you had to give up a lot for art, and you did. It required complete concentration. It also required that whatever money you had had to be put into art materials. ~ Alice Neel, #NFDB
385:So we should acquire the power of concentration by fixing the mind first on forms and when we have obtained in this a full success, we can easily fix it on the formless. ~ Ramakrishna, #NFDB
386:The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in copyright, produces. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
387:The novel is about, for me, sustained and organized looking. I do think that people have a hunger for a sustained engagement, that concentration that the book can offer. ~ Dana Spiotta, #NFDB
388:Full concentration brings relaxation and joy. It is the struggle of divided attention that brings a great deal of the misery that we associate with jobs we don’t like. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
389:Of course, not all slow thinking requires that form of intense concentration and effortful computation—I did the best thinking of my life on leisurely walks with Amos. ~ Daniel Kahneman, #NFDB
390:Thought control is the ability to direct mind and attention anywhere. Your ability to win is dependent upon the power of your concentration. Winning is a state of mind. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
391:What you need to learn are basic types of concentration, bringing more energy into your life, plugging up the holes where you lose energy, the basics of self-discovery. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
392:A corporation is a state created institution, state supported institution, its concentration of private power, there is no reason why it should have the rights of persons. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
393:a pathological concentration of wealth, leading to class wars, disruptive revolutions, and financial exhaustion: these are some of the ways in which a civilization may die. ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
394:Many of the cognitive enhancement drugs serve to increase focus and concentration. But 'letting your mind wander' is very often an important part of the creative process. ~ Jamais Cascio, #NFDB
395:One cannot listen to different pieces of music at the same time, a real comprehension of the beautiful being possible only through concentration upon some central motive. ~ Kakuz Okakura, #NFDB
396:What is the good in doing Japa for a whole day if there is no concentration of mind? Collectedness of one's mind is essential, then only His grace descends. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
397:All forms of meditation strengthen & direct our attention through the cultivation of three key skills: concentration, mindfulness & compassion or lovingkindness. ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
398:A monster, in comparison, can be no more than a guide -- unless it fuses (like Yog Sothoth) into the enveloping extracosmic fabric, as a super-sentient concentration of doors. ~ Nick Land, #NFDB
399:Any concentration of the will displaces life and gives it bias in motion. Reality, he believed, was always trying to copy the imagination of man, from which it derived. ~ Lawrence Durrell, #NFDB
400:Cancer is not a concentration camp, but it shares the quality of annihilation: it negates the possibility of life outside and beyond itself; it subsumes all living. ~ Siddhartha Mukherjee, #NFDB
401:During the Nuremberg trials, Oswald Pohl, an SS Lieutenant General,...is shown here explaining how Farben operated such concentration camps as Auschwitz and Buchenwald. ~ G Edward Griffin, #NFDB
402:If I wanted to write, I had to be willing to develop a kind of concentration found mostly in people awaiting execution. I had to learn technique and surrender my ignorance. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
403:In my study, there are stacks of papers to grade, books I should have read & reviewed months ago, but I have no concentration: the time slips through my fingers like water. ~ Jess Row, #NFDB
404:So we should acquire the power of concentration by fixing the mind first on forms and when we have obtained in this a full success, we can easily fix it on the formless. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
405:They were handsome, proper and normal family fathers who built the concentration camps and whipped the prisoners to death. And who was Nietzsche? A narcotized syphilitic. ~ Jens Bj rneboe, #NFDB
406:Citizen is one of those books that reminds me that black life is often like walking a balance beam: It requires strategy and concentration for stability is so fleeting. ~ Glory Edim, #NFDB
407:Playing chess has many aspects that can be useful in everyday situations like planning, concentration and combinations. You learn to win but also to lose and to be creative. ~ Judit Polgar, #NFDB
408:I do think that my work has gotten calmer, and that the violence of some of the earlier series was necessary to reach the higher degree of concentration in the later ones. ~ Rineke Dijkstra, #NFDB
409:In many places an administrative approach prevails over a pastoral approach, as does a concentration on administering the sacraments apart from other forms of evangelization. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
410:The internet, wrote Nicholas Carr in The Shallows, his book about brain science and screen time, steadily chips away at one’s “capacity for concentration and contemplation. ~ Michael Finkel, #NFDB
411:The painting cannot be laid aside even for a day; for it takes constant work to keep 'flowing,' but above that it takes concentration, which in our language is consecration. ~ Morris Graves, #NFDB
412:The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
413:They were always doing something. Quietly, without interruption, and with great concentration, they carried on with the hundred-and-one small things that made up their world. ~ Tove Jansson, #NFDB
414:A leading difficulty with the average player is that he totally misunderstands what is meant by concentration. He may think he is concentrating hard when he is merely worrying. ~ Bobby Jones, #NFDB
415:By repeatedly bringing your attention back to the breath each time it wanders off, concentration builds and deepens, much as muscles develop by repetitively lifting weights. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, #NFDB
416:Concentration of effort and the habit of working with a definite chief aim are two of the essential factors in success, which are always found together. One leads to the other. ~ David Frost, #NFDB
417:Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in infinite Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of Space and Time. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Man in the Universe, #NFDB
418:A picture was once a rare sort of symbol, rare enough to call for attentive concentration. Now it is the actual experience that is rare, and the picture has become ubiquitous. ~ Lewis Mumford, #NFDB
419:It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors. ~ Jimmy Carter, #NFDB
420:The sensayer frowned. “You’re saying you discuss theology while having sex.”
“For beginners it’s before and after mostly, managing it during sex takes skill and concentration. ~ Ada Palmer,#NFDB
421:Whatever luck I had, I made. I was never a natural athlete, but I paid my dues in sweat and concentration and took the time necessary to learn karate and become world champion. ~ Chuck Norris, #NFDB
422:What is the best method to find the Divine who is in each of us and in all things?
Aspiration. Silence. Concentration in the solar plexus region.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
423:As long as we have practiced neither concentration nor mindfulness, the ego takes itself for granted and remains its usual normal size, as big as the people around one will allow. ~ Ayya Khema, #NFDB
424:Concentrate on your goals. Do not allow other thoughts to enter your mind. If you allow them to, other things could take your concentration away from your ultimate aim. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger, #NFDB
425:I guess that as life is speeded up and our capacity for concentration is being nibbled away at by all the obvious things, that leads us actually to be more susceptible to boredom. ~ Geoff Dyer, #NFDB
426:It's all well and good to say that Germans were all responsible for the concentration camps, but I don't think they were. I think that was the work of a small group of fiends. ~ James Laughlin, #NFDB
427:Nervous energy is the ammunition we take into any mental battle. If you don't have enough of it, your concentration will fade. If you have a surplus, the results will explode. ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
428:One who has not ceased from evil living or is without peace or without concentration or whose mind has not been tranquillised, cannot attain to Him by the intelligence. ~ Katha Upanishad II.24, #NFDB
429:The first law of success is concentration – to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right or to the left.” (William Mathews) ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
430:Viktor Frankl the Concentration camp survivalist said no matter how much mental or physical abuse had been given nobody could cause him to think something he didn't want to think ~ Bob Proctor, #NFDB
431:I think that both Bernie [Sanders] and Hillary [Hillary] have highlighted how much, over the last few decades, we have seen the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. ~ Julian Castro, #NFDB
432:Kyra Sedgwick told me, 'Keep your heart where your feet are' and that's incredibly difficult to do. It takes a lot of concentration. You've got to be conscientious of each other. ~ Angie Harmon, #NFDB
433:The mind’s continual keeping in the presence of God 8 and the concentration of its thoughts on Him would so enrage the fiend that, although he might try the experiment once, he ~ Teresa of vila, #NFDB
434:The secret for mastery is concentration; the success of concentration is in elimination. Avoid everything in general and focus one thing in particular. You will be a master! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
435:From the standpoint of any sane person, the present problem of capitalist concentration is not only a question of law, but of criminal law, not to mention criminal lunacy. ~ Gilbert K Chesterton, #NFDB
436:Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis. ~ Charlie Chaplin, #NFDB
437:history have noted that the sheer concentration of power in government is lethal—that only a sense of absolute unchecked power can make atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible. ~ Iris Chang, #NFDB
438:Although they liberated some concentration camps, American troops reached none of the major killing sites of the Holocaust and saw none of the hundreds of death pits of the East. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
439:Concentration upon oneself means decay and death. Concentration on the Divine alone brings life and growth and realisation.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, #index,#NFDB
440:Concentration on the Divine is the only truly valid thing. To do what the Divine wants us to do is the only thing valid.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The True Aim of Life, [T0],#NFDB
441:I have to use other things to help my tennis, like my brain. But I believe that, even when your muscles are not so fast, with the brain and with concentration you can compensate. ~ Marion Bartoli, #NFDB
442:People can insert thoughts into your mind. This is more dangerous for psychic people. Use concentration exercises and read to combat this; boredom is an easy way to be drained. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
443:The concentration and reciprocal effect of industry and agriculture conjoin in a growth of productive powers, which increases more in geometrical than in arithmetical proportion. ~ Friedrich List, #NFDB
444:The real value of tests is not that they detect bugs in the code but that they detect inadequacies in the methods, concentration, and skills of those who design and produce the code. ~ Tony Hoare, #NFDB
445:BALANCING THE SPIRITUAL FACULTIES Mindfulness also works to balance what the Buddha called “the five spiritual faculties”: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. ~ Joseph Goldstein, #NFDB
446:But I have to add - and this answers your other question - this catholicity in time and in space is only meaningful for me if there is, at the same time, a concentration on the Gospel. ~ Hans Kung, #NFDB
447:I say why do you harp on money? You talk so much of your wife and of name and fame. Give all these up and direct your mind to God with full concentration. Enjoy the bliss of God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
448:In The Gutenberg Elegies, Sven Birkerts laments the loss of “deep reading,” which requires intense concentration, a conscious lowering of the gates of perception, and a slower pace. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
449:So, without first calming the mind, it’s very difficult to have any clarity. That’s why there’s slightly more emphasis on the concentration component in this particular technique. ~ Andy Puddicombe, #NFDB
450:Of course, had the British Army been used in a more all-out fashion, concentration camps, air raids, artillery bombardments and the rest of it, the result might have been different. ~ Tim Pat Coogan, #NFDB
451:The fault of our nature is first an inert subjection to the impacts of things as they come in upon the mind pell-mell without order or control. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Concentration, #NFDB
452:intergenerational warfare has not replaced class warfare. The very high concentration of capital is explained mainly by the importance of inherited wealth and its cumulative effects: ~ Thomas Piketty, #NFDB
453:The opsin would have to be smuggled into the cell using a virus, but at a concentration that would not kill the neuron. Deisseroth told Zhang that the experiments could be transformative. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
454:The powers developed are liable to become obstacles to a perfect concentration by reason of the possibility of wonder and admiration which results from their exercise. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms III. 38, #NFDB
455:You do not necessarily lose concentration; you only allow something else to take control of a greater portion of your attentiveness and attention at any given moment of time. ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, #NFDB
456:You're what I give to the world, what I leave behind. I am proud." He said it slowly, every word with intention, with concentration, as if it were the most important thing he'd ever say. ~ Staci Hart, #NFDB
457:Jack Kennedy brought an "intense concentration" and a "gently teasing humor" to the dinner table, along with what Katherine Graham called his habit of "vacuum cleaning your brain. ~ Sally Bedell Smith, #NFDB
458:Some people can detect the odor molecules in a green bell pepper at a concentration of less than one part per trillion. That is like picking out one grain of sand from a mile-long beach. ~ Neil Shubin, #NFDB
459:When you're making something, you're in a different state. You go into a deep level of concentration, to the point where you're not self-conscious anymore, it's just flowing out of you. ~ David Rakoff, #NFDB
460:She focused on her favorite machine in the room: the one that kept track of Blake’s heartbeat. With slow breaths and concentration, Livia could make her heart beat in tandem with his. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
461:When we hug, our hearts connect and we know that we are not separate beings. Hugging with mindfulness and concentration can bring reconciliation, healing, understanding, and much happiness. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
462:Animation requires a great deal of concentration, and I preferred to work alone because then I'm not deterred by somebody asking me if I want coffee, or the phone ringing or something. ~ Ray Harryhausen, #NFDB
463:she had this look of calmness, of concentration, the look, I think, of all women who for the first time are with child and find that the world around them has become relatively unimportant. ~ Paul Scott, #NFDB
464:The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is measured. It's uncontroversial. It's going up. We know that has a tendency to warm the atmosphere and we should be worried about that. ~ Martin Rees, #NFDB
465:This, in the end, might be the greatest social good of poetry: to get us to live differently, with a different sort of thinking and concentration, even if it's just for a few moments. ~ Matthew Zapruder, #NFDB
466:Cities with a high concentration of urban jobs include Austin, New Orleans and Portland, Ore. In Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami, meanwhile, less than 10 percent of jobs are in the urban core. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
467:Egotism is a kind of buckram that gives momentary strength and concentration to men, and seems to be much used in Nature for fabrics in which local and spasmodic energy is required. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
468:I want to make my contribution to humanity so that there will be no more Auschwitzes. Children who are born wanted and are given love and attention will not build concentration camps. ~ Henry Morgentaler, #NFDB
469:Mindfulness picks the objects of attention, and notices when the attention has gone astray. Concentration does the actual work of holding the attention steady on that chosen object. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
470:Practice mediation and concentration exercises, and begin to think more about regaining your sensitivity by avoiding draining situations. Not because of fear but because of intelligence. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
471:Our goal was Munich in Bavaria in southern Germany, the town where Hitler had gotten his start in a beer hall. But on the way, we made a stop to liberate the concentration camp at Dachau. ~ Charles Brandt, #NFDB
472:The concentration of the flow experience—together with clear goals and immediate feedback—provides order to consciousness, inducing the enjoyable condition of psychic negentropy. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
473:The key to clear thinking and problem solving is therefore an alert but relaxed mind. Concentration is not tension. On the contrary, it is possible only when the mind is relaxed but attentive.” M: ~ Sri M, #NFDB
474:One has to keep a certain balance by which the fundamental consciousness remains able to turn from one concentration to another with ease. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Becoming Conscious in Work, #NFDB
475:What should we control? As a rule, intervening to limit size (of companies, airports, or sources of pollution), concentration, and speed are beneficial in reducing Black Swan risks. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb, #NFDB
476:You need to make a decision today: do you want to improve your concentration or don’t you? It is always up to you. Therefore, eliminate your excuses, clean up your beliefs, and be here now! ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
477:Just as the pure crystal takes color from the object which is nearest to it, so the mind, when it is cleared of thought-waves, achieves sameness or identity with the object of its concentration. ~ Patanjali, #NFDB
478:While in the clinic, I discovered I had problems with concentration, motivation, attitude, and temper. I have found a new way of life through the clinic's program and a 12-step recovery plan. ~ Albert Belle, #NFDB
479:You need at least six or seven years to understand the philosophy and concentration of karate to know to clean your spirit of everything and dedicate your mind and body to the sport. ~ Jean Claude Van Damme, #NFDB
480:Adults,” Phillips writes, “are not less excessive in their behavior than adolescents. Concentration camps were not run by adolescents; adolescents are not mostly alcoholics or millionaires. ~ Jennifer Senior, #NFDB
481:But the instruction that the awareness is only twenty-five percent really brings home the idea that it's not a concentration practice - there's a very light touch on the berath as it goes out. ~ Pema Ch dr n, #NFDB
482:Ericsson notes that for a novice, somewhere around an hour a day of intense concentration seems to be a limit, while for experts this number can expand to as many as four hours—but rarely more. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
483:Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
484:The principal difference between love and hate is that love is a irradiation, and hate is a concentration. Love makes everything lovely; hate concentrates itself on the object of its hatred. ~ Sydney J Harris, #NFDB
485:Thousand got away to other countries; thousands returned to Spain tempted by false promises of kindness. By the tens of thousands, these Spaniards died of neglect in the concentration camps. ~ Martha Gellhorn, #NFDB
486:Viktor Frankl said the Concentration camp survivalist said no matter how much mental or physical abuse had been given nobody could cause him to think about anything he didn't want to think about ~ Bob Proctor, #NFDB
487:Well, many of us believe that excessive media concentration is a subject that ought to be addressed, and it is, of course, the intention of the majority party not to allow that to be discussed. ~ Barney Frank, #NFDB
488:DEPORT yourself from the coast of negative attitudes and you will give your dreams a lift up from a level of high concentration of repeated failure to an indelible success! God is with you! ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
489:I enjoyed being in movies when I was a boy. As a child you're not acting - you believe. Ah, if an adult could only act as a child does with that insane, playing-at-toy- soldiers concentration! ~ Roddy McDowall, #NFDB
490:Place an object within your view, hopefully at about eye level. You might have to look down a little bit. Some people have a meditation table on which they put an object of concentration on. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
491:Introverts often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can have mighty powers of concentration . They're relatively immune to the lures of wealth and fame. ~ Susan Cain, #NFDB
492:What I caution against is any unaccountable concentration of power. And I don't care whether that's the government, a corporation, the church, a really bad-ass girl scouts troop, whatever it is. ~ Daniel Suarez, #NFDB
493:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
494:Who is the enemy? Ignorance, anger, attachment, and pride are the ultimate enemies; they are not outside, but within, and must be fought with the weapons of wisdom and meditative concentration. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #NFDB
495:And the American people should be made aware of the trend toward the monopolization of the great public information vehicles and the concentration of more and more power in fewer and fewer hands. ~ Spiro T Agnew, #NFDB
496:Calling upon God with one's mind steadfast is equivalent to a million repetitions of the Mantra. What is the good in doing Japa for a whole day if there is no concentration of mind? ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
497:Concentration is the magic key that opens the door to accomplishment. By concentrating our efforts upon a few major goals, our efficiency soars, our projects are completed we are going somewhere. ~ Michael Korda, #NFDB
498:Many of the old masters of watercolour painted from notes, with enthusiasm either unabated or renewed. It is hard to assume the same degree of concentration in the studio, but not impossible. ~ Walter J Phillips, #NFDB
499:One of the main differences between silent meditation and chanting is that silent meditation is rather dependent on concentration, but when you chant, it's more of a direct connection with God. ~ George Harrison, #NFDB
500:The central act of photography, the act of choosing and eliminating, forces a concentration on the picture edge - the line that separates in from out - and on the shapes that are created by it. ~ John Szarkowski, #NFDB
501:When by a constant practice a man is capable of effecting mental concentration, then wherever he may be, his mind will always lift itself above his surroundings and will repose in the Eternal. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
502:...because of forced globalization, there's a clear trend these days towards uniformity. This trend comes largely from the ever-greater concentration of power in the hands of large media groups. ~ Eduardo Galeano, #NFDB
503:In order to give meaning to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. ~ Henri Cartier Bresson, #NFDB
504:Not all activities are equal... Those that involve genuine concentration - studying a musical instrument, playing board games, reading, and dancing - are associated with a lower risk for dementia. ~ Norman Doidge, #NFDB
505:The Terror-Famine of 1932-33 was a dual-purpose by product of collectivization, designed to suppress Ukrainian nationalism and the most important concentration of prosperous peasants at one throw. ~ Norman Davies, #NFDB
506:You must direct your full, intense concentration on the heart. You must feel that you are not the mind. You have to feel that you are growing into the heart. You are only the heart and nothing else. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
507:It is often mild distraction that moves imagination forward, not uninterrupted concentration. Thinking then works by indirection, sauntering in a roundabout way to places it cannot reach directly. ~ Rebecca Solnit, #NFDB
508:thalamus also acts as a filter or gatekeeper. This makes it a central component of attention, concentration, and new learning—all of which are compromised by trauma. As you sit here reading ~ Bessel A van der Kolk, #NFDB
509:The joy of life is born of concentration. When you are having a cup of tea, the value of that experience depends on your concentration. You have to drink the tea with 100 percent of your concentration. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
510:The more you concentration on God, the longer your conversation with him lasts and the holier his consacration will be on you. Let your communication with him be controlled by your committment. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
511:The sky which had started out with such verve and spirit in the morning was beginning to lose its concentration and slip back into its normal English condition, that of a damp and rancid dishcloth. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
512:To explode or to implode – said Qfwfq – that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to expand one's energies in space without restraint, or to crush them into a dense inner concentration. ~ Italo Calvino, #NFDB
513:An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child's energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery. ~ Maria Montessori, #NFDB
514:Elegance is achieved when all that is superfluous has been discarded and the human being discovers simplicity and concentration: the simpler and more sober the posture, the more beautiful it will be. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
515:Thank heaven, Sigmund Freud was spared knowing the concentration camps from the inside. His subjects lay on a couch designed in the plush style of Victorian culture, not in the filth of Auschwitz. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
516:The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God ... Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
517:The closer a man approaches tragedy the more intense is his concentration of emotion upon the fixed point of his commitment, which is to say the closer he approaches what in life we call fanaticism. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
518:There were now fourteen hundred quartered here with more arriving weekly as concentration camps in Poland, France, Belgium, Austria, as well as Holland were evacuated toward the center of Germany. ~ Corrie ten Boom, #NFDB
519:The sky which had started out with such verve and spirit in the morning was beginning to lose its concentration and slip back into its normal English condition, that of a damp and rancid dish cloth. ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
520:When we render natural and easy to us perfect concentration (or the operation which consists in fixing attention, contemplation and meditation), a power of exact discernment develops. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 9, #NFDB
521:If we know the divine art of concentration, if we know the divine art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite the inner world and the outer world. ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
522:You can just sweep the floor generally and gain nothing from it. Or you can figure out the best way to sweep the floor, put your power into it, use it as a concentration exercise, and be meditative. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
523:Danny’s mom can help him internalize a process-first approach by making her everyday feedback respond to effort over results. She should praise good concentration, a good day’s work, a lesson learned. ~ Josh Waitzkin, #NFDB
524:Focus on one point and hold your attention there. The mind will waiver, you'll think a million thoughts, but each time you do, bring your mind back to the point of concentration, seeing it visually. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
525:but make the self grow? To fill free time with activities that require concentration, that increase skills, that lead to a development of the self, is not the same as killing time by watching ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
526:Jacob’s concept: The concept of Asperger’s is like a flavoring added to a person and although my concentration is higher than those of others, if tested everyone would have traces of this condition too. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
527:Then the memory of the Darkling's kiss blew through me and rattled my concentration, scattering my thoughts like leaves and making my heart swoop and dive like a bird borne aloft by uncertain currents. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
528:Through the practice of concentration and various techniques, we silence the mind and we enter into a flow of perfect light. We go outside of the parameters of mind and thought and experience nirvana. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
529:Whatever your issue is, whether it's racism or homophobia or policy issues or taxes or urban decay or health care, you're not going to go anywhere with it if we don't focus on the concentration of power. ~ Ralph Nader, #NFDB
530:When I visited concentration camps, I was more interested in how people responded to the camps than in the actual places. I watched kids picnicking on the ovens and other people stricken with grief. ~ Rachel Whiteread, #NFDB
531:I endeavor to make a picture, for instance, exert a positive influence on the observer by its coloring, mood, and compositional idea, encouraging, say, activation, tranquilization, concentration, or harmony. ~ Max Bill, #NFDB
532:Mom's dad was in the army, stormed the beach at Normandy, fought through the French hedgerows, the Battle of the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated concentration camps at the end of the war. ~ Mark Hoppus, #NFDB
533:The rift dividing good from evil, which goes through all human beings, reaches into the lowest depths and becomes apparent even on the bottom of the abyss which is laid open by the concentration camp. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
534:We artists are indestructible, even in a prison cell or a concentration camp I would be all right in my own world of art. Even if I had to paint my pictures with my tongue on the dusty floor of my cell. ~ Pablo Picasso, #NFDB
535:During the time of Atlantis, members of the Mystery Schools discovered and developed specific concentration exercises that they found would radically increase and sharpen their innate psychic abilities. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
536:Give full attention to what you do. If you give a rapt attention to what you do, you can have what you could have done in 3 hours well completed within 2 hours or less. Concentration is the key word. ~ Israelmore Ayivor, #NFDB
537:His gaze dropped and fell to the floor in thoughtful concentration for a long moment. When he looked up at her again, his gaze was direct and unflinching. "Because I have fallen in love with you." ~ Kathleen E Woodiwiss, #NFDB
538:Literature is the best thing humanity has. Poetry is the heart of literature, the highest concentration of everything that is the best in the world and in man. It is the only true food for your soul ~ Lyudmila Ulitskaya, #NFDB
539:Someone who seems doddery is perhaps not doddery at all but only an older person absorbed in squinting concentration, as though on an ultimate trip, memorizing a scene, grateful for being alive to see it. ~ Paul Theroux, #NFDB
540:The artist works with a concentration of his whole personality, and the conscious part of it resolves conflicts, organized memories, and prevents him from trying to walk in two directions at the same time. ~ Henry Moore, #NFDB
541:Thinking-mind
There throned on concentration’s native seat
He opens that third mysterious eye in man,
The Unseen’s eye that looks at the unseen, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#NFDB
542:This is one of the sweet spots where, as anyone who has done repetitive manual labor understands, the single minded focus, concentration, and hard physical work combine to form a sort of temporary nirvana. ~ Finn Murphy, #NFDB
543:a poet is someone who is abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement. Which is to say the highest form of concentration possible: fascination; to report on the electrifying experience of being ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
544:a poet is someone who is abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement. Which is to say the highest form of concentration possible: fascination; to report on the electrifying experience of being ~ e e cummings, #NFDB
545:As far as I can see, our concentration of different abilities in one species - there's nothing I can see that in this Darwinian evolution that could've done that. So it seems to be a miracle of some sort. ~ Freeman Dyson, #NFDB
546:His gaze dropped and fell to the floor in thoughtful concentration for a long moment. When he looked up at her again, his gaze was direct and unflinching. "Because I have fallen in love with you." ~ Kathleen E Woodiwiss, #NFDB
547:In whatever centre the concentration takes place the Yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III, Descent and Other Kinds of Experience, #NFDB
548:Literature is the best thing humanity has. Poetry is the heart of literature, the highest concentration of everything that is the best in the world and in man. It is the only true food for your soul. ~ Lyudmila Ulitskaya, #NFDB
549:After long practice one who is master of himself can dispense with diverse aids to concentration...and he will be able to make himself master of any result whatsoever simply by desiring it. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms.III. 34, #NFDB
550:Gymnastics does take great focus and concentration. What I do is look to my coach. He keeps me focused. And I meditate to get myself confident before the competition floor. That helps keep me focused, too. ~ Gabby Douglas, #NFDB
551:Just as a wet match, when struck, does not produce fire, so a mind saturated with restlessness cannot produce the fire of concentration even when one makes great efforts to strike the cosmic spark. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
552:One of the things that makes me a conservative, or a libertarian, or whatever the heck it is that I am - a person who doesn't much like big government - is that I do not like the concentration of the power. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
553:One type of concentration is immediate and complete, as it was with Mozart. The other is plodding and only completed in stages, as with Beethoven. Thus genius works in different ways to achieve its ends. ~ Stephen Spender, #NFDB
554:We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell. ~ Pablo Picasso, #NFDB
555:He was a born technician, possessing both the intense concentration of a bird sailing through the air in search of prey and the patience of a donkey hauling water, playing always by the rules of the game. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
556:It was only later that I realised that I had experienced extended close contact with another human without feeling uncomfortable. I attributed it to my concentration on correctly executing the dance steps. ~ Graeme Simsion, #NFDB
557:Sam picks the stone up and clenches his entire body in deep concentration. Nothing happens. " Oh come on," he says to the stone. " I promise to use it for the power of good. No girls' locker rooms, I swear. ~ Pittacus Lore, #NFDB
558:Brahman is beyond mind and speech, beyond concentration and meditation, beyond the knower, the known and knowledge, beyond even the conception of the real and unreal. In short, It is beyond all relativity. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #NFDB
559:Buttoning the length of my shirt with Left Neglect and one right hand takes the same kind of singular, intricate, held-breath concentration that I imagine someone trying to dismantle a bomb would need to have. ~ Lisa Genova, #NFDB
560:And the statement made nearly 2,000 years ago came to my mind:
'Not even a hair dares to fall from your head without My Father's will . . .'
To realize this means to reach the inner peace. ~ Mouni Sadhu, Concentration,#NFDB
561:And when no subject is given, is it enough to concentrate on your Presence in the heart-centre? Should we avoid a formulated prayer?
Yes, concentration on the Presence is enough.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#NFDB
562:Concentration is a genius; it has the power to solve any kind of problems. It works with the same principle a magnifier uses when creating fire: Bring all your powers to a point and destroy your problem! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan, #NFDB
563:For instance, against the tremendous resistance of Hitler and Kaltenbrunner, and at first Himmler too, I managed to save nine thousand Norwegians and Danes, whom I had released from concentration camps. ~ Walter Schellenberg, #NFDB
564:For the uncontrolled there is no wisdom, nor for the uncontrolled is there the power of concentration; and for him without concentration there is no peace. And for the unpeaceful, how can there be happiness? ~ Jerzy Kosi ski, #NFDB
565:He who would do some great thing in this short life must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces as, to idle spectators, who live only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
566:In the second training, we develop energy, concentration, and mindfulness. These are the meditative and life tools that enable us to awaken. Without them we simply act out the patterns of our conditioning. ~ Joseph Goldstein, #NFDB
567:No education is worth having that does not teach the lesson of concentration on a task, however unattractive. These lessons, if not learnt early, will be learnt, if at all, with pain and grief in later life. ~ Cyril Connolly, #NFDB
568:The art of pictorial creation is so complicated - it is so astronomical in its possibilities of relation and combination that it would take an act of super-human concentration to explain the final realization. ~ Hans Hofmann, #NFDB
569:Men have died in torture chambers, on the stake, in concentration camps, in front of firing squads, rather than renounce their convictions. The appeaser renounces his under the pressure of a frown on a vacant face. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
570:Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and willpower enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm, but also as experiences in the material realm. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
571:Suffering ceases to be suffering in some way at the moment it finds a meaning.” — Viktor Frankl (psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp and wrote about his experiences in Man’s Search for Meaning) ~ Doreen Virtue, #NFDB
572:There is no true expertise in the humanities without knowing all of the humanities. Art is a vast, ancient interconnected web-work, a fabricated tradition. Over-concentration on any one point is a distortion. ~ Camille Paglia, #NFDB
573:To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction. Put another way, the type of work that optimizes your performance is deep work. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
574:For unknown reasons, there is a tremendous concentration of psychoactive plants on the South American continent. The South American continent has more known hallucinogens than the rest of the planet combined. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
575:In meditation you first get sense control. And yoga will help you with the body and when the mind is steady, concentration will come automatically. When you get such concentration, then you get peace of mind. ~ Sathya Sai Baba, #NFDB
576:One of the major forces driving the decline in wages and the concentration of wealth at the top is the offshoring of American jobs overseas - reducing wages not only in manufacturing but also across the economy. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
577:Do not many of us who fail to achieve big things. . .fail because we lack concentration--the art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else? ~ John D Rockefeller, #NFDB
578:If Adler’s theory of human action relates to power, concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl’s brand of existential psychology, “logotherapy,” posits that the human species is uniquely made to seek meaning. ~ Tom Butler Bowdon, #NFDB
579:The bosses of our mass media, press, radio, film and television, succeed in their aim of taking our minds off disaster. Thus, the distraction they offer demands the antidote of maximum concentration on disaster. ~ Ernst Fischer, #NFDB
580:Whether this moment is happy or not depends on you. It`s you who makes the moment happy, not the moment that makes you happy. With mindfulness, concentration, and insight, any moment can become a happy moment. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
581:How about a kiss, hey?” Etta liked that she was still able to startle him, just a little. The blank look of concentration broke as he barked out a laugh. “I don't know if that's a wise idea. We'd never leave. ~ Alexandra Bracken, #NFDB
582:all the school is preparing them for is to sit quietly and fake that they’re working. To feign the appearance of concentration when in fact they’re checking sports scores or e-mail or watching videos or spacing out. ~ Nathan Hill, #NFDB
583:New York. The greatest concentration of human potential in the history of the world. So much so that they had to start piling the people one on top of the other. An island so crowded it had nowhere to go but up. ~ Adam Sternbergh, #NFDB
584:Spiritual people are often persecuted because of their beliefs. Christians were fed to the lions. Jews were slaughtered in concentration camps. Various forms of persecution still exist today throughout the world. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
585:Success in anything is about focus and concentration. When I coached, I'd say to the players, 'Yes, I know you played hard, but that's not good enough. You've got to stay focused on the task at hand the entire game.' ~ Rick Barry, #NFDB
586:Viktor Frankl the Concentration camp survivalist said no matter how much mental or physical abuse had been given nobody could cause him to think about anything he didn't want to think about”
― Bob Proctor ~ Bob Proctor,#NFDB
587:An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
588:Deficiencies of innate ability may be compensated for through persistent hard work and concentration. One might say that work substitutes for talent, or better yet that it creates talent.”6 —Santiago Ramón y Cajal ~ Barbara Oakley, #NFDB
589:Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration. ~ Donald Knuth, #NFDB
590:If before devoting the required time, you feel that you are ready to meditate on the next chakra, almost always you’ll be wrong. It is absolutely necessary to develop consistency in the quality of your concentration. On ~ Om Swami, #NFDB
591:The difference in men does not lie in the size of their hands, nor in the perfection of their bodies, but in this one sublime ability of concentration: to throw the weight in one blow, to live eternity in an hour. ~ Elbert Hubbard, #NFDB
592:Training your concentration isn’t that hard. You just have to learn to become more peaceful and find the moment. You have to learn to be here now. When you are at work, be at work. When you are at home, be at home. ~ Kevin Horsley, #NFDB
593:You must avoid at all cost the idea that you can manage learning several skills at a time. You need to develop your powers of concentration, and understand that trying to multitask will be the death of the process. ~ Robert Greene, #NFDB
594:At some point you start seeing the difference between what you really want, and what is your priority order. I feel that today I know what I want. That's the problem with perspective, as well as focus and concentration. ~ Nick Cave, #NFDB
595:Concentration of wealth and power has been built upon other people's money, other people's business, other people's labor. Under this concentration, independent business has been a menace to American society. ~ Franklin D Roosevelt, #NFDB
596:Do not many of us who fail to achieve big things … fail because we lack concentration—the art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else?”9 Rockefeller ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
597:energy is used to pump individual protons from inside the cell (where there is a low concentration of protons) to outside the cell (where there is a high concentration of protons). This is like charging a battery. ~ David Christian, #NFDB
598:If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Concentration and Meditation, #NFDB
599:The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself. ~ Madeleine L Engle, #NFDB
600:Without the steadiness of concentration, it is easy to get caught up in the feelings, perceptions, and thoughts as they arise. We take them to be self and get carried away by trains of association and reactivity. ~ Joseph Goldstein, #NFDB
601:In Central and Southern Africa, the ability to detect witches was also believed in several places to be inherent in chiefs, as one of that concentration of semi-mystical qualities that gave them the right to lead. In ~ Ronald Hutton, #NFDB
602:These were, on various unimportant charges, sent to jail or, later, to concentration camps—which were also jails, but the private jails of the M.M.’s, unshackled by any old-fashioned, nonsensical prison regulations. ~ Sinclair Lewis, #NFDB
603:A regular sitting practice has been shown to enhance concentration, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep. It is used to treat chronic pain, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive ~ Culadasa John Yates, #NFDB
604:Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. ~ Oswald Chambers, #NFDB
605:Concentration and mindfulness are the internal ways in which the mind restores itself from being out of balance and lost in confusion to a condition of ease, clarity, and wisdom. No external action needs to happen. ~ Sylvia Boorstein, #NFDB
606:Concentration's like a shower. You don't turn it on until you want to bathe... You don't walk out of the shower and leave it running. You turn it off, you turn it on... It has to be fresh and ready when you need it. ~ Garfield Sobers, #NFDB
607:Learn to control your emotions. Be able to glide through them. By practicing concentration exercises and meditation, you will find that when strong emotions strike, you will gain the ability to not be swayed by them. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
608:Materialism has cast man into such depths that a mighty concentration of forces is necessary to raise him again. He is subject to illnesses of the nervous system which are veritable epidemics of the life of the soul. ~ Rudolf Steiner, #NFDB
609:Did it ever occur to you that this might require a modicum of concentration?” snapped Myfanwy in irritation, breaking out of her trance. “Did the dramatic pose and the look of profound focus not tip you off?” “Sorry, ~ Daniel O Malley, #NFDB
610:Citizen is one of those books that reminds me that black life is often like walking a balance beam: It requires strategy and concentration for stability is so fleeting.
-- "To Be a Citizen" by Morgan Jerkins ~ Glory Edim,#NFDB
611:I hate nothing more profoundly than the multitude... the accumulation of people, the concentration of vileness and mindlessness and lies. Much as we should love each individual, I believe, so we hate the mass. ~ Thomas Bernhard, #NFDB
612:Let us henceforth make war on all monopolies—whether corporate or union. The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power, and the champions of freedom will fight against the concentration of power wherever they find it. ~ Barry M Goldwater, #NFDB
613:"Mindfulness practice is not an evasion or an escape. It means entering vigorously into life — with the strength generated by the energy of mindfulness. Without this freedom and concentration, there is no happiness." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
614:Too much concentration belittles life. Concentration is a narrowing down of the mind - but we are concerned with the total process of living, and to concentrate exclusively on any particular aspect of life, belittles life. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
615:Benedictine spirituality, after all,
is life lived to the hilt.
It is a life of concentration
on life's ordinary dimensions.
It is an attempt to do
the ordinary things of life
extraordinarily well. ~ Joan D Chittister,#NFDB
616:Concentration is the key to economic results. No other principle of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration.... Our motto seems to be, "Let's do a little bit of everything." ~ Peter Drucker, #NFDB
617:Concentration of the mind is in a way common to both Knowledge and Yoga. Yoga aims at union of the individual with the universal, the Reality. This Reality cannot be new. It must exist even now, and it does exist. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
618:Each of the basic requirements of deliberate practice is unremarkable: • A clearly defined stretch goal • Full concentration and effort • Immediate and informative feedback • Repetition with reflection and refinement ~ Angela Duckworth, #NFDB
619:The audience has to understand that if the film is going to have any meaning for them. If they are going to empathize with the characters, they have to visualize the process of concentration involved in making every move. ~ Conrad Hall, #NFDB
620:The main thing for a gymnast is total concentration while competing. At such moments one has to put everything else behind. I know that other gymnasts can do so with a smile, but I can't. And I don't even try to. ~ Ludmilla Tourischeva, #NFDB
621:The secret of the psychic training, as Tibetans conceive it, consists in developing a power of concentration of mind greatly surpassing even that of men who are, by nature, the most gifted in this respect. Mystic ~ Alexandra David N el, #NFDB
622:You must claim America, she said. America will not give itself to you. If you do not claim America, if America is not in your heart, America will throw you into a concentration camp or a reservation or a plantation. ~ Viet Thanh Nguyen, #NFDB
623:Concentration holds an object before mindfulness. Mindfulness then pays close attention to it. Then investigation finds that it is constantly changing, thus showing the signs of unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
624:Concentration of the mind is in a way common to both Knowledge and Yoga. Yoga aims at union of the individual with the universal, the Reality. This Reality cannot be new. It must exist even now, and it does exist. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
625:Concentration should be regarded as a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for ill. A sharp knife can be used to create a beautiful carving or to harm someone. It is all up to the one who uses the knife. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
626:Creation signifies, above all, emotion, and that not in literature or art alone. We all know the concentration and effort implied in scientific discovery. Genius has been defined as an infinite capacity for taking pains. ~ Henri Bergson, #NFDB
627:Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
628:Michael allowed himself to look at Caddy for the first time since she had climbed into the car. It was a moment that he always put off for as long as possible because his concentration was never quite the same afterwards. ~ Hilary McKay, #NFDB
629:The challenge we all face is how to maintain the benefits of breadth, diverse experience, interdisciplinary thinking, and delayed concentration in a world that increasingly incentivizes, even demands, hyperspecialization ~ David Epstein, #NFDB
630:When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools. ~ Michael LeBoeuf, #NFDB
631:Americans' lack of passion for history is well known. History may not quite be bunk, as Henry Ford suggested, but there's no denying that, as a people, we sustain a passionate concentration on the present and the future. ~ Larry McMurtry, #NFDB
632:Contemplating a beautiful sunrise, you’re not distracted by thinking about the past or the future. The more concentrated you become, the more you see the beauty all around you. So concentration is a source of happiness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
633:it was incredible that this thing should be happening to him. It was what he had read of and had found some difficulty in crediting. It was what they were supposed to do to Jews in concentration camps. It could not be true. ~ Nevil Shute, #NFDB
634:Movie acting, I later realized, reminds me of contract bridge. Each requires the same concentration, intense short-term memory, and obliviousness to everything else until the last trump is called - or whatever it is they do. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
635:Ninety percent of my game is mental. It's my concentration that has gotten me this far. I won't even call a friend on the day of a match. I'm scared of disrupting my concentration. I don't allow any competition with tennis. ~ Chris Evert, #NFDB
636:she watched his face because she hoped it would betray some indication of her own reality – some flicker of interest or concentration of notice which might indicate that she was actually present with another person. ~ Stephen R Donaldson, #NFDB
637:You take a 98-percent concentration of fuming nitric acid and add the acid to three times that amount of sulfuric acid. Do this in an ice bath. Then add glycerin drop-by-drop with an eye dropper. You have nitroglycerin. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
638:Art for the most part, is about concentration, solitude and determination. It's really not about other people's needs and assumptions. I'm not interested in the notion that art serves something. Art is useless, not useful. ~ Richard Serra, #NFDB
639:If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow. ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
640:It looks as though yields of over 10 times what we can currently grow per acre are feasible if you control the CO2 concentration, the humidity, the temperature, all the various factors that plants depend on to grow rapidly. ~ Ralph Merkle, #NFDB
641:It was officially known as Kwan-li-so Number 18. That meant Penal Labor Colony in Korean. It was a concentration camp. It was a gulag. It actually was hell, near the Taedong River in North Korea's P'yongan-namdo province. ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
642:The artist and the politician stand at opposite poles. The artist enhances life by his prolonged concentration upon it, while the politician emphasizes the impersonal aspect of life by his attempts to fit men into groups. ~ Richard Wright, #NFDB
643:Each of the basic requirements of deliberate practice is unremarkable: • A clearly defined stretch goal • Full concentration and effort • Immediate and informative feedback • Repetition with reflection and refinement But ~ Angela Duckworth, #NFDB
644:Gold is not necessary. I have no interest in gold. We'll build a solid state, without an ounce of gold behind it. Anyone who sells above the set prices, let him be marched off to a concentration. That's the bastion of money. ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
645:Her concentration was gone, and last night she had had a nightmare about discovering a formalism that let her translate arbitrary concepts into mathematical expressions: then she had proven that life and death were equivalent. ~ Ted Chiang, #NFDB
646:The one fundamental requirement to increase the flow of fatty acids out of adipose tissue—to increase lipolysis—and so decrease the amount of fat in our fat tissue, is to lower the concentration of insulin in the bloodstream. ~ Gary Taubes, #NFDB
647:Because America isn't perfect, it must be evil. Because Marxist regimes make claims of perfection, they must be good. ... Remind me again, was it John Ashcroft or Fidel Castro who put H.I.V. sufferers in concentration camps? ~ Ron Rosenbaum, #NFDB
648:I found that all I really wanted was to eat beautiful food and to speak as much beautiful Italian as possible. That was it. So I declared a double major, really-in speaking and in eating (with a concentration on gelato). ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
649:I must concentrate all of my energies on the enfranchisement of my own sex! She had named and claimed her calling. Here is concentration of purpose. This declaration, as we shall see, unified her energy in extraordinary ways. ~ Stephen Cope, #NFDB
650:Kendrick has this look of deep concentration, then she sat up really quick and grinned. "Oh, my God... I know what your task is."
...
"You have to kiss her... like, in front of everyone. Total hard-core make-out session. ~ Julie Cross,#NFDB
651:When your attention is diffuse, it’s like a broad, weak beam of light that doesn’t reveal much. Concentration brings the weak beam down to a single, sharply focused, supremely bright, exponentially more illuminating point. ~ Sharon Salzberg, #NFDB
652:Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. Deep ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
653:Ice is remarkable in many ways. A simple experiment one can do at home is to add salt to an amount of water in different concentrations. For example, one can mimic the concentration of the ocean, or one can make it even saltier. ~ Ira Flatow, #NFDB
654:It refers to the concentration of hydrogen ions. The fewer the hydrogen ions, the greater the pH level; the greater the pH level, the more the alkalinity. Your cells, tissues or fluids could be acidic, alkaline or neutral. Measured ~ Om Swami, #NFDB
655:Attention is the vital thing and there is no tension in attention. It just happens to be a similar word. It's not concentration or straining. Attention has the openness of a young child not yet dominated by the conceptual mind. ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
656:Concentration is the lens. It produces the burning intensity necessary to see into the deeper reaches of the mind. Mindfulness selects the object hat the lens will focus on and looks through the lens to see what is there. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
657:I've inherited the worst of each parent. I have my father's hypochondria and lack of concentration. I have his amorality. I have everything bad that he had. Then I have my mother's surly, pill-like, complaining, whining attitude. ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
658:The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short, simple story that works well is just as exciting to me as any longer and more complex book. ~ Margaret Mahy, #NFDB
659:She always imagined that evil played out on a large canvas- wars, concentration camps, gas chambers, the partitioning of nations. Now she realized that evil had a domestic side, and its very banality protected it from exposure. ~ Thrity Umrigar, #NFDB
660:Sit in front of an object of concentration with the eyes open. Focus on a candle flame, or a yantra, a little dot, something small. Just look at it. Focus on it until there is nothing else in your mind. This develops willpower. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
661:The very act of creation requires such focused concentration that vast areas of knowledge may be completely overlooked. Well, so what? There is no evidence that generalized skills are in any way superior to specialized brilliance. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
662:When we choose a goal and invest ourselves in it to the limits of our concentration, whatever we do will be enjoyable. And once we have tasted this joy, we will redouble our efforts to taste it again. This is the way the self grows. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
663:As wonderful as they were, my parents didn't teach me anything about self-discipline, concentration, patience, or focus. If I hadn't had a family myself, I probably never would've done anything. Marriage taught me responsibility. ~ Dick Van Dyke, #NFDB
664:The concentration of wealth is a natural result of this concentration of ability, and regularly recurs in history. The rate of concentration varies (other factors being equal) with the economic freedom permitted by morals and laws. ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
665:The sense of being physically empty, of dissolving, of being a ghost whose existence was sourced by electric anxiety. And it became hard to breathe. The air thinned. It took massive concentration just to keep control of my breathing. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
666:Well, my parents originally wanted me to become a doctor - that's why I was in school; I was pre-med, and I graduated with a degree in psychology and a concentration in neuroscience. Really, the plan was for me to go to med school. ~ Steven Yeun, #NFDB
667:China today has the economy of a twenty-first-century economic superpower with a political regime little changed since the 1950s. Is this slow evolution in political institutions down to the concentration or the dispersion of power? ~ Matt Ridley, #NFDB
668:🌸If you have the capacity to concentrate, your meditation willbe more interesting and easier. But one can meditate withoutconcentrating. Many follow a chain of ideas in their meditation— it is meditation, not concentration. ~ The Mother(CWM 4:8)🌸, #NFDB
669:One is always seeking the touchstone that will dissolve one's deficiencies as a person and as a craftsman. And one is always bumping up against the fact that there is none except hard work, concentration, and continued application. ~ Paul Gallico, #NFDB
670:Sit down, keep your back straight, relax and have an object on which to concentrate; you might use a candle flame, a brightly colored rock, a yantra, which is a geometrical designed specifically for the practice of concentration. ~ Frederick Lenz, #NFDB
671:The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills; he discovers the true basis for self-confidence; and he learns that the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard. ~ Timothy Ferriss, #NFDB
672:We frequently define an acid or a base as a substance whose aqueous solution gives, respectively, a higher concentration of hydrogen ion or of hydroxide ion than that furnished by pure water. This is a very one sided definition. ~ Gilbert N Lewis, #NFDB
673:Today, most people are unaware that of the eleven million people exterminated, five million were not even Jewish. In Dachau, one of the largest and most infamous of all concentration camps, only a third of the population was Jewish. ~ Andy Andrews, #NFDB
674:...women who 'adjust' as housewives, who grow up wanting to be 'just a housewife,' are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps...they ate suffering a slow death of mind and spirit. ~ Betty Friedan, #NFDB
675:He who knows even how to prepare a smoke properly, knows also how to meditate. And he who cannot cook well cannot be a perfect sannyasin. Unless cooking is performed with a pure mind and concentration, the food is not palatable. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
676:The thing about World War II is that everyone knows about the concentration camps in Europe - in Nazi Germany and Poland and Auschwitz and the other camps - but, no one really talks about the camps that were here in the United States. ~ Lea Salonga, #NFDB
677:Also, he was more discriminating now than he had been then, back in the old days when he would read a book to its bitter end whether he liked it or not. These days, a book he disliked was unlikely to last ten pages of his concentration. ~ Ian Rankin, #NFDB
678:Capablanca plays very superficially sometimes, in a way that can only be ascribed to lack of concentration. This is an integral weakness of his make-up and can only be partially compensated by his employing his time allowance to the full. ~ Max Euwe, #NFDB
679:Effort, concentration, and mindfulness are the internal ways in which the mind restores itself from being out of balance and lost in confusion to a condition of ease, clarity, and wisdom NO external action needs to happen. [p. 17] ~ Sylvia Boorstein, #NFDB
680:I used to love to untangle chains when I was a child. I had thin, busy fingers, and I never gave up. Perhaps there was a psychiatric component to my concentration but like much of my psychic damage, this worked to everyone's advantage. ~ Anne Lamott, #NFDB
681:There were the twins, faces vacant with concentration as they walloped small red balls attached to paddles. Pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a-pat-a . . . They’d been jai-alai-ing all this time. Despite himself, Dexter smiled. ~ Jennifer Egan, #NFDB
682:Concentration of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, have increased substantially since the beginning of the industrial revolution. And the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the increase is due in large part to human activity. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
683:The basic word I-Thou can be spoken only with one's whole being. The concentration and fusion into a whole being can never be accomplished by me, can never be accomplished without me. I require a Thou to become; becoming I, I say Thou. ~ Martin Buber, #NFDB
684:[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands. ~ James Madison, #NFDB
685:Fishing is like watching baseball, he says, in that it takes such total concentration that you shouldn’t even be noticing little details like your arms and legs and head and mind and the miles- long strings of questions inside it. ~ David James Duncan, #NFDB
686:In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice ~ Nhat Hanh, #NFDB
687:It's us that's really amazing. As far as I can see, our concentration of different abilities in one species - there's nothing I can see that in this Darwinian evolution that could've done that. So it seems to be a miracle of some sort. ~ Freeman Dyson, #NFDB
688:What I do requires fantastic concentration... but you can't be totally alone, or you lose all contact with reality, so even when I'm engrossed and secluded, Jack Dunphy can be there. He's my oldest and best friend, and best critic too. ~ Truman Capote, #NFDB
689:The Indians had to be either killed, or herded into reservations, which were essentially concentration camps, and forgotten. Their history had to be absolutely obliterated so that we could believe that we were living on virgin soil. ~ Richard Rodriguez, #NFDB
690:We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. ~ Martin Luther King Jr, #NFDB
691:When your meta-attention becomes strong, you will be able to recover a wandering attention quickly and often, and if you recover attention quickly and often enough, you create the effect of continuous attention, which is concentration. ~ Chade Meng Tan, #NFDB
692:One must practice japa and meditation first before one complains that one is not progressing. But one must practice it with little concentration. People don't practice and simply say, "Why am I not progressing spiritually?" ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, #NFDB
693:Results show that just one year of chess tuition will improve a student's learning abilities, concentration, application, sense of logic, self-discipline, respect, behavior and the ability to take responsibility for his/her own actions. ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
694:The politics of the Essays preach a conservatism natural in one who aspired to rule. Bacon wants a strong central power. Monarchy is the best form of government; and usually the efficiency of a state varies with the concentration of power. ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
695:But it was indecent, it was sacrilegious to annoy an emperor, and in his irritation he had an ex-Senator and twelve workmen who were in concentration camps taken out and shot on the charge that they had told irreverent stories about him. ~ Sinclair Lewis, #NFDB
696:le défi stimule notre concentration, et que c'est lui qui nous pousse à donner le meilleur de nous-mêmes• dans ce que nous faisons, et à en tirer ensuite une réelle satisfaction. C'est une condition pour nous épanouir dans nos actions. ~ Laurent Gounelle, #NFDB
697:Tengo had a gift for such work. He was a born technician, possessing both the intense concentration of a bird sailing through the air in search of prey and the patience of a donkey hauling water, playing always by the rules of the game. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
698:The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal. Without such a goal, chastity is bound to become ridiculous. Chastity is the sine qua non of lucidity and concentration. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
699:That very concentration of vision and intensity of purpose which is the characteristic of the artistic temperament is in itself a mode of limitation. To those who are preoccupied with the beauty of form nothing else seems of much importance. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
700:Bring your mind to noble silence. Unify your mind in noble silence. Concentrate your mind in noble silence... Enter into rapture and pleasure born of silence derived of concentration and awareness that is free from thought and fabrication. ~ Gautama Buddha, #NFDB
701:In the concentration camps...we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions. ~ Viktor E Frankl, #NFDB
702:I've learned over the years that geography is not that important, except that I seem to work better in the country than the city. I get more done. There's just less happening around me, and I have more time and concentration to work on music. ~ Steve Reich, #NFDB
703:The obstacles met by the seeker after concentration are illness, langour, doubt, negligence, idleness, the domination of the senses, false perception, impotence to attain and instability in a state of meditation once attained. ~ Patanjali : Aphroisms I. 30, #NFDB
704:What I'm after is the liquidity of things, how one things leads you on to the rest... The works are about concentration, intention, and paths of thought: the flow of totality in our perception, the fragmentation of the river of phenomenon. ~ Gabriel Orozco, #NFDB
705:You took thoughts, choosing them out of your store, and then, not dwelling on them, you let them slip through the fingers of your mind, never clutching at them, never dwelling on them, no concentration…just letting them drift gently past. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
706:A good conductor ought to be a good chauffeur; the qualities that make the one also make the other. They are concentration, an incessant control of attention, and presence of mind; the conductor only has to add a little sense of music. ~ Sergei Rachmaninoff, #NFDB
707:The act of praying is the very highest energy of which the human mind is capable; praying, that is, with the total concentration of the faculties. The great mass of worldly men and of learned men are absolutely incapable of prayer. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #NFDB
708:Apply the experiences of peace and poise received during concentration and meditation to your daily life. Maintain your equilibrium amidst trying circumstances, and stand unshaken by others’ violent emotions or by adverse events. Body ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
709:I forgot all about him and lost myself in the story.That's what I love about films and good books- you can climb right into them and be there. I just hate it when I'm doing that, and then somebody butts in and messes with my concentration. ~ Kristen D Randle, #NFDB
710:There was such a dense concentration of American energy there, American and essentially adolescent, if that energy could have been channeled into anything more than noise, waste and pain it would have lighted up Indochina for a thousand years. ~ Michael Herr, #NFDB
711:You taught me about concentration. At first I thought that meant just being still, but I was to understand it meant much more. You meant to tell me to be where I was, not some place in the past or future. I worried too much about tomorrow. ~ Stephen Sondheim, #NFDB
712:And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. ~ Nicholas Carr, #NFDB
713:From a psychological perspective, there can be returns to focus or concentration when people ignore signals below a certain threshold (called a “salience effect” in psychology) or when they believe in momentum—that success leads to success. ~ Richard P Rumelt, #NFDB
714:If you focus the rays of the sun through a lens, they can burn cotton or a piece of paper; but, the scattered rays cannot do this act. If you collect the dissipated rays of the mind and focus them at a point, you will have wonderful concentration. ~ Sivananda, #NFDB
715:Kurt Schumacher, the Hanover-based anti-Nazi who quickly became the leading figure in the post-war Social Democratic Party, was outraged. ‘Wir sind kein Negervolk’ (‘We are not blacks’) the fiery former concentration-camp inmate told Annan. ~ Frederick Taylor, #NFDB
716:Make wise choices about what you read. Read only what is necessary or worthwhile. And then take the time to read carefully. One book read with concentration and reflected upon is worth a hundred flashed through without any absorption at all. ~ Eknath Easwaran, #NFDB
717:Through an intensive process of concentration and quietude our consciousness does reach that infinity where knowledge ceases to be knowledge, subject and object become one—a state of existence that cannot be defined. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, The Religion of Man, #NFDB
718:British merchants became notably more aggressive and successful in exploring extra-European markets, and Crisp’s progress, from a concentration on Mediterranean commerce to involvement in ever more distant seas, perfectly exemplified this trend. ~ Linda Colley, #NFDB
719:When people are anxious they tend to narrow their thought processes, concentration upon aspects directly relevant to a problem. This is a useful strategy in escaping from danger, but not in thinking of imaginative new approaches to a problem. ~ Donald A Norman, #NFDB
720:I remember when I was in the prisoner camp, I was a French prisoner. And I saw the first photograph from the concentration camps, and we discussed it with other prisoners. And our feeling was we did not only lose the war, we lost also our honor. ~ Manfred Rommel, #NFDB
721:these small children, listening with eyes wide and in rapt concentration, would one day grow up to need reading, with its accompanying sense of wonder and the feeling of having a film running inside your head, as much as they needed air to breathe. ~ Nina George, #NFDB
722:At any rate, during the few hours when the depressive state itself eased off long enough to permit the luxury of concentration, I had recently filled this vacuum with fairly extensive reading and I had absorbed many fascinating and troubling facts ~ William Styron, #NFDB
723:Jasenovac concentration camp, which had been the largest “place of extermination” in fascist Croatia during the Second World War. “No one know exact number, but some say a million murdered there. They killing Jews and Gypsies, but most was Serbs. ~ Olen Steinhauer, #NFDB
724:Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind. ~ Ajahn Chah, #NFDB
725:The house looked on to other tenement-like structures, experiments in architectural insignificance, that intruded upon a central concentration of buildings, commanding and antiquated, laid out in a quadrilateral, though irregular, style. Silted-up ~ Anthony Powell, #NFDB
726:When the possessions and households of citizens are no longer honored by the acts, as well as the principles, of their government, then the concentration camp ceases to be one of the possibilities of human nature and becomes one of its likelihoods. ~ Wendell Berry, #NFDB
727:[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachment of the others. ~ James Madison, #NFDB
728:You can make fun with Saddam Hussein jokes ... but you can't make fun of, say, the concentration camps. I think my target was not so much evil, but benign stupidity people doing stupid things without realising or, instead, thinking they were doing good. ~ Tom Lehrer, #NFDB
729:Concentration is not wholesome in itself. A thief needs concentration to break into a house.
The object of our concentration is what makes it beneficial or not. If you use meditative concentration to run away from reality, that is not beneficial. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh,#NFDB
730:Just as light destroys darkness,
Generosity destroys miserliness,
Discipline destroys harmfulness.
Patience destroys intolerance,
Perseverance destroys laziness,
Concentration destroys distraction,
Wisdom destroys ignorance. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche,#NFDB
731:No company has a permanent consumer franchise. No one has the only game in town. The never-ending cycle of destruction and change inherent in a capitalist economy always provides new opportunities for those with determination, goals and concentration. ~ Harvey Mackay, #NFDB
732:After I started getting criticism for doing 'Big Brother,' someone told me that Hugh Downs used to host 'Concentration' and Mike Wallace used to do 'The Big Surprise.' I thought, Huh, maybe that door isn't sealed shut if I want to do '60 Minutes' one day. ~ Julie Chen, #NFDB
733:Deep concentration has the effect of slowing down the thought process and speeding up the awareness viewing it. The result is the enhanced ability to examine the thought process. Concentration is our microscope for viewing subtle internal states. ~ Henepola Gunaratana, #NFDB
734:I don't like being called a denier because deniers don't believe in facts. There are no facts linking the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide with imminent catastrophic global warming there are only predictions based on complex computer models. ~ David Bellamy, #NFDB
735:The parallel between these animals sick from surplus value and humans sick from industrial concentration is illuminating. (...) Against the industrial organization of death, animals have no other recourse, no other possible defiance, except suicide. ~ Jean Baudrillard, #NFDB
736:Aristocracy: A combination of many powerful men, for the purpose of maintaining their own particular interests. It is consequently a concentration of all the most effective parts of a community for a given end, hence its energy, efficiency and success. ~ James F Cooper, #NFDB
737:French police and the SS worked together on round-ups in Marseille, classified as ‘moral cleansing’. In all, some 75,000 Jews would be deported from France in terrible conditions to concentration camps in eastern Europe. Only 3 per cent returned alive. ~ Jonathan Fenby, #NFDB
738:Studies strengthen the mind and turn its concentration away from the impulses and desires of the vital. Concentrating on study is one of the most powerful ways of controlling the mind and the vital; that is why it is so important to study.
~ The Mother, On Education,#NFDB
739:Think of attention as a mental muscle that we can strengthen by a workout. Memorization works that muscle, as does concentration. The mental analog of lifting a free weight over and over is noticing when our mind wanders and bringing it back to target. ~ Daniel Goleman, #NFDB
740:An army should always be so distributed that its parts can aid each other and combine to produce the maximum possible concentration of force at one place, while the minimum force necessary is used elsewhere to prepare the success of the concentration. ~ B H Liddell Hart, #NFDB
741:I certainly do not adore the writer's discipline. I have lost lovers, endangered friendships, and blundered into eccentricity, impelled by a concentration which usually is to be found only in the minds of people about to be executed in the next half hour. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
742:If your child is going to develop a healthy personality with the capacity to remain intact and grow, she must learn how to test reality, regulate her impulses, stabilize her moods, integrate her feelings and actions, focus her concentration and plan. ~ Stanley Greenspan, #NFDB
743:Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor who wrote the classic Man’s Search for Meaning, drew a similar social-psychological conclusion: deceitful, inauthentic individual existence is the precursor to social totalitarianism. ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
744:The Principle of Least Resistance, protected from scrutiny by the metric black hole, supports work cultures that save us from the short-term discomfort of concentration and planning, at the expense of long-term satisfaction and the production of real value. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
745:The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
746:Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor who wrote the classic Man’s Search for Meaning, drew a similar social-psychological conclusion: deceitful, inauthentic individual existence is the precursor to social totalitarianism. ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
747:What we call pure water at room temperature contains equal numbers of positive hydronium and negative hydroxyl groups, at a concentration that translates to a pH of 7 (a “power of hydrogen” of 10−7 moles of hydronium groups per liter, in chemistry terms). ~ Robert M Hazen, #NFDB
748:I don't write directly on to the computer because I don't think well facing forward with fingers on a keyboard. I think better looking down holding a pen. And the concentration quotient of pen and paper is higher than when I'm moving words around on screen. ~ Joshua Ferris, #NFDB
749:Berlin was a cauldron of espionage on the front lines of the Cold War. The Berlin Operations Base, known as BOB, sat in the middle of the largest concentration of Soviet troops anywhere in the world. The CIA sought to recruit Soviets as agents or defectors, ~ David E Hoffman, #NFDB
750:People are afraid to concentrate because they are afraid of losing themselves if they are too absorbed in another person, in an idea, in an event. The less strong their self, the greater the fear of losing themselves in the act of concentration on the non-self. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
751:I like to understand, very specifically, what it is I'm seeing, and where it is and where it's going, and a lot of that is just hitting the mark and following the dotted line. But, that's good too because there's concentration and focus that's involved in that. ~ Stephen Lang, #NFDB
752:My background is full of pain. My mother was in a Nazi concentration camp and our whole family was killed off. Then early on your father leaves and all you've got is your mother, and I was an only child. Then you come to a new country and I can't speak English. ~ Gene Simmons, #NFDB
753:that the body does not produce flow merely by its movements. The mind is always involved as well. To get enjoyment from swimming, for instance, one needs to cultivate a set of appropriate skills, which requires the concentration of attention. Without ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
754:The best students understood the role intensity plays in productivity and therefore went out of their way to maximize their concentration—radically reducing the time required to prepare for tests or write papers, without diminishing the quality of their results. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
755:I know people could tell incredible stories. People have been in concentration camps, or women being raped, or a man going to war and not recovering from it. People have been robbed and beaten. A lot of people have had strong events in their life, which I didn't. ~ Agnes Varda, #NFDB
756:I’ll make Goyle do lines, it’ll kill him, he hates writing,’ said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle’s low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. ‘I … must … not … look … like … a … baboon’s … backside. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
757:To do justice to a lifelong dream of being a writer, I must give it the intense concentration and focus I gave to track. To do both with excellence is not possible. It is with a sense of sadness and joyous anticipation that I leave track and move on. ~ Florence Griffith Joyner, #NFDB
758:A rich person becomes trapped by belongings that take control of him, degrading his sleep at night, raising the serum concentration of his stress hormones, diminishing his sense of humor, perhaps even causing hair to grow on the tip of his nose and similar ailments. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
759:At that time the authorities used to love to set up their concentration camps in former monasteries: they were enclosed by strong walls, and had good building, and they were empty. (After all, monks are not human beings and could be tossed out at will.) ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, #NFDB
760:Our mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles.... So my problem is this: Can I bring the Lord back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind? ~ Frank Laubach, #NFDB
761:When a second finger joins the party, his brows draw together. Beads of sweat break out on his forehead. Mine, too. Loosening him up is one of the hottest things I’ve ever done. It takes all my concentration. Stroking, teasing, twisting, getting him ready for me. ~ Sarina Bowen, #NFDB
762:As usual, she’s completely wrapped up in her book. The entire building could crumble around her and I doubt she would notice. I admire intense concentration like that. Reading is an escape from the outside world. Everyone needs a little of that to keep their sanity. ~ Kim Holden, #NFDB
763:Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power. ~ Aldous Huxley, #NFDB
764:... programming requires more concentration than other activities. It's the reason programmers get upset about 'quick interruptions' - such interruptions are tantamount to asking a juggler to keep three balls in the air and hold your groceries at the same time. ~ Steve McConnell, #NFDB
765:the centre in her brow
Where the mind’s Lord in his control-room sits;
There throned on concentration’s native seat
He opens that third mysterious eye in man,
The Unseen’s eye that looks at the unseen. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#NFDB
766:Unimpeded by other schemes, this hint of things to come takes time to expand in the new morning light, and we attempt to watch it unobtrusively, with deep concentration. The night has begun to open up at last. There will be time until the next darkness arrives. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
767:The burning Indian imagination, which can extort new order out of a mass of apparently contradictory facts, is held in check by the habit of concentration. This restraint confers the power to hold the mind to the pursuit of truth with an infinite patience. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, #NFDB
768:Concentration, itself, is nothing but a matter of control of the attention! Learn to fix your attention on a given subject, at will, for whatever length of time you choose, and you will have learned the secret passage-way to power and plenty! This is concentration! ~ Napoleon Hill, #NFDB
769:His face was a study in concentration and empathy, as if every word I said was of supreme importance. It was that expression, that intensity, that had worn me down, and won me over, history lesson after history lesson, day after day, and he didn't even know I was his. ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
770:It was like a fire in my thoughts, my concentration, burning ever more brightly, more pure, refining my anger, my hate, into something steel-hard, steel-sharp. I could feel it burning, and reached for it eagerly, shoving the pain inside to fuel my incandescent anger. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
771:Jean-Marie Le Pen is a holocaust denier who was convicted and fined for dismissing Nazi concentration camps as a, quote, "Detail in History." But he kept running this anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, populist unapologetic xenophobic far right party in French politics. ~ Rachel Maddow, #NFDB
772:The mountains are exceptional places for, as the natural environment is concerned, they are the concentration of the wildest possible variety of all natural phenomena and forms. They are somehow a concentration of the truth of nature or even I'd say its essence. ~ Wojciech Kurtyka, #NFDB
773:There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.
Nevertheless, say "yes" to life; A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp ~ Viktor E Frankl,#NFDB
774:To put it bluntly, we are living in an electronic concentration camp. Through a series of imperceptible steps, we have willingly allowed ourselves to become enmeshed in a system that knows the most intimate details of our lives, analyzes them, and treats us accordingly. ~ Jim Marrs, #NFDB
775:With ice in my heart, I watched him prepare to defend me. His intense concentration betrayed no hint of doubt, though he was outnumbered. I knew that we could expect no help—at this moment, his family was fighting for their lives just as surely as he was for ours. ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
776:*I love climbing mountains in all fields (Whatever was this fields).
*I love tranquility and it is more for me precious than money.
*Honesty is a few valuable nowadays.
after willing of God and Step by step with Concentration i will achieve What I want to. ~ Charles Dickens,#NFDB
777:Last period of the day was new gym class. It was her only class that didn't include Evan, which was a relief. She should be functioning at a peak concentration, but he and his luminous eyes kept distracting her. First opprtunity I have, she thought. I'll bite him. ~ Sarah Beth Durst, #NFDB
778:Perdu suspected that these small children, listening with eyes wide and in rapt concentration, would one day grow up to need reading, with its accompanying sense of wonder and the feeling of having a film running inside your head, as much as they needed air to breathe. ~ Nina George, #NFDB
779:I’ll make Goyle do lines, it’ll kill him, he hates writing,” said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle’s low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. “I... must... not... look... like... a... baboon’s... backside. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
780:My feet will tread soft as a deer in the forest," said Conor, frowning with concentration. "My mind will be clear as water from the sacred well. My heart will be strong as a great oak. My spirit will spread an eagle's wings, and fly forth. This is the way of'truth. ~ Juliet Marillier, #NFDB
781:My feet will tread soft as a deer in the forest,” said Conor, frowning with concentration. “My mind will be clear as water from the sacred well. My heart will be strong as a great oak. My spirit will spread an eagle’s wings, and fly forth. This is the way of truth. ~ Juliet Marillier, #NFDB
782:As part of his life-saving therapy with suicidal patients and his own experience in a Nazi concentration camp, Frankl learned there are three things that give meaning to life: first, a project; second, a significant relationship; and third, a redemptive view of suffering. ~ Jeff Goins, #NFDB
783:Feminism has fought no wars ... killed no opponents ... set up no concentration camps ... starved no enemies ... practiced no cruelty. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions, for safety in the streets ... for reforms in the law. ~ Dale Spender, #NFDB
784:Like his predecessors, Marx totally neglected the possibility of durable technological progress and steadily increasing productivity, which is a force that can to some extent serve as a counterweight to the process of accumulation and concentration of private capital. ~ Thomas Piketty, #NFDB
785:Once all come to know that by the concentration of the mind on one point, on one principle, on one desire, a power is radiated to that point with creative nature and demonstrative abilities, man will think more carefully, more constructively and more efficiently ~ Harvey Spencer Lewis, #NFDB
786:Sertillanges argues that to advance your understanding of your field you must tackle the relevant topics systematically, allowing your “converging rays of attention” to uncover the truth latent in each. In other words, he teaches: To learn requires intense concentration. ~ Cal Newport, #NFDB
787:I went to Our Lady of Mercy, parochial school and I started Fordham Prep, but that only lasted about a year and then I - to me, it was like going to some kind of concentration camp. I was not very happy. And I only went there because that's where my brother went, really. ~ Robert Barry, #NFDB
788:We must not be bewildered by appearances. Sri Aurobindo has not left us. Sri Aurobindo is here, as living and as present as ever and it is left to us to realise his work with all the sincerity, eagerness and concentration necessary. 15 December 1950 ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, #NFDB
789:Chess is a game that benefits people of all ages, especially kids, in any area of life, business, problem solving, and social skills. Chess has the unique ability to combine focus, concentration, imagination, coordination, teamwork, and leadership all at the same time. ~ Dustin Diamond, #NFDB
790:Solving any puzzle involved methodical, logical stages. First came the eagerness to get started, followed by an understanding of the enormity of the challenge ahead. Next comes the focused concentration required to make headway, the commitment to achieving the end goal. ~ Angela Marsons, #NFDB
791:The giants of the race have been men of concentration, who have struck sledge-hammer blows in one place until they have accomplished their purpose. The successful men of today are men of one overmastering idea, one unwavering aim, men of single and intense purpose. ~ Orison Swett Marden, #NFDB
792:The growth, through the interaction and ever-increasing concentration of individual viewpoints, of a faculty of common vision penetrating beyond the continuous and static world of popular conception. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, A Great Event Foreshadowed - The Planetization of Mankind, #NFDB
793:Children who grow up in family situations that facilitate clarity of goals, feedback, feeling of control, concentration on the task at hand, intrinsic motivation, and challenge will generally have a better chance to order their lives so as to make flow possible. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #NFDB
794:I've tried to be totally present, so that when I'm finished with a piece of work, I'm finished. ... The work, once completed, does not need me. The work I'm working on needs my total concentration. The one that's finished doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs to itself. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
795:Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore. But the awful lonesomeness is intolerable. The intense concentration of self in the middle of such a heartless immensity, my God! who can tell it? ~ Herman Melville, #NFDB
796:And, if you'll investigate the history of science, my dear boy, I think you'll find that most of the really big ideas have come from intelligent playfulness. All the sober, thin-lipped concentration is really just a matter of tidying up around the fringes of the big ideas. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
797:Happiness requires courage, stamina, persistence, fortitude, perseverance, bravery, boldness, valor, vigor, concentration, solidity, substance, backbone, grit, guts, moxie, nerve, pluck, resilience, spunk, tenacity, tolerance, will power, chutzpah, and a good thesaurus. ~ Peter McWilliams, #NFDB
798:The whole Christ seeks after each sinner, and when the Lord finds it, he gives himself to that one soul as if he