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Introduction to Insight Meditation, Session 2: Mindfulness, Concentration vs. Insight and Mindfulness of Body Sensations

by Philip L. Jones

I. Beginning Meditation - Mindfulness of Breathing (10-15 min)

A.Review the instructions (see handout)

II. Discussion (5-10 minutes)

A.Questions from previous session and from week's practice

III. Concentration Meditation and Insight Meditation

A.All forms of meditation require a certain amount of concentration. 

1.Concentration is basically the ability to keep awareness focused on one object.

a.It is sometimes spoken of in terms of One-Pointedness of Mind.

2.Without concentration, the mind would never settle down enough for us to begin to feel some peacefulness and to begin to see what is actually happening in our experience.

B.So we've been using awareness or mindfulness of the sensations of breathing as the tool for developing a foundation of concentration.

1.We bring our attention to rest at one location, such as the tip of the nostrils and we notice the physical sensations associated with the breath

2.We hold our attention there, whether the sensations of breathing are so subtle that we are unable to notice them or not.

3.If our attention wanders away from that location, when we become aware of it, we bring it back to that location.

a.In this way we are slowly strengthening the power of concentration.

C.Although concentration is the foundation of most approaches to meditation, some approaches rely almost totally on concentration while others simply use it as a tool for developing awareness.

1.Concentration meditation focuses on

a.The development of concentration

b.Altered states of consciousness

c.Meditation that focuses only on relaxation is primarily concentration

2.In insight meditation concentration is only a tool for the development of awareness. 

D.The distinction is important because

1.It contributes to differing ways of relating to our experience

a.Concentration focuses on stillness and shutting out sounds, thoughts, etc.

(i) Example from sounds during the previous sitting

(ii) This can actually contribute to judging and impatience with ourselves.

b.Insight focuses on awareness of the ever-changing experience of being human, the sensations and our reactions to them.

(i) In the end nothing is a distraction, it is all something to be aware of, something that will bring us into the present moment.

(ii) Use same example but from mindfulness perspective

2.With concentration practices we can achieve wonderful states while meditating, but it doesn't teach us how to carry those experiences into our everyday life when things are a struggle.

a.Insightor mindfulness meditation does.

IV. Mindfulness

A.Thich Nhat Hanh said

1."We need only to find ways to bring our body and mind back to the present moment so we can touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous." Touching Peace, Parallax Press, 1992,p. 2.

B.Concentration is what allows us to hold our attention in the present moment.

C.Mindfulness, though, is what allows us to experience the present moment.

D.We've been practicing something called "Mindfulness of Breathing"

E.What exactly is mindfulness

1.It is a mental factor or quality that we can cultivate

2.It normally occurs at that moment when the mind first has contact with an object, such as a sound, just before our concepts kick in, such as "bell"

3.It has three basic qualities

a.It is bare of judgment

b.It is bare of decision-making

c.It is bare of commentary

F.Mindfulness is like holding something with an open palm as opposed to a clinched fist.

1.It is like viewing clouds from the perspective of the sky, simply noticing them arising and passing through without any sense of them being good or bad clouds, they are just clouds.

G.Mindfulness creates a space in which we can see things as they are, separate from our reactions to them

1.Example: It gives us the ability to recognize that a repetitive sound is just sound and that our irritation with it is a reaction, a judgment about how things should be.

H.By creating this space and allowing us to see the truth of our lives in each moment, vs. the stories we tell ourselves that come out of our conditioning, we develop clear seeing and wise understanding of how to respond.

I.Pain is an example

1.Society is very aversive to pain, we are trained to avoid it as soon as we can

2.A consequence is that there is a great fear of pain. We are afraid of it because we have never looked deeply at it to see what it is.

3.Meditation and Pain

a.If one meditates for any length of time, as many of you have already discovered, we begin to be aware of the pain that is a frequent part of our lives. 

(i) We spend a lot of energy every day trying to not experience these pains.

b.If we settle down the mind and bring mindfulness to these sensations, we can see that pain is actually made up of a variety of ever-changing sensations that are experienced as unpleasant

c.Wecan also see that when we fear and resist these sensations, they actually become more intense.

d.So insight meditation provides us with a different way of relating to our experiences, a way that involves a lot less struggle.

e.But we do have to practice to learn to relate in this way, because we have years and years of conditioning that is pushing us to react instead.

V. Questions re the talk?

VI. Sitting Period (15-20 min) Awareness of Physical Sensations via Body Scan

VII. Discussion (5-10 min)

A.What was your experience of this meditation?

B.Any questions?

VIII. Sitting Period (15-20 min) Awareness of Physical Sensations via Mindful Awareness [basic First Foundation of Mindfulness practice]

A.Importance of not confusing physical sensation with mental activity.

1.[this is the first step in grasping the experience of the five aggregates]

2.Physical sensations can arise without having anything to do with mental activity, but then the mind can quickly react to those physical sensation -- can you see the difference?

IX. Discussion (5-10 min)

A.What was your experience of this meditation?

B.How was this meditation for you compared tothe previous one? [Can serve as a vehicle for discussing more vs. less structured meditations, guided vs. unguided, development of concentration through body scan vs. mindful awareness of physical sensations.]

X. Closing Quote

"Traditionally the Eightfold Path is taught with eight steps such as Right Understanding, Right Speech, Right Concentration, and so forth. But the true Eightfold Path is within us -- two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a tongue and a body. These eight doors are our entire Path and the mind is the one that walks on the Path. Know these doors, examine them, and all the dharmas will be revealed.

The heart of the path is so simple. No need for long explanations.Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. 

Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.

Of course, there are dozens ofmeditation techniques to develop Samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this -- just let it all be. Step over here where it is coo, out ofthe battle.

Why not give it a try? Do you dare?"

Ajahn Chah, A Still Forest Pool,

The Theosophical Publishing House, 1985, p.5.

XI. Handouts

A.Mindfulness of Body Sensations

B.Mindfulness