Buddhist teachers talk about one-pointed concentration, the ability to direct a laser focus on a single object, such as the breath or a mantra or loving kindness. Think of Lee Trevino putting.
The Buddhists also emphasize mindfulness, in this context a state of heightened awareness. Think of Lee Trevino cognizant of everything connected to the job at hand, from every blade of grass on the green to the micro-currents of air bouncing off the dimples of the ball to the rotation of the earth.
Concentration and mindfulness are connected. One must concentrate to be mindful and be mindful to concentrate. Each one may have a different emphasis, but both place great stress in moving beyond one’s day-to-day thinking.
Our normal thinking is what keeps us stuck, keeps us from perceiving things as they really are, prevents us from moving forward.
My mind races way too fast and is far too wayward to achieve the full benefits of meditation, but my first attempt produced a mind-popping insight:
I was concentrating on following my breath in and out. I literally could not put two breaths together without losing my concentration. As if that were not bad enough, for the first time in my life I actually watched my thoughts. Without realizing it, I was engaging in a form of mindfulness meditation, of the mind watching the mind. I simply could not believe the crap I was thinking. It was like I had a hundred different radios turned on, all tuned into a hundred particularly bad talk show stations.
Where’s all this coming from? I could only think. This isn’t me.
Exactly!
With that realization, I think I grasped three out of four of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths. I may have prided myself in my ability to think, but dispassionate observation revealed that I was living in an illusion. My thoughts weren’t real. It was a humbling - and ultimately liberating - exercise.
Over the next four or five years, I managed to stick to a regular meditation practice. When I caught myself “thinking,” without judging, I would let go of the thought and resume my meditation. I never became enlightened, but, among other things, the discipline did teach me very vital skills in concentration and mindfulness, skills I would later apply in managing my illness.
