How concentrated is access concentration and how would one recognise it?
score:7
The Visuddhimmagga defines upacāra samadhi in IV 32-34:
Now concentration is of two kinds [access and absorption]. [...] The difference between the two kinds of concentration is this. The factors are not strong in access. [...] just as when a young child is lifted up and stood on its feet , it repeatedly falls down on the ground. [...] The arousing of the counterpart sign, which arises together with access concentration, is very difficult.
The process of concentration as described in the Abhidhammattha Sangaha (IX 17, 18):
When that sign has been throughly aprehended and enters into range of the mind door just as if it were seen by the eye, then it is called the learning sign, and that meditation becomes concentrated. When one is thus concentrated, one then applies oneself to meditation by means of that preliminary [parikamma] concentration based on the learning sign. As one does so, an object which is the counterpart of that (learning sign) becomes well established and fixed in the mind -- (an object) which is freed of the flaws of the original object, reckoned as a concept, born of meditation. Then it is said that the counterpart sign has arisen.
Thereafter, access [upacāra] development is accomplished, consisting in concentration of the sense sphere in which the obstacles have been abandoned.
Fast forward to our current century:
Access concentration is characterized by the significant reduction or complete dropping of the five hindrances and the arising and strengthening of jhāna factors. [...] It is easy to confuse momentary concentration with access concentration. One difference is that with access concentration, the meditator's continuity with the object is much longer and more stable over time. Another difference is that with access concentration, the object is much more energized and "bright". [...] In access concentration, the jhāna factors are present but insufficiently strong for full absorption into jhāna.
-- Stephen Snyder & Tina Rasmussen (Practicing the Jhānas)
or more broadly speaking:
The Buddhist tradition has introduced the term upacāra samadhi [...] to refer to a non absorptive experience of concentration that begins with the arising of the counterpart sign and endures until consciousness enters into full absorption. Upacāra samadhi implies concentration that is in the vicinity of jhāna [...] and describes the experiences that precede absorption, but it does not necessarily leads to jhāna. It may refer to the conditions that precede jhāna; it may refer to experiences that are reminiscent of first jhāna mental factors, but without the seclusion of absorption; and it may describe the mature concentration that accompanies those meditation objects (such as discernment of the body parts, and various recollections) that do not have the potential to reach full absorption. [...] Some meditators use the term upacāra samādhi so loosely that it merely describes the feeling of being concentrated and a mind that is stable and happy during meditation.
-- Shaila Catherine (Wisdom Wide and Deep)
Upvote:-1
When you see nama-rupa and sees thought as thoughts then the 1. samatha jhana is present as well, independently your eyes are open or during your daily avtivities.
Upvote:5
A meditation teacher I once had said that access concentration (the stage before the jhanas) is the same level of concentration that one has when reading a good book or when fully engaged in conversation.
No it's not. Reading a book or engaged in conversation lacks Ekagatta or One Pointed Concentration which is one of the Five Factors of Jhana. Access Concentration means all Five Jhana Factors are present but are not strong enough. The mind is calmed when the body is calmed. So you can't be talking or moving around. Mind and body must be calmed. It's not the same thing. You can be absorbed in anything but it's a different thing to be absorbed in Jhana. Because the five factors must be present. And it's not dependent on the five senses. So it's nothing we've experienced before.
More post
- 📝 Is there a moral aspect to financial debt in Buddhism?
- 📝 Do beings have control where they get re-incarnated
- 📝 Is anxiety as hell-bound as cruelty?
- 📝 Understanding Psychosomatic ailments
- 📝 How To Keep Loving Without Reward?
- 📝 Infinity, eternity, countlessness in Buddhism
- 📝 Why these skandhas?
- 📝 How to get to know the state of mind
- 📝 Strong desire to serve/ordain
- 📝 What is the exact difference between samatha and passadha?
- 📝 What is arupa jhana (5th jhana)?
- 📝 Only thoughts were experienced during practice
- 📝 Is Enlightenment a momentum with a continuum or can have regressions?
- 📝 Am I approaching samadhi properly?
- 📝 Fear of Samsara in Others
- 📝 Is it necessary to use a whole variety of meditation techniques?
- 📝 What is wisdom in vipassana meditation?
- 📝 What is a Tao Buddhist?
- 📝 Doesn't pīti mean love?
- 📝 Should we "ignore" feelings while being mindful and aware of the present moment?
- 📝 Buddhist precepts and suppression
- 📝 Three types of characteristics to achieve a goal
- 📝 Marriage and p**n
- 📝 How does an ālaya-vijñāna work?
- 📝 Self-Compassion and Wisdom
- 📝 Starting buddhism in the Theravada tradition
- 📝 How to deal with people and handle rude language?
- 📝 what is difference between volition and intention?
- 📝 Living in the moment without indulging in it
- 📝 What is done with offerings after they've been on the altar awhile?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How concentrated is access concentration and how would one recognise it?
- 📝 How would one recognise if a Buddhist group is a cult?
- 📝 How can one define luxurious beds and seats in the eighth precept?
- 📝 How would one begin practising Buddhism?
- 📝 How would Buddhist monks organize countries and the world?
- 📝 How and when does one not invest in others in Buddhism?
- 📝 How is one supposed to be compassionate and 100% free of suffering while others are suffering?
- 📝 How does one hold themself in full awareness during new complicated and complex learning?
- 📝 How Can One Tell The Difference Between The Spiritual Mind And The Physical Mind?
- 📝 How should one look at buddhist mythologies and cosmologies from a scientific perspective
- 📝 How does one know the difference between aversion and danger?
- 📝 How can one relate Buddhism epistemology of Thought and Attention to its Western counterpart?
- 📝 How long would it take to enter 3rd and 4th Satipatthana?
- 📝 How does one know which kamma-cetana and action is related to which kamma-vipaka being experienced?
- 📝 May one learn how to breathe from the diaphragm (Buddha Belly Breathing) holistically throughout all of their activities and if so how exactly?
- 📝 How do bodhisattvas, and those who would emulate them, respond to tyrants?
- 📝 How to deal with people and handle rude language?
- 📝 As a Buddhist with a Muslim family, community, and background... how do you integrate/cope?
- 📝 How are 'conceit' and 'identity-view' not the same?
- 📝 How do I slow down and start living according to my values? How do I change the direction of my life?
- 📝 How compatible are the beliefs of atheists and Buddhism?
- 📝 How does one practice mindfulness during thinking - e.g. thinking about how to solve a problem?
- 📝 How does one explain consistency within phenomena if the mind generates phenomena?
- 📝 Does being in a commited married life make it impossible to attain Nirvana? If not, how can one progress towards Nirvana?
- 📝 How and when should a child be introduced to Buddhism?
- 📝 How irony and sarcasm are seen in Buddhism?
- 📝 Does Zen distinguish between concentration and insight meditation?
- 📝 How would an animal ever accumulate enough merit to warrant rebirth as a human?
- 📝 How does one Realize emptiness?
- 📝 How does one become a lay Buddhist?