Calm is not the same as concentration


We read in the suttas about monks who developed both calm and insight,
 
but we should not conclude that we all must develop jhana. Many people
 
who came to see the Buddha were used to developing samatha already and
 
the Buddha exhorted them to develop vipassana as well so that defilements
 
could be eradicated. If monks in the Buddha’s time had accumulated
 
conditions for jhana, jhanacittas could arise. If they did not cling to jhana
 
there could be right understanding of jhana as only a conditioned reality,
 
not self.
 
 
Is it necessary to develop mindfulness of breathing so that there can be
 
later on mindfulness of any nama or rupa which appears? This is a question
 
which is often asked.
 
 
Mindfulness of breathing is a subject of samatha and it is also included in
 
“Mindfulness of the Body” which is one of the “four Applications of
 
Mindfulness”. If one wants to develop mindfulness of breathing as an object
 
of calm one should know that this is one of the most difficult subjects of
 
samatha. It can easily be an object of clinging instead of an object of calm. 
 
 
Calm is not the same as concentration. We should remember that
 
concentration is a cetasika that accompanies each citta and that can,
 
therefore, arise with kusala citta as well as with akusala citta. When akusala
 
citta with clinging arises there is wrong concentration, there cannot be right
 
concentration. When the feeling is indifferent one may think that there is
 
calm, but, as we have seen, there can be clinging accompanied by
 
indifferent feeling.  People who apply themselves to yoga may concentrate
 
on breath for reasons of health or relaxation. One may benefit from yoga in
 
different ways, but one should know that the aim of samatha is temporary
 
freedom from defilements. In samatha right understanding of the way how to
 
develop calm is indispensable, it is not sufficient to know in theory that we
 
have a great deal of clinging. We have to find out whether there is at this
 
moment clinging, even if it is subtle. We should be honest with ourselves. If
 
we do not know whether the citta at this moment is kusala citta or akusala
 
citta there cannot be development of calm. The test is always at this
 
moment.
 
 

Topic 216