24-06-2011 concentration weekend gen tharchin 1st teaching od evening, welcome to this course on concentration my voice is quite low

so you will have to pay attention. its wonderful to see youall and so many are interested in devleoping concentration it is very important very very. this is the first part in 8 week training program of training in concentration, the 2nd pat is 7 weeks developing conetration at home and this is followed at a four days retreat which is the 3rd part. the overallpurpose of training in this program is to increae the strength and quality of our concnetration and create powerful casuse in our ind to attain ta in the near future. the specific purpose of this weekened course is to gain a clar undg of what concetration is and why it is so important ot devleop it undg its bebnefits develop strong wish to develop concentration. also practical advice on how ot preced to develop contration. to this end i would like ot give a practical comentary to geshelas's teaching on jpogf training the mind in ta. this will be practical in the sense that it iwill go as a preparation fo r7 weeks training at homw and the four days retreat that imdiatly follows this program. why is it so importatand necessary to develop concentration? it is necesary because with out ctration we hav eno physical freedom geshela explained most of our illnesses are due to imbalance and disharmony within our inner elements, 4 elements he compares this like 4 snakes in a box so long as each as the snakes are the same size and strength there is harmony, if one gets stronger it iwill attack and eat the others. so long as our iner are teh same strengtht and balanced we shall enjoy good helth. disbalance and disharmony is the cause of most o four illness. conctration induces a phenomena called physicall supplns a light blissful feleing which comes from when our meditation allows pure energy wind to permeate our body,it purify and brigs our elemtns to harmony. with out cotration we have no mental feedom fomr dlu and no mental power. geshela says weithout ctration our m has no freedm but is forced to go where ever it i sled by attach abger and other delu. a person with god vir ctration has control over the ind and they can make with it whatever they want, like a well trained horse obaing its rider. by making our m pcfl calm and colected on a vir obj , ctration helps us to counteract two of the major causs of delu - distraction and i/attention[i/a] the third reason it is so important to dvlp ctration is that = without it we canot enjoy pc of m pcful m and thus not be able to exp h.

everybody wants to find h but hardly any body find it why? bec we have not been able to identify its cause whic is iner peace. the main fucion dvlp and form inr pc h can arise spntaneously. another reason why it is necessary - without it we have little or non opportunity to gain deep exp of the obj of our medit the main reason we cannot dvlp deep expe of our obj is because of the gap between our m and the object fo meditation. the dvlpmnt of contration gradually closes this gap enabling our m to draw closer and closer eventually to pentrate it to sufficient depth so that an induile realization of it arises.

these are the reason why it is so necessary to dvlp concntration. without ctration we have little opportunity or ability to benefit others very much. without knowing percisly what a personneeds are without much of the benefit we try to bring others is much guess worklike a shot in the dark dvlping ctration we shall attain ta and attain clairvoyances enabling us to bring unmistaken help to living beings. what is concentration? does any body know? to begin with we should udrstand that there are two ways in which our m knows objectsin a general way through thte six consciousnessess specific way through the 51 mental factor-or mental functions. so whereas the 6 consiouncess discern the mer entity of their obj with in ay moment of this there is mental factors that give direction choherence and meaning to our train of thoughts. (and behaviour) the 1 mental factor-mental funcitons are devide into gorups all acompanying object ascertaining changing virtuous concnetration is one of the 5 object ascertaing factors which in particular by making its priary m remain on its obj single pointedly. so there are 5 key aspects to a uddha's mindgreat wisdom, compassion, spiritual power, the great wisdom of a buddha is devleop principall through training in mental factor of wisdom compassion is devleop through traiingin mental factor of non-harmfulness spirtual power is mainly devleop thorughmental factor contration. wheterh our mind is powerful or not depends to a large extent on this mental factor. power means ability to make things happen, to fulfil our wishes, implies control we have over our own mindand ocnsequentely over the conditons affecting our life. the definition of ctration as gehsela has given it in utm - mental factor that makes its pm remain on its obj s-ply

the principal funciton of ctration is to make our m pcfl calm there are three types of ctration vir, n-vir, neutral. whether a ctration is v or n-v or neutral depnds to a large extent on the n of the object of concetration and the otivation for ctrating on it. if we dvlp ctration on image of a bu this contratio nis v principly through the n of the obj. however if we editate on this image with great copmassion or bc then our ocntration is virtuous due to obj and motivation. now th ectration we dvlop on obj of attachent both for reason of obj [a contaminated obj] and y vir of its motivation. we develop many different kind of ctration in daily life wich are neutral, many activities at home and work. every action to be ocmple needs a degree of concentration. the obj of the ctration and the motivation can both be transformed into vir or n-vir. breathing medi itselfis neutral bec its obj th esensation of the breath is neutral however if we medi on the sensation of the breath with a motivation of gc and bc then our concntration becomes virtuous. in the same way if we offer the objects of dsire to the three jewels then we tranform thes actions there are four qualties of pure concetration which we need to be aware of 1st lucidity of mind- this is a mind that is bright and clear like clear sky free form turbulance of distractions and dleusions. this is quality of m tat conctrates 2nd clarity of the obj that is the viidness with which th eobj appears to th emind 3rd intensity of mf- refers to the intensit of the firmnes of the grip of our mf/memory on the object. 4th - single pointedness. to maintain the object continuously wiht out forgettin it with out distration. the fourth is attained when only th object itself appears to our mind free form distractions andother objects. so there are many benefits to devleopoing concntration but i would like ot mention four main onestonight. it makes our m pcful and calm induces state of inner peace that is its main function it makes our m calm and smooth. makes our mind disinclined towards objects of external pleasure so leads naturally to contentment andpeace.from this state of peace h can arise, a deep iner fulfilment contentment and inner joy. the second benefit dervies form the development of supplness that i have already mentioned, a bliss full light clear feeling that arises when our medtiation casues pure wind to pervadae our body. this supplness has many functions- mainly to overcomethe three forms of laziness, attach, procrastinatioo , discouragment. it helps greatly to overcome distractions and other obstacles ot developing contr

with supplness we are never tired limitles energy

through keeping our the thrid important bebnefitcomes the realization of five clairvoyances which helps us precisly help othr. what they actually need and what their problems actually are and what they need and foreknowledge of the future. the most important function of ctration - benefit- and the reason we need to focus on it, only thorugh ctration can we achieve deep exp and realizations of the stages of the path, only vir ctrations on these objcts can we make real spi progress. these are four of the main benefits of dvlping c'tration especially ta.