Samadhi: The arising of the five jhanic factors and the abandoning of the five hindrances
Samadhi: The arising of the five jhanic factors and the abandoning of the five hindrances
The Buddha teaches that the mind is radiant and pure, but as we all know, this essential clarity and freedom of mind is often obscured by afflictive habits such as greediness, aversion, dullness, restlessness, doubt. Fortunately, the Buddha has mapped out practices that support the mind going beyond these limiting habits.
- Connecting with the present moment as it is is energizing. Remembering to make the effort to connect, to recognize, “This is being known,” will remove sloth and torpor from the mind. This skillful effort is energizing. Recognizing the objects of experience that are arising and passing is energizing.
2. The sustaining of present-moment awareness removes conceptual doubt from the mind. To be aware of the present moment, moment to moment, is grounding. The mind sees the way things are. There is no doubt because the mind trusts this direct and immediate knowing. There is not any need to define the experience or give the mind a conceptual answer.
3. The more momentum mindful awareness has, the more collected, unified, and harmonious the qualities of the mind become. As the wholesome energies of the mind gather and collect, joy and rapture arise more strongly and frequently. Joy and rapture remove ill will from the mind.
4. When joy is established in the mind, the mind abandons restlessness leading to the more refined happiness of ease and contentment.
5. As ease strengthens and matures as the dominant quality of mind, the mind no longer is dependent on craving to energize the mind. As craving is abandoned the mind becomes quieter due to the absence of craving this or that. This settling leads to a one-pointedness, ‘the one point that includes everything’.
Mark Nunberg
Common Ground Meditation Center
Question— is ‘one pointedness’ synonymous with samadhi?
Thank you Mark for the wonderful dharma talk on 7 jan on stabilising the mind and these notes from the blog. I’ve listened to it 3 times now and, though a long term practitioner, feel a new sense of interest.
Thank you and many blessings to you all at Common Ground meditation centre
This is Gabe. The word being translated as one-pointedness is ekaggata. Hope that helps.
// Connecting with the present moment as it is is energizing. Remembering to make the effort to connect, to recognize, “This is being known,” will remove sloth and torpor from the mind. This skillful effort is energizing. Recognizing the objects of experience that are arising and passing is energizing.//
Could you please explain the above extract in brief. I love your writing and it’s really illuminating. Thank you.
// Connecting with the present moment as it is is energizing. Remembering to make the effort to connect, to recognize, “This is being known,” will remove sloth and torpor from the mind. This skillful effort is energizing. Recognizing the objects of experience that are arising and passing is energizing.
Could you please explain this a little. I can’t get this clearly.