Mental Discipline (sammadhi)

Mental Discipline (sammadhi) :

 

- Right Effort is the energetic will :

   1) to prevent evil and unwholesome states of mind from arising , and

   2) to get rid of such evil and unwholesome states that have already arisen within a man, and also

   3) to produce, to cause to arise, good amd wholesome states of mind not yet arisen, and

   4) to develop and bring to perfection the good and wholesome states of mind already present in man.

 

- Right Mindfulness (or Attentiveness) is to be diligently aware, mindful and attentive with regard to :

  1) the activities of the body : concentration of breathing

  2) sensations or feelings : one should be clearly aware of all forms of feelings and sensations, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral, of how they appear and disappear within oneself.

  3) the activities of the mind : one should be aware whether one's mind is lustful or not, given to hatred or not, deluded or not, distracted or concentrated, etc. In this way one should be aware of all movements of mind, how they arise and disappear.

  4) ideas, thoughts, conceptions and things.: one should know their nature, how they appear and disappear, how they are developed, how they are surpressed, and distroyed, and so on.

 

- Right Concentration leading to the four stages of Dhyana, generally called trance

  1) Fisrt stage : passionate desires and certain unwholesome thoughts like sensuous lust, ill-will, languor, worry, restlessmess, and sceptical doubts are discarded, and feelings of joy and happiness are maintained, along with certain mental activities.

  2) Second stage : all intellectual activities are suppressed, transquillity and 'one-pointedness' of mind developed, and the feelings of joy and happiness are still retained.

  3) Third stage : the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation, also disappears, while the disposition of happiness still remains in addition to mindful equanimity.

  4) Fourth stage : all sensations, even of happiness and unhapiness, of joy and sorrow, disappear, only pure equanimity and awareness remaining