8. skillful concentration

skillful concentration is the last essential step in buddha’s eightfold path. but not all the concentration is wholesome. like cat concentrating on prey. the wholesome concentration is free of greed, hatred and delusion.

this step is something which is beyond my comprehension at the moment. to me it looks like a separation between being aware and single pointed focus. and we are talking about deep deep single pointed awareness in this step. the level of concentration that can penetrate and see the nature of reality experientially.

buddha’s teaching related to single pointed concentration is referred as jhana. and it is explained these state of jhana can not only makes it possible to see nature of reality. but also produce immense happiness and joy. and I love the way joy and happiness is explained here

assume you are walking in the desert and there is no water, shades or tree and then you see an oasis, this feeling is referred as joy and when then drink water and dive into it. that feeling is referred as happiness. and normally people associate happiness with excitement. but when peacefulness and happiness arises, excitement disappear.

a concentrated mind has great power within itself like a whirlpool it gathers ever great force by focusing on itself and creating a powerful vortex,

so when we sit down in meditation and it is clear that hinderances are dominating it could be great time to start with developing insight. and when there is less or no hindrances move to concentration practice.

it is like using lesser beam to burn hard substance, you must be able to use eyes ( mindfulness ) and lesser beam ( concentration ) together to achieve goal.