Zen meditation to increase focus and concentration
Many people hear about meditation, and there are various kind of meditation techniques for various things, but i wanted to share some experience about how zen meditation can be usefull in order to gain more willpower and more achievment capacity.
First i want to emphasis how important willpower is for any human achievment. I really think if one base unit would need to be set to account for human energy, creativity and achievment, it really is willpower, capacity to set goals and realize them.
The main problem with concentration is difficulty to stick to an idea, and keep this idea in mind for relatively long amount of time.
I see many people struggling with this, saying they have adhd, scattered though, can't stay focused etc, but never really address the root issue behind what actually prevent them to stay focused and concentrated.
The main issue with this really is subconscious activity, and random though or compulsion that will randomly pop up and disrupt the though flow.
As a programmer i can't help but to compare this to the interupt mechanism in multi core system, as when a controller like a mouse or an hard drive have a message for the main cpu, it will rise an interupt, which like the name indicate, will interrupt the main program execution, to execute an interupt handler to process the message, before to resume the main program flow and eventually process the message and apply the input into the program flow.
I tend to think the brain work in same maner, there are constantly different 'cores' or 'centers' in the brain that will process different messages from the body, that will be 'processed' through the unconscious, or subconscious, and trigger some mental activity, or mind shatter, and will interrupt the thought flow, in order to request a particular activity to be fullfilled, or to signal a certain 'input' to the mind.
The main mistake i think most people do is to consider this mind chatter as just some kind of disturbance, and just repress it, or feel somehow guilty to have them because they prevent them to stay focused, and in any case will not consider these subconscious activity as something actually valuable that they should listen to.
It term of system programming, that would be equivalent to masking interupt in order to keep all the cpu power for the main program.
Whereas actually, the practice of zen meditation is all about 'relaxing' the conscious mind, as repressing those thought will actually require some amount of mental effort, even if this mental effort is often so routinely done that it doesn't look like it's even there, but it actually drain some mental power to shutdown this noise.
The practice of true zen meditation is all about relaxing the mind to cancel any conscious effort.
It's not about 'emptying the mind', or 'silencing the mind', but really about not consciously focusing on anything in particular, and watch the flow of idea, emotions, and all the subconscious activity that take place without doing any active conscious effort.
Jung address this topic under the name of active and passive imagination.
Active imagination is when the mind is focused consciously toward a task, in order to try to solve a problem.
Passive imagination is when the mind is left wandering without any precise goal, and random thought popup on their own.
The goal of zen meditation is really to let free ride to passive imagination, and actually listen to mind shatter, emotion, without trying to see how it fit with a particular goal or objective, or how it fit with a particular moral code, or whatever rules or code one follow to allow or not a certain subconscious activity to enter consciousness.
For me it's a very important practice, because what will actually give more energy and focus to a particular task is a solid grounding fundation in the unconscious and subconscious, to really feel that the task at hand is also something that will be aligned with all the necessicity and 'input' from the different center of the mind, including relaying also messages from the body, if muscle are too tense because being in a bad posture, because some blood is not circulating well, or hunger, or anything that the subconscious will consider potentially relevant in term of task in order to fullfill also bodily or emotional functions.
One will often find difficult concentrating when he is doing something that is not aligned with all the mental centers, either they are conscious or subconscious, and all the mental effort put into repressing them is both detrimental to concentration power because it require some effort that cannot be put in the task, and both because on the long run, ignoring those messages will be eventually be detrimental to one's health, and will undermine his vital energy slowly but surely over the time.
All biological process are important, and maintaining healthy body, healthy emotional balance, is really the fundation of healthy mental, and will always give more mental power than ignoring it, both because it free the mental from the effort of repressing them, and because it will align one's motivation with what the subconscious or unconscious really push for, which is generally signals aligning with health.
The unconscious really is concerned with the phsycis of the body and health, and health is what is the root of vitality which include sustaining the development for higher mental capacity, and often will be very good guide in order to guide a person toward a goal that is really fullfilling.
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Hey there, no doubt meditation can be beneficial and lead to a more focused mind... However, I think you are misrepresenting Zen philosophy and that Zen Buddhists would take issue with your saying that meditation is "useful" for gaining something. In Zen thought, this is an attachment. When you go into meditation with a goal, it is not real Zen meditation.
Further, it's my understanding that emptiness is key to Zen practice. You say it's about "let free ride to passive imagination, and actually listen to mind shatter," however, Zen thought would lean more towards not giving attention to those thoughts. Indeed, mindfulness is the way to silence, but it does not supersede the thing.
Surely, your article can be helpful, but I think more research is required on your part in order to avoid the misrepresentations that are present in your teachings.
Perhaps, you wouldn't want to listen a recommendation from me at this point, but here's one anyways: "Returning to Silence" by Zen Master Dainin Katagiri has been very important in my own (meager) understanding of Zen practice.
Well for me its always two fold thing, like doing work out with flexor, extensor.
Its using zen meditation to empty the mind, but its not the finality in the case :)
Like the taoist master who put tea in the cup of it student, til it overflow, saying his mind is like tea cup, first need to empty it before to fill it more.
Its more the way i see it in ths case, the goal indeed is not to live in permanent zen state, but using it temporarily in order to increase focus and active imagination as the finality :)
Reaching the state of full permanent nothingness as in becoming budhist monk or yogi require lot of training anyway, its not the goal here :)
I see what you mean. Thanks so much for clarifying.
Do you personally identify more with Daoist philosophy?
At core i would say i'm more socratic or platonist, in the sense i value reasoning, critical thinking, logic, mathematics etc.
But i also think occidental philosophy tend to miss also some critical part of mind functioning, like socrates put it the famous 'know yourself', and how his speaks about his daemon that guide his actions and reasoning.
I think still occidental culture value more action over reflection, and it create an unbalance as seeing only exterior expression or realisation as proof of activity, and diss a bit all the inner activity out of the picture as being useless day dreamining, or a waste of time.
Most psychologist would tend to only see the subconscious when it start to manifest too much, classifying this manifestation as some kind of pathology, rather than seing it as natural expression of self too, and paying more attention to it.
In this taoism or daoism has interesting point around the concept of 'wu wei', action through non action, or automatic activity and value more the perception of inner universe as also an object of study, rather than focusing only on visible/material manifestation, and only paying attention to it when it manifest boldly as pathology after it get repressed for too long.
It's why i'm digging also taoism, and i'm also interested into kundalini, and development of QI and vital energy, and i don't think there are many occidental thinkers or philosophers who really study this.
Jung got a bit into this, or some psychologists study this, but they are always considered a bit fringe, in the sense they don't give pill to numb all this down in order to keep the people able to 'function' as in working, and only seeing mental activity as in how it can fit for a given task.
I've talked to a couple of people about Qi... A martial arts instructor, Li Suiyin, in China told me that, yes, he could feel and work with his Qi. However, a Chinese professor told me that it is only "breath."
I agree about desiring the knowledge of self. I think there's a lot to learn from these different ideas of meditation. Have you heard of Jung's work called, "The Red Book"? He delved verrrrrry deep into his own unconscious mind.
My sister practice tai chi with a good teacher :)
There can be various definition of qi, but when it get strong, it can be felt physically into the body, runing through meridians, but its also a metaphysical concept related to life energy, and related to breathing.
I think some teacher dont speak about it too much either not to look too crazy or make student too much seeking for supernatural things, and just do the practice with breathing, chi qong, tai chi to emulate this life energy until it can get to levels where it can be felt, i think rushing those things is not very good idea for responsible teachers anyway.
I didnt read that much jung, i know some of the broad concept, i know he travelled to india and wrote about kundalini, and made parallels between chakras and psychology, but lot of his works is not published too much, because he wanted to stay in freud line of scientific basis.
There is psychologist named james hillman who is interesting too in the study of depth psychology, he is the one who made the comments in gopi krishna book.
But still i think psychologist are too focused on therapy, and rarely see subconscious activity as a positive thing to study, or they become discredited in the academic world.
Taoist or budhist study this with a better angle, and go for shamless radical subjectivity , without having to tie themselves into axioms and thesis for the sake of clinical therapy, which is the only broad interest for the mass, and source of income for psychologists in occident.
Freud set the line very firmly about role of psychology as therapy, and curing disease with methology in sort that psychologists dont become spiritual gurus.
But its still bit a shame science doesnt study this stuff of subconscious more like the budhists or taoists.
Congratulations @h0bby1! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCongratulations @h0bby1! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP