20111105 white lotus sutra and concentration development

Updated Mar 2010

加拿大佛教會湛山精舍　禪修學佛入門

Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation

2011/11/05

Buddhist Association of CanadaCham Shan Temple

Updated Mar 2010

Buddhist Association of CanadaCham Shan Temple

ná mó fó tuó南無佛陀Namo Buddha

ná mó dá mó 南無達摩Namo Dharma

ná mó sēng qié南無僧伽 Namo Sangha

加拿大佛教會 © 2006 Buddhist Association of Canada

Buddhist Association of Canada

1. Mindfulness – It brings the mind to the point of

concentration skillfully and becomes powerful enough to fall into deep absorption.

It guards against defilements and extraneous thoughts.

It alerts us to take appropriate action to remedy hindrances.

It keeps the mind flexible, workable, soft, balance and so on.

It is advisable to practice Satipatthana Meditation to gain a strong grounding of mindfulness.

Factors in Developing Concentration



According to Abhidharmakosa 俱舍论 , there are four types of meditation skills to develop the mindfulness. Contemplate the following truths:

(1) Body is untrue and impure (without form), (2) Perception is the cause of pain (senses are also false), (3) Mind is transient (without constant), and (4) Everything is without eternal substance (without me).

Practicing each of these meditations at first separately, then together, the adept leads himself to the more advanced stage of meditation. The purpose of these four types of meditation is to keep in mind that these bodily and mental functions have no eternal substance and thus to rid oneself of false views contrary to the contents of these four types of meditation.

Satipatthana Meditation 四念住



2. Detachment Right concentration is referred to

concentration that detached from the five senses.

The meditation object is solely that of the mind door and its concentration is that above the five sense doors.

If you have rampant cravings and strong desires for sense pleasures, you can never get near the absorptions.

Detachment has the power to remove the bondages that tie us to the undesirable worlds.

When metta comes with pleasantness and joy, the detached attitude is an important consideration.




3. Patience Patience is the opposite of anger which is

associated with agitation. If you preserve patience, your mind will

calm down. It helps us to remain the object with

equanimity for longer periods of time.4. Healthy conditions

Health – good food, enough sleep & exercise, right postures

Environment – quite place, right temperature, avoid draft, suitable clothing

Companionship – Right group size, mutual concerning and understanding, exchange experience, techniques and ideas




The essence of this paramita of patience is the strength of mind and heart that enables us to face the challenges and difficulties of life without losing our composure and inner tranquility. We embrace and forbear adversity, insult, distress, and the wrongs of others with patience and tolerance, free of resentment, irritation, emotional reactivity, or retaliation. We cultivate the ability to be loving and compassionate in the face of criticism, misunderstanding, or aggression. With this enlightened quality of patience, we are neither elated by praise, prosperity, or agreeable circumstances, nor are we angry, unhappy or depressed when faced with insult, challenge, hardship, or poverty. This enlightened attribute of patience, acceptance, and tolerance is not a forced suppression or denial of our thoughts and feelings. Rather, it is a quality of being which comes from having our heart open and our mind deeply concentrated upon the Dharma. In this way, we have a clear and correct understanding of impermanence, of cause and effect (karma), and with strong determination and patience we remain in harmony with this understanding for the benefit of all beings.

Paramita of Patience



1. Following closely and concentrating into the object.

2. It has to be done with mindfulness.

3. Shut out all other objects except keeping the mind onto the metta object.

4. Bring your mind to stillness and draw it into states which are progressively deeper, subtler and more tranquil.

5. By means of the mastery through resolution.

Develop Concentration



1. Mastery In Adverting2. Mastery In Entering3. Mastery In Sustaining4. Mastery In Emerging5. Mastery In Reflection

Mastering an Absorption



Bring up five jhana factors, one after another upon emerging.a) Awakeningb) Observationc) Joyd) Contentmente) One-pointed Concentration

Concentration is fully developed.

1. Mastering In adverting



Nature Neuroscience. The figure, from an accompanying review by Hedden and Gabrieli indicates some of the cortical regions associated with focused and lapsed attention.

The arrows indicate reciprocal functional connections between prefrontal and parietal regions, and top-down modulation of occipital sensory regions by the prefrontal cortex. IFG, right inferior frontal gyrus; TPJ, temporal-parietal junction.

2. Mastering In Attention



We frequently make errors during lapses in our attention, and Weissman et al have now looked at what is happening in the brain during this process. They determined that

attentional lapses begin with reduced activity in anterior cingulate and right prefrontal regions that act in a top-down fashion to bias posterior sensory regions in favor of processing task relevant information. This reduced activation occurred before the stimuli used to test attention were presented, and was accompanied by decreasing sensory processing in the inferior occipital cortex. These prefrontal regions seem to modulate how well focused people are in the moment just before they have to perform. The same prefrontal areas implicated in focusing attention before stimulus presentation had greater activation.

Lapses in Attention.....



a. Master In Entering – Shifting the sensual consciousness to a jhanic consciousness. All factors of concentration is well developed. Mastery of resolution is very important.

b. Discover new experience.

3. Mastering In Entering



c. When you know that preparations have been well made, and faculties developed to the near access, then the mind flies off to absorption or sinks into the object by the switching of the will power to direct the powers and development of previous practice towards the required direction.

d. It is as if jumping off the diving board into the pool.

e. It is like letting go of everything.

3. Mastering In Entering



a. Making sure no one will disturb you.b. You are not worried about lunch or

appointments.c. All “so-called important” maters are

put aside.d. Making a very thorough practice that

bring about lengthy sitting (at least 1 hour).

e. Making suitable resolution for a fixed period.

f. Making successive resolutions for increasing periods.

g. Refresh and regenerate energy through joy.

4. Mastering in Sustaining



Emerging means emerging from the state of absorption:a. Based on timeb. Based on the event or

occasion.c. New born mind

5. Mastering in Emerging



a. Reflection of the consciousness that has just passed.

b. Reflection by the use of resolution.

c. The reflection has often to be made many times but care must be made not to overdo it.

d. One knows which absorption one has entered as well as the dissatisfaction of the lower factors.

6. Mastery In Retrospection/Reflection



Presentation Schedule

1. October 29 - The white lotus sutra by Dennis A.Yap + Meditation Practice by Tom

2. November 5 - The white lotus sutra by Dennis A.Yap + Meditation Practice by Tom

3. Nov. 12 - The white lotus sutra by Dennis A.Yap + Meditation Practice by Tom



6. Dec. 3 - The white lotus sutra by Angela Masuzzo + Meditation Practice by Tom



www.ChamShanTemple.orgwww.shengguangshi.blogspot.comShengguangShi@hotmail.comShengguang Shi 釋聖光Tom Cheung 張相棠Kam Cheung 張仁勤Dennis A. Yap 葉普智

Questions and Comments 討論



yuàn xiāo sān zhàng zhū fán năo

願消三障諸煩惱We wish to rid ourselves of the three hindrances and all klesas.

yuàn dé zhì huì zhēn míng lĭao

願得智慧真明了We wish to gain wisdom and real understanding.

pŭ yuàn zuì zhàng xī xiāo chú

普願罪障悉消除 We wish all sinful hindrances to be totally eradicated.

shì shì cháng xíng pú sà dào

世世常行菩薩道In one life after another we always follow Bodhisattvas’ paths.

回向Parinamana (Transfer of Merit)

20111105 white lotus sutra and concentration development

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