By so doing, the anger loses its compelling power
and quickly subsides.
This is the technique of nipping anxiety and other
negative thoughts before they snowball into
some compulsive motivations, discards negative
feelings and cultivates positive feelings such as
love, compassion, mental purity, equanimity and
happiness.
C. Right Concentration (Samma Samadhi)
The third factor of mental discipline is Right
Concentration or Right Meditation. Concentration
to the point of clear insight is the peak of Buddhist
endeavor and sets Buddhism apart from all other
teachings.
The Buddha gave forty different objects of
meditation to suit different mental characteristics,
for the dull as well as for the intelligent, for the
irritable as well as for the calm.
Meditation is not, as some people think,
reflecting upon, thinking about a subject and
pondering. It is observing with alertness and
keeping the attention on the subject without
wavering of the mind.
The Buddha has prescribed meditation on
in-breathing and out-breathing. Let our
mind observe, without straining and
forcing, our breathing in and out. Breathe
normally and naturally and observe which is
longer or more noticeable, the breathing in or
out. This practice calms the body and focuses
the mind power just as the rays of the sun
are focused with a magnifying glass.
This state of mind is exactly the opposite of
hypnosis. In hypnotism, part of the mind is lulled
to sleep while in Right Meditation, the mind is
awake, alert and alive.
Virtue or sila is the necessary foundation for this
practice. Without a strong grounding of Sila, the
meditation would be difficult and unfruitful.
4.PANNA (WISDOM)
The two other factors, Right Understanding and
Right Thought, constitute Panna (pronounced as
Pan-nya) or Wisdom. Through the purification of
morality (Sila) and mental culture (Samadhi), a
person gains wisdom and insight.Our understanding of things can be viewed at
two levels. One is the intellectual grasping of a
subject according to certain given data. This
knowledgewe gather from reasoning, reading,
discussing and listening, such as our
accumulation of facts on geography, history or
how to service a motorcycle.At a deeper and more profound level of
understanding is penetration into the. very
nature of things, an intuitive wisdom unhindered
by conventional names, labels, concepts and
prejudices. This knowledge is experienced and
realized from the very depth of our being that
makes us resolve to do or to avoid doing certain
things.A. Right Understanding (Samma Ditthi)It is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths
in all its scope and dimensions. It is the
understanding of the universal truths of Dukkha,
the arising of Dukkha, the end of Dukkha, and the
Path leading to the end of Dukkha.Right Understanding is also the realization that
we are the owner of our Kamma, the intentional
actions by body, speech and thought. About this
the Buddha has said:All living beings have actions (Kamma) as their
own, their inheritance, the congenital cause,
their kinsman, their refuge. It is Kamma that
differentiates beings into low and high states.Majjhima Nikaya9