Meditation and concentration are emphasized in almost every basic or introductory Buddhist text, as well as in many sutras. Meditation should be a daily practice for every Buddhist, even non-Buddhist should practice meditation because it’ll help release stress, anxiety, anger, and strengthen loving-kindness, compassion, and concentration. Even if you don’t have much time to meditate, waking up a little bit earlier than usual in the morning to meditate, or during mid-day, or sometime in the evening – a short 10 minute meditation will do wonders.
Besides the above benefits of meditation, Buddhist use meditation to discover themselves, to contemplate on profound topics like emptiness, the five Skandhas, or any other topic. By mastering meditation and being able to transfer yourself to other levels of consciousness is the goal. Your goal is Samadhi; deep concentration: the state of one-pointedness of mind characterized by peace and imperturbability. From Samadhi you can reach Samatha; quiet, tranquility, and calmness of mind – absence of mind.
A great meditation exercise I do to reach Samadhi, or at least to stay in concentration by tuning out/ignoring outside distractions, is this:
Sit down in the lotus or half-lotus position, back straight, shoulders back, and relax your jaw so your teeth aren’t touching. Just relax and breathe normally for a few minutes. Try to be in a quiet place – this might be hard if you live in an apartment or in the city, because there’s always noise and distractions, but that’ll what make this meditation helpful, because it’ll help you to eventually be able to tune-out and forget about all these distractions.
Next, you want to practice Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing). Just watch your breath. Be one with it. Don’t try to control it or force it to go “in” or “out” when you say it. The goal is to just “watch it” and when it’s happening, then say “in” and “out.” Or by numbering it, whatever works for you.
Here comes the actual exercise: now you’re going to want to feel your breath going in and out of the tip of your nose. Feel the air move against the inside of your nose, feel it go “in” and “out” and say it in your mind; “in” and “out” as you feel it against your nose. Do this 3-5 times. Then feel the air go “in” and “out” at the back of your mouth at the entrance of your throat. Feel the air move “in” and “out,” feel its warmth or coldness, concentrate on that area and feel the air. Do this for another 3-5 times.
Next, move on to your throat/neck. Feel the air go “in” and “out” of your throat. Feel it move up and down. Feel its warmth or its coldness. Concentrate on that area and know and feel it going “in” and “out.” Do this 3-5 times. Next, feel the “in” and “out” breath go into your lungs. Feel your lungs expand with air and feel it contract. Feel the air go “in” and “out.” Do this 3-5 times.
Then, breath “in” and “out” for your whole body. Feel your entire body being absorbed by the air you’re breathing. Next, move backwards from your lungs, your throat/neck, back of your mouth, to your nose – again 3-5 times each. And then repeat.
This is a great way to focus on concentration. By concentrating on one thing at a time, but having multiple “one things” to concentrate on, it helps to not bore you as quickly if you were to just concentrate on your breath the whole time. If you repeat the exercise 3-5 times (depending on how slow or fast you breathe), that’s your 10 minute daily meditation right there!
I’ve discovered this exercise on my own (at least I’m almost positive I did!) and it’s the way I always start all my meditations, because eventually will lots of practice and persistence, you’ll be able to master Samadhi and find your Samatha.
Smile and be well!