Right Concentration (sammā-samādhi)
Skillful qualities / Noble Eightfold Path / Right Concentration
Part of tag cluster Right Concentration in key topic The Noble Eightfold Path
Also a subtag of Meditation
Subtags: Jhāna, Seclusion, Directed thought and evaluation, Rapture, Happiness, Concentration, Equanimity, Unification, Formless attainments
21 excerpts, 1:51:35 total duration

All excerpts (24) Most relevant (16) Questions about (10) Answers involving (10) Stories (1) Quotes (3) Readings (1)

Metta Retreat, Session 5 – Sep. 13, 2008

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5. “When you guided meditation in the past two afternoons, I’ve enjoyed slipping past the high energy of rapture/joy. I found these meditations grounding and at the same time streaming with energy. I’m finding it difficult to get past joy without your vocal guidance. Can you offer suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture] [Energy] [Right Concentration] // [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 3 – Nov. 25, 2013

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8. “Are there harmful states of concentration? How would you potentially go down the wrong path? Is there a question you could ask yourself?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Concentration] [Wrong concentration]


Abhayagiri Monastic Retreat 2013, Session 8 – Nov. 30, 2013

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12. “You mentioned that Ajahn Chah stated that samadhi should be accompanied by alertness. Does this mean that Jhana should not be a ‘zoned out’ state?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Right Concentration] [Clear comprehension] [Jhāna]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 57 – Mar. 27, 2014

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8. “In that talk he [Ajahn Sim] seemed to stress doing samatha meditation before practicing vipassana. Is that strictly held within this tradition?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Sim] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Thai Forest Tradition] // [Tranquility] [Knowing itself] [Concentration] [Language]

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Quote: “The qualities of the one pointed mind are vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, and ekaggatā....It’s not one pointed excluding. It works together, it harmonizes, it’s balanced.” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Unification ] [Right Concentration]


Mindfulness of Breathing, Session 1 – Oct. 26, 2014

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6. “When I practice mindfulness of breathing, thought arises. Do I want to eliminate thinking?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Concentration] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Proliferation] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Nature of mind] [Self-identity view] [Discernment] [Mindfulness of mind] [Investigation of states] [Relinquishment]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 19 – Jan. 30, 2015

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2. “When Ajahn Ṭhānissaro talks about Right Concentration, are Right Concentration and jhāna one and the same?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Right Concentration] [Jhāna]


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4. “Is pain an obstacle to reaching right concentration?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] [Right Concentration] // [Happiness] [Postures] [Direct experience]

Quote: “What’s really painful about pain is the way we hate it.” [Aversion]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 20 – Jan. 31, 2015

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[Session] [Right Mindfulness] [Right Concentration]

Reading: Right Mindfulness p. 28-31.

Reading: SN 47.40: Analysis.


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 21 – Feb. 1, 2015

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[Session] [Right Mindfulness] [Right Concentration]

Reading: Right Mindfulness p. 31-34.

Reading: SN 47.4: At Sālā.

Reading: Iti 90: Foremost Faith.


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 33 – Feb. 22, 2015

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5. “Related to the need to emerge from neither-perception-nor-non-perception and cessation of perception to contemplate the five khandhas [in AN 9.36], don’t some of the commentaries imply that that’s what you do with first jhāna; that insight is not possible even in first jhāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Formless attainments] [Aggregates] [Insight meditation] [Commentaries] [Jhāna] // [Views]

Recollection: Ajahn Chah emphasized that every step of the way there has to be awareness. Awareness has to form the basis of the whole practice. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Right Concentration] [Right View]


The Middle Way of Not-Self, Session 2 – May. 27, 2015

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10. Quote: “One of the things I often attend to is the juxtaposition of stillness and movement. It’s not that one is right and the other wrong. We can be still and really dull or the mind can move with clarity and acuity. But stillness and movement, what’s generating it, what’s pushing it? That bhavadiṭṭhi/vibhavadiṭṭhi is the engine behind it and the force behing the arising of a sense of self, a sense of me.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Ajahn Pasanno] [Insight meditation] [Calming meditation] [Right Concentration] [Not-self] [Clear comprehension] [Nature of mind] [Conditionality] [Becoming ] [Craving not to become] [Views] [Self-identity view ]


Jhāna: A Practical Approach, Session 3 – Oct. 10, 2015

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5. “Is jhāna only in meditation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Meditation] [Jhāna] // [Right Concentration]

Quote: “Only farangs [Westerners] go into meditation rock climbing! Does he contemplate the Four Noble Truths?” — Ajahn Chah [Ajahn Chah] [Culture/West] [Recreation/leisure/sport] [Four Noble Truths] [Right Concentration] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Relinquishment]


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24. “In the jhāna similies (MN 39.15), ‘He makes...’ seems very active. In dropping away things, is it a conscious dropping or an allowing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Right Concentration] [Relinquishment] [Jhāna] // [Volitional formations] [Conditionality] [Right Effort]

Quote: “Ajahn Chah emphasizes the doing within a sphere of detachment and letting go.” [Ajahn Chah]


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25. “In concentration, you’re aware of one object. If in that state you become aware of pleasure, does that mean you’ve already left jhāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Concentration] [Unification] [Happiness] [Right Mindfulness] [Jhāna] // [Self-identity view] [Discernment] [Clinging]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 8 – Nov. 28, 2015

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28. “Is there a way to measure concentration, mindfulness, and awareness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Mindfulness] [Right Concentration] [Present moment awareness] // [Tranquility] [Happiness]


The Teaching and the Training, Session 11 – Mar. 29, 2018

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6. “Do the Four Iddhipādas apply to the way we develop sammā sati and sammā samādhi?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Bases of Success] [Right Mindfulness] [Right Concentration] [Monastic life] // [Progress of insight]