How To Practice Concentration

The first step is to kneel down with your hands palm-to-palm in front of your heart and sincerely pay respect to the Triple Gem, saying as follows:

araham samma-sambuddho bhagava
buddham bhagavantam abhivademi
(bow down)

svakkhato bhagavata dhammo
dhammam namassami
(bow down)

supatipanno bhagavato savaka-sangho
sangham namami
(bow down)

Then, showing respect with your thoughts, words and deed, pay homage to the Buddha:

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa (three times)

And then take refuge in the Triple Gem:

Buddham saranam gacchami
Dhammam saranam gacchami
Sangham saranam gacchami

Dutiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

Tatiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

Make the following resolution: "I take refuge in the Buddha, the Pure One, completely free from defilement; and in his Dhamma — doctrine, practice and attainment; and in the Sangha, the four levels of his Noble Disciples, from now until the end of my life." Then make the following vow:

Etena sacca-vajjena hotu me jayamangalam

which means, "By making this vow of truth, may the good fortune of victory be mine." Bow down once. This ends the step of taking refuge.

The next step is to take the precepts — five, eight, or ten — and abstain from the five, eight, or ten forms of harm. If you already understand the precepts, you can formulate the intention to observe them using a single vow. For those observing the five precepts:

Imani pañca sikkhapadani samadiyami (three times)

For those observing the eight precepts:

Imani attha sikkhapadani samadiyami (three times)

For those observing the ten precepts:

Imani dasa sikkhapadani samadiyami (three times)

For those observing the 227 precepts:

Parisuddho aham bhante parisuddhoti
Mam buddho dhammo sangho dharetu

If you know what is forbidden by the precepts, you can take them on your own and then go ahead and abandon any form of behavior that runs counter to the five, eight, ten or 227 precepts you've taken. Once you've examined your precepts to see that they're pure, examine your heart. Once you see that it has entered the sphere of virtue and the Triple Gem, you should recollect the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha — both mentally and out loud — so as to nurture a sense of conviction in the heart.

The Recollection of the Virtues of the Buddha: Repeat the following passage from the Canon, at the same time nurturing a sense of conviction:

Itipi so bhagava araham samma-sambuddho, Vijja-carana-sampanno sugato lokavidu, Anuttaro purisa-damma-sarathi Sattha deva-manussanam buddho bhagavati

(He is indeed the Blessed One, worthy and rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge and conduct, one who has gone the good way, knower of cosmos, the unexcelled trainer of those who can be taught, teacher of human and divine beings, awakened, blessed.)

Then showing respect with body, speech and mind, pay homage to the virtues of the Buddha, saying, "I now ask to pay homage through practice to the three virtues of the Buddha: discernment, purity, and compassion. I ask to pay homage through practice in thought, word, and deed, without being negligent, as far as my alertness and abilities will allow, now and in the time to come. May the virtues of the Buddha appear in my life and heart: Buddham jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami — I go to the Buddha as life and refuge until reaching nibbana." (bow down).

The Recollection of the Virtues of the Dhamma: Repeat the following passage from the Canon, at the same time nurturing a sense of conviction:

Svakkhato bhagavata dhammo, sanditthiko akaliko ehipassiko, opanayiko paccattam veditabbo vinnuhiti

(The Dhamma well-expounded by the Blessed One is visible here and now, timeless, inviting all to come and see, leading inward, to be seen by the wise for themselves.)

Then showing respect with body, speech, and mind, pay homage to the virtues of the Dhamma, saying, "I now ask to pay homage through practice to the virtues of the three forms of the Dhamma: doctrine, practice, and the attainment that appeared in the Buddha. I ask to pay homage through practice in thought, word and deed, without being negligent, as far as my alertness and abilities will allow, now and in the time to come. May the virtues of the Dhamma appear in my life and heart: Dhammam jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami — I go to the Dhamma as life and refuge until reaching nibbana." (bow down).

The Recollection of the Virtues of the Sangha: Repeat the following passage from the Canon, at the same time nurturing a sense of conviction:

Supatipanno bhagavato savaka-sangho,
uju-patipanno bhagavato savaka-sangho,
ñaya-patipanno bhagavato savaka-sangho,
samici-patipanno bhagavato savaka-sangho,
yadidam cattari purisa-yugani attha
purisa-puggala, esa bhagavato savaka-sangho,
ahuneyyo pahuneyyo dakkhineyyo añjali-karaniyo,
anuttaram puññakkhettam lokassati

(The community of the Blessed One's disciples who have practiced well... who have practiced uprightly... who have practiced methodically... who have practiced masterfully — the four pairs, the eight types of Noble Ones: That is the community of the Blessed One's disciples, worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of heartfelt respect, the incomparable field of merit for the world.)

"I now ask to pay homage through practice to the virtues of the Sangha — eight when counted individually, four when counted in pairs — in whomever they have arisen. I ask to pay homage through practice in thought, word and deed, without being negligent, as far as my alertness and abilities will allow, now and in the time to come. May the virtues of the Sangha appear in my life and heart: Sangham jivitam yava nibbanam saranam gacchami — I go to the Sangha as life and refuge until reaching nibbana." (bow down).

Now sit down, place your hands palm-to-palm in front of your heart, steady your thoughts, and develop the four Sublime Attitudes: good will, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity. To spread these thoughts to all living beings without distinction is called the immeasurable Sublime Attitude. A short Pali formula, for those who have trouble memorizing, is:

"Metta" — thoughts of good will
"Karuna" — thoughts of compassion
"Mudita" — thoughts of appreciation
"Upekkha" — thoughts of equanimity

This finished, sit in a half-lotus position, right leg on top of the left, with your hands placed palm-up on your lap, right hand on top of the left. Keep your body straight and your mind on the task before you. Raise your hands in respect, palm-to-palm in front of the heart, and think of the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha: Buddho me natho, dhammo me natho, sangho me natho (The Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are my mainstay). Then repeat, Buddho buddho, dhammo dhammo, sangho sangho. Return your hands to your lap and repeat one word — Buddho — over and over in your mind, at the same time making yourself conscious of your in-and-out breath.

This is the beginning step in practicing concentration. If you're steady and persistent, the desired results will appear in your heart. For people who are really intent, even just this is enough to start seeing results. But by and large, most meditators want to know the results before they've assembled the causes. Yet even if you know about the results in this way, they're nothing more than concepts or names, and so there's nothing extraordinary about them. So at this point I've given just the preliminary steps. Discussions have been saved for the following sections. If they were included in this section, beginners would be overwhelmed and wouldn't be able to pick out what they needed. Thus people who are intent on practicing should make a note of just this much to begin with. Then if anything arises in the course of your practice, you can refer to the discussions given below.