The ability to hold ones attention on an object, sustaining it indefinitely, at will, leading to an intense experience of bliss.

They say that concentration taken to its extreme can produce psychic abilities (siddhis) we would call extra sensory perceptions like clairvoyance.

There are also the non dual flow states that can result, where the subject-object duality dissolves in a spiritual merger or union called samadhi.

From the Buddhist point of view these concentration states are not the final goal, but a means to a greater end. It is the application of concentration to our process of analysis that delivers the break through insight into emptiness (of self-existence) disrupting the self-grasping that is the cause of suffering. And it is the concentration on emptiness that allows wisdom to deepen into our intuition in order to displace self-grasping once and for all.

So what do you think about our culture of distraction, the myth of multitasking, and social media as it relates to our attention?

What possible detriments do you see or experience?

Do you know of new technologies that can help develop our concentration, and what are the implications of our reliance on them?

Learn more about the gradual path to awakening with the Lam Rim Meditation course.