Mindfulness vs. Concentration

This Sunday Mike guided the group through a comparison and contrast of Mindfulness and Concentration. Underlying this topic was a talk given by Gil Fronsdal.

The talk is here: http://audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/910.html

Gil says:

  • Mindfulness is a clear knowing of what’s going on
  • Concentration is a deep focus on what’s going on

…but that’s it’s not quite that simple.

The Buddha used two different verbs when describing these concepts in his talks. When he mentioned Mindfulness, he used the verb “to see” and when describing Concentration he used the verb “to touch”. This could point to different modes of seeing the world. Mindfulness may have more to do with the mind and Concentration might have more to do with the body.

There are many such contrasts from the ancient teachings and Gil goes through several in his talk.