Method
Yogic Concentration
Classification
- Method family
- contemplative
- Domains
- Philosophy of Mind
Overview
Yogic concentration progressively stills mental activity by binding attention to a single object, sustaining that attention, and letting it deepen into absorption.
Purpose. The practice aims at discriminating the witnessing self from the mental processes it is ordinarily identified with, which is a claim about what the self is, arrived at through training rather than argument. It is a specific graded discipline, not a general term for meditation or for physical postures.
Characteristic operations
- Restrain mental turning: Work to quiet the fluctuations of ordinary mental activity.
- Fix attention: Bind awareness to one chosen object, holding it in place.
- Sustain unbroken flow: Let fixed attention lengthen into continuous, uninterrupted attending.
- Enter absorption: Allow the distinction between attending and object to fall away, yielding discriminative insight.
Used by traditions
Applied to questions
References
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- Patañjali, Yoga Sūtras, I.2–3 and III.1–8