Different Aspects of Mindfulness

by Dhammasami | 2000 | 11,593 words

A Collection of Talks on Mindfulness Meditation...

Chapter 1 - Meditation Objects

Initial (primary) And Secondary

Initial Meditation Object: For a beginner the first stage in Vipassana meditation practice can be called a learning stage. In this stage, it is important to have a chosen object to initially focus on. This object should be known as the initial meditation object. This initial object should be a physical one, because it arises and passes slowly and is easy to catch up with while mindfulness is still immature and needs to be established.

Some call this initial object the primary object. In that case, primary here does not mean being more important than other objects but being an initial meditation object, which we can start with and later come back to it from time to time. This initial object could be breathing in and out or the rise and fall of the abdomen or even something else which is physical. In our sessions, mostly it is breathing or abdominal movements that we use as the initial object.

Secondary Meditation Object: Secondary meditation object(s) means any object you perceive through the six senses during meditation excluding, of course, the primary one. For example, pain is a secondary object in this stage. Sounds, visual objects and thoughts are also secondary objects.

This division of objects into initial and secondary objects is mainly to be observed in sitting and walking meditation.

The initial object is useful in directly developing concentration and indirectly assisting you in building up mindfulness. On the other hand, the secondary objects are mainly to train you in awareness, while it also helps to concentrate on any object. You start with the initial object. In the course of time, if you hear a sound, notice it as hearing, hearing, hearing for three or four times and come back to the initial object. If the sound persists, go to it again to observe it for three or four times more. Then come back to the initial object. Do not yet try to stay with the sound until it becomes the most obvious and strongest object.

An object has to become a most obvious and strong one in order to sustain your attention. Otherwise, you do not usually stay with a secondary object for a long time because it cannot develop your mindfulness. A weak and unclear meditation can make the mind wander. In Vipassana meditation, we should not be confined to only one object, initial or secondary. All that we see, hear, smell, taste, touch or think are meditation objects.

There can be other initial meditation objects as well. For example, the 32 different parts of body, the four elements and even pain at some stage can be taken as the initial object. However the aim is all the same. And no difference in status is made between a primary or secondary object. However, the choice of giving bare attention to one is made on the spur of the moment — that is when an object, primary or secondary, becomes the most obvious among the many objects you perceive at that moment. You may have difficulty for quite a while in deciding which is the most obvious and strongest object. This difficulty has to be encountered and overcome.

There will be a point where one no longer needs to regard any object either as initial or secondary. The teacher will make it known to the meditator when the time has come.

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