This post is inspired by a teaching from Ajarn Lee. Within the Noble Eightfold Path, there is Right Concentration—or more correctly, Right Samadhi or Right Jhana.

Concentration or focus meditation leads to Samadhi. However, for beginners, Right Concentration can sometimes mislead us into thinking it is similar to being focused when we are engaged in a task. In reality, Right Concentration in the Noble Eightfold Path specifically refers to a state achieved during meditation. To learn more, please explore th Kevadda Sutta.

When we understand there is a Right Samadhi, we may be curious to know what Wrong Samadhi is. The following teachings by Ajarn Lee offer some answers.

Wrong Concentration or wrong Samadhi or wrong Jhana doesn’t give rise to the liberating insight that leads to the transcendent qualities. (Aka Nirvana)

1) For example, after attaining a certain amount of concentration, we may use it in the wrong way, as in mystical abilities– hypnotizing other people or spirits of the dead so as to have them in our power, or exerting magnetic attraction so as to seduce or dupe other people – all of which causes the heart to become deceitful and dishonest. (Bodhi-bowl: This is possible because our mind is super strong and has the ability to overpower the minds of others)

2) Or we may use concentration to cast spells and practice sorcery, displaying powers in hopes of material reward. All of these things are based on nothing more than momentary (khaṇika) concentration. (Bodhi-bowl: The point here is that such concentration is unstable and thus does not lead to wisdom or prajna)

(Bodhi-bowl – on a separate note: This leads to another question. In Mahayana Buddhism, we see mantras being taught that are promoted to have special efficacious qualities—such as granting wishes, magnetizing wealth, and many more. Some even claim to eliminate your enemies!

If we consider this independently, it seems to contradict what was taught in the Pali Canon. But if we consider it from a skillful means perspective, it is similar to a mother or teacher tricking a child into constructive behaviour. In this instance, Buddhist teachings in regard to mantras are always based on the condition of developing concentration or Samadhi.

To attain Samadhi, you need to let go of what is troubling your mind. For example, if you hate someone so much that you decide to curse that person based on a teaching in the Vajrayana section, the first step is to develop Samadhi of that wrathful mantra. That means you need to let go of that hatred and attain Samadhi first. Naturally, the teacher does not reveal that to the student. It’s a secret! But when the student attains Samadhi, he or she will realize how their enemies can be eliminated from their minds; their enemies had only existed in their minds, based on their mental perceptions. Without a doubt, such skillful teachings require a good teacher and a student willing to commit to their training)

3) Another type of Wrong Concentration is that used to develop types of mental absorption falling outside of the Buddha’s teachings and belonging to yogic doctrines and practices: for example, staring at an external object – such as the sun or the moon – or at certain kinds of internal objects. When the mind becomes steady for a moment, you lose your sense of the body and become fastened on the object to the point where your mindfulness and alertness lose their moorings. You then drift along in the wake of the object, in whatever direction your thoughts may take you: up to see heaven or down to see hell, seeing true things and false mixed together, liking or disliking what you see, losing your bearings, lacking the mindfulness and alertness that form the present.

4) Another instance of Wrong Concentration is when – after you’ve begun practicing to the point where you’ve attained threshold (upacāra) concentration – you then stare down on the present, focusing, say, on the properties of breath, fire, or earth, forbidding the mind to think; staring down, getting into a trance until the property becomes more and more refined, and the mind becomes more and more refined; using force to suppress the mind until awareness becomes so dim that you lose mindfulness and alertness and all sense of body and mind: Everything is absolutely snuffed out and still, with no self-awareness. This is called the plane of non-perception (asaññī-bhava), where you have no perception of anything at all. Your awareness isn’t well-rounded, your mindfulness lacks circumspection, and as a result discernment has no chance to arise. This is called Wrong Concentration, Wrong Release, a mental blank – no awareness of past, present, or future. (Bodhi-bowl : This is what Siddhartha’s meditation teacher taught)

5) Another instance of Wrong Concentration is when we can give rise to momentary concentration, threshold concentration, all the way to the four jhānas, but aren’t adept at entering and leaving these levels, so that we focus in until only the property of consciousness is left, with no sense of the body: This is called arūpa jhāna. Bodily processes disappear, leaving only the four types of mental acts (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, and viññāṇa), which form the four levels of arūpa jhāna, the first being when we focus on a feeling of space or emptiness.

The mind attains such a relaxed sense of pleasure that we may take it to be a transcendent state or nibbāna, and so we search no further, becoming idle and lazy, making no further effort because we assume that we’ve finished our task.

In short, we simply think or focus, without having any finesse in what we’re doing – entering, leaving, or staying in place – and as a result our concentration becomes wrong.

(Bodhi-bowl: In the scripture, the Buddha taught us to direct our minds to practice Vipassana meditation once our Samadhi is stable and strong.)

Hope this advice from Ajarn Lee is useful.

May all be well and happy.