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Osho on difference in Concentration & Watchfulness
Question:
Beloved Osho, when we start watching our bodies, and
then our minds and emotions, there remains an element,
although subtle, of concentration. Initially for
example, watching my breathing, I would watch it to the
exclusion of every thing else - here there was an
element of Focus. On other occasions, When Silence is
just there, The Breathing may be all there is to watch.
this seems to be nearer, But still I feel that more soft
focusing of the Awareness would take me further and
further back, As if relaxing enough to let the watcher
move far enough away so that all is seen, rather than
any one thing like thoughts or breathing. Does relaxing
allow the Watcher to be on the Hill?
Osho :
It is true.
Relaxation
helps the most. No part of concentration should be in
your watchfulness. Concentration is sabotaging the whole
process of
watchfulness, because concentration is an act
of the mind, and watchfulness is something that comes
from above, from beyond.
If there is any concentration... I can understand, if
you start watching your breathing – in the name of
watching, you are concentrating on the breathing, you
are excluding everything else.
Don’t exclude.
Watch your breathing inclusive of all.
Watching your breathing... a temple bell starts ringing,
a car passes by, a child starts crying – all that should
be included. Your watchfulness should be open. Watching
the breathing is simply to
begin with. It is not the end. It is just learning how
to watch. But there is a difficulty – you can start
thinking that concentration is watching. Concentration
is not watching. Concentration is narrow, narrowing the
mind, bringing it to a focus on one thing, forgetting
everything else. That’s why in relaxing, you will feel
more watchful, yet without concentration. If that is
happening, that’s perfectly good.
The essential thing is watchfulness, inclusive of all.
Concentration can be disturbed, watchfulness cannot be
disturbed. These are the differences. If somebody is
concentrating on something, anybody can disturb him.
Just a small boy can do something and he is distracted
and his focus is lost – or not even a small boy, just
the wind comes and the door opens and the noise is
enough. So you will find the phenomenon in so-called
religious people. They are always angry, because their
concentration is continuously disturbed.
Watchfulness cannot be disturbed.
It is simply inclusive of all. If the door opens, makes
a noise, the wind passes through the trees singing its
song, it is available to it. It is not choosing
breathing or anything in particular, but simply being
there, open, available, present to everything that is
happening.
So remember the difference:
concentration is sabotaging watchfulness.
To begin with, something has to be given to you, so you
can have a little taste of what watchfulness is. Then it
has to be made wider and wider and bigger, so much
bigger that there is no need to do anything. You simply
sit, or lie down relaxedly and everything that is
happening around you is mirrored in you. You don’t think
about it, you don’t justify it, you don’t condemn it,
you don’t evaluate it – you simply watch. So it is
perfectly right. Relaxation, utter relaxation with no
focusing of consciousness is real watchfulness.
Source: “The Transmission of the Lamp” - Osho
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