Page 173 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

concentration on the subtle counterpart of the gross object; and

that of the state of absorption into the subtle counterpart of the
gross object. Since this may not be very clear, let me give a

concrete illustration. Suppose you take up the practice of
concentration on an image or picture of the Buddha. The image
or picture is your gross object. You sit down in front of it and

look at it — not staring, but just looking. You look at it without
paying attention to anything else. You shut out all other sights,

all other sense-impressions, and with eyes wide open you
remain fully concentrated on that image or picture, taking it in
fully and completely and being aware, or conscious, of nothing

else. This is the first degree of concentration.

In the second stage you close your eyes and see the image or
picture of the Buddha just as clearly as if you had your eyes open
and were looking at the material image or picture itself. This, of

course, takes quite a bit of practice, and comes more easily to
some than to others. The image that you see when your eyes are

closed, and see very vividly, is the subtle, i.e. mental,
counterpart of the original material image or picture and you
concentrate on that. Eventually, there is no sensory perception:

you are completely concentrated on this mental — even
archetypal — image or picture within.

In the third stage you continue concentrating, ever more
intensely and one-pointedly, on this subtle counterpart of the

original gross image. As you concentrate on it in this way you
become, as it were, assimilated to it, absorbed in it. The

distinction between the two, the subject and the object,
eventually disappears, and you merge with the object of your

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