Two Kinds of Concentration: Calm and Upright

Luangpu Pramote speaks in Thai, with English subtitles, to a group he has not seen for some months. He says progress needs practice that is both correct and sufficient, and that most meditators train only the concentration that relaxes the mind, which cannot give rise to wisdom. He describes the Buddha leaving the hermits’ calm behind, then separates two kinds: concentration that fixes on an object, and an “upright” concentration that knows when the mind drifts.

He recounts his own years of samatha, a period of watching the mind, and a difficult stretch of practice that his teachers’ advice did not resolve, which eased when he went back to calm meditation on the breath. He advises a pleasant meditation object for rest and daily noticing of the wandering mind. He then explains separating body from mind, and feeling from both, and summarises the practice near the end.