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Story: Four Pupil and Oil Lamps (Source: Google Baba: Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones)
The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day, all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: “Fix those lamps.”
The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. “We are not supposed to say a word,” he remarked.
“You two are stupid. Why did you talk?” asked the third.
“I am the only one who has not talked,” concluded the fourth pupil.
Moral of the Story:
The pupil who claims to be the only one who hasn’t spoken demonstrates the pitfall of self-righteousness. True self-awareness involves acknowledging your own mistakes, not focusing on the flaws of others.
Meaning of ‘Why We Fail to Concentrate?’
A lack of focus can stem from various issues and lifestyle factors. In today’s world, distractions are everywhere. Concentration difficulties derail our initial focus and pull us away from what we want to accomplish.
- When we sit to meditate or pray to God, so many thoughts come to our mind and we focus on everything except what we have to.
- When we are with people in a big group, we want to be alone and be silent for some time.
- When we see a video about fitness, we get motivated to become fitter like those people but when we go to a gym for practice, we start missing our sleep and delicious food.
- When we are fasting, we dream about what we are missing (spicy food) and wait for a day to be over but when we check our weight, we think about eating less and lose some weight.
- When we are working in our professional careers, we often think about the peaceful post-retirement But ask people who have retired, they often think about those golden days when they were running and ruling!
Why does it happen that whatever we are doing, rather than focusing on that we start thinking about something else? Generally, we are being taught that we should fight and do what needs to be done. Especially during the examination days, our parents force us to stop doing everything and focus only on our studies. But how much we are successful; we know the answer!
Similarly, inspite of so much temptation on the day of fasting, we fight with our thoughts and do not eat anything. But how often do we win and does it serve the purpose of keeping fast? We all know the right answer!! It is just like fighting with our shadow to go away but we all know how hard we may fight to get away from our shadow but it will never go.
Our mind is also like our shadow. Wherever we may go, it will always accompany us. How much hard we may try, the more we will try to control our mind, the more it will fluctuate.
That brings up an interesting question.
- How often do we need to force ourselves to concentrate when we are watching our favourite movie?
- How often do we need to bring our attention back when we are playing our favourite sport?
- How often do we need to think about being present when we are with our loved ones?
The answer to all the questions is No. There is no need to do anything.
Why it is Important to Enjoy and be Aware rather than Concentrate?
The more we will be enjoying what we are doing, the more we will be aware, the more we will be aware, and the concentration will automatically happen. So, the important thing is not concentration but joy and awareness. The more we are aware and enjoying what we are doing, the better will concentrate on what we are doing.
In the NASA space centre, when a reporter asked a sweeper asked, ‘What is your job here? The sweeper replied, ‘With my work, I am helping the space centre in building the satellite.’ It simply means that whatever we are doing, are we enjoying it, are we doing it only for completing 8 hours or we are doing it because we feel that we are contributing to the place where we are working?
The reason why we are working hard to concentrate and are still not successful is that the majority of the things that we are doing in our lives (job, business, studies etc.) are not by choice but out of compulsions. These compulsions are generally self-created and sometimes due to our present circumstances we are forcing ourselves to do something which we don’t want to but still, we have to.
Arjuna is a central character of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, who was an ace archer. During an archery instruction session, archery master Dronacharya tied a wooden fish high on a tree above a pool of water and instructed each disciple to aim at the fish’s eye while looking only at its reflection in the water. Later he asked them one by one what they saw looking at the fish’s reflection on the water. The disciples listed whatever they saw one by one such as the sky, the water, the tree etc. except Arjuna. When he was asked the same question Arjuna said that he saw the fish’s eye. Guru Drone told him to shoot and Arjuna’s arrow pierced through the eye of the fish. The story tells that the excess of information is an obstacle to mastering whatever we do and it is essential to focus on what we are willing to achieve and be aware of that only.
How to Concentrate by Being Aware and Joyful?
The best way to be aware and concentrate on whatever we are doing is to analyse what we are doing anything during the day and try to enjoy it as much as possible, without thinking about what I am getting out of it monetarily. Maybe it may take some time but if we start analyzing it correctly, maybe we will start enjoying what we are doing so far. If not more, hopefully, more than 50% of the activities may become a pleasure.
In a school, maybe a few students may enjoy Hindi, some others may enjoy Mathematics, a few may enjoy music or a particular sport, and some may enjoy painting. Rather than forcing them to learn and excel in everything, can we help our children to identify what they like the most and give them the maximum opportunity to do what they are enjoying without any worry about time and concentration?
When we start enjoying what we are doing, our performance goes to the next level. When our performance improves, our self-satisfaction and monetary gains also improve
We can be the most powerful and rich person and still, we can be bored and serious. We can be just earning a basic livelihood but our smile and happiness can be mystical. It does not mean that we should not aim to be rich person but certainly with the right motive and purpose.
The overall intent is that rather than concentrating on what we are doing, we should do things that we can enjoy. Even if we don’t like doing something (could be our present job or subject in college) and we 
have no other choice but to do it, we should try to find something good in that. If we can do it, we can make our work pleasant and enjoy every bit of it.
There are many practical and powerful techniques to improve our concentration like meditation but having the right purpose and meaning can take us to the next level.
When we are happy, contented and aware, we are with aligned with ourselves fully.
The choice lies with us.
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