Concentration

Concentration (Skt. samādhi; Tib. ཏིང་འཛིན་, Wyl. ting ‘dzin) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the Five object-determining mental states.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says (Tib. ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ནི་བརྟག་པའི་དངོས་པོ་ལ་སེམས་རྩེ་གཅིག་པ་ཤེས་པའི་རྟེན་བྱེད་པའི་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།)

• Concentration is to have a one-pointed mind with regard to the examined entity. Its function is to support [correct] cognition. (▷RIGPA)
• Concentration means to have one-pointed mind with regard to the examined object. Its function is to support [right] cognition.(Erik Pema Kunsang)

Alternative Translations

• Meditative stabil­ity (Gyurme Dorje))
• samādhi or concentration (Tony Duff<ref>Tony Duff: The Tibetan tradition glosses the term as follows:"'dzin pa to adhere ting nge deeply and precisely to the intended (i.e., correct)" object of the mind. The term has been translated in many different ways, e.g., "concentration", "deep concentration", "meditative absorbtion", "stabilization", and others. "Concentration" is most appropriate given the definition and usage of the term. The word "meditative" seems unnecessary. "Trance" is a samādhi but "samādhi" is not a trance, likewise "absorbtion" might be a samādhi but a samādhi is not necessarily an absorbtion, so these words seem incorrect. Furthermore, "absorbtion" is better suited to the meaning of other terms, such as Template:Snyoms 'jug samāpatti and dhyāna.

Notes

Meditative concentration