Ekaggata
April 22, 2005
Alertness—the Pali word is sampajañña—has a special meaning when you’re meditating. It means, specifically, being alert to what you’re doing. For a lot of people, that’s something very difficult. They focus on things outside, what other people are doing, and any reaction seems to just come up on its own from within. They don’t usually ask questions about how much they’re playing a role in all this. As a result, they end up causing themselves a lot of suffering—and a lot of suffering for people around them as well. So a basic part of the training in terms of generosity, virtue, meditation, is becoming more sensitive to your own actions.