Concentration & Watchfulness

Osho on difference in Concentration & Watchfulness

Question: Beloved Osho, when we start watching our bodies, and then our minds and emotions, there remains an element, although subtle, of concentration. Initially for example, watching my breathing, I would watch it to the exclusion of every thing else - here there was an element of Focus. On other occasions, When Silence is just there, The Breathing may be all there is to watch. this seems to be nearer, But still I feel that more soft focusing of the Awareness would take me further and further back, As if relaxing enough to let the watcher move far enough away so that all is seen, rather than any one thing like thoughts or breathing. Does relaxing allow the Watcher to be on the Hill?

Osho : It is true. Relaxation helps the most. No part of concentration should be in your watchfulness. Concentration is sabotaging the whole process of watchfulness, because concentration is an act of the mind, and watchfulness is something that comes from above, from beyond. If there is any concentration... I can understand, if you start watching your breathing – in the name of watching, you are concentrating on the breathing, you are excluding everything else.

Don’t exclude. Watch your breathing inclusive of all. Watching your breathing... a temple bell starts ringing, a car passes by, a child starts crying – all that should be included. Your watchfulness should be open. Watching the breathing is simply to begin with. It is not the end. It is just learning how to watch. But there is a difficulty – you can start thinking that concentration is watching. Concentration is not watching. Concentration is narrow, narrowing the mind, bringing it to a focus on one thing, forgetting everything else. That’s why in relaxing, you will feel more watchful, yet without concentration. If that is happening, that’s perfectly good.

The essential thing is watchfulness, inclusive of all. Concentration can be disturbed, watchfulness cannot be disturbed. These are the differences. If somebody is concentrating on something, anybody can disturb him. Just a small boy can do something and he is distracted and his focus is lost – or not even a small boy, just the wind comes and the door opens and the noise is enough. So you will find the phenomenon in so-called religious people. They are always angry, because their concentration is continuously disturbed.

Watchfulness cannot be disturbed. It is simply inclusive of all. If the door opens, makes a noise, the wind passes through the trees singing its song, it is available to it. It is not choosing breathing or anything in particular, but simply being there, open, available, present to everything that is happening.

So remember the difference: concentration is sabotaging watchfulness. To begin with, something has to be given to you, so you can have a little taste of what watchfulness is. Then it has to be made wider and wider and bigger, so much bigger that there is no need to do anything. You simply sit, or lie down relaxedly and everything that is happening around you is mirrored in you. You don’t think about it, you don’t justify it, you don’t condemn it, you don’t evaluate it – you simply watch. So it is perfectly right. Relaxation, utter relaxation with no focusing of consciousness is real watchfulness.

Source: “The Transmission of the Lamp” - Osho