There are various levels of chanting, and two of them can be identified as attentive chanting and inattentive chanting. So, attentive chanting means that I'm very much aware that I'm chanting. I'm also hearing the syllables, aware of the name, the quality of it; there's some engagement of my mind.

And inattentive chanting means it's like idling a car—the car is idling, and then you're doing something else. We can be chanting, the lips moving, and the sound going out, but my mind can be attached to another process. For instance, I might be thinking about the fact that I forgot to buy ginger and have to go to the store, or any other number of things—an email that I didn't send. That's where my mind is actually engaged, but the mouth is going, sound is coming, but I'm not attentive, not attached.

Attention means ten. It's the same word that's in tendon. A tendon attaches the muscle to the bone. And when we have attention to the Holy Name, there is present engagement at the very moment, and I'm not thinking of something else.

So, in practicing chanting, it can be very helpful to be just aware of which stage I'm in. Am I in the attentive state, or am I in the inattentive state? Not attentive to the Holy Name, or attentive to the Holy Name? And if I keep checking in with that and seeing, "Am I attaching to it? Am I engaging with the Holy Name with my mind right now, my awareness," then I'm likely to feel enlivened and not want to stop chanting. And if I'm not aware of it, if I'm thinking of something else, there is a point at which, during japa period, I'll think, "I've got to go. I just got to go somewhere," because I can't stay here.

So, those are the two things that one can be aware of that can be really helpful. This makes it simple: just keep coming back to the attention, giving attention to the Holy Name. Just ask yourself, "What stage am I in? Attentive or inattentive?" And then use your free will to move back into the attentive stage.

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