One big obstruction for most meditators is incessant thinking.

If we find it very difficult to calm the thinking mind, we can try a mantra meditation, like repeating 'Buddho', or 'May All Beings be at Ease'.

With the mantra, we're still thinking, we don't have to stop thinking completely, but we're restricting the thoughts to only the mantra. That may be easier than trying to stop thinking completely.

However, the real aim of the meditation is not just repeating the mantra: The mantra is simply a tool, a means to generate a certain feeling, a very wholesome emotion.

When we repeat Buddha, we're developing the emotion of faith, confidence, devotion.

When we repeat 'May All Beings be at Ease', we're cultivating the feeling of good will to all beings.

These emotions and associated joyful, uplifting feeling is the main thing in samatha/samādhi meditation.

'Concentration' is actually a bad translation for samādhi, as the term concentration doesn't really imply much emotion/feeling. Instead, wholesome emotion, joyful, blissful, rapturous feeling is the crucial factor for developing samādhi.

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#samadhi #samatha #emotion #feeling #concentration #meditation