Students tend to divide our attentions widely. There are likely few students who haven’t had difficulty balancing their attentiveness to school, work, and home life. We know the importance of giving our undivided attention to whatever we are doing, but what is this “undivided attention”?
In the technical terminology of Buddhist meditation, there is the Sanskrit word samadhi, which is often translated as “concentration.” The character of this samadhi varies between the different schools of Buddhism; the Zen school in particular teaches a “receptive samadhi.”
In Zen practice, meditation is centred on letting go of discursive thoughts. Because we prize our intellectual capacities so highly in the academic world, it might seem foolish to consider “letting go” of them. Rather than dismissal, we might consider letting them run.
Consider the phrase “undivided attention,” and what it means to the student in pursuit of knowledge. As a Mental Health and Addictions student at Camosun, I’ve learned that a crucial attention skill is the filtering of relevant cues. When we narrow our focus to study, does this mean that we attempt to exclude other stimuli?
What if we were to include any sensations of annoyance, haste, or anxiety into our experience, rather than trying to suppress or avoid them? Which attention is “undivided,” that which attempts to eliminate distractions, or that which is radically inclusive?
Cultivating this non-discriminating mind through meditation could be a useful parallel study for those of us who face the demands of an intellectually challenging academic career.