Concentrate totally on one object

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “Or imagine the five-colored circles of the peacock tail to be your five senses in illimitable space. Now, let their beauty melt within. Similarly, at any point in space or on a wall – until the point dissolves. Then your wish for another comes true”. This technique focuses on total concentration on a single object, either internal or external, until that object, and eventually the mind, dissolves, leading to a state of inner centering.

How It Is Done

To practice this method, consider the following guidance and steps:

  • Choose an object of concentration:
    • Internal visualization: For introverted personalities, you can imagine your five senses as five colors (like the five-colored circles of a peacock’s tail) filling infinite space. Then, visualize these colors moving within you and meeting at a single point, preferably the navel (hara), which is considered the real center.
    • External object: For extroverted personalities, who find it difficult to conceive anything within, you can choose any single point on a wall or any object as the focus of concentration.
  • Total concentration: Regardless of the chosen object (imagined colors meeting at a point, or an external point/object), the key is to concentrate totally on it, bracketing out the whole world. The entire energy and movement of the mind must stop and stick to this one point.
  • No blinking (for external focus): If concentrating outwardly, do not blink your eyes. Blinking provides a gap for the mind to move and lose concentration. This rigorous non-blinking, as exemplified by Bodhidharma, prevents the mind from thinking and helps maintain focus.
  • Persist until dissolution: Continue concentrating until the point dissolves.
  • Practice in steps (for complex visualizations): If using the imagination-based method (e.g., peacock tail colors), it’s recommended to practice in parts. First, aim to be completely filled with the object/colors, forgetting the rest of the world. Only when this becomes easy and the object fills your consciousness effortlessly, proceed to the second part: dropping the object itself.
Commentaries and Insights
  • Purpose of the Method: The fundamental aim of this technique, like other Tantric methods, is to throw you to your inner center and make you centered, moving you from the periphery of your being. By concentrating intensely on a single point, all other dimensions and objects are closed off, forcing consciousness back to itself.
  • Nature of Mind and Concentration:
    • The mind is typically a “madman,” jumping from thought to thought (undirected thinking).
    • Contemplation involves directed, guided thinking on a specific problem or object.
    • Concentration goes further: it means staying at one point, not allowing the mind to move at all. In concentration, the mind is fixed, the whole energy stops and sticks to that one point.
    • This differs from meditation, which is a state of no-mind, where the mind is not allowed to be at all, not even on a single point.
    • Mind is seen as a slave pretending to be the master, and this belief needs to be challenged through practices like this.
  • Dissolution of the Object and Mind:
    • When an imaginary object is concentrated upon, it will eventually dissolve because it was not truly there.
    • When an external, real object (like a dot on a wall) is concentrated upon, the object itself doesn’t physically dissolve, but the mind dissolves. The mind cannot live without movement. When fixed on a single point, it stops, and all bridges to the outward world are broken, revealing the inner self.
  • Experience of Pure Consciousness/Being: When the object (and consequently the mind’s activity) dissolves, the practitioner is left as pure consciousness, a “subjectivity” without an objective or mental world. This is described as falling into an “absolute vacuum” or “nothingness,” which is one’s true nature or pure being. This state is also referred to as a “light, a flame without anything around it”. This can be akin to what Buddha called nirvana or Mahavira called kaivalya (total aloneness), or the experience of brahman/atman in the Upanishads.
  • The Role of the Navel Center (Hara): The navel is considered the real center or “hara” (as in hara-kiri, meaning destroying the hara, the center). The breath goes to and from the navel, acting as a bridge to this center. While any chosen point of concentration can lead to centering, the ultimate effect is falling down to the navel, the existential root.
  • Simplicity and Depth: The technique seems simple, yet Osho emphasizes that it is one of the deepest things. The mind often dismisses simple methods because the ego seeks challenge and difficulty. However, Tantric methods are powerful because they touch basic reality and lead to transformation indirectly.
  • Indirect Approach to Bliss: True spiritual experience, such as bliss or self-awareness, cannot be directly “grabbed” or aggressively sought; it is a delicate by-product that arises when one is totally engaged in the technique and forgets the desired result.
  • Scientific and Existential Nature: Tantra is a science concerned with “how” truth can be attained through technique, rather than merely philosophical “why” questions. It is existential, meaning it requires direct experience and transformation rather than just intellectual understanding.
  • Conscious Identification: While identification is generally considered a “sin” (unconscious identification with the false self), this meditation uses conscious identification (e.g., becoming one with the flower, then dropping it) as a meditative tool. Conscious awareness transforms any action into meditation.
  • Effort and Persistence: The technique requires effort and persistence. It may take time, even months, to achieve the desired state, and initial attempts might feel difficult or cause distraction. However, the key is to keep trying without frustration.
  • Connection to Other Techniques: This method is part of “Techniques for Centering” and shares principles with other “stop” techniques, “Look at an object as a whole”, or techniques that lead to “no-mind”. The core idea of reducing mental activity through focused attention is common across many Tantric and meditative practices.