How to practice samādhi and vipassanā when you have a job
Summary
Do not rush into insight practice while the mind is still unsettled. What many people take for insight can turn out to be thinking about it — not seeing it directly.
This is an account of a concentration and insight practice actually in use, for people who work, have limited time, and want to start in the right direction.
It covers why to begin with concentration, how to use the breath so the mind becomes steady, why rapture is not the end of the practice, watching the arising and passing of states once the mind is steady, and how insight differs from merely thinking you are having it.
Key points
Order matters more than speed
Concentration first, then insight. Skipping the step yields thoughts in place of seeing.
Thinking-you-are-insighting is the most common trap
Analyzing the teaching feels like progress while the mind has not yet seen anything.
Rapture is not the goal
The pleasure that arises on the way is a sign the mind is collecting, not something to go hunting for.
Limited time is not the real constraint
What is needed is regularity and the right order, not the number of hours per sitting.