Cultivating Insight and Concentration Together

NBEF meditation begins with establishing virtue and cultivating both insight and concentration together. As insight deepens, the true nature of lust, hatred, and delusion becomes clear, naturally giving rise to disenchantment and dispassion. During this phase, practitioners may temporarily experience feelings of sadness or heaviness, and the body may release the stress hormone cortisol.

In contrast, when concentration deepens and becomes stable, the mind becomes calm, joyful, and steady. At this stage, various well-known “happiness neurotransmitters” such as dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin increase in a balanced way. These stabilizing effects reduce the influence of cortisol and gently return the mind to a peaceful, collected state.

In this way, cultivating insight and concentration together allows practitioners to move more smoothly through the stages of disenchantment, dispassion, and liberation—clearly seeing and progressing through the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path.