ekaggatā
One-pointedness
[ eh-KUG-ga-taa ]
Seeing it in life
Ekaggatā holds the mind steady on its object. Cultivated, it matures into samādhi and the jhāna factor of one-pointedness.
In short
Unification of mind on a single object — basis of samādhi.
The analysis
Ekaggatā is the unification of mind on a single object — one of the seven universal cetasikas, present to some degree in every citta. Cultivated, ekaggatā becomes samādhi in the fuller sense and matures through the jhānas as the fifth and final factor persisting even when vitakka, vicāra, and pīti have dropped away.
Where it sits
As a universal cetasika, ekaggatā is present everywhere in minimal form; as the fifth jhāna factor, it persists across all four rūpa-jhānas, becoming increasingly refined as coarser factors are dropped.
The settled quality of attention during a task that's genuinely absorbing — not effortful focus, but the mind actually landing on one thing — is ekaggatā at an ordinary, non-jhānic level.
Commonly mistaken for
Forced concentration or strain. Wholesome ekaggatā is settled, not gripped.
Exclusive to meditation. It's present, minimally, in every citta — meditation trains and deepens it, but doesn't introduce it from nothing.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha II, IX.
Related terms