When you look at concentration and mindfulness, whenever you are in retreat, do they get stronger than out of retreat? Yes. By in large they get a lot stronger in retreat. The conditions are quiet, peaceful, you can focus more, nobody is talking to you, you don't have to be anybody special for other people, you don't have to talk with others. So your concentration and mindfulness can get stronger. It is conditional. Now as to your Patience, can you practice that here as well as practice without silence? Can you be patient waiting in line out there, as much as you can be patient waiting in line for food here? Yes. When we look at all of the other Ten Paramis, they can be practiced in retreat and out of retreat basically on the same level.
The developing of the Paramis doesn't have to change, it is not so conditional. However one condition that can effect the growth of the Paramis is our friendships. Making sure we have good, kind, wise spiritual friends, Kalyanamittas, that affect us in positive ways in our life. But as to having quiet and silence, that is not a condition that we need so much to develop our Compassion, develop our Truthfulness, develop our Determination, etc. So in retreat and out of retreat the Ten Paramis can be developed, sometimes even better out of retreat. Ask any parent! Some of the things parents have to go through is definitely a test of their Patience, their Equanimity and their Compassion.
So when we stress the Ten Paramis not only in retreat but also out of retreat in our practice, they will determine how much peace and happiness you have inside wherever you go, at any time. So being here in the hall, maybe some of the time your concentration is lousy, you are off, you note it and come back, you are off, you note it and come back. But if your Patience is there, if your Equanimity is there, if your Compassion for your restless mind is there, then at the end of the hour, that sitting was ok. You just got lost, you note it, you come back. You got lost, you note it, you come back. 50 times you got lost, 50 times you noted it with some Energy, some persistence, some Determination, you come back. Compassion for your busy mind, Equanimity for it all, at the end of the hour you had a good sit.
Somebody else sits in the hall, they get concentrated really well, they stay focused for 40 minutes. Somebody next to them starts coughing, they get distracted, they get upset, "That person bothered my meditation, I was so concentrated, why did they have to start coughing?" So here is another example: concentration and mindfulness, especially if people get attached to it, can be very dangerous. But if you get attached to the Ten Paramis you are in good shape.