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Samadhi (Buddhism)
 
 
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In Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
, samadhi (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
; Skt.
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
; Chinese: ??? or ?) is mental concentration or composing the mind.

In the Pali literature
Pali literature

Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali is the traditional language....
, samadhi is found in the following contexts:

Developing samadhi
In Buddhism, samadhi is traditionally developed by contemplating one of 40 different objects
Kammatthana

In Buddhism, is a Pali word which literally means the place of work. Figuratively it means the place within the mind where one goes in order to work on spiritual development....
, such as mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati) and loving kindness (metta
Metta

Metta or maitri has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten paramita of the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmavihara....
).

Upon development of samadhi, one's mind becomes purified of defilements
Kilesa

The Buddhist term kilesa is typically translated as "defilement" or "poison." In early Buddhist texts the kilesas generally referred to mental states which temporarily cloud the mind and manifest in unskillful kamma....
, calm, tranquil, and luminous.






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In Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
, samadhi (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
; Skt.
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
; Chinese: ??? or ?) is mental concentration or composing the mind.

In the Pali literature
Pali literature

Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali is the traditional language....
, samadhi is found in the following contexts:
  • In the Noble Eightfold Path
    Noble Eightfold Path

    The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal Dharma of Gautama Buddha, who described it as the way leading to the cessation of suffering and the achievement of self-awakening....
    , "right concentration" (samma-samadhi) is the eighth path factor.
  • Similarly, samadhi is the second part of the Buddha's threefold training
    Threefold Training

    The Buddha identified the threefold training as training in:* higher Sila * higher Samadhi * higher Praj?a ...
    : sila
    Sila

    Sila or sila is usually rendered into English as "virtue"; other translations include "good conduct," "morality" "moral discipline." and "precept." It is an action that is an intentional effort....
     (conduct or virtue), samadhi or samatha
    Samatha

    Samatha , samatha or orthographically romanized to shamatha and is often translated as 'Calm Abiding' , comprises a suite, type or style of Buddhist meditation or concentration practices designed to enhance sustained voluntary attention, and culminates in an attention that can be sustained effortlessly and for hours on end....
     (concentration), and pañña
    Panna

    Panna can refer to:* Aam panna, an Indian drink made from mangoes* Panna, India, a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh* Panna , a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae...
     (wisdom).
  • In the development of the four jhanas, the second jhana is "born" from samadhi (samadhija).
  • According to the Visuddhimagga
    Visuddhimagga

    The Visuddhimagga is a Theravada Buddhist Atthakatha written by Buddhaghosa approximately in 430 CE in Sri Lanka. It is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures....
    , samadhi is the "proximate cause" to the obtainment of wisdom
    Prajña

    Praj?a or pa??a has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, anicca, interdependent origination, anatta, shunyata, etc....
    .


Developing samadhi


In Buddhism, samadhi is traditionally developed by contemplating one of 40 different objects
Kammatthana

In Buddhism, is a Pali word which literally means the place of work. Figuratively it means the place within the mind where one goes in order to work on spiritual development....
, such as mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati) and loving kindness (metta
Metta

Metta or maitri has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten paramita of the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmavihara....
).

Upon development of samadhi, one's mind becomes purified of defilements
Kilesa

The Buddhist term kilesa is typically translated as "defilement" or "poison." In early Buddhist texts the kilesas generally referred to mental states which temporarily cloud the mind and manifest in unskillful kamma....
, calm, tranquil, and luminous. Once the meditator achieves a strong and powerful concentration, his mind is ready to penetrate and see into the ultimate nature of reality, eventually obtaining release from all suffering
Dukkha

Dukkha roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, Stress , misery, and frustration....
.

In AN
Anguttara Nikaya

The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
 IV.41, the Buddha identifies four types of concentration development, each with a different goal:
  1. a pleasant abiding in this current life - achieved through concentrative development of the four jhanas
  2. knowledge
    Prajña

    Praj?a or pa??a has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, anicca, interdependent origination, anatta, shunyata, etc....
     and the divine eye
    Abhijna

    Abhij?a has been translated generally as "knowing," "direct knowing" and "direct knowledge" or, at times more technically, as "higher knowledge" and "supernormal knowledge." In Buddhism, such knowing and knowledge is obtained through sila and meditation....
     - achieved by concentration on light
  3. mindfulness
    Mindfulness

    Mindfulness is a mental state, characterized by concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations. Mindfulness plays a central role in the teaching of the Gautama Buddha where it is affirmed that "correct" or "right" mindfulness is an essential factor in the path to Bodhi and Moksha....
     and clear comprehension
    Sampajañña

    Sampaja??a means "clear comprehension," "clear knowing," "constant thorough understanding of impermanence," "fully alert" or "full awareness," as well as "attention, consideration, discrimination, comprehension, circumspection."...
     - achieved through concentrative mindfulness of the rise and fall of feelings
    Vedana

    Vedana is a word in Sanskrit and Pali traditionally translated as either "feeling" or "sensation." In general, vedana refers to the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations that occur when our internal ayatana come into Sparsa with external sense objects and the associated vijnana....
    , perceptions
    Sanna

    The Sanna is a tributary of the Vistula in Poland. Its source is in the village of Wierzchowiska II in Lublin Voivodeship, Galicia . It flows westward through a rural area....
     and thoughts.
  4. the destruction of the taints - achieved through concentrative mindfulness of the rise and fall of the Five Aggregates
    Skandha

    In Buddhism Phenomenology and soteriology, the five skandhas or khandhas are five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is anatta to be found....
    .


The Buddhist suttas mention that samadhi practitioners may develop supernormal powers (abhijna
Abhijna

Abhij?a has been translated generally as "knowing," "direct knowing" and "direct knowledge" or, at times more technically, as "higher knowledge" and "supernormal knowledge." In Buddhism, such knowing and knowledge is obtained through sila and meditation....
, cf. siddhis), and list several that the Buddha developed, but warn that these should not be allowed to distract the practitioner from the larger goal of complete freedom from suffering.

Samadhi is also viewed as serving as the basis for increasing intelligence. According to B. Alan Wallace
B. Alan Wallace

B. Alan Wallace is an author, translator, teacher, researcher, interpreter and Buddhist practitioner interested in the intersections of consciousness studies and scientific disciplines such as psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and physics....
, Buddhist psychology suggests that concentration may be a factor in the emergence of extraordinary intelligence.

Right concentration

In the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path
Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal Dharma of Gautama Buddha, who described it as the way leading to the cessation of suffering and the achievement of self-awakening....
, the Buddha explains that "Right Concentration" (Pali: samma-samadhi; Skt.: samyak-samadhi) involves attainment of the successively higher meditative states known as the four jhanas
Dhyana

Dhyana or jhana in Pali refers to a stage of meditation, which is a subset of samadhi. It is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism....
.

See also

  • Buddhist meditation
    Buddhist meditation

    Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that develop mindfulness, samadhi, samatha and vipassana. Core meditation techniques are preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through the millennia of teacher-student transmissions....
  • Jhana
  • Samatha
    Samatha

    Samatha , samatha or orthographically romanized to shamatha and is often translated as 'Calm Abiding' , comprises a suite, type or style of Buddhist meditation or concentration practices designed to enhance sustained voluntary attention, and culminates in an attention that can be sustained effortlessly and for hours on end....
  • Samadhi
    Samadhi

    Samadhi is a Hinduism and Buddhism technical term that usually denotes higher levels of concentrated meditation, or dhyana, in Yogic schools. Nirvana of Buddhism is a step towards Samadhi ....


Bibliography


  • Brasington, Leigh (1997). Sharpening Manjushri's Sword: The Jhanas in Theravadan Buddhist Meditation. Retrieved 2007-10-04 from "Leigh Brasington's Web Site" at http://www.leighb.com/jhana2.htm.


  • Buddhaghosa, Bhadantacariya
    Buddhaghosa

    Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosaas a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His name means "Voice of the Buddha" in the Pali....
     and Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-00-2.


  • Nyanaponika Thera
    Nyanaponika Thera

    Nyanaponika Thera or Nyaniponika Mahathera was a German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained Theravada monk, co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society, contemporary author of numerous seminal Theravada books, and teacher of contemporary Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi....
     & Bhikkhu Bodhi
    Bhikkhu Bodhi

    Bhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area....
     (trans.) (1999). Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society
    Buddhist Publication Society

    The Buddhist Publication Society is a charity whose goal is to explain and spread the dhamma of the Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan Buddhist laymen, A.S....
    . ISBN 0-7425-0405-0.


  • Thanissaro Bhikkhu
    Thanissaro Bhikkhu

    Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an United States Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He was born Geoffrey DeGraff and converted to Buddhism in high school....
     (1997). One Tool Among Many: The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice. Retrieved 2007-10-04 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/onetool.html.

External links