Samādhi: Path to Enlightenment

WQ edit and expansion (proposed Wikipedia entry)

"Avalokiteshvara, the bhagwan and bodhisattva, was moving through the deep course of wisdom that has gone beyond when he beheld from on high..." (Heart Sutra). How did he get there?

Concentration
The Sanskrit and Pali term samadhi is generally translated as "concentration." It is a milestone on the Path to enlightenment. Literally, it may be translated as: "sam (together) + ā (completely) + dhā (to hold); thus 'to hold together completely.' It differs from dhyana [jhana or meditation] in that there is no succession of identical thought waves, but rather complete identity or absorption in one object" (Ashtanga Yoga Primer, Baba Hari Dass, Sri Rama Publishing, Santa Cruz).

The term has a long history in Eastern thought and is treated differently in different Indian Dharmas (Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Ch'an, Vajrayana, etc). Other suitable translations include collectedness, calm, stillness, and to a lesser degree contemplation. It is not discursive thinking but rather progressive focusing in and shutting out of distracting stimuli.

It is achieved through training in higher consciousness, which brings the calm and collectedness (as opposed to the ordinary scattered state of the mind) needed to develop insight-wisdom by direct experience [Ref].

Right Effort
Right Effort (samyag-vyāyāma or sammā-vāyāma), also translated as "right endeavor," is another factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. Here, practitioners persevere and persist in abandoning all unbeneficial and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds.

Instead, practitioners make the effort to give rise to beneficial and useful states that serve themselves AND others in thoughts, words, and deeds, without turning the mind to thoughts that engender weariness or any other of the Five Hindrances:

1. lust
2. ill-will
3. restlessness
4. drowsiness
5. doubt

In both Chinese and Pali canons, it is explained thus: [56][57][58][30][59]

And what, meditators, is Right Effort?

(1) The meditator generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, exerts and upholds intention so that harmful, unskillful states that have not yet arisen do not arise.

(2) One generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, exerts and upholds intention for the sake of the abandonment of harmful, unskillful states that have already arisen.

(3) One generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, exerts and upholds intention for the sake of the arising of skillful states that have not yet arisen.

(4) One generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, exerts and upholds intention for the maintaining, increase, non-confusion, plentitude, development, and culmination of beneficial, skillful states that have already arisen:

This, meditators, is called 'right effort.'"

These four phases of Right Effort mean to:

1. Prevent the unwholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
2. Abandon and let go of the unwholesome that has arisen in oneself.
3. Bring up the wholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
4. Maintain the wholesome that has arisen in oneself.

Right Mindfulness
Right Mindfulness (samyak-smṛti, sammā-sati) may also be translated as right attention, right awareness, or even right contemplation (as in the case of the Recollections). Practitioners constantly keep their minds attentive to bodily and mental phenomena — as spelled out in detail in the Maha Satipatthana Sutra or Greater Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (DN 22).

One is "mindful" (sati, attentive, awake, diligent, heedful, conscientious, cognizant without judging, liking, disliking, or discursively evaluating), making sure to act and speak with due attention or non-forgetfulness. In a sense, one does not go about on "automatic pilot" but is instead deliberate and clearly conscious unburdened by overthinking, which may be useful in living but is a great hindrance in meditating. In the Pali canon, it is explained thus: [60][61][62][30][63]

And what, meditators, is Right Mindfulness?

(1) A meditator remains focused on the body in and of itself — attentive, aware, and conscientious — setting aside hankering and despair regarding the world.

(2) One remains focused on sensations (feelings, not emotions, which are a separate category of phenomena to be observed) in and of themselves — attentive, aware, and conscientious — setting aside pining and mourning for the world.

(3) One remains focused on the mind in and of itself — attentive, aware, and conscientious — setting aside greed and grief with regard to the world.

(4) One remains focused on mental states in and of themselves — attentive, aware, and conscientious — setting aside lust and aversion for the world.

This, meditators, is called right mindfulness.

Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American-born and Sri Lanka trained Theravadan scholar-monk, further explains the concept of mindfulness as follows:[64]

The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present ["Be here now"], open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped [neither attached to nor identified with].

The Maha Satipatthana Sutta also teaches that by mindfully observing these phenomena, we begin to discern its arising and subsiding and the Three Characteristics of Dharma in direct experience, which leads to the arising of insight and the qualities of dispassion, non-clinging, and release.

Right Concentration
Right Concentration (samyak-samādhi, sammā-samādhi) is the practice of concentration (samadhi). The practitioner focuses, collects the mind, and concentrates on an object of attention until reaching full-concentration, which is a state of meditative absorption (jhana).

The Buddha defined "right" concentration as the first Four Jhanas.

Traditionally, the practice of samadhi can is developed through mindfulness-of-breathing (anapanasati), through visual objects (kasina), and through repetition of phrases (such as the recollections or anusati). Samadhi has the function of suppressing the Five Hindrances and developing the Five Jhana Factors -- in order to enter into the jhanas or meditative absorptions:

1. applied attention
2. sustained attention
3. rapture
4. bliss
5. one-pointedness

Absorption or jhana is an instrument used for developing wisdom by cultivating the stability of mind conducive to insight (vipassana): With a pliant, tractable, and penetrative mind, one then examines true nature of phenomena directly. This leads to cutting off the defilements, realizing the Dharma [ultimate truths], and thereby attaining self-awakening.

During the practice of Right Concentration, the practitioner investigates and personally verifies Right View. In the process, right knowledge will arise, followed by "right liberation." One is indeed fully liberated rather than deceived by appearances or experiences of light and bliss into thinking s/he is "enlightened."

In the Pali canon, it is explained thus: [65][66][67][68]

The Four Jhanas

And what is Right Concentration?

(1) Herein a meditator -- aloof from sensual desire, aloof from unwholesome thoughts -- attains to and abides in the first meditative absorption [jhana], which is born of detachment [or "seclusion" from sensual desire and unwholesome thoughts] and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought, joy, and bliss.

(2) By the stilling of applied and sustained thought, one attains to and abides in the second jhana, which is born of tranquillity and unification (of mind) with joy and bliss devoid of applied and sustained thought.

(3) By detaching from joy one dwells in equanimity -- mindful with clear comprehension, enjoying blissful bodily pleasure -- and attains to and abides in the third jhana, which the noble ones call "dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss."

(4) By giving up and detaching from both bliss and suffering, with the former disappearance of joy and sorrow, one attains to and abides in the fourth jhana, which is neither suffering nor bliss but the purity of equanimity — mindfulness.

This is called Right Concentration.

According to both the Pali and Chinese canons, right concentration is dependent on the development of the preceding Noble Eightfold Path factors:[69][30][70]

The Buddha said: "Now what, meditators, is noble Right Concentration with its supports and requisite conditions? Any singleness of mind equipped with these seven factors:

1. right view
2. right intention
3. right speech
4. right action
5. right livelihood
6. right effort
7. right mindfulness

is called noble Right Concentration with its supports and requisite conditions (Maha-Cattarisaka Sutta).