What is Buddhist "samadhi"? (Stillness)

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Terms; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Though frequently in English translated as "concentration," this definition is very misleading.

Samadhi literally means "the (mental) state of being firmly fixed" (sam+ā+√ hā), coherent, all together.

The practice of samadhi (stillness, serenity, tranquility, calm) is the fixing of the mind on a single object.

The purifications are necessary to awaken.

"One-pointedness of mind (cittass' ekaggatā), Brother Visakha, this is called samadhi" (MN 44).

Stillness and coherence of mind (samadhi) -- though often very weak -- is one of the seven mental concomitants inseparably associated with all consciousness.

Compare with nāma (name, mind, the formless), and cetanā ("volition").

Right stillness (sammā-samādhi, or absorption, immersion, purification through concentration), as the last link of the Enlightening Eightfold Path (magga), is defined as the first four jhānas or "meditative absorptions."

In a wider sense, samadhi also comprises much weaker states of stillness. It is associated with all karmically wholesome (kusala) states of consciousness.

"Wrong stillness" (micchā-samādhi) is stillness associated with all karmically unwholesome (akusala) states of consciousness.

Wherever in the texts this term is not differentiated by "right" or "wrong," "right" stillness is meant.

In samadhi one distinguishes three grades of intensity:

• (1) '"Preparatory stillness" (parikamma-samādhi) existing at the beginning of the mental exercise.
• (2) "Neighborhood stillness" (upacāra-samādhi), that is, serene stillness "approaching" but not yet attaining the first absorption (jhāna), which in certain mental exercises is marked by the appearance of an internal light or "sign" called the "counter-image" (patibhāga-nimitta).
• (3) "Attainment stillness" (appanā-samādhi), that is, that stillness present during the absorptions (Appendix).

The Path of Purification (Ven. Nanamoli)

For further details, see cultivation, development, meditation (bhāvana), the Path of Purification (Vis.M. III), and Fundamentals of Buddhism IV by Ven. Nyanatiloka (BPS.lk).

Samadhi connected with the four noble path-moments (magga) and fruition-moments (phala) is called supermundane (lokuttara), having nirvana as object.

Any other stillness, even that of the most sublime absorptions, is merely mundane (lokiya)....

Samadhi is one of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), one of the Five Spiritual Faculties and Five Powers (bala), and the last link of the Enlightening Eightfold Path.

In the threefold division of the Enlightening Eightfold Path (Virtue, Stillness, and Wisdom), it is a collective name for the last three links of the path (sikkhā). More