Ajahn Chah: Developing samadhi (one-pointedness), Theravada Buddhism, Thai Forest Tradition
This is a reading of a talk given to a group of lay practitioners on the topic of samadhi at Hampstead Vihara, London, England, in the late 1970s.
It is designed to be listened to as a guided meditation.
The Pali and Sanskrit word samādhi, usually poorly translated as “concentration,” is made up of three parts, a verbal root and two prefixes (sam+ā+dhi).
The last part, dhi, is a noun form derived from the verbal root dhā, meaning “to put or place.” The prefix ā gives direction and suggests “placing upon,” and the prefix sam means “gathering or bringing together.”
When combined and used in a Buddhist context, these elements add up to the sense of “unifying the mind and placing its awareness upon a particular object.”
Traditional sources also emphasize that the mind focuses on a single (eka) point (agga), and “one-pointedness” (Pali, ekaggatā, Sanskrit ekāgratā) is another common way of defining samādhi (Andrew Olendzki).
Ajahn Chah was a Thai Forest Tradition Buddhist monk and meditation master. He was an influential teacher of the Buddha-Dhamma, teaching many prominent Western monks, and a founder of two major monasteries in Thailand, Wat Pah Pong and Wat Pah Nanachat. He is reputed to have been fully enlightened, an arahant.
- Samaneri Jayasāra - Wisdom of the Masters, Sept. 11, 2022; Sayalay Aloka, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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