SamÃÂdhi (Pali and ), in the Indian religions, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many such traditions, the cultivation of samÃÂdhi through various meditation methods is essential for the attainment of liberation (nirvana, moksha) from the bondage to habitual desires, thought constructs, and unguarded behavioral patterns (fetters, samskaras), and the recognition of this liberated state as one's natural state or true 'self'.
In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In Jain meditation, samadhi is considered one of the last stages of the practice just prior to liberation.
In the oldest Buddhist sutras, on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind that is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions and the Buddhist commentarial tradition, on which the Burmese Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest tradition rely, it is interpreted as a meditative absorption or trance attained by the practice of dhyÃÂna.
Samadhi may refer to a broad range of states. A common understanding regards samadhi as meditative absorption:
In a Buddhist context, samadhi is a state of intensified awareness and focus:
In Hinduism, samadhi is also interpreted as the identification with the Absolute:
Various interpretations for the term's etymology are possible, either with the root sam ("to bring together") or sama ( "the same, equalized, the convergence of two distinct things"). According to Dan Lusthaus, samadhi refers to either bringing to consciousness the samskaras ("buried latencies"), or meditative concentration on a meditation object:
Etymologies for sam-ÃÂ-dhÃÂ include:
Particular Hindu/yoga interpretations include:
Common Chinese terms for samÃÂdhi include the transliterations sanmei (ä¸Âæ§) and sanmodi (ä¸Âæ©å° or ä¸Âæ©æÂÂ), as well as the translation of the term literally as ding (å® "stability"). Kumarajiva's translations typically use sanmei (ä¸Âæ§), while the translations of Xuanzang tend to use ding (å® "stability"). The Chinese Buddhist canon includes these, as well as other translations and transliterations of the term.
Samma-samadhi, "right samadhi," is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. When samadhi is developed, things are understood as they really are.
Samma-samadhi is explicated as dhyana (jhÃÂna, ), which is traditionally interpreted as one-pointed concentration. Yet, in the stock formula of dhyÃÂna samÃÂdhi is only mentioned in the second dhyana, to give way to a state of equanimity and mindfulness, in which one keeps access to the senses in a mindful way, avoiding primary responses to the sense-impressions.
The origins of the practice of dhyÃÂna are a matter of dispute. According to Crangle, the development of meditative practices in ancient India was a complex interplay between Vedic and non-Vedic traditions. According to Bronkhorst, the four rà «pa jhÃÂna may be an original contribution of the Buddha to the religious landscape of India, which formed an alternative to the painful ascetic practices of the Jains, while the arà «pa jhÃÂna were incorporated from non-Buddhist ascetic traditions. Alexander Wynne argues that dhyÃÂna was incorporated from Brahmanical practices, in the Nikayas ascribed to Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. These practices were paired to mindfulness and insight, and given a new interpretation. Kalupahana also argues that the Buddha "reverted to the meditational practices" he had learned from Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta.
Appended to the jhana-scheme are four meditative states, referred to in the early texts as arupas or as ÃÂyatana. They are sometimes mentioned in sequence after the first four jhÃÂnas and thus came to be treated by later exegetes as jhÃÂnas. The immaterial are related to, or derived from, yogic meditation, and aim more specific at concentration, while the jhanas proper are related to the cultivation of the mind. The state of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth jhÃÂna is transcended. The four arupas are:
Although the "Dimension of Nothingness" and the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception" are included in the list of nine jhanas attributed to the Buddha, they are not included in the Noble Eightfold Path. Noble Path number eight is "Samma Samadhi" (Right Concentration), and only the first four Jhanas are considered "Right Concentration". When all the jhanas are mentioned, the emphasis is on the "Cessation of Feelings and Perceptions" rather than stopping short at the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception".
According to Gunaratana, the term '<nowiki/>samÃÂdhi<nowiki/>' derives from the roots sam-ÃÂ-dhÃÂ<nowiki/>', which means 'to collect' or 'bring together', and thus it is generally translated as "concentration." In the early Buddhist texts, samÃÂdhi is also associated with the term samatha (calm abiding). In the commentarial tradition, samÃÂdhi is defined as ekaggata, one-pointedness of mind (Cittass'ekaggatÃÂ).
Buddhagosa defines samÃÂdhi as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object [...] the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered". According to Buddhaghosa, the Theravada Pali texts mention four attainments of samÃÂdhi:
According to Buddhaghosa, in his influential standard-work Visuddhimagga, samÃÂdhi is the "proximate cause" to the obtainment of wisdom. The Visuddhimagga describes 40 different objects for meditation, which are mentioned throughout the Pali canon, but explicitly enumerated in the Visuddhimagga, such as mindfulness of breathing (ÃÂnÃÂpÃÂnasati) and loving kindness (mettÃÂ).
While the Theravada-tradition interprets dhyana as one-pointed concentration, this interpretation has become a matter of debate. According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states: "I know this is controversial, but it seems to me that the third and fourth jhanas are thus quite unlike the second."
Alexander Wynne states that the dhyana-scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as sati, sampajÃÂno, and upekkhÃÂ, are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects.
Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brazington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between 'sutta-oriented' jhana and Visuddhimagga-oriented' jhÃÂna. Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the Visuddhimagga give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the Visuddhimagga-description to be incorrect. Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on the jhÃÂnas and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation. Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original meaning of the dhyanas. She argues that the four jhÃÂnas are the outcome of both calming the mind and developing insight into the nature of experience and cannot not be seen in the suttas as two distinct and separated meditation techniques, but as integral dimensions of a single process that leads to awakening. She concludes that "the fourth jhÃÂna is the optimal experiential event for the utter de-conditioning of unwholesome tendencies of mind and for the transformation of deep epistemological structures. This is because one embodies and actualizes an awakened awareness of experience."
The earliest extant Indian MahÃÂyÃÂna texts emphasize ascetic practices, forest-dwelling, and states of meditative oneness, i.e. samÃÂdhi. These practices seem to have occupied a central place in early MahÃÂyÃÂna, also because they "may have given access to fresh revelations and inspiration".
Indian MahÃÂyÃÂna traditions refer to numerous forms of samÃÂdhi, for example, Section 21 of the Mahavyutpatti records 118 distinct forms of samÃÂdhi and the Samadhiraja Sutra has as its main theme a samÃÂdhi called 'the samÃÂdhi that is manifested as the sameness of the essential nature of all dharmas' (sarva-dharma-svabhavÃÂ-samatÃÂ-vipañcita-samÃÂdhi).
Buddhist Pali texts describe three kinds of samÃÂdhi which the commentarial tradition identify as the 'gates of liberation' (vimoká¹£amukha):
According to Polak, these are alternative descriptions of the four dhyanas, describing the cognitive aspects instead of the bodily aspects. According to Polak, in the final stages of dhyana no ideation of experience takes place, and no signs are grasped (animitta samÃÂdhi), which means that the concentrated attention cannot be directed (appaá¹Âihita samÃÂdhi) towards those signs, and only the perception of the six senses remains, without a notion of "self" (suññata samÃÂdhi).
In the Chinese Buddhist tradition these are called the 'three doors of liberation' (, ): These three are not always cited in the same order. Nagarjuna, a Madhyamaka Buddhist scholar, in his Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra, listed apraá¹Âihita before ÃÂnimitta in his first explanation on these "three samÃÂdhi", but in later listings and explanations in the same work reverted to the more common order. Others, such as ThÃÂch Nhất Hạnh, a Thien Buddhist teacher, list apraá¹Âihita as the third after à Âà «nyatàand ÃÂnimitta. Nagarjuna lists these three kinds of samÃÂdhi among the qualities of the bodhisattva.
According to Nagarjuna, signlessness-samadhi is the samÃÂdhi in which one recognises all dharmas are free of signs (ÃÂnimitta). According to ThÃÂch Nhất Hạnh, "signs" refer to appearances or form, likening signlessness samadhi to not being fooled by appearances, such as the dichotomy of being and non-being.
'Aimlessness', also translated as 'uncommittedness' or 'wishlessness' (Chinese , , or , ), literally means 'placing nothing in front'. According to Dan Lusthaus, aimlessness-samadhi is characterised by a lack of aims or plans for the future and no desire for the objects of perception. According to Nagarjuna, aimlessness-samadhi is the samÃÂdhi in which one does not search for any kind of existence (bhÃÂva), letting go of aims or wishes (praá¹ÂidhÃÂna) regarding conditioned phenomena and not producing the three poisons (namely, passion, aggression, and ignorance) towards them in the future.
According to Nagarjuna, emptiness-samadhi is the samÃÂdhi in which one recognises that the true natures of all dharmas are absolutely empty (atyantaà Âà «nya), and that the five aggregates are not the self (anÃÂtman), do not belong to the self (anÃÂtmya), and are empty (à Âà «nya) without self-nature.
Indian dhyÃÂna was translated as chán in Chinese, and zen in Japanese. Ideologically the Zen-tradition emphasizes prajñàand sudden insight, but in the actual practice prajñàand samÃÂdhi, or sudden insight and gradual cultivation, are paired to each other. Especially some lineages in the Rinzai school of Zen stress sudden insight, while the Sà Âtà  school of Zen lays more emphasis on shikantaza, training awareness of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Historically, many traditional Japanese arts were developed or refined to attain samÃÂdhi, including incense appreciation (é¦ÂéÂÂ, kodà Â), flower arranging (è¯éÂÂ, kadà Â), the tea ceremony (è¶éÂÂ, sadà Â), calligraphy (æ¸éÂÂ, shodà Â), and martial arts such as archery (å¼ÂéÂÂ, kyà «dà Â). The Japanese character é means the way or the path and indicates that disciplined practice in the art is a path to samÃÂdhi.
SamÃÂdhi is the eighth limb of the Yoga Sà «tras, following the sixth and seventh limbs of dhÃÂraá¹Âàand dhyÃÂna respectively.
According to Taimni, dhÃÂraá¹ÂÃÂ, dhyÃÂna, and samÃÂdhi form a graded series:
SamÃÂdhi is oneness with the object of meditation. There is no distinction between act of meditation and the object of meditation. SamÃÂdhi is of two kinds, with and without support of an object of meditation:
According to Paramahansa Yogananda, in this state one lets go of the ego and becomes aware of Spirit beyond creation. The soul is then able to absorb the fire of Spirit-Wisdom that "roasts" or destroys the seeds of body-bound inclinations. The soul as the meditator, its state of meditation, and the Spirit as the object of meditation all become one. The separate wave of the soul meditating in the ocean of Spirit becomes merged with the Spirit. The soul does not lose its identity, but only expands into Spirit. In savikalpa samÃÂdhi the mind is conscious only of the Spirit within; it is not conscious of the exterior world. The body is in a trancelike state, but the consciousness is fully perceptive of its blissful experience within.
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, has compared the experience of seeing the earth from space, also known as the overview effect, to savikalpa samÃÂdhi.
According to Ian Whicher, the status of ÃÂnanda and ÃÂsmitÃÂ in Patanjali's system is a matter of dispute. According to Maehle, the first two constituents, deliberation and reflection, form the basis of the various types of samÃÂpatti. According to Feuerstein:
Ian Whicher disagrees with Feuerstein, seeing ÃÂnanda and asmitàas later stages of nirvicara-samÃÂpatti. Whicher refers to VÃÂcaspati Mià Âra (900âÂÂ980 CE), the founder of the BhÃÂmatë Advaita Vedanta who proposes eight types of samÃÂpatti:
Vijnana Bikshu (c. 1550âÂÂ1600) proposes a six-stage model, explicitly rejecting Vacaspati Misra's model. Vijnana Bikshu regards joy (ÃÂnanda) as a state that arises when the mind passes beyond the vicara stage. Whicher agrees that ÃÂnanda is not a separate stage of samÃÂdhi. According to Whicher, Patanjali's own view seems to be that nirvicara-samÃÂdhi is the highest form of cognitive ecstasy.
According to Sarasvati Buhrman, "Babaji once explained that when people feel blissful sensations during sÃÂdhanÃÂ, on a gross level the breath is equal in both nostrils, and on the subtle level pranic flow in ida and pingala nadis is balanced. This is called the sushumna breath because the residual prana of the sushuma, the kundalini, flows in sushumna nadi, causing sattva guna to dominate. "It creates a feeling of peace. That peace is ÃÂnanda". In sÃÂnanda samÃÂdhi the experience of that ÃÂnanda, that sattvic flow, is untainted by any other vrittis, or thoughts, save the awareness of the pleasure of receiving that bliss".
According to Maehle, asamprajñata samÃÂdhi (also called nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi and nirbija samÃÂdhi) leads to knowledge of purusha or consciousness, the subtlest element. Heinrich Zimmer distinguishes nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi from other states as follows:
Swami Sivananda describes nirbija samÃÂdhi (lit. "samÃÂdhi" without seeds) as follows:
Ramana Maharshi distinguished between kevala nirvikalpa samadhi and sahaja nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi:
Kevala nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi is temporary, whereas sahaja nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi is a continuous state throughout daily activity. This state seems inherently more complex than sÃÂmadhi, since it involves several aspects of life, namely external activity, internal quietude, and the relation between them. It also seems to be a more advanced state, since it comes after the mastering of samÃÂdhi.
Sahaja is one of the four keywords of the Nath sampradaya along with Svecchachara, Sama, and Samarasa. Sahaja meditation and worship was prevalent in Tantric traditions common to Hinduism and Buddhism in Bengal as early as the 8thâÂÂ9th centuries.
Nirvikalpaka yoga is a term in the philosophical system of Shaivism, in which, through samÃÂdhi, there is a complete identification of the "I" and Shiva, in which the very concepts of name and form disappear and Shiva alone is experienced as the real Self. In that system, this experience occurs when there is complete cessation of all thought-constructs.
BhÃÂva samÃÂdhi is a state of ecstatic consciousness that can sometimes be a seemingly spontaneous experience, but is recognized generally to be the culmination of long periods of devotional practices. It is believed by some groups to be evoked through the presence of "higher beings". BhÃÂva samÃÂdhi has been experienced by notable figures in Indian spiritual history, including Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and some of his disciples, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his chief disciple Nityananda, Mirabai and numerous saints in the bhakti tradition.
In Hindu or Yogic traditions, mahÃÂsamÃÂdhi, the "great" and final samÃÂdhi, is the act of consciously and intentionally leaving one's body at the moment of death. According to this belief, a realized and liberated (Jivanmukta) yogi or yogini who has attained the state of nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi can consciously exit from their body and attain liberation at the moment of death while in a deep, conscious meditative state.
Some individuals have, according to their followers, declared the day and time of their mahÃÂsamÃÂdhi beforehand. These include Lahiri Mahasaya whose death on September 26, 1895, was of this nature, according to Paramahansa Yogananda. Paramahansa Yogananda's own death on March 7, 1952, was described by his followers as entering mahÃÂsamÃÂdhi. Daya Mata, one of Yogananda's direct disciples, said that Yogananda on the previous evening had asked her "Do you realize that it is just a matter of hours and I will be gone from this earth?"
In the seventh chapter of Autobiography of a Yogi, titled âÂÂThe Levitating Saint,â Paramahansa Yogananda presents a vivid and inspiring account of the exalted life of Bhaduri Mahasaya, also known as Paramahansa Maharshi Nagendranath. Bhaduri Mahasaya relinquished his mortal body on 2 November 1926. To his devotees, this sacred day is reverently observed as Bhaduri MahasayaâÂÂs MahÃÂsamÃÂdhi Day. Even today, his MahÃÂsamÃÂdhi Tithi continues to be commemorated with deep devotion and reverence at Shree Shree Nagendra Math and Nagendra Mission in Kolkata.
The Bhagavad Gita describes samadhi as the ultimate state of spiritual realization, marked by profound steadiness of mind and deep absorption in the true self. This state emerges when one transcends attachments to worldly pleasures and power (verse 2.44) and achieves a resolute, unwavering intellect fixed in spiritual truth, free from confusion (verse 2.53).
Patanjali's description of samÃÂdhi resembles the Buddhist jhÃÂnas. According to Jianxin Li, samprajñata samÃÂdhi may be compared to the rà «pa jhÃÂnas of Buddhism. This interpretation may conflict with Gombrich and Wynne, according to whom the first and second jhÃÂna represent concentration, whereas the third and fourth jhÃÂna combine concentration with mindfulness. According to Eddie Crangle, the first jhÃÂna resembles Patanjali's samprajñata samÃÂdhi, which both share the application of vitarka and vicara.
According to David Gordon White, the language of the Yoga Sà «tras is often closer to "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, the Sanskrit of the early MahÃÂyana Buddhist scriptures, than to the classical Sanskrit of other Hindu scriptures". According to Karel Werner:
Robert Thurman writes that Patañjali was influenced by the success of the Buddhist monastic system to formulate his own matrix for the version of thought he considered orthodox. However, the Yoga Sutra, especially the fourth segment of Kaivalya Pada, contains several polemical verses critical of Buddhism, particularly the VijñÃÂnavÃÂda school of Vasubandhu.
While Patañjali was influenced by Buddhism, and incorporated Buddhist thought and terminology, the term "nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi" is unusual in a Buddhist context, though some authors have equated nirvikalpa samÃÂdhi with the formless jhÃÂnas and/or nirodha samÃÂpatti.
A similar term, ', is found in the Buddhist Yogacara tradition, and is translated by Edward Conze as "undifferentiated cognition". Conze notes that, in Yogacara, only the actual experience of ' can prove the reports given of it in scriptures. He describes the term as used in the Yogacara context as follows: A different sense in Buddhist usage occurs in the Sanskrit expression ' (Pali: ') that means "makes free from uncertainty (or false discrimination)" i.e. "distinguishes, considers carefully".
In Sikhism the word is used to refer to an action that one uses to remember and fix one's mind and soul on Waheguru. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib informs:
The term Samadhi refers to a state of mind rather than a physical position of the body. The Scriptures explain:
The Sikh Gurus inform their followers:
The idea of Fanaa in Sufi Islam has been compared to Samadhi.
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