How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

muditaa

Hi friends,

Thanks again for all your dhamma dana which makes this forum really helpful. I'd like to discuss with you today about the answers to the Buddha's questions in AN 4.94 (suggested to the practitioners who haven't gained internal tranquillity of awareness):

'How should the mind be steadied?

How should it be made to settle down?

How should it be unified?

How should it be concentrated?'

With metta,

Muditaa

Jeffrey

how do you get to carnegie hall? practice?

no seriously I have never experienced samadhi but I would start by attaining a degree of calm. my teacher says that every thought world has a focusing point that is a samadhi (maybe one use of the word) and then it diffuses out and another thought comes up. So technically you already have experienced samadhi.

So that might be another place to start. Study in buddhist literature both primary and secondary what samadhi means. DD for example knows a good deal of the primary literature. There are also books which you could search on amazon about meditation.

This site is in process of moving to more file space or right price or something but it has introductory to advanced meditation instruction mostly from the perspective of the karma kagyu and nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. http://julian7650.tripod.com/id20.html

Another meaning of samadhi I believe is renunciation. Which is a point when you stop trying to get anything (in samsara). You stop. Maybe look at the Gangaji videos on the site I listed.

DhammaDhatu

hi muditaa

some of my personal answers to the Buddha's questions are:

(1) the mind is steadied with moral wisdom about the five precepts, understanding those actions which bring harm & suffering and those actions which do not

(2) the mind is steadied with mental wisdom, namely, understanding greed, hatred/anger & delusion are the roots of the unwholesome, that they do not bring happiness

(3) the mind is steadied by abandoning fear & doubt by having the confidence patient endurance extinguishes disturbing emotions; by understanding all disturbing emotions are impermanent; by understanding all disturbing emotions are dependent on maintaining unskillful action

(4) the mind is made to settle down by cultivating a meditation object, such as awareness of in breathing & out breathing or a mantra

(5) the mind is unified by relinquishment or abandoning craving. After the mind settles down by applying the mind to a meditation object, the mind is unified by abandoning applied concentration and, instead, silently letting go

(6) the mind should be concentrated so it lucidly sees the meditation object; so it is fit for the work of insight

OK...these are my answers. I look forward to reading other answers

kind regards

formermonkJohn

sorry, i have more questions than answers.

[DeletedUser]

To gain Samadhi, you need to establish faith in samadhi, comprehend samadhi, practice samadhi and realize/attain samadhi

mzaur

Samadhi is one pointed concentration, and while it is very useful, it's not the goal of Buddhist practice. Check out the book Focused and Fearless, it's a wonderful guide on progressing through the jhanas and goes into insight practice as well.

seeker242

1. Breathe in and out
2. Breathe in and out
3. Breathe in and out
4. Breathe in and out

DairyLama

Samadhi is one pointed concentration, and while it is very useful, it's not the goal of Buddhist practice.

True, but you won't get very far without it.

P

newtech

Samadhi is one pointed concentration, and while it is very useful, it's not the goal of Buddhist practice. Check out the book Focused and Fearless, it's a wonderful guide on progressing through the jhanas and goes into insight practice as well.

Samadhi can also be attained without one pointed concentration

deepak

Samadhi can also be attained without one pointed concentration

This is also very true,Porpoise.Sometimes I just follow the thoughts of my disturbed mind and after a while I attain samadhi.This came as a surprise to me as I had not made any attempt to control my thoughts or silence my mind but it does not work every time.