le Ajahn Chah (Pra Bhodinyana Thera):
"Samadhi is capable of bringing much harm
or much benefit to the meditator, you can't say it brings only
one or the other. For one who has no wisdom it is harmful, but
for one who has wisdom it can bring real benefit, it can lead
him to Insight.
That which can be most harmful to the meditator is Absorption
Samadhi (Jhana), the samadhi with deep, sustained calm. This samadhi
brings great peace. Where there is peace, there is happiness.
When there is happiness, attachment and clinging to that happiness
arise. The meditator doesn't want to contemplate anything else,
he just wants to indulge in that pleasant feeling. When we have
been practicing for a long time we may become adept at entering
this samadhi very quickly. As soon as we start to note our meditation
object, the mind enters calm, and we don't want to come out to
investigate anything. We just get stuck on that happiness. This
is a danger to one who is practicing meditation.
We must use Upacara Samadhi. Here, we enter calm
and then, when the mind is sufficiently calm, we come out and
look at outer activity. Looking at the outside with a calm mind
gives rise to wisdom. This is hard to understand, because it's
almost like ordinary thinking and imagining. When thinking is
there, we may think the mind isn't peaceful, but actually that
thinking is taking place within the calm. There is contemplation
but it doesn't disturb the calm. We may bring thinking up in order
to contemplate it. Here we take up the thinking to investigate
it, it's not that we are aimlessly thinking to investigate it,
it's not that we are aimlessly thinking or guessing away; it's
something that arises from a peaceful mind. This is called "awareness
within calm and calm within awareness." If it's simply ordinary
thinking and imagining, the mind won't be peaceful, it will be
disturbed. But I am not talking about ordinary thinking, this
is a feeling that arises from the peaceful mind. It's called "contemplation."
Wisdom is born right here."
Tai Situ Rinpoche, from 'The Third Karmapa's
"'The waves of gross and subtle thoughts
subside in their own place.
The stream of mind rests unmoved in itself.
May we be free from the stains of agitation, stupor, and dullness,
And establish a still ocean of calm abiding'
This prayer describes the ideal state of calm abiding.
In this state all gross and subtle thoughts are naturally pacified,
which is to say that they are temporarily calmed down. When the
mind is free from any disturbing thoughts, it becomes stable and
abides in this state without there being any need for deliberate
effort. In this situation two things can happen. The first is agitation
(Tib. 'jing wa'). This refers to an extroverted state in which the
mind, figuratively speaking, falls into a gaze, in which it is very
fascinated or 'spaced out'. The second consists of two types of
an extremely introverted state of mind, stupor and dullness (Tib.
'mug pa' and 'nyog pa'). These are almost the same, though dullness
is slightly more active, while under the influence of stupor one
easily fall asleep. It is a state of real blankness, while dullness
is a state of extreme cloudiness that can be compared to water polluted
by so much dirt that one cannot see through it."
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SPECIAL INSIGHT, VIPASYANA (vipassana)
Vipashyana is defined as: the correct discernment
of the object of meditation, coupled with single-pointed concentration:
a combination of analytical meditation and calm abiding. To develop
it, we need to learn to analyse the meditation object. But not only
conceptual; it is a more fully understanding the object. Our conceptual
understanding will eventually turn into direct, non-conceptual experience.
As the Buddha said:
"Like fire arises from two pieces of wood rubbed
together, so does analytical wisdom arise from the conceptual
state. And just like the fire increases and burns away all the
wood, analytical wisdom increases and burns away all conceptual
2 Types of analytical meditation are distinguished:
- To transform our attitude. For example, by underst