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

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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Cittasanto
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Re: How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

Post by Cittasanto »

hi Starter,
Where did you get that?
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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amtross
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Re: How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

Post by amtross »

starter wrote: → Right mindfulness [of body/feeling/mind/the Dhamma (including the 4NT)] -- Anapanasatti
[1) Start with mindfulness of breathing until no detectable in/out breath at the nostrils -- no bodily fabrication: 繫意鼻頭, 觉知一切身行(入息、出息; experience the bodily fabrications - in and out breathing), 觉知一切身行休息[experience the stilling of bodily fabrications], 系念乃至息灭; 息從心出/入: 若息從心出亦復知從心出。若息從心入亦復知從心入。
2) Then practice mindfulness of feeling until no mental fabrication: while breathing experience bodily feeling (piti), experience mental feeling (sukha), experience mental fabrication, experience the stilling of mental fabrication;
3) Then practice mindfulness of mind: while being aware of breathing 心觉知 [experience mind states -- Satipatthana ;心悦 [experience Joy(pāmojja)],心定 [now stay steady and attentive to a single object with one-pointed fixed focus, and experience the concentrated mind],心解脱觉知 [experience the liberation of mind from the 5 hindrances];
4) Then practice mindfulness of the Dhamma: while being aware of breathing contemplate anicca, dispassion, cessation, and nibbana [观无常,断,无欲,灭.]
Thanks for this post starter, I enjoyed it. Do you (or anyone else) know what exactly is meant by "mental fabrications" in this context? Does it include Piti since it is bodily feeling?

May you be well
sean
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Zom
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Re: How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

Post by Zom »

How to build a Castle of Samadhi 8-)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
starter
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Re: How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

Post by starter »

Cittasanto wrote:hi Starter,
Where did you get that?
-- I got it from here:

"Monks, be islands unto yourselves,be your own refuge, having no other; let the Dhamma be an island and a refuge to you, having no other." (SN22.43)

"... For those who — now or after I am gone — remain with their self as an island, their self as their refuge, without anything else as a refuge, with the Dhamma as an island, the Dhamma as their refuge, without anything else as a refuge, they will be the highest of the monks who desire training." (SN 47.13)

"Mental fabrications" are perceptions (of feelings) and feelings in the narrower sense (for mindfulness of vedana - pleasant /painful /neutral bodily and mental feelings), and all mental formations in the wider sense.

Thanks Zom for recommending a helpful sutta. Metta to all,

Starter
starter
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Re: How to gain Samadhi - answer to the Buddha's questions

Post by starter »

From mundane 8-fold path to noble 8-fold path:

Learn the Buddha's teaching while having admirable teachers/friends:
→ Right view of the law of karma to start the mundane 8-fold path → Sense of fear and shame
→ Right intention [striving for non-covetousness, non-ill will, non-harming] → Right attention (striving for yoniso manasikara)
→ Right speech [striving for no deliberate, deceitful, false, malicious, harsh speech and no gossiping]
→ Right conduct [striving for no killing / stealing /sexual misconduct]
→ Right livelihood [striving for wholesome, beneficial livelihood; contentment]
→ Right effort [striving for 1) Sense restraint, in particular moderation in eating; 2) Wakefulness -- watching and cleaning the obstructive mental states - 5 hindrances; 3) Full awareness and clear comprehension]
→ Right mindfulness [the 4 establishments of mindfulness: body/feeling/mind/Dhammas]
→ Right Samādhi [establishment of Samadhi -- suppression of 5 hindrances]
→ Noble right view of the 4 Noble Truths, and enter the Noble 8-fold path:
→ Noble right intention [culmination of non-greed, non-aversion, non-delusion] → Right attention (culmination of yoniso manasikara)
→ Noble right speech [culmination of no un-wholesome/un-beneficial speech]
→ Noble Right conduct [culmination of no killing / stealing /sexual misconduct]
→ Noble right livelihood [culmination of wholesome, beneficial livelihood and contentment]
→ Noble right effort [culmination of sense restraint, wakefulness, full awareness and clear comprehension]
→ Noble right mindfulness [culmination of the 4 mindfulness]
→ Noble right Samādhi [the 4 jhanas]
→ Noble right knowledge for liberation: know/see things as they truly are without delusion and attachments -- the 5 aggregates/6 sense objects are all anicca/dukkha/anatta.
→ Noble right liberation [from Samsara, from five aggregates]: nibbana.

A few practitioners might be able to achieve Noble right view by studying/learning the true Dhamma (the 4 NT) while having admirable teachers/friends, without long practice of the mundane 8-fold path due to their past paramis. Most practitioners probably need to practice the mundane 8-fold path step by step in order to obtain Noble right view to enter the Noble 8-fold path, instead of only studying the teachings.

Metta to all,

Starter
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