The Buddhist Commentaries refer to Three Types of Concentration.
While the explicit teaching of Three Types of Concentration is not found in the Pali suttas (although it may possibly be inferred), it is interesting the non-commentarial or non-mainstream teacher Ajahn Buddhadasa taught about the Three Types of Concentration (attached below).1. parikamma samadhi – preliminary concentration
2. upacara samadhi – access concentration
3. appana samadhi – fixed concentration
The teaching of Three Types of Concentration interests me because I notice Western Jhana-Boasters or Jhana-Clingers rarely, if ever, mention the Three Types of Concentration.
Why I think the Three Types of Concentration are important is because, if it is not known there are Three Types of Concentration, meditators can overestimate their experience and believe a lower level of concentration is "jhana".
Are the Three Types of Concentration real?
Please discuss.
Ajahn Buddhadasa below:Jeffrey S Brooks wrote:The concept of "access concentration" (upacara-samadhi) is presented in both the Buddhist Commentaries and in the Abhidhamma it however does not appear in the Discourse of the Buddha. Because the concept of access concentration first appears in the Abhidhamma we can say the idea arrived very early in Buddhist doctrine, but since this concept is absent from the Discourses of the Buddha we can say it was most probably not part of the Buddha's original discourse. And, due to this early arrival it is present in all three vehicles of Buddhism. The question is, however, is access concentration a relevant concept, or does it represent religious doctrine and myth that only serves to obfuscate the experience of successful meditation (samma-samadhi)?
By the contemplative recluse monk Sotapanna Jhanananda (Jeffrey S, Brooks)