Eckhart Tolle

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by janielee

Reflecting on God-Like's belief of no awareness as the ultimate, I came across this today, and found it of relevance. This very famous and respected Buddhist meditation Master calls meditation without awareness as "wrong Samadhi" and points out that the meditator is oblivious and can even think they have reached the Ultimate, although s/he is just mired in ignorance.


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.

So, there can be right samadhi and wrong samadhi. Wrong samadhi is where the mind enters calm and there's no awareness at all. One could sit for two hours or even all day but the mind doesn't know where it's been or what's happened. It doesn't know anything. There is calm, but that's all. It's like a well-sharpened knife which we don't bother to put to any use. This is a deluded type of calm, because there is not much self-awareness. The meditator may think he has reached the ultimate already, so he doesn't bother to look for anything else. Samadhi can be an enemy at this level. Wisdom cannot arise because there is no awareness of right and wrong.

With right samadhi, no matter what level of calm is reached, there is awareness. There is full mindfulness and clear comprehension. This is the samadhi which can give rise to wisdom, one cannot get lost in it. Practitioners should understand this well. You can't do without this awareness, it must be present from beginning to end. This kind of samadhi has no danger.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/.../atasteof.html

I have been trying to understand something for the past 20 or so years...and if anybody else can, I take my hat off to them, because it has even baffled me...and I am not so easily baffled:

Patanjali's Ten Types of Samadhi
https://www.google.com/amp/s/dondeg....f-samadhi/amp/

I think I will just stick to the three I know about...Savikalpa Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Sahaja Samadhi.

It is also pretty bad when you have to go back and correct almost every word you type because your phone thinks you are talking about African deserts instead of states of consciousness.

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

I have been trying to understand something for the past 20 or so years...and if anybody else can, I take my hat off to them, because it has even baffled me...and I am not so easily baffled:

Patanjali's Ten Types of Samadhi
https://www.google.com/amp/s/dondeg....f-samadhi/amp/

I think I will just stick to the three I know about...Savikalpa Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Sahaja Samadhi.

It is also pretty bad when you have to go back and correct almost every word you type because your phone thinks you are talking about African deserts instead of states of consciousness.

I’ll take a look because I’m curious but too many definitions will probably boggle my mind - or interest