llt
January 28, 2021, 7:35pm
4
Great topic. We had some discussions about this back in 2016 that may be helpful as well (see below). The general pattern seems to be turning the mind toward some state of purity and abandoning unwholesome states. There are quite a few different practices mentioned, though, as we can also see in your list above.
One thing I have been looking at recently is a certain progression toward samādhi that is found throughout the āgamas and nikāyas.
Especially in the SA and SN, the main meditation framework seems to be (despite its name) the Seven Factors of Bodhi. The basic starting point is mindfulness, and it leads to samādhi, and then equanimity. The Seven Factors tend to presume the Four Bases of Mindfulness, though, and a very concrete path from beginning to end.
However, there are also variants of the s…
Just now I discovered that this is a follow-up to Normal sequence leading to samādhi by @llt … We have a classic set of ‘meditation methods’, the satis (e.g. anapanassati, maranasati), the sannas (e.g. asubhasanna, aniccasanna), the brahmaviharas. But which practices actually lead to Samadhi? I was scanning the pali canon, choosing the term samādhiyati (a passive form, ‘samadhi-ied’). In most cases we have a stereotypical set where a practice conditions pāmojja/ pāmujja (delight), then pīti, th…
5 Likes
