Editing Samadhi (section)

=== Theravāda ===

====Samadhi as concentration====
According to [[Henepola Gunaratana|Gunaratana]], the term '<nowiki/>''samādhi''<nowiki/>' derives from the roots '''sam-ā-dhā''<nowiki/>', which means 'to collect' or 'bring together', and thus it is generally translated as "concentration." In the early Buddhist texts, ''samādhi'' is also associated with the term ''[[samatha]]'' (calm abiding). In the commentarial tradition, ''samādhi'' is defined as ''[[ekaggata]]'', one-pointedness of mind (''Cittass'ekaggatā'').<ref name=Gunaratana>Henepola Gunaratana, ''[https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation]''</ref>

[[Buddhagosa]] defines ''samādhi'' as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object [...] the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered".<ref>Vism.84–85; PP.85</ref> According to Buddhaghosa, the Theravada Pali texts mention four [[Samāpatti|attainments]] of ''samādhi'':
# Momentary concentration (''khanikasamādhi''): a mental stabilization which arises during ''samatha'' meditation.
# Preliminary concentration (''parikammasamādhi''): arises out of the meditator's initial attempts to focus on a meditation object.
# Access concentration (''upacārasamādhi''): arises when the [[five hindrances]] are dispelled, when ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|jhāna]]'' is present, and with the appearance the 'counterpart sign' (''patibhaganimitta'').
# Absorption concentration (''appanasamādhi''): the total immersion of the mind on its meditation of object and stabilization of all four ''jhāna''s.

According to Buddhaghosa, in his influential standard-work [[Visuddhimagga]], ''samādhi'' is the "proximate cause" to the obtainment of [[Wisdom in Buddhism|wisdom]].{{sfn|Buddhaghosa|1999|p=437}} The Visuddhimagga describes [[kammatthana|40 different objects]] for meditation, which are mentioned throughout the Pali canon, but explicitly enumerated in the Visuddhimagga, such as mindfulness of breathing (''[[ānāpānasati]]'') and loving kindness (''[[mettā]]'').<ref>Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), pp.&nbsp;90–91 (II, 27–28, "Development in Brief"), 110ff. (starting with III, 104, "enumeration").  It can also be found sprinkled earlier in this text, as on p. 18 (I, 39, v. 2) and p. 39 (I, 107).</ref>

====Criticism====
While the Theravada-tradition interprets ''dhyana'' as one-pointed concentration, this interpretation has become a matter of debate. According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four ''rupa-jhanas'' describes two different cognitive states: "I know this is controversial, but it seems to me that the third and fourth jhanas are thus quite unlike the second."{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=140, note 58}}{{refn|group=note|Original publication: {{Citation | last =Gombrich | first =Richard | year =2007 | title =Religious Experience in Early Buddhism | publisher =OCHS Library | url =http://www.ochs.org.uk/lectures/religious-experience-early-buddhism | access-date =2014-11-27 | archive-date =2016-07-01 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160701190900/http://www.ochs.org.uk/lectures/religious-experience-early-buddhism | url-status =dead }}}}

Alexander Wynne states that the ''dhyana''-scheme is poorly understood.{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=106}} According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as ''sati'', ''sampajāno'', and ''upekkhā'', are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states,{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=106}} whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects.{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=106}}{{refn|group=note|Wynne: "Thus the expression ''sato sampajāno'' in the third ''jhāna'' must denote a state of awareness different from the meditative absorption of the second ''jhāna'' (''cetaso ekodibhāva''). It suggests that the subject is doing something different from remaining in a meditative state, i.e. that he has come out of his absorption and is now once again aware of objects. The same is true of the word ''upek(k)hā'': it does not denote an abstract 'equanimity', [but] it means to be aware of something and indifferent to it [...] The third and fourth ''jhāna-s'', as it seems to me, describe the process of directing states of meditative absorption towards the mindful awareness of objects.{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=106-107}}}}{{refn|group=note|name="theravadin"|theravadin.wordpress.com: "In this order, therefore, what we should understand as vipassanā is not at all a synonym for sati but rather something which grows out of the combination of all these factors especially of course the last two, samma sati and samma samādhi applied to the ruthless observation of what comes into being (yathābhūta). One could say, vipassanā is a name for the practice of sati+samādhi as applied to anicca/dukkha/anatta (i.e. generating wisdom) directed at the six-sense-process, including any mental activity." According to Gombrich, "the later tradition has falsified the jhana by classifying them as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming kind of meditation, ignoring the other - and indeed higher - element.{{sfn|Wynne|2007|p=140, note 58}}}}

Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brazington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between 'sutta-oriented' ''jhana''  and {{'}}''Visuddhimagga''-oriented' ''jhāna''.{{sfn|Quli|2008<!--doesn't point to anything-->}}{{full citation needed|date=April 2019}} Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the ''Visuddhimagga'' give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the ''Visuddhimagga''-description to be incorrect.{{sfn|Quli|2008<!--doesn't point to anything-->}}{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on the ''jhānas'' and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation. Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original meaning of the ''dhyanas''. She argues that the four jhānas are the outcome of both calming the mind and developing insight into the nature of experience and cannot not be seen in the suttas as two distinct and separated meditation techniques, but as integral dimensions of a single process that
leads to awakening. She concludes that "the fourth jhāna is the optimal experiential event for the utter de-conditioning of unwholesome tendencies of mind and for the transformation of deep epistemological structures. This is because one embodies and actualizes an awakened awareness of experience."{{sfn|Arbel|2016}}