Samadhi In Plain English: A Beginner's Guide To Calm Abiding, The Nine Stages, And Four Absorptions

Water that is stirred shows nothing. Water that is still shows the bottom. Stillness is not the seeing. Stillness is what lets the seeing happen.Almost everyone who takes up meditation quits at the same place. Not at the beginning, and not at any dramatic obstacle, but at the flat stretch a few months in where you sit, the mind wanders, you notice this six or seven times, and you get up suspecting that nothing is happening and that you may be doing it wrong.You are not doing it wrong. You are at stage two of nine. The contemplative traditions of India described that exact situation about sixteen hundred years ago, named the fault producing it, named the antidote, and described what the next stage looks like so that you would recognize it when it arrived. That material is detailed, practical, and almost entirely missing from the way meditation is taught in English.This book is that material, arranged as twenty lessons.What You Will Practice- The six conditions that make concentration possible, and why most practitioners plateau on these rather than on technique- The seven-point posture, the lowered gaze, and the three excellences that frame a session- Choosing an object, and the difference between stability and clarity- Mindfulness, vigilance, and effort, three factors that English collapses into one word- The five faults and their eight antidotes, from Maitreya: a troubleshooting manual for the cushion- Coarse and subtle dullness and agitation, including the counterfeit state that costs sincere practitioners decades- The nine stages of resting the mind, from Asanga, with the six powers and four attentions that move you between them- Pliancy, and why the ninth stage is not yet calm abiding- The four dhyanas and the four formless absorptions, and exactly where they stop- Joining calm abiding with insight, and the four strayings that imitate realizationHow Each Lesson WorksTwenty lessons across six modules. Each gives you something to read, something to contemplate, and something to sit with, so that studying the path and walking it stay close together. A glossary of terms is included, along with a short appendix on the Yoga Sutras for readers arriving from the yoga tradition.Who It Is ForAnyone who sits, or intends to. You do not need to be a Buddhist, to hold any vow, or to belong to any lineage. Concentration is not a sectarian possession. It will serve the beginner who wants to know what is supposed to happen and in what order, and the practitioner of some years with a stable, pleasant sit and a quiet suspicion that it has stopped going anywhere, which is a specific diagnosis in this system rather than a vague mood.