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Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 99
83 natural result of Dhyana, but he cannot call Dhyana in the same way the precursor of Samadhi. Perhaps he does not really know the con- ditions which induce Samadhi. He can produce Dhyana at will in the course of a few minutes’ work?,־and it often happens with apparent spontaneity: with Samadhi this is unfortunately not the case. He probably can get it at will, but could not say exactly how, or tell how long it might take him?,־and he could not be sure of getting it at all. One feels sure that one can walk a mile along a level road. One knows…
1912 · PDF PAGE 98
82 in Samadhi they are very much more marked than in Dhyana. And while in the latter it seems like a simple union of two things, in the former it appears as if all things rushed together and united. One might say that in Dhyana there was still this quality latent, that the One existing was opposed to the Many non-existing; in Samadhi the Many and the One are united in a union of Existence with non-Existence. This definition is not made from reflection, but from memory. Further, it is easy to master the “trick ” or “knack” of Dhyana. After a while…
1912 · PDF PAGE 96
… the exact term used by Christian mystics to describe their attainment. Now there is great confusion, because the Buddhists use the word Samadhi to mean something entirely different, the mere faculty of attention. Thus, with them, to think of a cat is to “ make Samadhi ” on that cat. They use the word Jhana to describe mystic states. This is excessively misleading, for as we saw in the last section, Dhyana is a preliminary to Samadhi, and of course Jhana is merely the wretched plebeian Pali corruption of it.1 There are many kinds of Samadhi.2 S…
1912 · PDF PAGE 95
CHAPTER Vii SAMADHI ORE rubbish has been written about Samadhi than enough; we must endeavour to avoid adding to the heap. Even Patanjali, who is extraordinarily clear and practical in most things, begins to rave when he talks of it. Even if what he said were true he should not have mentioned it ; because it does not sound true, and we should make no statement that is ἁpriori improbable without being prepared to back it up with the fullest proofs. But it is more than likely that his com- mentators have misunderstood him. The most reasonable sta…
1912 · PDF PAGE 93
SAMADHI
1912 · PDF PAGE 97
… the splendid history of all spiritual advance! One never stops to take the reward. We shall therefore not trouble at all about what any Samadhi may or may not bring as far as its results in our lives are concerned. We began this book, it will be remembered, with considerations of death. Death has now lost all meaning. The idea of death depends on those of the ego, and of time; these ideas have been destroyed; and so “ Death is swallowed up in victory.” We shall now only be interested in what Samadhi is in itself, and in the conditions which ca…
1912 · PDF PAGE 79
…ha counted eight Jha'nas, which are evidently different degrees and kinds of trance. The Hindu also speaks of Dhyana as a lesser form of Samadhi. Others, however, treat it as if it were merely an intensification of Dharana. Patanjali says: “Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that subject is Dhyana. When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi.” He combines these three into Samyama. We shall treat of Dhyana as a result rather than as a method. Up to this point ancie…
1912 · PDF PAGE 100
…ntrating the mind on it, and perceiving only the internal sensation, the meaning unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.” Other authors are inclined to suggest that Samadhi results from meditating on subjects that are in themselves worthy. For example, Vivekananda says: “Think of any» holy subject:” and explains this as follows: “This does not mean any wicked subject.” (!) Frater P. would not like to say definitely whether he ever got Dhyana from commonobjects. He gave up the practice after a few months, and meditated on…
1912 · PDF PAGE 103
… description Bhikku Ananda Metteya gives of it. The root of the tongue gives the “ideal sound ”; and the pharynx the “ideal sight.”1 The Samadhi par excellence, however, is Atmadarshana, which for some, and those not the least instructed, is the first real Samadhi; for even the visions of “ God ” and of the “ Self” are tainted by form. In Atmadarshana the All is manifested as the One: it is the Universe freed from its conditions. Not only are all forms and ideas destroyed,but also those conceptions which are implicit in our ideas of those ideas.…
1912 · PDF PAGE 92
…st lndian writers. But to any one with experienceand some knowledgeof comparativereligion the identity is certain. We may now proceed to Samadhi.
1912 · PDF PAGE 108
…ect concentration upon a single thought. This process, which leads to the highest results, consists of three parts, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, grouped under the single term Samyama. . How can I obtain further knowledge and experience of this? . The A3. A:. is an organization whose heads have obtained by personal experience to the summit of this science. They have
1912 · PDF PAGE 81
…theory; that is common enough. But no single fact is sufficient to construct one. It will have been understood that Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi form a continuous process, and exactly when the climax comes does not matter. It is of this climax that we must speak, for this is a matter of experience, and a very striking one. In the course of our concentration we noticed that the contents of the mind at any moment consisted of two things, and no more: the Object, variable, and the Subject, invariable, or apparently so. By success in Dharana the ob…
1912 · PDF PAGE 33
…mely careful bal- ance to prevent the one absorbing the other. As it will be seen later, the “vision of God,” or “ Union with God,” or “ Samadhi,” or whateverwe may agree to call it, has many kinds and many degrees, although there is an impassable abyss between the least of them and the greatest of all the phenomena of normal consciousness. To sum ”!?, we assert a secret source of energy which ex- plains the phenomenon of Genius.1 We do not believe in any supernatural explanations, but insist that this source may be reached by the following out…
1912 · PDF PAGE 101
85 conditions of Samadhi; but in the meantime there seems no particular objection to our following tradition, and using the same objects of meditation as our predecessors,with the single exception which we shall note in due course. The first class of objects for serious meditation (as opposed to pre- liminary practice, in which one should keep to simple recognizable objects, whose definitenessis easy to maintain) is varz'ousparz'sofz‘lzelady. The Hindus have an elaborate system of anatomy and physiology which has apparently no reference to the fa…
1912 · PDF PAGE 102
…much easier to take some idea towards which the mind would naturally flow. The Hindus assert that the nature of the object determines the Samadhi; that is, the nature of those lower Samadhis which confer so— called “magic powers.” For example, there are the Yogapravritti. Meditating on the tip of the nose, one obtains what may be called the “ideal smell”; that is, a smell which is not any particular smell, but is the archetypal smell, of which all actual smells are modifications. It is “the smell which is no! a smell.” This is the only reasonable…