The Eight Stages of Sam ̄adhi
SABÎJA SAMÅDHI
(Sam ̄adhi‘with seed’)
Samadhi ̄ with samskÓ ̄aras(impressions of experience)
productive of mental activity.
Samprajñ ̄ata samadhi ̄ (= samapatti: ̄ coalescence of mind with object)
= cognitive sam ̄adhi, with support (with object of meditation):
four types of sam ̄apatti (coalescence of mind with object):
Samprajñ ̄ata-vitarka:with reasoning (tarka) =
cognition of gross elements (mahabh ̄ ̄utas) of object of meditation:
- SAVITARKA SAMÅPATTI: Concentration on gross form of
meditation-object with awareness of its name and associated concepts. - NIRVITARKA SAMÅPATTI: Concentration on gross form of
meditation-object without awareness of its name and associated
concepts.
Samprajñ ̄ata-vicara: ̄ With discriminative reflection (vic ̄ara)=
cognition of subtle elements (tanmatras ̄ ) of object of meditation. - SAVICARA SAMÅPATTI:
With awareness of the subtle elements’ qualities. - NIRVICARA SAMÅPATTI:
Without awareness of the subtle elements’ qualities. - SAMPRAJÑÅTA–ÅNANDA:
Cognition of intelligence (buddhi)
and experience only of bliss (ananda ̄ ) and ego (asmit ̄a). - SAMPRAJÑÅTA-ASMITÅ:
Cognition of materiality (prakÓrti) pure of modification,
and experience only of ego (asmita ̄).
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Oscillating between stages of samprajñata ̄ ,
and between sab ̄ıja(6) and nirb ̄ıja(8):
- ASAMPRAJÑÅTA OR NIRODHA SAMÅDHI:
Supracognitive samadhi ̄ ; without support
(without object of meditation).
8. NIRBÎJA SAMÅDHI
Samadhi ̄ ‘without seed’: ‘Dharma-cloud samadhi.’ ̄