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Mindfulness of Breathing (54) Deepening Samādhi

So, continuing on the topic of samādhi^[1] and the eleventh step of mindfulness of breathing. The word samādhi is sometimes a general word for meditation and cultivating our mind, our body, and ourselves in meditation practice. When we look within this universe of samādhi, there are all kinds of things where we are gathering together, reunifying, and coming together to develop, grow, and enhance our experience.

Samādhi is not meant to be an experience that diminishes us, makes us less, or deprives us. It is actually the opposite. It is one of the richest ways of experiencing ourselves. It is very fulfilling, very nourishing, and develops beautiful, wholesome qualities and states of mind. In doing so, it is also getting out of the way, without adding all the extra tension and stress that can exist in the mind. It moves us to less stressful states of being, to places of less agitation, and deeper peace.

As we do so, even wholesome states of mind and activities of mind that are more energetic than need be begin to be shed, relaxed, or settled. It is a movement from more energetic states to quieter and stiller states. Some people have very negative associations with quiet, stillness, and silence. We have to try to put those associations aside and realize that the quietness, stillness, and silence we are developing is a letting go. It fills us with feelings of real goodness, contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction. But there is this movement toward less agitation, less energetic movement.

In the context of the mind getting more and more peaceful, things that were wholesome and wonderful before can now feel like they are a little bit too agitating or stressful. For example, one of the things that happens in samādhi is there can be a lot of joy. But joy, at some point, seems like it's too much; it's too agitating. Even though at the beginning it feels like the best thing anybody could ever experience, as we get more familiar with it, its energy seems like too much. Then we settle down more into a quiet place that feels even more satisfying.

This movement is the general trajectory of deepening samādhi. It is a movement from more agitated, energetic states to less energetic states that feel more and more satisfying as we go into them. I say this because it is a guiding principle for tuning into our practice. The way to see the path forward in samādhi is to appreciate that what felt really wonderful at one stage of practice, we are ready to let go of now. We let it become quieter and move to a less energetic, less activated state. That is the direction the practice is going.

There are various landmarks along the way that stand out as we do this process of settling. More peace happens, but the principle is moving in this direction. It's helpful to keep that principle in mind because sometimes when people read about samādhi, they learn about the four stages of jhāna^[2] (four stages of deep absorption). It becomes a little bit mechanical or technical. They ask, "Am I in the right place? Am I at the first jhāna?^[3] Am I at the second jhāna?" There is a kind of "samādhi by numbers" that goes on, which can get overdone. People become too preoccupied with the technical definitions and aspects rather than living in the organic flow of samādhi and just allowing things to unfold.

It's easier not to be so concerned about the numbers and stages if you understand the principle that we are going from more activated states to less activated, from more stressful to less stressful, and from more agitation to less agitation. There is a trajectory and a path.

Some of the landmarks of that are, first, a real appreciation and relief from no longer being actively engaged in unwholesome ways of thinking. If we have spent a lot of time with resentment—thinking, "Why did that person do that?"—or desire, hostility, or fantasy, after a while, we feel the flatness of it, the two-dimensionality of it, and the way in which it keeps us stressed. With samādhi^[4], with developing meditation, we start to let go of those things. When we become separate from them and temporarily put aside or deactivate those acts of greed, hate, and delusion—the unwholesome—it's such a relief. A kind of gladness and joy wells up.

More importantly, with the goodness and happiness of this relief, the meditation can really begin to do the gentle work of practice: staying present, applying the mind, and staying there. This gentle work of "okay, stay here, be with this, hang in there, come back, be here" is now done without the stress of having to struggle against unwholesome distractions and difficulties of the mind.

This gentle work of staying here can be represented by what happens on the in-breath. In the beginning, the breath is a whole new experience. The mind has to connect to that, and then we stay there for the full in-breath. Then we connect again to the beginning of the out-breath and stay there for the whole time. It's very gentle; some people don't even notice they're doing it. But there is a little working, like massaging or kneading the dough. It comes along with the relief and happiness of not being distracted anymore, of finally being able to be here and do this.

As we settle in, we land, and there's a steadiness. There's less and less need to make the effort of connecting and staying. It becomes second nature. The mind is starting to become stable, and we're able just to rest in the breathing and just stay. There is very little tendency to wander off. We're just there; we're finally here. That gives birth to a different kind of joy of just being, of being able to put aside that extra work of connecting. There's a kind of gliding, soaring, or sliding on the experience. It feels like petting a cat when the pet begins to purr. We're being touched in some deep way. It's a beautiful feeling of just staying with the breath and being there.

A different kind of joy arises, and that can be quite strong and energetic at times. After a while, that joy feels like it's too much, and we're ready to let go of that level of activation. By tuning in, there's actually a deeper satisfaction—a feeling of contentment, mindfulness, and clear comprehension. It's a simple awareness, a simple recognition of what's happening. There is a goodness and contentment in just being in this happiness or this deeper sense of pleasure, and we let go of the joy.

Then, as we go deeper, that happiness begins to soften and relax. It falls away into something that is much more satisfying, which is a deep sense of tranquility and equanimity. The awareness is very pure. Sometimes, depending on how we translate the Pali in the Buddhist teachings, awareness is very closely connected to equanimity—an awareness that is purified by equanimity. The awareness is very peaceful, very aware, and very still because there is so little mental activity, so little stressful activity.

Much of our ordinary way of experiencing ourselves temporarily falls away. People even have the sense of not really having a body; the body's edges fall away. It's not being disassociated; it's actually the opposite. We're so connected and so still that we don't need the reference points we usually have.

So, the principle is this movement to less and less activity as we go into samādhi. Part of the purpose of this is to clarify our gaze, our ability to see and observe, so it doesn't have a lot of agitation, filters, or disturbances of unwholesome thinking. It also clears our thinking, projections, ideas, and concepts that we overlay, even if those concepts are accurate enough. We are no longer overlaying concepts on our experience. We aren't doing samādhi for its own sake, but for the way it cleanses our perception and purifies awareness, so we can start seeing in a deeper and deeper way for the purpose of liberation.