SN 36.1 - Samadhi Sutta [VedanaSamyutta - Book Of The Six Sense Bases]

Ektaji explains the 'SN 36.1 Samadhi Sutta' (discourse) from Samyutta Nikaya (The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya by Bhikkhu Bodhi) from Chapter 36 [Vedanasamyutta] sutta 1.
These suttas, originally in Pali language, are at the heart of Buddha's teachings. Ektaji uses some Pali words so that the meaning and importance of the sutta is not lost in translation and interpretation.

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Transcript

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Welcome to Buddha Sangha.

Today we will do a tiny sutta from Samyutta Nikaya.

It is Samyutta Nikaya 36.

1.

Samadhi Sutta.

The word Samadhi has really been hyper exaggerated through the ages.

For meditators it is very simple to attain Samadhi.

Samadhi simply means complete immersion in silence.

Many meditators who have been meditating for a long time reach this state very easily.

The only obstacle on their path is the method that they were using to get there.

Some use mantras,

Some use a guided meditation.

All these external sounds become an obstacle because to reach Samadhi all you need is complete external silence.

Only when there is external silence can you internally immerse into the internal silence.

So I am not saying that don't use mantras or don't use guided meditations.

This is the beginning step is what I am saying.

When you are climbing up the ladder you use the bottommost step to reach up.

Then you have to let go of that bottommost step and then step up.

Again you have to let go of this step to go up.

Do you see what I am saying?

So any external sound,

Guided meditation,

Mantra etc is just the first step.

You cannot keep holding on to this step if you want to progress higher.

So when you are sitting and meditating and you have taken the first step of the mantra then you have to let go of the attachment to the mantra.

You have to let go of the attachment to the sound because the purpose of that sound was to take you into silence which is the next step.

Know that you have come into silence now just be in that silence.

If a mantra,

Guided meditation is not taking you into that inner silence then discard it and pick up something else.

You will have to experiment with several things out there to figure out what clicks for you.

Just like there are so many flavours of ice cream in the market.

Baskin Robbins itself has 33 flavours and I am not advertising for them.

But each one of us has a different flavour that appeals to our tongue.

Just like that.

There will be different meditation that will appeal to each one of us.

Appeal means what?

That which will take us into silence not that which we like from the intellectual or the level of the mind.

You see what I am saying?

There is a difference between the two.

I can like something because it is the most popular thing or it is a trend and everybody is just following that.

Or there is another way where I hit silence quicker.

Do you see what I am saying?

The trend is not necessarily what works for you.

So you figure out what takes you into silence quicker and then you drown deep into that silence.

I am not saying that you will immediately become a Mahatma or a Sadhu.

No.

It will take its time.

Simply Samadhi is attaining that state of Sam.

Sam or Samatha means equanimity where the mind is not going up and down and up and down and up and down.

How does the mind go up and down?

You have a pleasant feeling,

The graph goes up.

You have an unpleasant feeling,

The graph goes down.

Again you have a pleasant feeling,

The graph goes up.

And this continues.

Have you noticed?

Feelings and thoughts work hand in hand on this graph.

Buddha had meditated with all the contemporary saints of his time and had done all the meditations including those that led to Samadhi.

But he said that even after doing all these,

My Raugas and Dveshas have not been wiped away.

So something is wrong.

What is the point of attaining a Samadhi which does not take my suffering away?

And my suffering is caused by my own grieving and aversions.

It's got nothing to do with external people's situations and things.

He understood this truth very clearly that my own Raghas and Dveshas,

My own grieveings and aversions are the cause of my Dukkha.

And second,

Doing these techniques of Samadhi is not wiping away these Raghas and Dveshas.

So when I go into Samadhi,

I'm very quiet,

I'm very relaxed,

I'm very centred.

But when I come out of it,

I am the same person who has that craving that aversion,

Is angry at this,

Annoyed at that,

Disappointed at this,

Super excited at that,

Passionate about this.

So the graph again goes up and down.

He said,

There has to be some way,

Some type of a Samadhi in which I learn the skill to reduce these cress and truffs of the graph.

And they become smaller and smaller and finally become equanimous in real life.

He then set out to find the right kind of Samadhi and that is what is called Samyak Samadhi,

Samma Samadhi,

Wholesome Samadhi or right kind of Samadhi.

The word Samadhi itself is translated in many books as concentration or absorption or immersion.

It doesn't matter how you translate it.

It means that my mind is not scattered,

It is completely inside and silent and collected.

So collectiveness would be a better translation.

Now it does not mean that in this mind thoughts don't come up.

Thoughts come up but they are not disturbing thoughts.

Secondly,

In this Samadhi,

A sincere spiritual seeker figures out the truth of his own mind.

Buddha said,

If you don't experiment with your mind,

If you don't find what is the root cause of your own suffering,

You will never be able to come out of suffering.

How many ever times you do Samadhi,

You will never be able to come out of your suffering because you have not figured out what is the root cause of my suffering.

The moment I recognize,

Oh this is the root cause,

Then I have to uproot it.

But to uproot it,

I have to first identify it.

Correct?

The Samadhi in which you go in with a scientific temper,

You explore the depths of your mind,

You figure out what is it that is spoiling this peace.

What is it that is taking away this collectedness of the mind and making it totally a scattered mind,

A scattered brain.

What is responsible for this little silent lake to have that first ripple that ruins the peace,

The serenity.

So Buddha was very scientific in his temper and that is what he taught that if you meditate and reach a silent state,

That is where your exploration should begin.

You observe reality as it is,

Not as you want it to be,

Not as you want it to not be,

But just as it is.

And observing reality,

Observing,

Observing,

Observing,

Observing,

You will have that first thought which will disturb this quiet observation.

And there you will figure out,

Ahh,

This first thought that disturbed my serenity,

This is creating turbulence.

Now,

Where did this thought come from and how did this thought generate?

Am I generating it?

Buddha had a scientific temper.

It's Samadhi,

He said,

When the lake is absolutely silent and there is no ripple,

You will notice that the first ripple comes up.

The first strength of a real sadhaka is to not react to the first ripple and it settles down on its own.

This first ripple comes on account of the past mental conditioning that you have.

In the past,

You have encouraged certain thoughts and those go and sit in your karma bank as sankhara's.

That first thought comes up and causes that first ripple.

A real sadhaka learns the skill of not reacting to this first thought or that first ripple and that ripple dies down.

But,

The sadhaka who is not skilled yet,

What does he do?

When the first ripple is created,

He reacts to the ripple.

It's like throwing more stones in.

What will happen?

More ripples come up.

And then you throw more stones in because you are reacting to that feeling and more ripples are created and more ripples are created and then you cannot meditate anymore.

Doesn't this happen to all of us?

Yeah?

That's because we do not have the real thirst of ending our own dukkha.

We just want to practice meditation to just get temporary,

Superficial silence of the mind.

We are not interested in the deep silence of the mind.

There is this conscious level of the mind,

Then there is a subconscious level and there is an unconscious level of the mind.

We are very interested in only silencing this conscious mind.

It's more like a temporary suppression.

It does not help and it does not last long.

If you are looking for a long lasting solution to come out of this continuous turbulence in the deeper levels of the mind,

You will have to work on identifying what is the cause of your dukkha.

And that can be done only in the silence of Samadhi.

Again,

An external guided meditation,

A mantra,

A sound cannot take you very deep.

It takes you to the conscious mind.

Silence only.

The depth is only till there because you came using the medium of sound which is not natural,

Which is not reality.

Therefore,

Buddha came up with the most essential thing about Samadhi.

He said,

Be with what is.

Be with reality as it is.

Not as you want it to be,

Not as you want it to not be.

So,

He came up with the techniques of just observing normal breath,

Not modulating the breath,

Not creating any sound,

Not doing any breathing exercise,

But just simple natural breath.

Reality as it is for me right now.

The other technique he came up with was observing the sensations that are happening in the body to me right now in this moment.

The sensations that are happening,

Not what I want them to be,

Not what I want them to not be,

But what they are right now.

This is called Samyak Samadhi,

The right kind of Samadhi.

One where you see reality as it is,

Where you observe reality as it is and then you immerse in the silence of reality.

That takes you into the deeper corners of the mind where sound cannot take you.

Second Samyak Samadhi is that where some wisdom about my mind is revealed to me.

I go in to look at what disturbs my peace and figure out the way to uproot that source of suffering or dukkha in me.

And third Samyak Samadhi is that where I learn to not react,

Just be some equanimous.

Being equanimous more and more and more takes you deeper and deeper and deeper into the mind with this scientific temper recognizing that this particular thing is the cause of my dukkha.

And this is the way to eliminate my dukkha.

The spiritual seeker comes up with his own wisdom.

That wisdom nobody can give it to you and nobody can take it away from you.

Even Ekta cannot give you the wisdom that you can experience when you go into meditation.

Again that meditation must be only with the medium of reality.

And external sound is not reality.

It is created.

It is unnatural.

It is okay for the first step on the spiritual path as a beginner but as you graduate higher you must learn to let go of the sound and immerse into silence to experience the depths of Samadhi.

May you all attain Samyak Samadhi,

The right kind of Samadhi.

So now with this understanding of Samadhi we will go into the sutta.

Samadhi Sutta.

Samyutta Nikaya 36.

1.

I will read out first in Pali and explain in English.

Tisso ima bhiktave vedana.

Because there are these three feelings.

Buddha has described three kinds of feelings.

Katamo tisso?

What three?

1.

Sukkavedana.

Pleasant feeling.

2.

Dukkavedana.

Painful feeling.

Adukkam a sukkavedana.

Neither painful nor pleasant feeling.

Ima ko vikkave tisso vedanaati.

These are the three feelings.

We all recognise pleasant feeling.

Vibrations,

Little crawling,

Little hands,

Happy feeling.

Different kinds of sensations throughout the body that are very pleasant,

That feel very good.

Unpleasant feeling are gross sensations in the body.

Painful feelings or heavy,

Heaviness feeling or consolidated feeling.

Now there is a third type of feeling which is neither pleasant nor painful.

People mistake it as very peaceful.

Especially when a meditator sits for one hour every day meditating.

Then initially he has pain in the body and you know that restlessness in the body.

But with practice what happens is the body gets used to it and he does not experience pain in the body anymore.

It is a state of neither pleasant feeling but not even painful.

So he is very happy now that he has reached the stage of where there is no pain in the body and he can sit and meditate for one hour.

But again this is still a feeling,

A sensation.

It is neither painful nor pleasant.

And you can start liking or getting attached to this feeling.

So that is why Buddha has categorised this as the third important feeling.

Samahito Sampajano Sattvuddhasa Sarako.

A disciple of the Buddha.

Mindful,

Concentrated,

Comprehending clearly.

Vedanacha Padjanati.

Vedananacha Sambhava.

He understands feelings and the origin of feelings.

So of course this can happen only in Samadhi when you are very silent,

Very quiet,

The mind is collected.

Though here the word used is concentrated,

We will substitute it by collected.

Because concentrated has an implication that you are stressing,

There is stress,

There is focus and you are making an effort.

But in Samadhi you just are,

You are not making an effort.

So it is more of a natural collectiveness of the mind rather than a concentration made by effort.

So he is comprehending very clearly now because everything is silent and everything is quiet and he is comprehending very clearly when a first thought comes up.

This first thought or first feeling or emotion comes from the stored Karma Sankharas.

Again this can only be experienced if you are in Samyak Samadhi.

Samyak Samadhi is that which you get into without the use of an external support or external crutch like a sound or a guided meditation.

And you are just observing reality as it is with non-reaction.

Not reacting,

Just being silent,

Just being with what is,

Whatever is,

Is,

Whether painful or pleasant,

You just are.

And you go deeper and deeper with the scientific temper of comprehending reality.

That is the third clause or the third main facet of Samyak Samadhi.

You are going into Samadhi with this clear understanding that I would like to figure out the cause of my Dukkha.

The scientific temper is there.

Thus he is clearly comprehending and then he understands feelings.

So now how does he understand that first thought comes up automatically on account of past Sankhara and it generates a feeling.

If it's a pleasant thought it generates an automatic pleasant feeling in the body.

If it's an unpleasant thought it will automatically generate an unpleasant feeling in the body.

If it is neither painful nor pleasant thought it will generate neither painful nor pleasant feeling in the body.

So now this Sadak who is observing it,

He very clearly sees,

Ah,

This is the feeling and it came from this thought.

He chooses to not react.

This ripple automatically settles down and the lake becomes serene again.

But for a Sadak who is not so skilful yet,

In the beginning might react,

Oh that is a painful feeling.

That itself is a reaction.

And then he has thrown a stone by doing that and there will be more ripples.

And he will understand when I generate more thought it creates more feelings.

So the first thought has come on account of my past Karma Sankharas.

But after that I generated a chain of thought in my own mind and that generated a lot of feelings,

A lot of emotions.

And that took away my silent state,

The serenity of my meditation.

He wakes up,

Aha,

This is the way it works.

So now he develops the skill of not reacting even more,

Works even harder to not react.

You really have to make an effort to not do.

Doing something has become the habit pattern of the ego.

It wants to do.

It's always in doership.

This is the true practice of non-doership.

Not doing,

Just being.

So Samyak Samadhi is that Samadhi which helps you to just be.

Then you automatically come up with your own wisdom.

Ahh,

When I threw that second stone of negative thought,

Of disliking it,

It created more feelings.

Again I threw another thought,

It generated more feelings.

Ahh,

This is how feelings are generated or this is how feelings originate.

Do you get it?

So he understands feelings and the origin of feelings.

Kya tha cheta nirudjhanti magancha kaya gami nam.

Where they finally seize and the path leading to their destruction.

So he sees the origin,

We discussed the origin,

We discussed also how they increase,

Increase,

Increase and they take you out of meditation.

Now the sadhaks makes an effort to not do and just be.

And he just is.

And that first thought comes,

The feeling is generated.

He remains centred.

He does not react to it.

He is just equanimous.

This feeling does not have the power to take away the serenity of the present moment.

With this determination he does not react to it.

And that ripple fades away.

So he learnt the skill of destroying that particular root cause of dukkha or suffering.

So if you are paying attention,

You will understand this that suffering is equal to vedana,

Is equal to feeling.

Feelings are suffering.

This might seem very difficult for a beginner on the spiritual path to observe.

He might say,

Oh my feeling for my spouse,

My parents,

This person or that person who all this is,

Dukkha.

Yes,

It is all dukkha.

A real sadhak goes deep into this meditation of reality and recognises this truth of his own accord.

You don't have to believe me or the Buddha.

You just experiment with your own mind and you can very easily come to this conclusion yourself.

Vedanaanam kaya bhikkhu nityato parinibhutthi.

With the destruction of feelings,

A bhikkhu is hungerless and fully quenched.

This is very important.

The moment you recognise the key to destroying your own feelings of craving and aversion,

I like it,

I don't like it.

The day you find that key,

You have attained one of the highest truths and you become hungerless.

What is the hunger for?

It is for craving,

Grabbing,

Grabbing,

Getting,

Receiving,

Achieving,

Attaining.

Really look,

Why do you want to attain?

Because just that thought of wanting to achieve something creates a pleasant sensation in you.

And you react to that pleasant sensation.

You don't react to that particular external object.

Many times you attain and achieve that what you were running behind but you don't experience the joy you thought you would experience.

Why?

Because the joy was actually in that little thought,

In that little passionate thought and that passionate thought kicked that passionate feeling inside you.

And that feeling was very tingly,

Tingly,

Crawling,

Beautiful,

Happy feeling inside and you loved that.

You actually react to that feeling and crave for this object more because you like that tingly feeling.

And the more you crave,

The more the tingly feeling comes up,

The more you crave,

The more the tingly feeling comes up.

It is like an addiction.

Unfortunately,

We all are addicted to craving and aversion.

Aversion is also another form of craving.

I do not want to see him.

When I don't see him,

I feel pleasant.

Are you seeing this?

I am craving for this pleasant sensation in my body.

So really it has got nothing to do with him.

It has got to do with this thought and the vedana,

The sensation this thought creates in this body.

A true sadhaka,

A real sadhaka with a scientific temper starts seeing this truth.

He wakes up to reality and he comprehends very clearly that my own feelings are the root cause of my suffering,

Of my dukkha.

The third important feeling of neither pleasant nor painful is also something that one should not get attached to because that itself,

That thought,

Oh see,

I am not feeling pleasant,

I am not feeling painful.

This itself evokes pleasant feeling again.

Do you see what I am saying?

Yeah,

It is a pitfall.

There is a danger in that gratification.

So a sadhaka recognises the pitfall of all these three feelings.

Again,

You do not have to believe me blindly.

Do not believe the Buddha.

Buddha's intention was only to tell you the importance of meditating and going deeper into samadhi so that you discover this truth by your own self.

You experiment with your own mind and reach this conclusion for yourself.

Then it is no more Ekta's truth or Buddha's truth.

It becomes your truth.

So see that you start meditating.

If you do not know any meditation techniques without the help of an external guidance or without the help of an external mantra or sound or modulation of breath,

You can join the Buddha weekend.

Of course,

This cannot be done online.

It is taught in person.

So you can come,

Spend a weekend and learn this technique with me.

Or you can go to any centre of Buddhas where there are monks,

There are many monasteries all around the world.

Just go find that technique where there is no use of an external crutch or external sound.

Where you learn to go into samadhi just with the help of your own reality.

Reality of either your breath or reality of your own body sensations.

Whatever your reality is in the present moment is the best tool for taking you into samadhi.

May you all recognise this truth about your feelings.

Apu Vipu Bhava.

Be your own light.

Vipu Vipu Bhava.

Reviews

Really useful thank you 🙏 ‘neither pleasant or unpleasant’ is also a feeling to become attached to.

Very helpful. Thank you very much.