ED, It has to be remembered that samadhi's role is to bring the mind to its pure state and eradicate the 5 hindrances (anger, worry, doubt etc). As such, it is a state of mind and therefore can't be the means to liberation as it is the insight into the truth of things that liberates along with the dropping of mind. It is, however, supportive and preliminary to such insight. As for Zen masters, in the Platform Sutra Huineng had this to say about samadhi and meditation practice:
When we are free from attachment to all outer objects, the mind will be in peace. Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. He who is able to keep his mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, has attained Samadhi. To be free from attachment to all outer objects is Dhyana, and to attain inner peace is Samadhi. When we are in a position to deal with Dhyana and to keep our inner mind in Samadhi, then we are said to have attained Dhyana and Samadhi. > > >Hope this helped. > > >Mike > ________________________________ From: ED <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, 29 July 2012, 15:22 Subject: [Zen] Re: Chan and zen Mike, Joe and Bill, In the literature on Zen, is the necessity of 'samadhi' ever emphasized by Zen masters? Is samadhi none other than the non-dual state? Is samadhi a more mature state of satori? --ED " Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyÄ�na. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga SÅ«tras of Patañjali. It has been described as a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object,and in which the mind becomes still, one-pointed or concentrated while the person remains conscious. In Buddhism, it can also refer to an abiding in which mind becomes very still but does not merge with the object of attention, and is thus able to observe and gain insight into the changing flow of experience." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi --- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > > Joe, > > > I think that the ability to enter samadhi strengthens any insight gained from > kensho/satori. Without it, awakening is fleeting because any insight is much > weaker. > > Samadhi allows us to experience the mind in its pure state for significant > periods of time, rather than just mind-moments. This can then give us a > better idea of 'where to be' when outside events threaten to over whelm us. I > notice in western Zen that the older, more Buddha-inspired, teachings are > looked down on as unnecessary/superflous and the 'Just This!' view is > over-emphasized. Could this be a result of the western propensity to want > things the easy way? I know people here will probably say that it is easy and > it's just selling water by the river (and other too cute by half platitudes), > but there were reasons why early Buddhism taught what it taught. Anyone can > sit on a sofa and say 'Just This!' - even tho it is Just This! (tip of the > hat to Bill!). > > Mike
