Meditation is stillness, not concentration | Ajahn Brahm

Ajahn Brahm fields a question about types of "samadhi". He goes on to say that there is only one type of samadhi, and that it makes no sense to translate the word as "concentration" when what it really means is "stillness".

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Vipassana, samadhi and samatha samadhi, are they all the same? Is Jhana necessary for liberation?

There is no such thing as Vipassana Samadhi or Samatha Samadhi.

There is only Samadhi.

And Samadhi the word does not mean

Concentration, that is one of the most ridiculous translations of that term.

It means stillness

Not concentration.

Concentration is what I was forced to do at school when the teacher was standing over me

"Concentrate!!"

And to this day the word has got a terrible meaning for me.

Or it was what we did in the Second World War

we had Concentration Camps and sometimes people think my goodness

I'm now in a concentration camp because I'm supposed to do concentration meditation.

This is a camp. Oh my god. What have I got myself into? [laughter]

This is not a concentration camp, this is a stillness, it's the happy camp.

It is much more like Club Med than a concentration camp

It is Club Med. And what do I mean by that?

Club Meditation Serpentine.
[laughter]

So what Samadhi means means stillness you?

You know that last rains retreat one of the

people who was staying here for the three months rains retreat which finished recently, a Chinese girl,

she told me afterwards 'that's amazing that you keep calling this stillness' because you know

she's read the the equivalent of the Pali Sutras, that's called the Agamas in Chinese.

So whenever they mentioned the word Samadhi, they never used Chinese words even remotely similar to concentration.

It's the two symbols and I probably got the pronunciation wrong: it's "Shue" and "Guan"

Shue means still, Guan as in Guan Yin means looking over, looking on.

Still and mindful.

Was the translation used in all of the Chinese texts for the word Samadhi

Nothing to do with concentration.

Still and aware.

It's beautiful to have that sort of confirmation

and once you take the word concentration away that

solves all the problems of what you think this Samadhi is and all of the terrible

conflict between Vipassana and Samatha - that is way past its use-by date.

No conflict at all

Samadhi

still

looking on

Samatha, Vipassana combined

in the one word Samadhi.

So that's what we're doing because when we're still

we're mindful, when we're mindful we become still.

That simile which I gave in the first evening

walking up the hillside

when you go fast you

just can't see, you're not mindful. You're not aware.

Things are moving too fast. They don't fully form in your senses

When you go slower, you're more mindful, you see more and it's more delightful.

When you stop, when you're perfectly still that's when you get the insight,

that's when you see things properly and
you also get happiness too.

So really Samatha, Vipassana and Joy,

they go together. I don't know why people keep missing out the joy part.

Because they miss out the joy part they think this is hard work

I'm going to be enlightened. I've really got to work hard. If I'm gonna have insight

I have to really work hard. If I'm going to get Jhanas I have to really work hard.

Many people have been working hard they've got no insights at all.

Working hard, no stillness at all.

Working hard, no happiness at all.

Going in the wrong direction.

Still, "shue", maybe that's where we get the English word from: "sh.."

Is that true? I don't know, any linguist here? Probably not.

And Guan: just looking on.

It's a beautiful word. Now you know what meditation is: be still and just look on, that's Samadhi

So that's Vipassana Samadhi, Samatha Samadhi. Samadhi is both.

And also Sukha Samadhi, happiness as well.

So if you think you have Samadhi but haven't got a smile on your face, I'm sorry, that's not Samadhi.

You may be concentrating

You may be on the outside still just like those guards outside Buckingham Palace, they're so still

but you think they're going to get Enlightened, you think they're in Jhana?

No way - that's total force, total control.

That's not the way to meditate, not like a guard or Buckingham Palace.

The way to be still is to be totally relaxed.

Still, I'm just looking on, and happy.
That's actually the way.

Is Jhana necessary for liberation? Of course it is. There is an Eightfold Path.

The last factor of the Eightfold Path is Samma Samadhi. Samma Stillness.

And that is always every time without exception, hundreds of times in those Suttas,

the word of the Buddha, described as One Two Three Four Jhanas and nothing else.

Just Jhanas.

If the Jhana's weren't necessary the Buddha in his great wisdom and compassion

would have taught us a Sevenfold path.

But he said an Eightfold Path because every one of those factors is absolutely necessary for enlightenment

Jhana is as necessary as your precepts.

So sometimes people think well you can cut to the chase: just do meditation and don't keep any precepts.

So they actually do a five-fold path because three of the paths are all about precepts, about your conduct.

So no, you can actually do the whole Eightfold Path and then you get enlightened.

So yeah, Jhana is necessary for liberation, no doubt about that.

Any arguments? It's really nice to have an argument in the evening really gets people excited

Okay

And if you doubt that I'll show you the texts from the word of the Buddha

where it says that specifically without any shadow of a doubt.

(next question)
When I'm tired, doing meditation bad thoughts come..