What Samādhi Is

〔School of Concentration · Public Foundation Layer〕

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What this lesson leaves you able to do

• Say in one line the core of stillness: one-pointedness of mind — “the mind made one.”
• Distinguish three terms often used interchangeably: immersion (samādhi / 三昧) · stilling (samatha / 寂止) · absorption (jhāna / 禪那) — what each points to, and how they relate.
• Know that the canonical definition of “right immersion” is the four jhānas, and tell apart worldly immersion from transcendent immersion.

(This is not an exam; it is so you know where the lesson means to take you.)

Place in the arc: this lesson is the entry course of the School of Concentration, rising from the close of the School of Virtue (SI-390, Purified Virtue Inclining to Samādhi) — virtue purified, so the heart can be at ease and can settle. This lesson establishes only what stillness is (what-is); the actual guidance into stillness (breath, object, attention) belongs to the gated layer from SA-220 on, learned with a teacher. It opens onto SA-110 (Distraction and the Five Hindrances) and SA-120 (The Posture of Abiding).

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Why begin with “what is samādhi”

The School of Concentration begins with a plain question: what, exactly, is stillness?

This is worth settling first, because the word is used loosely in daily life — some mean relaxation, some focus, some a trance, some a mystical state. Set out with a blur, and you won’t know where you’re heading.

And in the Chinese context three terms are often run together: immersion (定/三昧), stilling (止), and absorption (禪那). They are not synonyms, but neither are they unrelated. Sorting these three out first gives “what is stillness” its frame.

〔Note〕 The “distinction among immersion · stilling · absorption” is a sorting this lesson does for you — no single discourse sets these three side by side with contrasting definitions. The content of each term below comes from canonical text (checked against the original); placing them together for contrast is a teaching arrangement, not the wording of any one discourse. Said plainly up front, so you don’t take the three-term distinction as a ready-made passage in the canon.

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What the Buddha said

We look in turn at the textual basis for each of the three terms.

1. Immersion / samādhi (定/三昧) — its core is “one-pointedness of mind”

Sāriputta asks the Buddha about the basis of “the noble right immersion,” and the Buddha answers (SĀ 754):

"The seven factors of the right path are the basis and the equipment of noble right immersion. What seven? Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness. Sāriputta, when these seven path-factors are made the groundwork, the mind made one — this is called the basis and equipment of noble right immersion." (雜阿含 T0099 fasc. 28)

Note the phrase “the mind made one“ — this is the core of immersion (samādhi): the mind becomes one, no longer scattered. The Pāli calls this cittass’ekaggatā (one-pointedness of mind). Immersion is not a trance, not a blank; it is the mind gathered into one, abiding as one.

2. Stilling / samatha (止/寂止) — the mind’s quieting, its non-distraction

The Chinese divides “right immersion” into two kinds, and in describing them places “stilling · immersion · one-pointedness” in a single line (SĀ 785):

"What is right immersion? Right immersion is of two kinds. There is right immersion that is worldly, with taints, with grasping, turning toward good destinations; and there is right immersion that is noble, transcendent, taintless, without grasping, rightly ending suffering, turning toward the end of suffering. What is the worldly … ? When the mind abides undistracted, unmoving, gathered, stilled, immersed, one-pointed — this is called the worldly right immersion … . What is the noble, transcendent … ? When a noble disciple contemplates suffering as suffering, and its origin, cessation, and the path as path, the mind-states associated with taintless contemplation abiding undistracted, unscattered, gathered, stilled, immersed, one-pointed — this is called the noble, transcendent right immersion … ." (雜阿含 T0099 fasc. 28)

Here “stilling“ carries the sense of samatha: the mind’s quieting, non-distraction, non-movement. Placed alongside “immersion” and “one-pointedness,” it names different faces of one and the same abiding heart — stilling stresses the quieting (the cessation of distraction), immersion stresses the oneness (the mind’s unification).

〔Teacher’s note〕 “Stilling” (samatha) as an independent term of training — the samatha paired against vipassanā (insight) in serenity-and-insight — has its full analysis at the gated layer (SA-220 on). This public layer takes “stilling” only in the sense the Chinese SĀ 785 makes plain: the mind quieted, undistracted. The deeper sense of serenity-and-insight in tandem is left to be learned with a teacher.

3. Absorption / jhāna (禪那) — the depth-stages of immersion; the canonical definition of right immersion

When the Buddha defines “right immersion” (sammāsamādhi), the definition is the four jhānas (DN 22):

"And what is right immersion? It's when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption … As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one … the third absorption … the fourth absorption … This is called right immersion."

— Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0). 〔Pāli attestation〕 second jhāna: cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ … samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ — "mind at one," "born of immersion." (DN 22, right-immersion section)

Note: the canonical definition of right immersion is the first through fourth absorptions — and absorption (jhāna) is precisely the depth-stages of immersion (samādhi). The Pāli of the second jhāna, with cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ (mind at one) and samādhijaṁ (born of immersion), is the very attestation of “immersion = one mind.”

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Exposition — the three terms together, what is stillness

Drawing the three terms in, “what is stillness” gets its full frame:

• Immersion / samādhi (定/三昧) is the general name — one-pointedness, the mind made one. Of the three, this is the broadest term: it names the gathered-into-one mind itself.
• Stilling / samatha (止/寂止) stresses the quieting face — the cessation of distraction, the mind unmoving and unscattered. It is the stillness aspect of immersion.
• Absorption / jhāna (禪那) stresses the depth face — the stages immersion is divided into by depth (first through fourth jhāna). It is the gradation aspect of immersion.

In one line: immersion is one-pointedness of mind; stilling is its quieting aspect, absorption its depth-stages. The three are not three things; they are one and the same gathered mind, seen from different angles.

And the text marks one further, important distinction: right immersion is of two kinds — the worldly (with taints, turning toward good destinations) and the transcendent (taintless, rightly ending suffering). The same “one-pointedness of mind,” if not joined with seeing-as-it-is (the taintless contemplation of suffering, origin, cessation, path), is only worldly immersion; only when so joined is it the transcendent immersion that heads toward freedom.

〔Teacher’s note〕 This “two kinds of right immersion” distinction is crucial: it marks in advance that immersion itself is not the destination. The mind gathered into one is good, is the foundation; but stop here, and it is at most worldly immersion. Immersion must turn toward wisdom (seeing-as-it-is) to become the immersion of the path to freedom. This line is the direction to remember from the very start of the School of Concentration (its full unfolding is in SA-390, Concentration Giving Rise to Insight, and on into the School of Wisdom, PR). This lesson asks only that you first recognize: immersion has a direction; immersion is not self-sufficient.

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Practice — how to begin 〔Public layer: attitude and a safe start〕

At this layer we speak only of how to recognize stillness, and in what spirit to head toward it — not the guidance into stillness (the methods of breath, object, attention belong to SA-220 on, learned with a teacher).

• First settle the understanding that “stillness is one-pointedness of mind.” Before you learn any method of entering stillness, let the line “stillness is the mind gathered into one — not a trance and not a blank” become real. With the understanding right, your later practice won’t drift into chasing states or seeking blankness.

• Recognize the “oneness” you have already tasted. You need not enter jhāna first. Recall any moment of wholehearted focus, the mind undivided — reading a book that absorbed you, doing something that made you lose track of time — that moment’s “undistracted mind” is already the plain flavour of immersion. Recognize it from that flavour.

• Remember immersion has a direction; don’t make a state the goal. Knowing there are depth-stages (the four jhānas) is good, but don’t anxiously chase “entering stillness” or “attaining a state.” That hurry is itself distraction (you’ll meet it in SA-110). Stillness is grown, not forced; and immersion must turn toward wisdom, not stop at itself.

〔Teacher’s note〕 This lesson establishes only “what is stillness”; it does not teach the guidance into stillness. The actual methods (breath and object, adjusting attention, recognizing the jhāna-factors) belong to the gated advanced layer, requiring the foundation and learned with a teacher — meditation can stir up bodily and mental experiences hard to foresee, and a teacher beside you is a protection. Nothing here rushes you to “enter stillness quickly” or “reach such-and-such jhāna.” With the understanding right, the road is there.

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Common pitfalls

⚠️ Misunderstanding: “Stillness is a trance, going blank, thinking of nothing.” It is not. Stillness is “the mind made one” — the mind gathered into one, abiding as one with full clarity, not a murky blank. A blank is mostly dullness (the drowsiness hindrance, see SA-110), not stillness.

❌ What this is not: immersion, stilling, and absorption are not three unrelated things, nor three names for one word. Immersion is the general name (one-pointedness), stilling its quieting aspect, absorption its depth-stages.

❌ What this is not: immersion is not the destination. “One-pointedness,” if it does not turn toward seeing-as-it-is, is only worldly immersion; immersion must turn toward wisdom to be the immersion of the path to freedom.

❌ What this is not: a lesson in methods of entering stillness. How to enter (breath, object, attention) belongs to the gated layer, learned with a teacher. This lesson establishes only “what stillness is.”

✅ The point: immersion (samādhi) is one-pointedness, the mind made one; stilling (samatha) is its quieting aspect, absorption (jhāna) its depth-stages (the four jhānas). Right immersion is of two kinds — worldly and transcendent — so immersion has a direction; it is not self-sufficient.

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Transition — where this leads

With “what is stillness” set straight, the entry to the School of Concentration is in place. The next two lessons complete the foundation:

• SA-110, Distraction and the Five Hindrances — the reverse of stillness. To abide, first recognize what obstructs abiding (the five hindrances).
• SA-120, The Posture of Abiding — with what heart to begin. Knowing what stillness is, and why distraction is suffering, you then establish the posture of entry.

As for the actual entering of stillness — the forty meditation objects, the four jhānas and formless attainments, the guidance into stillness — that belongs to the gated advanced layer (SA-210 on), requiring the foundation and learned with a teacher. And the School of Concentration’s endpoint, SA-390 (Concentration Giving Rise to Insight), picks up the thread already laid here: immersion is not self-sufficient; concentration gives rise to insight.

Stillness does not stay in a single word. Recognizing what stillness is, is the starting point of the School of Concentration; recognizing distraction and establishing the posture is the preparation for entry; one-pointedness turned toward wisdom is the fulfilment of stillness. You have set “what is stillness” straight.

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Questions to sit with

(Not to hand in — so that the teaching settles in you.)

• Recall a time of “wholehearted focus, losing track of time.” That moment’s “undistracted mind” — does it resemble “the mind made one” described here?
• “Stillness is not a trance, not a blank” — which was your prior idea of “stillness”? Did it shift after reading?
• “Immersion has a direction; immersion is not self-sufficient” — if immersion stopped only at “the mind is very quiet,” what would be missing?

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Sources

By now you should be able to return to the source texts yourself. Everything this lesson rests on has been checked against the original:

• DN 22 Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta (The Longer Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation) · the right-immersion section · Dīgha Nikāya · PTS ii 290 · Pāli (Mahāsaṅgīti) + Bhikkhu Sujato’s translation · licence CC0. The canonical definition of right immersion (sammāsamādhi) = the first through fourth jhānas; the second jhāna’s cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ (mind at one) · samādhijaṁ (born of immersion) is the Pāli attestation of “immersion = one mind.”
• 雜阿含 (Saṃyukta Āgama) T0099, fascicle 28 (SĀ 754) · trans. Guṇabhadra, Liu-Song dynasty · Taishō vol. 2 · CBETA, public domain. “The mind made one” — the core definition of immersion (samādhi, the sense of one-pointedness), with the seven path-factors as groundwork.
• 雜阿含 (Saṃyukta Āgama) T0099, fascicle 28 (SĀ 785) · same translator · CBETA, public domain. The two kinds of right immersion (worldly / transcendent); the single line placing “stilling · immersion · one-pointedness” together — this lesson’s Chinese textual basis for “stilling / samatha,” and the establishing of immersion’s direction (immersion must turn toward taintless contemplation).

Read it yourself: SĀ 754 is very short and well worth reading — search T0099 fascicle 28 at CBETA (cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw), or in the vault at vault-阿含/四阿含_T0099_卷028.md; the DN 22 right-immersion section is at SuttaCentral (suttacentral.net/dn22) for the Pāli with English. Don’t take the editor’s word; read the discourse and see.

On the placement of the distinction (stated honestly):

• “Placing immersion · stilling · absorption side by side for contrast” is this lesson’s teaching arrangement, not the wording of any single discourse — the content of each of the three is canonically attested (as above), but setting them together to distinguish them is a sorting the editor does for you. When you read the canon, recognize that you will meet these three terms separately across different discourses, not one passage that lists all three under a definition.
• The full Pāli definition of “stilling (samatha) as an independent term paired against insight” is not in the vault corpus this public layer rests on (its systematic analysis in the Pāli tradition belongs to the commentarial layer, and is divided into the gated SA-220 on). This lesson takes “stilling” only in the sense of SĀ 785’s “stilled” (the mind quieted, undistracted) — what the text makes plain and the public layer can establish. The deeper sense of serenity-and-insight in tandem is left to be learned with a teacher.

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Glossary

Term	Skt / Pāli	Sense
concentration (samādhi)	samādhi	one-pointedness, the mind made one; the general name for stillness — rendered “immersion” throughout this lesson
one-pointedness of mind	cittass’ekaggatā / ekodibhāva	the mind gathered into one, abiding as one; the core of immersion
the mind made one	(Chinese)	the Chinese rendering of one-pointedness (SĀ 754)
stilling / samatha	samatha	the mind’s quieting, non-distraction, non-movement; the stillness aspect
jhāna (dhyāna) / absorption	jhāna	the depth-stages of immersion (first through fourth jhāna); the gradation aspect
right immersion	sammāsamādhi	the immersion-factor of the eightfold path; canonically defined as the four jhānas (DN 22)
worldly / transcendent immersion	(Chinese)	the two kinds of right immersion: with taints toward good destinations / taintless rightly ending suffering (SĀ 785)
born of immersion	samādhija	born of immersion (the rapture and bliss of); the Pāli attestation in the second jhāna

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The Three Studies · SA-101 What Samādhi Is (English edition) · Public Foundation Layer · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Shi Huijing