Chronicles of Samadhi:
Call of the Ocean
By Andreas Mamet
© 2007
I would like to pick up the bow and arrow of in-depth communication and focus on one of the subjects that remain close to my heart.
I would like to talk about what the term “Buddha” stands for. In my view the term stands for the experience of Samadhi.
If one were to know Samadhi, one would understand, from within, the meaning of the word “Buddha.” A person who has truly “met the Buddha” - knows Samadhi.
However, there exist degrees to that knowing. For example, the element of water can be experienced in different ways. You can experience it in a bathtub, a small brook or a small pond. You can experience it in a lake or the ocean. And if you experience it in the ocean it makes a considerable difference whether you swim at the beach or suddenly find yourself dropped in the middle of it, with the next island 1,000 miles away.
In the same way there exist degrees to the experience of Samadhi.
The Shakyamuni Buddha asked four disciples to describe their experience of the nature of reality. Each one summarized his realization in his own way.
In response, the Buddha said to the first disciple: “You have my skin.”
To the second he said: “You have my blood.” To the third, “You have my bones.” To the fourth, “You have my marrow.”
Samadhi can be experienced in these multiple ways. All the way from the skin – which is more than 99.99% of humanity has ever known – to the marrow, which is utterly rare, not one person in 50 million has tasted it.
Having said this, one has to nevertheless accentuate the fact that this near-impossible experience remains a possibility. Just like climbing Mount Everest is not going to be a reality for most, it is a possibility for those who generate the superhuman determination and consequent training to prepare themselves to meet the requirements of the journey.
Or, to express it in gentler terms, the ultimate Samadhi remains a possibility if many conditions come together to bring about the climate wherein the Flower of Deepest Samadhi can bloom.
It is most interesting to note that most of the Awakened Ones have agreed to say that the nature of reality cannot be described. (For example, Lao Tzu said that the Tao that can be described, is not the Tao. This of course is a description.)
It cannot be described because it is an experience that entirely transcends the mind. It is the experiencing of No Mind. And for any kind of description, we are forced to use the mind. This may be compared to writing the word WATER in the medium of SAND or using the sound “Silence” … to describe silence. You are using one element to describe the element of the opposite polarity.
Having stated that it cannot be described, many Buddhas then went straight ahead in the attempt to create 360 different ways to describe what cannot be described, but more importantly they also worked on creating a climate wherein certain people could experience the indescribable. This climate could be called a “Buddha Field” or a “Mystery School.” I would like to call this climate a “Field of Samadhi.”
The process of describing the indescribable then became intimately intertwined with what I believe to be an exercise of an individual’s intelligence. There were Awakened Ones whose intelligence was developed to a point of dazzling brilliance. Their capacity to analyze, summarize and present spiritual complexities to the seeker made them spiritual giants whose minds did indeed operate on a genius level. They were utterly devoted to the process of passing on the flame of enlightenment and therefore bestowing the ultimate gift of healing to those capable of receiving.
It is necessary to note that the experience of Awakening is not necessarily tied to the presence of a keen intelligence. The experience can happen also to very simple people who do not possess the capacity to communicate or transmit the event of Samadhi. While their existential state remains utterly precious, they are not Masters.
The process of becoming a Master is an entirely separate process, as it is concerned with acquiring Divine Intelligence and Wisdom Discernment and all the necessary tools that are required in the service of teaching.
This process itself will span many lifetimes and will ultimately find expression in the individual’s brain being flooded by the Presence of Illumination. In other words, enlightenment will also take place in every atom of the brain.
This brings me back to a point previously mentioned. Samadhis don’t just somehow happen. They originate in very specific points of the body. They originate in the Hara, the Heart, the 3rd Eye and the Point Just Above The Head.
Therefore, each Samadhi experience, each experience of Infinity, will differ radically if they originate in those different points of your body. This is important and needs to be stated.
Tremendous power will be felt with an individual who has tasted Hara-originating Samadhi (it would be called “Satori” in the context of Zen). Yet perhaps there may not be much love and intelligence.
Tremendous love will be felt in a heart-originating Samadhi and perhaps there may not be much power and intelligence.
Tremendous wisdom and intelligence may be felt if you are near a person who knows 3rd Eye-Originating Samadhi. But perhaps it may also feel cold and not compassionate.
Therefore, Awakening requires being cultivated in the Hara and the Heart, and the 3rd Eye, and the Top of The Head.
Some people are under the highly erroneous impression that the journey ends with the experience of Samadhi. In my view, this is not true at all. With the arising of Samadhi, the journey merely begins by having reached the evolutionary dimension of significant cultivation. Quite a bit of time may still have to pass for the individual to find balance and integration of many experiences of timelessness. And indeed, in Samadhi there is no time. In Samadhi there is no mind. In Samadhi there is Silence.
Many, many experiences of Samadhi will precede the Ultimate Samadhi.
In the stream of experiencing the Ultimate Samadhi, there is no more fluctuating consciousness. There is the Presence, fully established and fully anchored in itself.
Only this unwavering, utterly indescribable Oceanic Presence is. The drop is gone.
By Andreas Mamet
© 2007
I would like to pick up the bow and arrow of in-depth communication and focus on one of the subjects that remain close to my heart.
I would like to talk about what the term “Buddha” stands for. In my view the term stands for the experience of Samadhi.
If one were to know Samadhi, one would understand, from within, the meaning of the word “Buddha.” A person who has truly “met the Buddha” - knows Samadhi.
However, there exist degrees to that knowing. For example, the element of water can be experienced in different ways. You can experience it in a bathtub, a small brook or a small pond. You can experience it in a lake or the ocean. And if you experience it in the ocean it makes a considerable difference whether you swim at the beach or suddenly find yourself dropped in the middle of it, with the next island 1,000 miles away.
In the same way there exist degrees to the experience of Samadhi.
The Shakyamuni Buddha asked four disciples to describe their experience of the nature of reality. Each one summarized his realization in his own way.
In response, the Buddha said to the first disciple: “You have my skin.”
To the second he said: “You have my blood.” To the third, “You have my bones.” To the fourth, “You have my marrow.”
Samadhi can be experienced in these multiple ways. All the way from the skin – which is more than 99.99% of humanity has ever known – to the marrow, which is utterly rare, not one person in 50 million has tasted it.
Having said this, one has to nevertheless accentuate the fact that this near-impossible experience remains a possibility. Just like climbing Mount Everest is not going to be a reality for most, it is a possibility for those who generate the superhuman determination and consequent training to prepare themselves to meet the requirements of the journey.
Or, to express it in gentler terms, the ultimate Samadhi remains a possibility if many conditions come together to bring about the climate wherein the Flower of Deepest Samadhi can bloom.
It is most interesting to note that most of the Awakened Ones have agreed to say that the nature of reality cannot be described. (For example, Lao Tzu said that the Tao that can be described, is not the Tao. This of course is a description.)
It cannot be described because it is an experience that entirely transcends the mind. It is the experiencing of No Mind. And for any kind of description, we are forced to use the mind. This may be compared to writing the word WATER in the medium of SAND or using the sound “Silence” … to describe silence. You are using one element to describe the element of the opposite polarity.
Having stated that it cannot be described, many Buddhas then went straight ahead in the attempt to create 360 different ways to describe what cannot be described, but more importantly they also worked on creating a climate wherein certain people could experience the indescribable. This climate could be called a “Buddha Field” or a “Mystery School.” I would like to call this climate a “Field of Samadhi.”
The process of describing the indescribable then became intimately intertwined with what I believe to be an exercise of an individual’s intelligence. There were Awakened Ones whose intelligence was developed to a point of dazzling brilliance. Their capacity to analyze, summarize and present spiritual complexities to the seeker made them spiritual giants whose minds did indeed operate on a genius level. They were utterly devoted to the process of passing on the flame of enlightenment and therefore bestowing the ultimate gift of healing to those capable of receiving.
It is necessary to note that the experience of Awakening is not necessarily tied to the presence of a keen intelligence. The experience can happen also to very simple people who do not possess the capacity to communicate or transmit the event of Samadhi. While their existential state remains utterly precious, they are not Masters.
The process of becoming a Master is an entirely separate process, as it is concerned with acquiring Divine Intelligence and Wisdom Discernment and all the necessary tools that are required in the service of teaching.
This process itself will span many lifetimes and will ultimately find expression in the individual’s brain being flooded by the Presence of Illumination. In other words, enlightenment will also take place in every atom of the brain.
This brings me back to a point previously mentioned. Samadhis don’t just somehow happen. They originate in very specific points of the body. They originate in the Hara, the Heart, the 3rd Eye and the Point Just Above The Head.
Therefore, each Samadhi experience, each experience of Infinity, will differ radically if they originate in those different points of your body. This is important and needs to be stated.
Tremendous power will be felt with an individual who has tasted Hara-originating Samadhi (it would be called “Satori” in the context of Zen). Yet perhaps there may not be much love and intelligence.
Tremendous love will be felt in a heart-originating Samadhi and perhaps there may not be much power and intelligence.
Tremendous wisdom and intelligence may be felt if you are near a person who knows 3rd Eye-Originating Samadhi. But perhaps it may also feel cold and not compassionate.
Therefore, Awakening requires being cultivated in the Hara and the Heart, and the 3rd Eye, and the Top of The Head.
Some people are under the highly erroneous impression that the journey ends with the experience of Samadhi. In my view, this is not true at all. With the arising of Samadhi, the journey merely begins by having reached the evolutionary dimension of significant cultivation. Quite a bit of time may still have to pass for the individual to find balance and integration of many experiences of timelessness. And indeed, in Samadhi there is no time. In Samadhi there is no mind. In Samadhi there is Silence.
Many, many experiences of Samadhi will precede the Ultimate Samadhi.
In the stream of experiencing the Ultimate Samadhi, there is no more fluctuating consciousness. There is the Presence, fully established and fully anchored in itself.
Only this unwavering, utterly indescribable Oceanic Presence is. The drop is gone.
posted by Andreas Mamet (Sw. Anand Karunesh) @ 1:00 PM
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