What is Samatha Meditation

What is Samatha? Samatha is concerned with the concentration of one’s mind on a suitable meditation object in order to prevent the mind from wandering about. This will bring about subtle peacefulness and pleasantness. Samatha is a powerful tool with which to practise vipassana effectively. Whoever attains samatha, their mind becomes like a still, clear pool completely free from disturbance and agitation. In Buddhism, there are 40 different types of proper meditation objects (kasina) to calm the mind. Kasina means “entirely” or “whole”. When a kasina is an object meditation we have to focus the whole circle of kasina in our mind, but with the eyes initially. The forty meditation objects are: 10 kasina, 10 asubha, 10 anussati, 4 appamannas, 4 arupas, 4 dhatumanasikaras, and 1 aharepatikula. Below are explanations in brief.

The 10 kasinas are pathavi kasina (earth), apo kasina (water), tejo kasina (fire), vayo kasina (wind or air), aloka kasina (light), lohita kasina (red), nila kasina (green), pita kasina (yellow), odata kasina (white), and akasa kasina (space). In the practice of kasina, the practitioners select one of these meditation objects and then look at that object by closing the physical eyes for a few minutes. Close the eyes and imagine the object until the object can be seen with the mind (mental eye). If you cannot remember it, open the eyes and look at the object again and again. When you can see the object with both opened eyes and closed eyes, you attain concentration.
The 10 asubhas (10 kinds of foulness) are: bloated corpse, bluish discolored corpse, festering corpse, split or cut up corpse, gnawed corpse, scattered corpse, hacked and scattered corpse, blood-stained corpse, worm-infested corpse, and skeleton. In the practice of asubha, traditionally, the practitioners go to a graveyard and then investigate one of ten conditions of a corpse. This meditation object is suitable for one whose habit is passion. After attaining concentration, the practitioners may practise vipassana by investigating the corpse as impermanence and out of control (non self). We have to die some day. Our body will be like this corpse. The practitioners continuously investigate all things in the universe until the mind reaches the state of impermanence and non-self.

The 10 anussatis (ten recollections) are: recollection of the Buddha’s virtues, recollection of the Dhamma, recollection of the Sangha’s virtues, contemplation of one’s own morals, contemplation on one’s own liberality, contemplation on the virtues which enable people to become gods, mindfulness of death, contemplation on the 32 impure parts of the body, mindfulness on breathing, and recollection of peace. At this point, I will describe in brief about how to contemplate on the 32 impure parts of the body because people generally cling to their body as an object of beauty. That causes “self” to arise in the mind. In fact, within our body is found a skeleton. It is full of flesh which is covered with a skin. Beauty is nothing but skin deep. When one reflects thus on the impure parts of the body, passionate attachment to this body gradually disappears. Many Bhikkhus in the time of the Buddha attained Arahatship by meditating on these impurities. However, this meditation may not appeal to those who are not sensual. The thirty-two parts of the body are: hair, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinew, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, bowels, mesentery, stomach, faeces, brain, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph, tears, grease, saliva, nasal mucus, articular fluid, and urine.

The 4 appamannas (unbounded states of mind) are: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. In the practice of this meditation, we unlimitedly radiate loving-kindness to all beings in the world and to the many universes without exception. When seeing one who needs help, we try to help him with our ability and wisdom to lessen his suffering without hesitation. In some cases we cannot help him such as one who broke the nation’s laws and was arrested by the police or we cannot help him because the problem he faces is beyond our ability and wisdom. In that case, we cannot help him. So, we radiate equanimity to that person. We congratulate and show our sympathetic joy to those who succeed in life either by verbal expressions( congratulations on your graduating) or physical expressions (giving a bunch of flowers to one who has had a success) or both. That is a way to develop sympathetic joy.

The 4 arupas (four kinds of formless sphere) are: sphere of infinity of space, sphere of infinity of consciousness, sphere of nothingness, and the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. In the practice of this meditation, the practitioners select one of these meditation objects and then contemplate on that object more and more until the mind and the object are one thing.

The 4 dhatumanasikara (analysis of the four elements) are: earth, water, fire, and air. In the practice of this meditation, the practitioners select one of these four meditation objects and then gaze at the object for a while and close the eyes. Practise like this until the object can be seen with the mind or mental eye. The way of practice of this meditation is like kasina.
The one aharepatikula (perception of the loathsomeness of food) is a way to detach from the taste of food during eating. The practitioners contemplate food so that it will become loathsome when it is eaten because of being related to the body. The food eaten is changed from freshness to loathsomeness. One the one hand, the practitioners may contemplate food that it cannot be stayed for a long time. It has to become discolouring and decaying. When decayed, it produces a bad smell and is loathsome. This is the eternal law that cannot be refused. When eating food, practitioners contemplate this situation. This kind of meditation is a way to train our mind to realize the real purpose of eating. We should eat to survive; we are not born for just eating.
As is known, samatha has calmness as its function. Calmness (samathi) has many levels according to its strength: khanika samathi, uppacara samathi and appana samathi. Khanika samathi (a temporary concentration) is a concentration that we use in our life for working and reading. Uppacara samathi (an elevated concentration, closer to the level of appana samathi) is a deeper concentration that allows our mind to be still and calm for at least fifteen minutes. At this stage, mental images may occur (nimitta) and we can enlarge them or reduce them in size as we wish. If we use this calm to investigate our body either from the point of view of the Four Elements or through Loathsomeness, we can realise the truth that we are a component of the Four Elements. When contemplating our body as loathsomeness, we can realise that. For example, when we contemplate “skin” we see it as beauty. When reaching the level of uppacara samathi, we see the skin with the eyes while closing the eyes in meditation because of the power of calmness. We can use this concentration to investigate the skin as loathsome by separating the body into many parts. This is skin, that is hair, hair of the body, nails, teeth, flesh, sinew, bones, and so on. When these parts of the body are separated from each other, we cannot see our body as beauty. A complete being cannot be found. We find only many parts of the separated body which is loathsome.
We can see and say that we are persons because a being is compounded with many parts of the body. Again, we see our body as not ugliness because we look at our body as a whole. When separating the body by this concentration like a doctor separates the parts of body from each other, we cannot see our body as beautiful any more. This is an easy example by which we can understand the reality of the body in our daily life as foulness. Why is our body foul? One example is saliva. We may not enjoy food when we see or hear saliva spit on the ground by some one. That is because we see saliva as loathsomeness. Another example is when our saliva is spit on a spoon. We cannot bear to eat it because of the feeling it is loathsome even if that saliva is from our own body. Therefore, parts of the human body are foul. If we contemplate this, where and how can we experience our body as beauty? The answer is we cannot.

After skilfully practising uppacara samadhi meditation, the next step is appamanna samadhi. It is a concentration that permits the mind to remain a very long time on the same object. At this stage the mental images will not appear. Practitioners may go back and forth between uppacara samadhi and appamanna samadhi if they wish. Appamanna samadhi is near jhana (meditative absorption) in which there are different stages of absorption and at each subsequent stage there is a higher degree of calm. At the moment of absorption, sense impressions and defilements are temporarily subdued.