Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

definitions of samadhi given in different books, where it
is said that it may be a worldly meditation or the same
as the dhyanas. In these talks, however, we shall use the
scheme laid down here (see Appendix I, Part II, C. 5).
Bhadanta Nagarjuna in his Prajnaparamita Sastra
comments that the first four states of concentration are
common to all religions. These are the four rupa (form)
dhyanas quite commonly described by Hindu, Sufi, and
Christian saints. The second four are called the deeper
or higher concentrations (arupa-dhyana) and these
Nagarjuna calls samadhis. But according to our system
of three-yanas-in-one, only the final attainment is called
samadhi and before this we only speak of three stages
(samatha, samapatti, and samapanna), all of them
covered by the general term "dhyana."
Our book on meditation is made up of letters, words and
phrases and these are described as "bodies" (kaya) in the
Idealist Schools. Similarly, the whole process of
meditation may be compared to a body: samatha is the
feet, samapatti the body proper, and samadhi the head.
Mr. Chen then gave us a diagram to clarify the
relationships of these various terms.
2. There are thus three parts in the meditation process:
a. The foundation of samyag-drsti, Right View, which is
initially acquired through study and thoroughly learning
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