Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

attainment of superior states of enlightenment.
2. Using other categories we may classify samadhi into
three great groups. These are, first, the "worldly or
mundane concentrations" which we call "dhyanas."
Then come the supramundane states reaching up to the
attainment of Arhat and called "beyond the world."
Third, there are those lokottara samadhis known as
"utterly beyond the world."
(Note: As used here, "world" means: from this earth up
to life in the formless heavens or down to suffering in
the hells. Thus it is quite different from the "world"
described by non-Buddhists. They have confined the
meaning of "world" to the very earth on which we live.)
a. WORLDLY STATES OF DHYANA. These we may
divide into two:
i. The first is "fundamental taste dhyana." The name
implies that there are still some "tastes" experienced in
concentration. "Tastes" in this sense refers to the
happiness, joy, or good feeling to be found in those
states, which lead, unless the meditator is careful, to
attachment. Included under this heading are the three
groups of four, known collectively as the twelve gates
of dhyana. They are: the four rupa-dhyanas, the four
Brahma-viharas, and the four arupa-dhyanas. (Another
confusion becomes possible here, as in Chinese the
arupa-dhyana, "infinity of space" (akasanantyayatana) is
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