We have already seen a distinction between the two types of samadhi — absolute and positive samadhi. There are also several different phases of samadhi. To understand these phases, let’s look at the way Rinzai Zenji, a great teacher of Zen, categorized the conditions of mind. He taught that there are four conditions or states of mind, and each has its own phase of samadhi:
1. Inward concern is absent; outer concern dominates.
2. Outer concern is absent; inward concern dominates.
3. Both inner and outer concerns are absent.
4. Neither inner nor outer concerns are absent.
In the first condition, we are absorbed in outer circumstances. A famous surgeon was once performing a delicate operation when there was a sudden earthquake. The shocks were so severe that most of the attendants ran out of the room for safety, but the surgeon was so absorbed in the operation that he didn’t feel the shocks at all. After the operation, he was told of the earthquake, and that was the first he knew of it. He had been completely absorbed in his work, in a kind of samadhi.
We experience this kind of samadhi when we are watching a football game, reading, writing, fishing, looking at pictures, talking about the weather, even stretching out a hand to open the door, even in the moment of sitting down or stepping forward — even in thinking. In fact, we are at every moment absorbed in that moment’s action or thought.
There are various degrees of absorption, various periods of time, and differences between voluntary and involuntary attention. But we are almost always experiencing a minor or major condition of momentary samadhi, so to speak.
When we are in this sort of samadhi we are forgetful of ourselves. We are not self-conscious about our behavior, emotions, or thought. The inner person is forgotten and outer circumstances occupy our whole attention.
To put it another way: Consciousness works in two different ways, one directed outward, the other inward. When consciousness is concerned with outward matters, inward attention is forgotten, and vice versa.
NOW, IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE the difference between true samadhi with self-mastery (more on this soon) and the false kind of samadhi without it. In true samadhi, even when your inner experience is forgotten, it is not forsaken. When you practice zazen, you become firmly established within; you could say your inner experience is ready to express itself at any time.
False samadhi lacks this self-mastery from the outset. There can be fighting samadhi, stealing samadhi, hating samadhi, jealousy samadhi, worrying, dreading, upsetting samadhi, but all without the guidance of self-mastery. None of these are true samadhi as it is understood in Zen.
An animal or bird enjoys samadhi every moment. When it grazes in a meadow it is in a grazing samadhi. When it flies up at the sound of a rifle, it is in a flying samadhi. Mellowed by the evening sun, standing quietly for a long time motionless in the meadow, it is in what we might call a “mellowing samadhi” — a beautiful picture and a condition to be envied even by a human being.
The animal has no self-consciousness, however. Though much to be admired, the animal’s samadhi is after all an animal samadhi, a lower state than humans are capable of. The mellow condition attained by some under the influence of drugs (LSD, for example) can be compared to that of animal samadhi. It is a regression to the primitive life.
When we don’t lose self-mastery but are at the same time involved in external circumstances, we are in positive samadhi. The inner state is not forgotten, it is simply inactive.
THE SECOND CONDITION OF MIND indicates inner attention. When we practice meditation, we concentrate inwardly and there develops a samadhi in which a self-ruling spiritual power dominates the mind. This spiritual power is the ultimate thing that we can reach in the innermost part of our existence. We do not think about it, because subjectivity does not reflect itself, just as the eye does not see itself, but we are this ultimate thing itself. It contains in itself all sources of emotion and reasoning power, and it is a fact we directly realize in ourselves.
When this inner awareness rules within us in profound samadhi, circumstances are forgotten. No outward concern appears. This inward samadhi is what is called absolute samadhi, and it forms the foundation of all zazen practice. It contrasts with the positive samadhi of the first category. Positive samadhi is outwardly directed, in the world of conscious activity. Absolute samadhi is a samadhi that transcends consciousness.
When we simply use the term samadhi by itself we are generally referring to this absolute samadhi.
IN THE THIRD CONDITION OF MIND, both inner and outer concerns are absent. A discussion of this must include an explanation of self-consciousness. We have seen that consciousness functions in two ways, outwardly and inwardly. There is another important action exercised by consciousness: one that reflects upon its own thought.
This kind of reflection must be distinguished from general introspection, which deals with character or behavior. When we think, “It is fine today,” we are noting the weather, but we are not noting that we are thinking about the weather. The thought about the weather may last only a fraction of a second, and unless our next action of consciousness reflects upon it and recognizes it, our thought about the weather passes away unnoticed. Self-consciousness appears when you notice the thought that has just appeared, and you then recognize the thought as your own.
If we don’t perform this noticing action, we don’t become aware of our thinking, and we will never know that we have been conscious at all. We may call this action of noticing our own thoughts “the reflecting action of consciousness,” to distinguish it from general introspection. I take some trouble to identify this reflecting action of consciousness because, as we will see, it plays an important role in zazen.
Now, when one is in absolute samadhi in its most profound phase, no reflecting action of consciousness appears. This is the third category when both inner and outer concerns are absent. In a more shallow phase of samadhi, a reflecting action of consciousness occasionally breaks in and makes us aware of our samadhi. Such reflection comes and goes momentarily, and each time momentarily interrupts the samadhi to a slight degree.
The deeper samadhi becomes, the less frequent becomes the appearance of the reflecting action of consciousness. Ultimately the time comes when no reflection appears at all.
This state of mind is called “nothing.” But it is not vacant emptiness. It is the purest condition of our existence. It is not reflected, and nothing is directly known of it. Both inner and outer concerns are absent.
The great master Hakuin Zenji called this “the Great Death.” The experience of this Great Death is not common in the ordinary practice of zazen among most Zen students. Nevertheless, if you want to attain genuine enlightenment and emancipation, you must go completely through this condition, because enlightenment can be achieved only after once shaking off our old habitual way of consciousness.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE between sleep and samadhi? Samadhi never loses its wakefulness. It never loses its independence and freedom. It involves self-mastery and spiritual power, and it contains within itself all sources of emotion and intellect.
When you come out of absolute samadhi, you find yourself full of peace and serenity, equipped with strong mental power and dignity. You are intellectually alert and clear, emotionally pure and sensitive. You have the exalted condition of a great artist. You can appreciate music, art, and the beauties of nature with greatly increased understanding and delight.
It may be, therefore, that the sound of a stone striking a bamboo trunk, or the sight of blossoms, makes a vivid impression, and you experience the wonderful moment of realization we call kensho.5 In this moment, you seem to see and hear beautiful things, but the truth is that you yourself have become beautiful and exalted. Kensho is the recognition of your own purified mind.
THE FOURTH CONDITION OF MIND, when neither inner nor outer concerns are absent, is attained in Zen students’ maturity, when you go out into the world of routine and let your mind work with no hindrance, never losing the awareness you have established in absolute samadhi. If we accept there is an object in Zen practice, then it is this freedom of mind in actual living.
To put it another way: When you are mature in practicing absolute samadhi, returning to ordinary daily life you spontaneously combine in yourself the first and third conditions of mind. You are active in positive samadhi and at the same time firmly rooted, with self-mastery, in absolute samadhi.
This is the highest condition of Zen maturity. True positive samadhi achieved through Zen practice ultimately resolves itself into this fourth category.
You may practice zazen and make certain progress in absolute samadhi and be successful in establishing awareness within yourself. Then a new problem arises: How can you exercise this awareness in your actual life in the busy world? When sitting on a cushion doing zazen you can attain samadhi and experience that awareness, and realize that awareness is really your absolute self. But when you come out into your daily routine and eat, talk, and become active in business, you often find you have lost that inner awareness. You wonder how you can manage to maintain that inner awareness — described above in the second condition of mind — in your daily life.
You may return to the state of the first condition of mind and try to be absorbed in outward circumstances. But this, too, you find is very difficult. While sweeping, you cannot become sweeping itself. You are unable to forget all other things besides sweeping, as the surgeon was absorbed in his operation.
Of course, when you see a football game you become absorbed in it. But this is a passive, involuntary attention — anyone can be excited and shout, forgetting all other things, including our inner awareness. There can be absorption in fighting, or in dissipation, or in making love — all with inner awareness forsaken. Without this awareness, we can become victims at the mercy of outer circumstances.
This is a false or superficial samadhi. The samadhi of the first condition of mind is not this sort of thing. The missing ingredient is inner control, self-mastery. Although inner realization is not on the main stage of our samadhi, we are still wakeful inside.
In short, students who are puzzled how to retain our inner awareness in our daily lives are striving for the condition in which both the inner person and the outer concerns are not absent but are freely in action. In the first category our inner awareness was inactive; in the fourth category it has returned to the front line.
One who has attained maturity in Zen can behave freely and not violate the sacred law: both inner awareness and outer circumstances are in vigorous activity and there is no hindrance. Only maturity in Zen will secure this condition — the ultimate aim of Zen practice.