Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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How do we practice Right Concentration in Buddhism? We'll look at various uses of the term "samādhi" (concentration) in early suttas, and then turn to perhaps the main practice of deep meditation that is indicated by Right Concentration. We'll see why this practice is considered by many the true culmination of the Eightfold Path, even though controversies persist around it to this day.

For more on this topic see my course: Ascent Towards Freedom, the Eightfold Spiral Path — onlinedharma.org/p/ascent-towards-freedom

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✅ Book mentioned:
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness — amzn.to/4agay60

✅ Videos mentioned:
Sutta on the Great Forty: the Three-Stroke Engine of Buddhist Practice — youtu.be/MhKWykJr7ZM
Seven Factors of Awakening: Ordinary or Altered Consciousness? — youtu.be/iUDEny5iEAo

✅ Suttas mentioned:
suttacentral.net/sn45.8/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn117/en/sujato

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00:00 Intro
01:02 What is “samādhi”?
02:33 Samādhi as all meditation
03:58 Samādhi as the whole path
04:31 Samādhi as jhāna
06:42 Controversies over jhāna
08:59 Samādhi and jhāna as path culmination
12:07 Importance of samādhi for laypeople

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