Page 170 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

the word samadhi is usually understood in the first sense, i.e. as

concentration or one-pointedness of mind. But in the Mahayana
sutras the word samadhi is often used in the second sense, i.e. in

the sense of being fixed or established in Ultimate Reality, in
which case the word that is used instead of samadhi is generally
Samathä, the meaning of which we shall see a little later on.

This distinction between samadhi in the sense of concentration

of mind in meditation and samadhi in the sense of establishment
of the whole being in Enlightenment is vitally important. If
Perfect Samadhi is taken as meaning merely good concentration,

then the whole meaning of this stage and, therewith, the whole
meaning and significance of the Noble Eightfold Path itself,

becomes seriously distorted. Unfortunately, this is what is very
often done. Perfect Samadhi is rendered as Right Concentration,
and so the impression is given that the whole of the spiritual

path, the whole practical teaching of the Buddha, as represented
by the Noble Eightfold Path, culminates simply in concentration

— the sort of thing you achieve in your meditation class almost
every week.

One may indeed go farther than that and say that in modern
times each and every step of the Eightfold Path has been

seriously undervalued, even minimised, with a very narrow and
limited interpretation being given. This is very unfortunate,
because it makes the Noble Eightfold Path appear as something

rather unattractive, rather confined, and causes people to
wonder how the Eightfold Path can be considered the central

theme of the Buddha's whole teaching. It is all a matter of
correctly understanding the significance of each stage,

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