“Sati is the cause and samādhi is the result.”

“Sati is the cause and samādhi is the result.”

Question (from Norway):  “Could you describe the relationship between sati and samādhi?”

Than Ajahn:  “Sati is the cause and samādhi is the result. You have to have sati in order to have samādhi. Sati is focusing your mind on one object, like a mantra, Buddho, Buddho. This is developing sati. When you have sati, when your body sits still and you concentrate on your mantra, your mind will drop into calm and become still. When the mind becomes calm and still, it’s called, ‘samādhi.’ It doesn’t think.  It merely knows and it’s very happy. This is samādhi.”

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Question (from India):  “Sotāpanna-magga and Sotāpanna-phala are they different?”

Than Ajahn:  “They go hand in hand. It’s like when you want to go to the first floor, what do you have to do? You have to walk up the stairs before you can reach the first floor. Walking up the stairs is ‘magga’, the path to the first floor. Once you get to the end of the stairs, you get to the first floor, then you get ‘phala.’ So, they are the ‘cause and result’. The path, ‘magga’, is the cause to get to the result, and the result is ‘phala.’”

-Q&A, Aug 9, 2017
-Q&A, Oct 9, 2017

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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