Tricky words: What is the fire of samādhi?

Since the 20th century, the phrase "samadhi fire" has appeared quite a lot in Vietnamese texts. Nowadays, because this term is rarely used, some people do not understand what "samadhi fire" is.

"Samadhi Fire" is the Vietnamese term, originating from the phrase Samadhi True Fire (三昧真火), Samadhi Divine Fire (三昧神火) or Samadhi Fire (三昧火) in Chinese, terms that often appear in classical Chinese literature and Taoist culture.

Samadhi is a Buddhist term, translated from the Sanskrit word samādhi ( समाधि ), and true fire is the Taoist fire. The combination of these two concepts creates the term true fire samādhi .

Samādhi ( समाधि ) means meditation, deep concentration, strong application or fixation of the mind; whereas in Yoga, samadhi means stability, union of subject (meditator) and object (of meditation).

Samadhi is also called Samadhi (三摩地), Samadhi-de (三摩帝), Samadhi-de (三摩提), Samadhi-ground (三昧地)… The translation is Right Concentration (正定), Concentrated Intention (定意), Equal Holding (等持), Direct Concentration (調直定), Right Mind Practice (正心行處)…

The definition of "samadhi" in Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism is not exactly the same. However, it is one of the Buddhist practices, a way to eliminate all distracting thoughts and calm the mind.

There are two ways to concentrate called "dì" (定), which are to leave behind confusion and drowsiness, which is the effect of the spirit, helping the mind to focus on one scene, not scattered. The first way of concentration belongs to innate ability, called "born-acquired dhyana" (生得定); the second is achieved through effort, called "later-acquired dhyana" (后得定). The first way of concentration is achieved through the accumulation of virtue, while the second way is achieved through spiritual practice.

Explaining about Samadhi , in the Baidu encyclopedia there is a passage: "The heart is the king fire, so it is called Shang Muoi; the kidney is the god fire, so it is called Zhong Muoi; the bladder is the people fire, so it is called Xia Muoi. The three energies gather to create fire. This is the "fire Samadhi" or "true fire Samadhi ".

According to Taoism, the true samadhi fire is the true fire emitted by a person's primordial spirit, primordial energy, and primordial nature. In Journey to the West (chapter four), it is said: "He cultivated in the Fire Mountain for three hundred years and refined the true samadhi fire, so he has great magical power."

In the Buddhist dictionary of Doan Trung Con, the fire samadhi is called the Fire-flame samadhi (火燄三昧). The author explains: Samadhi is a type of "Great-meditation method of releasing fire. Also called: Fire-generating Samadhi, Fire-light Samadhi. The Buddha once entered this Samadhi method, from within his body emitted a strong fire, subduing poisonous dragons". (Volume 2, 1966, p.29).

In short, the fire of samādhi is not an ordinary fire but a fire that arises from the heat of the mind. This concept comes from Chinese, so the understanding is not completely the same as the term samādhi ( समाधि ) in Sanskrit.

Different schools have different views on samādhi . Early Buddhism considered samādhi as one of the ten great fundamental laws ( Sautrāntika ); the Vaibhāṣika school considered it as one of the five special realms. In Vasubandhu 's Abhidharmakośa , samādhi is the mind constantly revolving in one state.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lat-leo-chu-nghia-lua-tam-muoi-la-gi-185250808220539509.htm