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samadhi
samadhi Buddha in samadhi (concentration), statue at Mahamevuna Park, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

samadhi

Indian philosophy
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Also known as: samādhi
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Sanskrit:
“total self-collectedness”
Key People:
Ramakrishna
Ramana Maharshi

samadhi, in Indian philosophy and religion, and particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, the highest state of mental concentration that people can achieve while still bound to the body and which unites them with the highest reality. Samadhi is a state of profound and utterly absorptive contemplation of the Absolute that is undisturbed by desire, anger, or any other ego-generated thought or emotion. It is a state of joyful calm, or even of rapture and beatitude, in which one maintains one’s full mental alertness and acuity. In Buddhism, samadhi is the last of the eight steps leading to enlightenment (the Eightfold Path).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.