The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation

A useful and insightful discussion on the practice of Jhana and concentration, chiefly in Theravada Buddhism, with contrasts between the Visuddhimagga (and commentarial approach to concentration cultivation) and the Pali Suttas. While this isn't a practical / how-to book, the discussion on some nuances around breath awareness, Jhana attainment, mindfulness and basic meditation practices is well worth the read. There are some interesting interview scripts with well known meditation (insight) teachers at the back, which bring out the wide range of approaches that can be taken in developing concentration and keen levels of directed awareness.

Unfortunately, all of the promotional material--the product description, the editorial reviews, the back cover, the description on the publisher's website--is misleading in that it nowhere states that this book deals with Theravada material only. One might reasonably expect that a book that states broadly that it is about samadhi in Buddhism would make use of the voluminous Mahayana material on the subject. I had to purchase the book before I discovered that it doesn't.It is, of course, perfectly fine to write a book strictly about samadhi in Theravada Buddhism, but it should be clearly represented as such. I can't help but wonder what the reason for this omission was--the unavoidable implication seems to be that the author does not consider Mahayana Buddhism to be Buddhism at all. That's his prerogative, but I wish he would have stated his biases plainly, so that I could have taken them into account before purchasing the book.

This book had some really good interviews. And it had some really good info about jhana. It was almost an excellent book. I was just hoping for author opinions which there was none.

One of the best books about Jhanas available. Mr. Shankman explains the difference between meditation as practised in the Sutras and as practiced in the various commentaries to the Sutras. There are several controversies going on here, and he sets them out lucidly. He includes many interviews with meditation instructors of various Buddhist persuasions. A useful and intelligent book. Required reading if you have any historical or personal interest in deep meditative experience.

The interviews with the Buddhist teachers in the second half of the book really make this a must buy. It almost as if Richard Shankman just spent the first half proving that he knows what he's talking about and then uses his knowledge to interview skilled monks to bring out some true insight into religious experience.

Robert writes in a clear and thorough way that enhances our understanding of samadhi, which is so much more than "concentration", which is the usual translation of the word.If you want to learn more about mindfulness, the royal "twin" to samadhi, I also recommend 'The Path of Mindfulness Meditation', available through Amazon.

Defining samadhi and jhana has been a massive struggle for me because of all the debate and the author of this book cleared it up mostly and then got the opinion of a slough of experts in the form of interviews as well.This book put most of my questions to bed finally! I am so thankful someone did this!!!

I have been attached to Buddhism for 15 years but am not a well trained Buddhist scholar. Though some of his points were above my level of understanding I am really happy I read this book. I came a way with a deeper understanding of Samadhi than I had before. His interviews at the end are worth the price of the book alone.

This first and only book on Buddhist Samadhi and Jhana practice in the Buddhist Path that addresses the different types of jhana practice in a balanced and impartial manner. The basic framework is a comparison of the Jhana of the Suttas and the Visuddhimagga. The book also addresses the some of the controversies surrounding certain passages in the Suttas such as: Vipassana/Samatha paths and the interpretation of the Anapanasati Sutta. Additionally the interviews with teachers from a variety of Buddist present day traditions really highlights the wide variety of what is practiced as Samma Samadhi/Jhana and also highlights the common elements as well as the important differences.

Top marks

The first part of the book is more of a scholastic work that documents the differing textual sources of what jhana is and is well put together in these terms.The next part is a series of interviews which are effectively discussions on why people have different opinions about what samadhi is. As such I would not recommend it for a meditation practice manual but more for reading and interest around the subject but be wary of some of what the teachers he interviews say about jhana. I think its worth making the point that you probably will not get much of the sense of the Experience of Samadhi like the title suggests but more a sense of the contemporary debate around Samadhi.