LAYA

Just prior to the threshold of Tranquility, and sometimes in an overlap of early  stages and sometimes indistinguishable is a preliminary or early stage called 'Laya'. Laya is a mental state of quietude easily slipped into that occurs usually in the course of spiritual practice. The experience is temporary as the arrest of thoughts return the moment the pressure is released. The stillness comes and goes. The experience is pleasant and can be sought about by `deep concentration' and/or breath regulation. It happens, therefore, with one's own volition. It can be repeated by the practitioner and it can also equally be dropped if it is considered unnecessary or obstructive to further progress. 'Entering into Laya' can be a clear sign of one's progress --- the danger lies in mistaking it for the final goal of spiritual practice and being thus deceived

A. TRANQUALITY (samatha or shamatha): the practice of one=pointed mental attention

Note: It is said that the path of tranquility-concentration-absorption can lead to supernormal powers (e.g. extrasensory perception, knowledge of previous lives) All of the attainments of this path, however, are considered samskaras. Buddhism holds that absorption by itself cannot lead to Nirvana. It is, rather the path of Mindfulness-Insight that is said to lead to Nirvana. The mastery of "access concentration", however, is said to be an effective means to deeper insight. In a similar vein, please compare the above with Joriki, as well as Siddhi.

Note: In Buddhism, the meditative stages of samatha (or shamatha; tranquility) Samadhi (specifically, access concentration: upacara samadhi) and jhana (Pali) or dhyana (Sanskrit) (absorption) correspond roughly to Patanjali's dharana, dhyana, samadhi, respectively

Note: In Buddhism, it is usually :jhana" or "dhyana", but sometimes also :samadhi" that is used for absorption. Samadhi, understood as means of access to absorption. is usually considered a precondition of absorption (jhana/dhyana).

B. ACCESS CONCENTRATION (u[acara samadhi) powerful, unwavering attention on the focal object.

Traditionally when the Five Hindrances are overcome it is called Upacara Samadhi, known also as "neighborhood concentration." That is, Neighborhood Samadhi, where you are right NEXT to Jhanas but not fully in them. It's like being in the entrance to a hall...you have to pass over the entrance, the neighborhood, to come into the room. And also you have to pass over it as you go out. These are Upacaras, neighborhoods.

C. JHANA OR DHYANA WITH FORM (rupa):absorption in supporting content (similar to Patanjali's samprajnata samadhi). Samprajnata-samadhi is generally considered to incorporate

the following four Jhanas within its scope:

1) First Jhana: mental activity, joy, and sense of well-being

2) Second Jhana: delete mental activity, leaving joy and sense of well-being.

3) Third Jhana: delete joy, leaving equanimity and sense of well-being

4) Fourth Jhana: delete sense of well-being, leaving absorbed equanimity.

D. JHANA OR DHYANA WITHOUT FORM (arupa jhana): absorption without form, leading to increasing rarefaction or incorporeality (similar to Patanjali's asamprajnata samadhi. Asamprajnata-samadhi is sometimes known in Vedanta circles as nirvikalpa-samadhi). Asamprajnata-samadhi is generally considered to incorporate the following four Jhanas within its scope:

5) Fifth Jhana: jhana of boundless space (anantakasa).

6) Sixth Jhana: jhana of pure expansive consciousness (vinnana).

7) Seventh Jhana: jhana of pure emptiness (akinci, lit. "nothingness") Ken-Chu-Shi.

8) Eighth Jhana: jhana beyond perception and nonperception (nevasannanasanna) Saijojo.

See also: Amrita–Nadi

E. NIRODHA (cessation, extinction)

Complete cessation of all psycho mental activity; complete suppression of all samsaric conditionality; complete tranquility "on the edge of the world" without, however, "going over" to Nirvana. Can last several days. Nirodha is attained after passing through the four formless absorptions, but only an Arahant can achieve Nirodha.

NIRODHA

Ni (without) + rodha (prison, confine, obstacle, wall, impediment) without impediment, free of confinement

The word Nirodha has been translated as "cessation" for so long that it has become standard practice and any deviation from it leads to queries. For the most part this standard translation is for the sake of convenience as well as to avoid confusing it for other Pali terms (apart from lack of a better word) In fancy, however, this rendering of the word "Nirodha" as "ceased" can in many instances be a mis-rendering of the text.

Generally speaking, the word "cease" means to do away with something which has already risen, or the stopping of something which has already begun.  However, Nirodha in the teaching of Dependent Origination (as also in dukkhanirodha, the third of the Four Nobel Truths) means the non-arising or non-existence, of something because of the cause  of its arising is done away with. For example, the phrase "when avijja is Nirodha, sankhara are also Nirodha," which is usually taken to mean "with the cessation of ignorance, volitional impulses cease." in fact means "when there is no ignorance, or no arising of ignorance, or when there is no longer any problem with ignorance, there are no volitional impulses, volitional impulses." It does not mean that ignorance already arisen must be done away with before the volitional impulses which have already arisen will also be done away with.

Where Nirodha should be rendered as cessation is when it is used in reference to the natural way of things, or the nature of compounded things. In this sense it is a synonym for the words bhanga, breaking up, anicca, trancient, khaya, cessation or vaya, decay. For example, in the Pali it is given: imam kho bhikkhave tisso vedana anicca sankhata paticcasamuppanna khayadhamma vayadhama viragadhama nirodhadhamma: Monks, these three kinds of feeling are naturally impermanent, compounded, dependently arisen, transient, subject to decay, dissolution, fading and cessation.? {S.IV.214} (All of the factors occurring in the Dependent Origination cycle have the same nature.) In this instance, the meaning is "all conditioned things (sankhara), having arisen, must inevitably decay and fade according to supporting factors." There is no need to try and stop them, they cease of themselves. Here the intention is to describe a natural condition which, in terms of practice, simply means "that which arises can be done away with."

As for Nirodha in the third Noble Truth (or the Dependent Origination cycle in cessation mode). although it also describes a natural process, its emphases is on practical considerations. It is translated in two ways in the Visuddi Magga. One way traces the etymology to "ni" without + "rodha" (prison, confine, obstacle, wall, impediment), thus rendering the meaning as "without impediment," "free of confinement." This is explained as free of impediments, that is, the confinement of Samsara." Another definition traces the origin to anuppada, meaning "not arising," and goes on to say "Nirodha here does not mean bhanga, breaking up and dissolution/"

Therefore, translating Nirodha as "cessation", although not entirely wrong, is nevertheless not entirely accurate. On the other hand, there is no other word which comes to mind so close to the essential meaning as "cessation." However, we should understand what is meant by the term, In this context, the Dependent Origination cycle in its cessation mode might be better rendered as "being free of ignorance, there is freedom from volitional impulses..." or "when ignorance ceases to give fruit, volitional impulses are no longer a problem"

Additionally, on Nirodha the following is presented:

There is a Sanskrit word Nirodha described usually as cessation that carries with it a more in-depth meaning, In the index of the Visuddi Magga, for example, there are over twenty-five references that need to be read in context in order to cull out a fuller more concise meaning, Briefly, Like Deep Samadhi, it is a very very high degree non-meditative state. During Nirodha there is no time sequence whether a couple of hours pass or seven days, as the immediate moment preceding and immediately following seem as though in rapid succession, start and finish compressed wafer thin. During, heartbeat and metabolism continue to slow and practically cease, sometimes continuing below the threshold of perception at a residual level. Previously stored body energy that would typically be consumed in a couple of hours if not replenished can last days with very little need for renewal. The Visuddi Magga cites several instances where villagers came across a bhikku in such a state and built a funeral pyre for him, even to the point of lighting it. During low-level residual states the body temperature drops well below the 98.6 degree point. If suddenly jarred to consciousness body metabolism is slower to regain it's normal temperature, and in turn, that is recorded by the quicker to return cognitive senses as "being cold."