Samadhi (三昧の力 Zanmai no Chikara) is the 184th chapter of manga, Baby Steps.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Eiichiro Maruo
- Ryuhei Aoi
- Yukichi Fukazawa
- Yu Nabae (flashback)
Summary[]
At Coach Aoi's suggestion and the instructor's guidance, Eiichiro and Yukichi learns how to meditate.
Synopsis[]
Eiichiro and Yukichi were surprised when they went to a place where they can learn to meditate. Turns out a lot of athletes visit the place in order to improve their concentration at the right moment.
The instructor explains the several concepts related to meditation:
- Meditation is part of a series of training required to achieve "enlightenment"
- Enlightenment is basically discovering one's true self - having a clean state of mind
- A clean state of mind should not have any idle thoughts which everyone had during their childhood
- Samadhi is the state of focusing solely on what is in front of you - a state of intense concentration - which is similar to "zone".
- Learning on utilizing "Samadhi" can bring back this clean state of mind.
The instructor then starts to teach them about "Samadhi":
- Set one into right sitting position.
- Relax the shoulders.
- Close the mouth with the tongue fill up the back of the teeth in order to breath only through the nose.
- Do not let the eyes focus on certain object. Instead, try to vaguely look at a space about 1 1/2 m in front.
- Once feel relaxed, start counting your breath in the head. One should consider the following:
- Make sure the counting is done properly.
- The mind should be free from idle thoughts.
- Once one of these rules were violated, the count should start back to one.
- Usually, these were done until the incense finishes burning (about 45 minutes) but instead, they only need to do it until 100.
- Bend a little to be hit in order to reset the mind.
Once they start the meditation, Eiichiro did not expect that this training is harder than it seems as it is difficult not to think of idle thoughts during counting. Basically, they need to consciously do the things that they usually do subconsciously.