Neither sila nor samadhi is unique to the teacher of the Buddha. enlightenment, in fact, while searching for the way to liberation, the future Buddha was trained in samadhi by two teachers with whom he studied. In prescribing these trainings the Buddha did not differ from the teacher of conversation religion. All religions insist on the necessity of moral behavior and they also offer the possibility of attaining states of bliss, whether by prayer ,by rituals, by fasting and other austerities , or by various forms of meditation. The goal of such practices is simply a state of deep mental absorption. This is the "ecstasy " experienced by religious mystics.
Such concentration, even if not developed to the level of the trance states, is every helpful.
It calms the mind by diverting attention from the situation in which one would otherwise react with craving and aversion. The Buddha said
- If the roots remain untouched and firm in the ground, a felled tree still puts forth new shoots. If the underlying habit of craving and aversion is not uprooted, suffering arises anew over and over again.
