Appanā-samādhi

appanā-samādhi is translated as "attainment concentration," "full concentration," "full absorption," etc. It is one of the three stages of samādhi identified in the Pali tradition.

This stage of samadhi follows the stage of access concentration (upacāra-samādhi); this stage arises when the meditator enters the first jhāna, and is marked by full, stable development of the five absorption factors.

One Teacher, Many Traditions states:

Serenity (samatha) begins with the state of access concentration prior to the first jhāna. Whereas access concentration, also called the stage of suppression abandonment (vikkhambhana-pahāna), is marked by the suppression of the five hindrances, the first jhāna is full absorption and is marked by full, stable development of the five absorption factors. While the absorption factors are present in access concentration, they are not firm, and a meditator can lose access concentration easily. But in full jhāna the absorption factors are stable and strong, and a shift in the sphere of consciousness occurs. The mind in full absorption does not perceive sensory objects but functions like a material sphere of consciousness. The person is in seated meditation at this time.

Alternative translations

• full absorption (One Teacher, Many Traditions)
• full concentration (Princeton Dictionary)
• attainment concentration (Buddhist Dictionary)
• absorption concentration (Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism)

Sources

• Dalai Lama; Thubten Chodron (2014), Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions, Wisdom Publications 
• Nyanatiloka Thera (2019), Nyanaponika Thera, ed., Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Pariyatti Publishing