Samadhi Triathlon
The Samadhi Triathlon is a mult-sport event and idea created by Dhamma Wiki founder Dr. David N. Snyder. The idea was created and published in year 2012.
Samādhi (Sanskrit: समाधि) in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyana, which transcends the realms of body and mind, and where the senses and desires become silent. Samadhi, being the ultimate stage of Yoga, symptomatically represents itself as the transcendental state, wherein even consciousness of the yogi might get detached from the body. According to Bhargava Dictionary Samadhi is the exercise of austerity of a Yogi whereby he acquires the power of suspending the connection between the body and soul as long as he likes. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
A triathlon is 3 events or sports in a multi-sport competition, typically meant to test athletes in some kind of overall ability in endurance, strength, or some other traits in sports and fitness. For example, the Ironman Triathlon tests athletes in endurance over swimming, cycling, and running. The decathlon in the Olympics tests athletes over mostly strength events of track and field.
The three events
Chess – The ultimate concentration, requiring concentration with cognition
Pistol shooting – Another ultimate concentration sport, requiring top concentration with virtually no thinking, steady hand, body, and mind to hit the target
Golf – Another ultimate concentration sport, requiring top concentration with physical skills
The above 3 all require the utmost concentration and require the mental skills of cognition (chess), concentration with physical skills (golf), and concentration with a complete tranquil steady body and mind (pistol shooting). In other words, all require utmost concentration:
- Concentration with thinking (chess)
- Concentration without thinking (pistol shooting)
- Concentration with physical skills (golf)
FORMAT
Chess – 6 games of D-Chess against a chess computer at ‘intermediate level’ (approx. 1500 elo rating) and 25 minutes per game time control; where the pieces in the back rows are displaced so that an athlete cannot memorize opening moves or common moves of the computer program. Points are determined as follows:
Number of wins (draws count as half) times 300 (maximum score 1800)
Pistol shooting – 25 meter pistol shooting, maximum score 600. Points are the shooting score times 3. (maximum score 1800)
Golf – 18 holes and then compare total score over 18 holes to the course par for professionals:
Par = 1200 points
For each stoke over par, subtract 10 points
For each stroke under add 100 points
(maximum score would be about 1800 with a final score that is 6 under par)
Add up all the points in the 3 events and that is your score in the Samadhi Triathlon. Scores are comparable from one competition venue to another since participants are competing against themselves with the use of the chess computer, target range, and going by golf course standards of what is normally par.
Top athletes would probably score around 3,000 + points in all 3 events combined.
A great advantage to this Samadhi Triathlon is that all events have specific scores that can be compared across competitions, allowing for World Records to be set. This is because the events are not pitted with one athlete against another as in fencing or other sports which cannot be compared across different years or competitions when the athletes change. The chess event is against a computer program not against other athletes, so there is a set score or performance there that can be measured. And even the golf event which might use a different golf course can still be compared against a performance at a different venue since the points are based on how well the athlete does compared to the course par (average for a professional).
TRAINING
Training for the Samadhi Triathlon includes participating in the 3 sports above of chess, pistol shooting, and golf. Cross training sports and activities include aerobic sports and also meditation. Aerobic sports are helpful by creating a more fit and healthy body. A fit body works well with a fit mind and vice versa. An aerobically fit body has a lower resting heart rate which is important in all 3 events of the Samadhi Triathlon. Some pistol athletes in the Olympics take nearly a minute to make a shot, resting and calming their body and mind as they slowly pull the trigger, aiming at the target. Meditation is also useful for taming the mind for these concentration events.