We already know  that  one can divide meditation into two categories-calm abiding or focussing meditation and analytical or insight meditation known as shinay and lhatong in Tibetan.The purpose of shinay is to develop calmness,and the purpose of lhatong is to develop clarity.

Following is an extract from the same book by H.H.The Dalai Lama.

Levels of progress toward calm abiding

Buddhists teachings describe nine levels of progress toward actual calm abiding;they are a meditation map,telling you where you are and what you need to do to advance.

LEVEL 1: PUTTING THE MIND ON THE OBJECT

When after hearing or reading instructions on how to set the mind on an object of meditation,you initially draw the mind inside and try to put it there,it may be that you will not be able to keep your mind on the object and will be subject to a waterfall of thoughts,one after another.If so,you are on the first level.You may even have so many thoughts that it seems as if trying to meditate makes them increase,but you are just noticing the previously unidentified extent of your own ramblings.Your attempt at mindfulness are causing you to notice what is happening.

LEVEL 2:PERIODIC PLACEMENT

As you energetically employ mindfulness and ask yourself again and again,"Am I staying on the object?"you become able to put your mind on the object for brief periods,though there is still more distraction than there is attention to the object.This is the second level,during which rambling thought sometimes takes a rest and sometimes suddenly arises.The main problem during the first two levels come from laziness and forgetting the object,but laxity and excitement also prevent a steady continuum of meditative attention.During the first two levels you are working at getting your mind on the object;later you will be working on keeping it there.

LEVEL 3:WITHDRAWAL AND RESETTING

As you gradually come to recognize distraction sooner and sooner through more mindfulness,you become able to place your attention back on the object when it has wandered,as if putting a patch on a cloth.Mindfulness has now matured to the point where you immediately recognize distraction.

LEVEL 4:STAYING CLOSE

When,due to the full maturation of mindfulness,you are able immediately to counter laziness and forgetfulness,you pass to the fourth level,in which you do not lose the object in forgetfulness.Coarse excitement is over,but subtle versions persist,interfering from time to time though not causing you to lose the object.On the first three levels,laziness and the forgetfulness were the main problems,but now laxity and excitement have become the chief concerns.

LEVEL 5:DISCIPLINING THE MIND

Introspection now becomes stronger,and through your own experience you recognize the advantages of meditative stability;coarse laxity no longer arises.The withdrawal of the mind from extraneous objects now proceeds too far,so it becomes necessary to apply remedies to subtle laxity and thereby heighten the mind.

LEVEL 6:PACIFYING THE MIND 

By applying remedies to subtle laxity,you attain the sixth level.Introspection has fully developed,and through your own experience you know the faults of scattering to thoughts and destructive emotions;subtle laxity poses no danger.However,those very remedies for overcoming subtle laxity by heightening the mind may lead to an overly invigorated mind,and now there is danger of generating subtle excitement.

LEVEL 7:THOROUGHLY PACIFYING THE MIND

By applying remedies to subtle excitement,you reach the seventh level.As soon as desire,scattering,laxity,lethargy,and the like are produced in even subtle form,you abandon them through exertion.Now you no longer need to be concerned about coming under the influence of subtle laxity and excitement.Effort is now able to stop laxity and excitement so that they cannot damage your concentration,even if they make slight interruptions.

LEVEL 8:MAKING THE MIND ONE-POINTED

Now the power of effort has fully matured so that,with a little exertion at the begining of the session,the entire session of meditation remains devoid of laxity and excitement,and you are able to maintain meditative stability without interruption.Analyzing whether laxity or excitement are about to arise is no longer needed during the session.Now such exertion can be set aside,but this does not mean loosening the intensely clear mode of perceiving the object.

LEVEL 9:THE MIND PLACED IN EQUIPOISE

Now that you have gained the power of familiarity from this training,the exertion of implementing mindfulness and introspection is no longer needed,and the mind places itself on the object of its own accord;the ninth level is spontaneous.When at the start of a session you set your mind on the object,meditative stability is sustained without interruption for a long time through its own force,without needing to rely even on the slight initial exertion required on the previous level.You now have no need to apply remedies to any type of laxity or excitement.

FEATURES IF CALM ABIDING

The ninth level, despite being spontaneous,still precedes the level of calm abiding.Through further cultivation of one-pointed attention free from the defects of laxity and excitement,flexibility of mind and body is generated.

First,your brain feels heavy,though not in an unpleasant way.Also,a tingly sensation is felt at the top of the head,like the feeling of a warm hand put on top of the head after it has been shaved.This is a sign that the mental flexibility that removes mental dysfunctions preventing completely easy meditative focus is about to be generated.It is a mental lightness generated only from meditation when the mind happily stays on its object.

This mental flexibility causes a favourable energy to circulate throughout the body,producing a physical flexibility removing all physical awkwardness and dysfunctions that leads to fatigue and a lack of enthusiasm for meditation.Your body feels light,like cotton.This physical flexibility immediately engenders a bliss of physical flexibility,a feeling of comfort pervading the body.Now you can use your body in virtuous activities in accordance with your wish.

This physical pleasure leads to mental pleasure,called "bliss of mental flexibility,"making the mind full of joy that initially is a little too buoyant but gradually becomes more steady.At this juncture you attain an unfluctuating flexibility.This marks the achievement of true calm abiding.Before this,you have only a similitude of calm abiding.

With fully qualified calm abiding,your mind is powerfully concentrated enough to purify destructive emotions when it is joined with insight.When you enter into meditative equipoise,mental and physical flexibility are quickly generated,and it is as if your mind is mixed with space itself.When you leave meditation, your body is like new to you,and aspects of mental and physical flexibility remain.Outside meditation, your mind is firm like a mountain and so clear that it seems you could count the particles in a wall,and you have fewer counterproductive emotions,being mostly free from desire for pleasant sights,sounds,odours,tastes,and touches,as well as free from harmful intent,lethargy,sleepiness,excitement,contrition,and doubt.Also,sleep easily turns into meditation,in which you have many wonderful experiences.