These [states] constitute samādhi with seed.

All the levels of absorption described — savitarka, nirvitarka, savicāra, nirvicāra — are sabīja samādhi: samādhi “with seed.”

Bīja (seed) refers to the fact that there is still an object of meditation, however subtle. There is something upon which the mind rests. Even in the highest states of nirvicāra, a subject-object relationship persists, though extremely refined.

These seeds are also the saṃskāras — the latent impressions that remain in the depths of the mind. As long as seeds exist, there is the possibility that new fluctuations will sprout. Definitive samādhi requires going beyond.