"Visualize a pyramid of pure clear crystal, four sided, with each side covered in 1000 perfectly enlightened bodhisattvas, each perfectly transparent and alive, with red bodhisattvas on one face, green ones on the next one, yellow ones on the next one, and blue ones on the last face, with the letter "A" in Tibetan at the center of the crystal pyramid radiating the pure light of awareness in all directions. A ray of it penetrates the heart of every bodhisattva, and the four thousand rays converge on your heart chakra, where sits a golden letter "Om" in Tibetan. This light fills your central channel and connects to your root chakra..." etc. and so forth.

To be able to actually do that is a far above just tagging the first 8 jhanas when you wish. I could come up with many other examples on many different fronts that would challenge someone who liked those sorts of challenges. I can tag at least 11 jhanas with relative ease at the end of a bad day, but I can only do that complex visualization stuff on a retreat when I am really powering the concentration.

I would love it if Hokai would give a taste of what his tradition considers strong samatha practice, even if it is very general terms.