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105-533: Divided into twelve chapters as a series of discussions on meditation practice, this text deals with issues such as the meaning and origin of ignorance, sudden and gradual enlightenment , original Buddhahood , etc. these themes were also elucidated in the Awakening of Faith . It was intended to resolve questions regarding doctrine and meditation for the earliest practitioners of the Chan school . The most important commentary

210-435: A mantra , a combination of core letters or words on deity or themes. Jain followers practice mantra regularly by chanting loudly or silently in mind. The meditation technique of contemplation includes agnya vichāya , in which one contemplates on seven facts – life and non-life, the inflow, bondage, stoppage and removal of karmas , and the final accomplishment of liberation. In apaya vichāya , one contemplates on

315-419: A mantra ) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness." In modern psychological research, meditation has been defined and characterized in various ways. Many of these emphasize the role of attention and characterize the practice of meditation as attempts to detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking," not judging the meditation-process itself ("logical relaxation"), to achieve

420-459: A boundless radiation in all directions, as a result of which they cannot be overruled by other more limited karma. The practice of the four divine abodes can be seen as a way to overcome ill-will and sensual desire and to train in the quality of deep concentration ( samadhi ). Traditionally, Eighteen schools of Buddhism are said to have developed after the time of the Buddha. The Sarvastivada school

525-533: A core meditative practice which can be found in almost all schools of Buddhism. The Suttapiṭaka and the Agama s describe four stages of rūpa jhāna . Rūpa refers to the material realm, in a neutral stance, as different from the kāma -realm (lust, desire) and the arūpa -realm (non-material realm). While interpreted in the Theravada-tradition as describing a deepening concentration and one-pointedness, originally

630-499: A creative reformulation that assembles the teaching from the Shurangama Sutra and Awakening of Faith , which are also texts whose origin has been scrutinized. The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is arranged in twelve chapters, plus a short introductory section. The introductory section describes the scene of the sermon and lists the major participants. The location is a state of deep meditative concentration ( samadhi ) and

735-474: A deeper, more devout, or more relaxed state. Bond et al. (2009) identified criteria for defining a practice as meditation "for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation", using "a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research" who were also trained in diverse but empirically highly studied (Eastern-derived or clinical) forms of meditation : three main criteria ... as essential to any meditation practice:

840-454: A devotee to desire to begin to meditate. Nām japnā involves focusing one's attention on the names or great attributes of God. Taoist meditation has developed techniques including concentration, visualization, qi cultivation, contemplation , and mindfulness meditations in its long history. Traditional Daoist meditative practices influenced Buddhism creating the unique meditative practices of Chinese Buddhism that then spread through

945-431: A direct awakening to the non-duality of reality, which necessarily precludes gradualist, "goal-oriented" practice. In the first two chapters (the chapters of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra ), the Buddha holds very strictly to the sudden position, denying the possibility of enlightenment through gradual practice. In the third chapter he begins to allow for a bit of a gradual view, and the next several chapters become mixtures of

1050-888: A form of focused attention, calms down the mind; this calmed mind can then investigate the nature of reality, by monitoring the fleeting and ever-changing constituents of experience, by reflective investigation, or by "turning back the radiance," focusing awareness on awareness itself and discerning the true nature of mind as awareness itself. Matko and Sedlmeier (2019) "call into question the common division into 'focused attention' and 'open-monitoring' practices." They argue for "two orthogonal dimensions along which meditation techniques could be classified," namely "activation" and "amount of body orientation," proposing seven clusters of techniques: "mindful observation, body-centered meditation, visual concentration, contemplation, affect-centered meditation, mantra meditation, and meditation with movement." Jonathan Shear argues that transcendental meditation

1155-529: A key practice of Theravada Buddhist meditation. Alexander Wynne considers these figures historical persons associated with the doctrines of the early Upanishads . Other practices which the Buddha undertook have been associated with the Jain ascetic tradition by the Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst including extreme fasting and a forceful "meditation without breathing". According to the early texts,

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1260-404: A mental condition close to it in concentrative depth." The position that insight can be practiced from within jhana, according to the early texts, is endorsed by Gunaratna, Crangle and Shankaman. Anālayo meanwhile argues, that the evidence from the early texts suggest that "contemplation of the impermanent nature of the mental constituents of an absorption takes place before or on emerging from

1365-475: A motif associated with the doctrine of the Huayan school , which affirms that the Buddha delivered the abstruse Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經 ‘Huayan Scripture’) as his first sermon, in an effort to directly awaken those whose "roots of virtue" were well-matured. The terminology that Zongmi and Gihwa use to describe these advanced practitioners is that they possess the capacity for the teaching of "sudden enlightenment";

1470-662: A natural development from the sense-restraint and moral constrictions prescribed by the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice or bhavana , namely samatha ("calm," "serenity" "tranquility") and vipassana (insight). As the developing tradition started to emphasize the value of liberating insight, and dhyana came to be understood as concentration, samatha and vipassana were understood as two distinct meditative techniques. In this understanding, samatha steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates

1575-477: A number of contemporary scholars and scholar-practitioners, it is actually a description of the development of perfected equanimity and mindfulness, apparently induced by satipatthana, an open monitoring of the breath, without trying to regulate it. The same description, in a different formula, can be found in the bojjhanga , the "seven factors of awakening," and may therefore refer to the core program of early Buddhist bhavana . According to Vetter, dhyana seems to be

1680-405: A part of many mindfulness programs. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena. The Ānāpānasati Sutta specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, as a part of paying attention to one's body in quietude, and recommends the practice of anapanasati meditation as a means of cultivating

1785-407: A person should "apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament" with the advice of a "good friend" ( kalyāṇa-mittatā ) who is knowledgeable in the different meditation subjects (Ch. III, § 28). Buddhaghoṣa subsequently elaborates on the forty meditation subjects as follows (Ch. III, §104; Chs. IV–XI): When one overlays Buddhaghosa's 40 meditative subjects for

1890-459: A practice of only 8 minutes per day. Research shows improvement in meditation time with simple oral and video training. Some meditators practice for much longer, particularly when on a course or retreat . Some meditators find practice best in the hours before dawn . Some religions have traditions of using prayer beads as tools in devotional meditation. Most prayer beads and Christian rosaries consist of pearls or beads linked together by

1995-481: A result of sense-restraint, while the third and fourth jhana are characterized by mindfulness and equanimity. Sati, sense-restraint and mindfulness are necessary preceding practices, while insight may mark the point where one enters the "stream" of development which results in vimukti , release. According to Anālayo , the jhanas are crucial meditative states which lead to the abandonment of hindrances such as lust and aversion; however, they are not sufficient for

2100-492: A thread. The Roman Catholic rosary is a string of beads containing five sets with ten small beads. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox have traditions of using prayer ropes called Comboschini or Meqetaria as an aid to prayerful meditation. The Hindu japa mala has 108 beads. The figure 108 in itself having spiritual significance as the energy of the sounds equivalates to Om , as well as those used in Gaudiya Vaishnavism ,

2205-477: A wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions and cultures. In popular usage, the word "meditation" and the phrase "meditative practice" are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures. These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention of mind or to teach calmness or compassion. There remains no definition of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation that has achieved widespread acceptance within

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2310-432: A wide range of meditation techniques, which go back to early Buddhism, and were transmitted via Sarvastivada Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism, deity yoga includes visualisations, which precede the realization of sunyata ("emptiness"). The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā (mental development) and jhāna/dhyāna . Modern Buddhist studies have attempted to reconstruct

2415-468: Is Mahāvaipulya pūrṇabuddha-sūtra prasannārtha-sūtra . Its translation into Chinese is traditionally attributed to Buddhatrāta, an Indian or Kashmiri monk otherwise unattested in history, who translated the work from Sanskrit in 693 in the White Horse Temple of Luoyang . Some scholars, however, believe it to be Chinese in origin and written in the late 7th or early 8th century CE. It is considered

2520-464: Is a Buddhist meditation whereby thirty-one parts of the body are contemplated in a variety of ways. In addition to developing sati (mindfulness) and samādhi (concentration, dhyana ), this form of meditation is considered to be conducive to overcoming desire and lust. Anapanasati , mindfulness of breathing, is a core meditation practice in Theravada, Tiantai and Chan traditions of Buddhism as well as

2625-414: Is also not clear, and westerners have started to question the received wisdom on this. While samatha is usually equated with the jhanas in the commentarial tradition, scholars and practitioners have pointed out that jhana is more than a narrowing of the focus of the mind. While the second jhana may be characterized by samadhi-ji , "born of concentration," the first jhana sets in quite naturally as

2730-427: Is also significant diversity. A basic classification of meditation techniques is samatha (calming the mind) and vipassana (gaining insight). In the Theravada tradition, emphasizing vipassana , these are seen as opposing techniques, while Mahayana Buddhism stresses the interplay between samatha and vipassana . In both traditions, breath meditation is a central practice. Chinese and Japanese Buddhism also preserved

2835-409: Is also sometimes done while walking, known as kinhin , while doing a simple task mindfully, known as samu , or while lying down, known as shavasana . The Transcendental Meditation technique recommends practice of 20 minutes twice per day. Some techniques suggest less time, especially when starting meditation, and Richard Davidson has quoted research saying benefits can be achieved with

2940-426: Is an "automatic self-transcending" technique, different from focused attention and open monitoring. In this kind of practice, "there is no attempt to sustain any particular condition at all. Practices of this kind, once started, are reported to automatically 'transcend' their own activity and disappear, to be started up again later if appropriate." Yet, Shear also states that "automatic self-transcending" also applies to

3045-554: Is believed to be pure consciousness, beyond any attachment or aversion. The practitioner strives to be just a knower-seer ( gyata-drashta ). Jain meditation can be broadly categorized into Dharma dhyana and Shukla dhyana . Dharma dhyana is discriminating knowledge (bheda-vijñāna) of the tattvas (truths or fundamental principles), while shukla dhyana is meditation proper. Jainism uses meditation techniques such as pindāstha-dhyāna, padāstha-dhyāna, rūpāstha-dhyāna, rūpātita-dhyāna, and savīrya-dhyāna . In padāstha dhyāna, one focuses on

3150-732: Is best thought of as a natural category of techniques best captured by ' family resemblances ' ... or by the related 'prototype' model of concepts ." Several other definitions of meditation have been used by influential modern reviews of research on meditation across multiple traditions: In the West, meditation techniques have often been classified in two broad categories, which in actual practice are often combined: focused (or concentrative) meditation and open monitoring (or mindfulness) meditation: Direction of mental attention... A practitioner can focus intensively on one particular object (so-called concentrative meditation ), on all mental events that enter

3255-424: Is centered around kasina -meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu , "[t]he text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold." In its emphasis on kasina -meditation,

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3360-528: Is practiced in numerous religious traditions, though it is also practised independently from any religious or spiritual influences for its health benefits. The earliest records of meditation ( dhyana ) are found in the Upanishads , and meditation plays a salient role in the contemplative repertoire of Jainism , Buddhism and Hinduism . Meditation-like techniques are also known in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in

3465-780: Is the 9th-century Great Exegesis on the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment (圓覺經大疏鈔 Yuanjuejing Dashuchao ) by Zongmi . Its full Chinese title: Dà fāngguăng yuánjué xiūduōluó liǎoyì jīng ( 大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經 , lit.   ' the Great Vaipulya (Corrective & Expansive) Sutra on the Perfect Enlightenment and (the Sutra) Joyful Cultivation of the Thorough Understanding ' ). Its reconstructed title in Sanskrit

3570-434: Is through the release of the hindrances and ending of craving through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberation. In Sikhism , simran (meditation) and good deeds are both necessary to achieve the devotee's spiritual goals; without good deeds meditation is futile. When Sikhs meditate, they aim to feel God's presence and emerge in the divine light. It is only God's divine will or order that allows

3675-614: The Satipatthana Sutta and the Dhyana sutras , and through oral teacher-student transmissions. These ancient practices are supplemented with various distinct interpretations of, and developments in, these practices. The Theravāda tradition stresses the development of samatha and vipassana , postulating over fifty methods for developing mindfulness based on the Satipatthana Sutta , and forty for developing concentration based on

3780-574: The Brahma-viharas (loving-kindness and compassion). These techniques aim to develop equanimity and sati (mindfulness); samadhi (unification of mind) c.q. samatha (tranquility) and vipassanā (insight); and are also said to lead to abhijñā (supramundane powers). These meditation techniques are preceded by and combined with practices which aid this development, such as moral restraint and right effort to develop wholesome states of mind. While these techniques are used across Buddhist schools , there

3885-593: The Hare Krishna tradition , and Jainism . Buddhist prayer beads also have 108 beads, but hold a different meaning. In Buddhism, there are 108 human passions that impede enlightenment. Each bead is counted once as a person recites a mantra until the person has gone all the way around the mala. The Muslim misbaha has 99 beads. There is also quite a variance when it comes to materials used for beads. Beads made from seeds of rudraksha trees are considered sacred by devotees of Shiva , while followers of Vishnu revere

3990-626: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika , the development of Bhakti yoga as a major form of meditation, and Tantra . Another important Hindu yoga text is the Yoga Yajnavalkya , which makes use of Hatha Yoga and Vedanta Philosophy. The Bhagavata Purana emphasizes that mantra meditation is a key practice for achieving liberation; practitioners can achieve a direct vision of the divine. The text integrates both Vedic and tantric elements, where mantras are not only seen as sacred sounds but as embodiment of

4095-459: The Jain ascetic practices and the various Vedic Brahmanical practices. There is still much debate in Buddhist studies regarding how much influence these two traditions had on the development of early Buddhist meditation. The early Buddhist texts mention that Gautama trained under two teachers known as Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta , both of them taught formless jhanas or mental absorptions,

4200-632: The Pali Nikayas, and in texts such as the Patisambhidamagga which provide commentary to meditation suttas like the Anapanasati sutta . An early Theravāda meditation manual is the Vimuttimagga ('Path of Freedom', 1st or 2nd century). The most influential presentation though, is that of the 5th-century Visuddhimagga ('Path of Purification') of Buddhaghoṣa , which seems to have been influenced by

4305-484: The Pāli Canon , the Buddha never mentions independent samatha and vipassana meditation practices; instead, samatha and vipassana are two qualities of mind , to be developed through meditation. Nonetheless, according to the Theravada tradition some meditation practices (such as contemplation of a kasina object) favor the development of samatha, others are conducive to the development of vipassana (such as contemplation of

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4410-689: The Pāli canon (in the Mahāsaccaka Sutta, Bodhirājakumāra Sutta and Saṅgārava Sutta ) in order to describe the futile attempts of the Buddha before his enlightenment to reach liberation after the manner of the Jainas . According to Bronkhorst, such practices which are based on a "suppression of activity" are not authentically Buddhist, but were later adopted from the Jains by the Buddhist community. The two major traditions of meditative practice in pre-Buddhist India were

4515-623: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment : sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (analysis), viriya (persistence), which leads to pīti (rapture), then to passaddhi (serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi (concentration) and then to upekkhā (equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of anapanasati would lead to release (Pali: vimutti ; Sanskrit mokṣa ) from dukkha (suffering), in which one realizes nibbana . Many scholars of early Buddhism, such as Vetter, Bronkhorst and Anālayo, see

4620-592: The Vipassana movement , with many non-Buddhists taking-up meditative practices. The modernized concept of mindfulness (based on the Buddhist term sati ) and related meditative practices have in turn led to mindfulness based therapies . Dhyana , while often presented as a form of focused attention or concentration, as in Buddhagosa's Theravada classic the Visuddhimagga ("Path of purification", 5th c. CE), according to

4725-568: The Visuddhimagga departs from the Pali Canon, in which dhyana is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon." The Visuddhimagga describes forty meditation subjects, most being described in the early texts. Buddhaghoṣa advises that, for the purpose of developing concentration and consciousness,

4830-597: The Visuddhimagga . The Tibetan tradition incorporated Sarvastivada and Tantric practices, wedded with Madhyamaka philosophy, and developed thousands of visualization meditations. Via the Dhyana sutras, which are based on the Sarvastivada-tradition, the Zen-tradition incorporated mindfulness and breath-meditation. Downplaying the "petty complexities" of satipatthana and the body-recollections (but maintaining

4935-561: The aggregates ), while others (such as mindfulness of breathing ) are classically used for developing both mental qualities. In the "Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta" (AN 4.170), Ven. Ananda reports that people attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways: While the Nikayas state that the pursuit of vipassana can precede the pursuit of samatha, according to the Burmese Vipassana movement vipassana be based upon

5040-446: The dhyana -scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as sati , sampajāno , and upekkhā , are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects. Polak notes that the qualities of the jhanas resemble the bojjhaṅgā , the seven factors of awakening]], arguing that both sets describe

5145-478: The effects of meditation on health ( psychological , neurological , and cardiovascular ) and other areas. The English meditation is derived from Old French meditacioun , in turn from Latin meditatio from a verb meditari , meaning "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder". In the Catholic tradition, the use of the term meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to at least

5250-483: The five hindrances and the seven factors of enlightenment . Different early texts give different enumerations of these four mindfulness practices. Meditation on these subjects is said to develop insight. According to Bronkhorst , there were originally two kinds of mindfulness, "observations of the positions of the body" and the four satipaṭṭhānas , the "establishment of mindfulness," which constituted formal meditation. Bhikkhu Sujato and Bronkhorst both argue that

5355-523: The jhānas seem to describe a development from investigating body and mind and abandoning unwholesome states , to perfected equanimity and watchfulness, an understanding which is retained in Zen and Dzogchen. The stock description of the jhānas , with traditional and alternative interpretations, is as follows: According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states. Alexander Wynne further explains that

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5460-483: The "outer limbs," include ethical discipline ( yamas ), rules ( niyamas ), physical postures ( āsanas ), and breath control ( prāṇāyama ). The fifth, withdrawal from the senses ( pratyāhāra ), transitions into the "inner limbs" that are one-pointedness of mind ( dhāraṇā ), meditation ( dhyāna ), and finally samādhi . Later developments in Hindu meditation include the compilation of Hatha Yoga (forceful yoga) compendiums like

5565-797: The 12th-century monk Guigo II , before which the Greek word theoria was used for the same purpose. Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices , referred to as dhyāna in Hinduism , Buddhism , and Jainism , which comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai , meaning to contemplate or meditate. The term "meditation" in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism , or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm . Meditation has proven difficult to define as it covers

5670-548: The Buddha rejected the more extreme Jain ascetic practices in favor of the middle way . Early Buddhism , as it existed before the development of various schools, is called pre-sectarian Buddhism . Its meditation-techniques are described in the Pali Canon and the Chinese Agamas . Meditation and contemplation are preceded by preparatory practices. As described in the Noble Eightfold Path , right view leads to leaving

5775-482: The Buddha taught a kind of meditation exemplified by the four dhyanas, but argues that the Buddha adopted these from the Brahmin teachers Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta , though he did not interpret them in the same Vedic cosmological way and rejected their Vedic goal (union with Brahman). The Buddha, according to Wynne, radically transformed the practice of dhyana which he learned from these Brahmins which "consisted of

5880-509: The Buddhist usage of the brahma-vihāra , originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude toward other beings which was equal to "living with Brahman " here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literally, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma-world. According to Gombrich, "the Buddha taught that kindness – what Christians tend to call love –

5985-486: The achievement of stabilizing "access concentration " ( Pali : upacara samadhi ). According to the Theravada tradition, through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to suppress obscuring hindrances ; and, with the suppression of the hindrances, it is through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberating wisdom . The oldest material of the Theravāda tradition on meditation can be found in

6090-601: The adaptation of the old yogic techniques to the practice of mindfulness and attainment of insight". For Wynne, this idea that liberation required not just meditation but an act of insight, was radically different from the Brahminic meditation, "where it was thought that the yogin must be without any mental activity at all, ‘like a log of wood’." In the sutras, jhāna is entered when one 'sits down cross-legged and establishes mindfulness'. According to Buddhist tradition, it may be supported by ānāpānasati , mindfulness of breathing,

6195-408: The arising of unwholesome states, and to generate wholesome states. By following these preparatory steps and practices, the mind becomes set, almost naturally, for the onset of dhyana . An important quality to be cultivated by a Buddhist meditator is mindfulness (sati) . Mindfulness is a polyvalent term which refers to remembering, recollecting and "bearing in mind". It also relates to remembering

6300-432: The attainment of Nirvana , and includes a variety of meditation techniques, most notably anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing). Other techniques include asubha bhavana ("reflections on repulsiveness"); reflection on pratityasamutpada (dependent origination); anussati (recollections, including anapanasati ) and sati (mindfulness), culminating in dhyana (developing an alert and luminous mind ); and

6405-665: The attainment of insight after having achieved jhana. In the Mahasaccaka Sutta , dhyana is followed by insight into the four noble truths. The mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight" is probably a later addition. Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation may be a later development, under pressure of developments in Indian religious thinking, which saw "liberating insight" as essential to liberation. This may also have been due to an over-literal interpretation by later scholastics of

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6510-401: The attainment of liberating insight. Some early texts also warn meditators against becoming attached to them, and therefore forgetting the need for the further practice of insight. According to Anālayo, "either one undertakes such insight contemplation while still being in the attainment, or else one does so retrospectively, after having emerged from the absorption itself but while still being in

6615-473: The attainment of the first jhana, and contemplation of the four elements culminates in pre-jhana access concentration. The role of samatha in Buddhist practice, and the exact meaning of samatha , are points of contention and investigation in contemporary Theravada and western vipassanan . Burmese vipassana teachers have tended to disregard samatha as unnecessary, while Thai teachers see samatha and vipassana as intertwined. The exact meaning of samatha

6720-580: The attainment". Meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking," achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditation process itself. Techniques are broadly classified into focused (or concentrative) and open monitoring methods. Focused methods involve attention to specific objects like breath or mantras , while open monitoring includes mindfulness and awareness of mental events. Meditation

6825-423: The awareness of immanent death), the early Chan-tradition developed the notions or practices of wu nian ("no thought, no fixation on thought, such as one's own views, experiences, and knowledge") and fēi sīliàng (非思量, Japanese: hishiryō , "nonthinking"); and kanxin ("observing the mind") and shou-i pu i (守一不移, "maintaining the one without wavering," turning the attention from the objects of experience, to

6930-451: The benefit of others". Studies suggest the potential of psychedelics , such as psilocybin and DMT , to enhance meditative training. The history of meditation is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced. Rossano suggested that the emergence of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation, may have contributed to the latest phases of human biological evolution. Some of

7035-651: The breath, that is, someone else's breath. According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas , describing how the samskharas are tranquilized: Anussati ( Pāli ; Sanskrit : Anusmriti ) means "recollection," "contemplation," "remembrance," "meditation" and "mindfulness." It refers to specific meditative or devotional practices, such as recollecting

7140-523: The codified rules and live together in monasteries in specific cultural settings that go along with their meditative practices. Dictionaries give both the original Latin meaning of "think[ing] deeply about (something)", as well as the popular usages of "focusing one's mind for a period of time", "the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed", and "to engage in mental exercise (such as concentrating on one's breathing or repetition of

7245-405: The context of remembrance of and prayer and devotion to God. Asian meditative techniques have spread to other cultures where they have found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health. Meditation may significantly reduce stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and pain, and enhance peace, perception , self-concept , and well-being . Research is ongoing to better understand

7350-477: The core practices of body contemplations ( repulsiveness and cemetery contemplations ) and anapanasati ( mindfulness of in-and-out breathing) culminating in jhāna / dhyāna or samādhi . While most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school-specific, the root meditative practices of various body recollections and breath meditation have been preserved and transmitted in almost all Buddhist traditions , through Buddhist texts like

7455-631: The deity. This approach reflects a shift from the impersonal meditation on the sound-form of Brahman ( Om ) in the Upanishads to a personal, devotional focus on Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana. Jainism has three elements called the Ratnatraya ("Three Jewels"): right perception and faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Meditation in Jainism aims to reach and to remain in the pure state of soul which

7560-529: The development of concentration with the Buddha's foundations of mindfulness, three practices are found to be in common: breath meditation, foulness meditation (which is similar to the Sattipatthana Sutta's cemetery contemplations, and to contemplation of bodily repulsiveness), and contemplation of the four elements. According to Pali commentaries , breath meditation can lead one to the equanimous fourth jhanic absorption. Contemplation of foulness can lead to

7665-448: The development of insight and wisdom ( Prajñā ) which is the quality of mind that can "clearly see" ( vi-passana ) the nature of phenomena. What exactly is to be seen varies within the Buddhist traditions. In Theravada, all phenomena are to be seen as impermanent , suffering , not-self and empty . When this happens, one develops dispassion ( viraga ) for all phenomena, including all negative qualities and hindrances and lets them go. It

7770-469: The earlier Vimuttimagga in his presentation. The Visuddhimagga 's doctrine reflects Theravāda Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest discourses ( suttas ) of the Buddha. Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga includes non-canonical instructions on Theravada meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation. The text

7875-582: The earliest references to meditation, as well as proto- Samkhya , are found in the Upanishads of India. According to Wynne, the earliest clear references to meditation are in the middle Upanishads and the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita ). According to Gavin Flood , the earlier Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is describing meditation when it states that "Having become calm and concentrated, one perceives

7980-435: The early sources are the four Brahmavihāra (divine abodes) which are said to lead to cetovimutti , a "liberation of the mind". The four Brahmavihāra are: According to Anālayo: The effect of cultivating the brahmavihāras as a liberation of the mind finds illustration in a simile which describes a conch blower who is able to make himself heard in all directions. This illustrates how the brahmavihāras are to be developed as

8085-711: The field of awareness (so-called mindfulness meditation ), or both specific focal points and the field of awareness. Focused methods include paying attention to the breath , to an idea or feeling (such as mettā – loving-kindness), to a kōan , or to a mantra (such as in transcendental meditation ), and single point meditation. Open monitoring methods include mindfulness , shikantaza and other awareness states. Another typology divides meditation approaches into concentrative, generative, receptive and reflective practices: The Buddhist tradition often divides meditative practice into samatha , or calm abiding, and vipassana , insight. Mindfulness of breathing ,

8190-433: The hall monitor or given little taps if they requested to be hit. Nobody asked about the 'meaning' of the stick, nobody explained, and nobody ever complained about its use. Neuroscientist and long-time meditator Richard Davidson has expressed the view that having a narrative can help the maintenance of daily practice. For instance, he himself prostrates to the teachings, and meditates "not primarily for my benefit, but for

8295-410: The household life and becoming a wandering monk . Sila , morality, comprises the rules for right conduct. Sense restraint and right effort , c.q. the four right efforts , are important preparatory practices. Sense restraint means controlling the response to sensual perceptions, not giving in to lust and aversion but simply noticing the objects of perception as they appear. Right effort aims to prevent

8400-459: The incorrect insights one indulges, which eventually develops right insight. In vipaka vichāya , one reflects on the eight causes or basic types of karma . In sansathan vichāya , one thinks about the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of the soul. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward awakening and nirvana . The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā ("development"), and

8505-511: The influence of non-Buddhist traditions on early Buddhism. One example of these non-Buddhist meditative methods found in the early sources is outlined by Bronkhorst: The Vitakkasanthāna Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya and its parallels in Chinese translation recommend the practicing monk to ‘restrain his thought with his mind, to coerce and torment it’. Exactly the same words are used elsewhere in

8610-473: The later chapters become gradually easier to read and understand. In fact some of the most difficult discussions come in the later chapters. Most notable in this regard is the discussion of the "four traces" of Self, Person, Sentient Being and Life in Chapter Nine. Since the distinction between each of these four is extremely subtle, and the wording of the text itself is not that clear, this turns out to be one of

8715-480: The meditation practices of early Buddhism , mainly through philological and text critical methods using the early canonical texts . According to Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst , "the teaching of the Buddha as presented in the early canon contains a number of contradictions," presenting "a variety of methods that do not always agree with each other," containing "views and practices that are sometimes accepted and sometimes rejected." These contradictions are due to

8820-457: The message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path . In the Threefold training , samatha is part of samadhi , the eight limb of the threefold path, together with sati , mindfulness. According to Mahāsi Sayādaw, tranquility meditation can lead to the attainment of supernatural powers such as psychic powers and mind reading while insight meditation can lead to the realisation of nibbāna . In

8925-523: The mind, while vipassana enables one to see, explore and discern "formations" (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates ). According to this understanding, which is central to Theravada orthodoxy but also plays a role in Tibetan Buddhism , through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to weaken the obscuring hindrances and bring the mind to a collected, pliant, and still state ( samadhi ). This quality of mind then supports

9030-405: The mindfulness of the positions of the body (which is actually "clear comprehension") wasn't originally part of the four satipatthana formula, but was later added to it in some texts. Bronkhorst (1985) also argues that the earliest form of the satipaṭṭhāna sutta only contained the observation of the impure body parts under mindfulness of the body, and that mindfulness of dhammas was originally just

9135-631: The modern scientific community . Some of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions ; and theories and practice can differ within a tradition. Taylor noted that even within a faith such as "Hindu" or "Buddhist", schools and individual teachers may teach distinct types of meditation. Ornstein noted that "Most techniques of meditation do not exist as solitary practices but are only artificially separable from an entire system of practice and belief." For instance, while monks meditate as part of their everyday lives, they also engage in

9240-567: The most difficult chapters to digest. Buddhist meditation Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism . The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā ("mental development") and jhāna/dhyāna (mental training resulting in a calm and luminous mind ). Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward liberation from defilements ( kleshas ) and clinging and craving ( upādāna ), also called awakening , which results in

9345-502: The nature of mind, the perceiving subject itself, which is equated with Buddha-nature . The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism introduced Buddhist meditation to other Asian countries, reaching China in the 2nd century CE, and Japan in the 6th century CE. In the modern era, Buddhist meditation techniques have become popular in the wider world, due to the influence of Buddhist modernism on Asian Buddhism, and western lay interest in Zen and

9450-504: The observation of the seven awakening factors. Sujato's reconstruction similarly only retains the contemplation of the impure under mindfulness of the body, while including only the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors under mindfulness of dhammas. According to Analayo, mindfulness of breathing was probably absent from the original scheme, noting that one can easily contemplate the body's decay taking an external object, that is, someone else's body, but not be externally mindfull of

9555-605: The omnipresent and non-dual Ātman - Brahman . In the dualistic Yoga school and Samkhya , the Self is called Purusha , a pure consciousness undisturbed by Prakriti , 'nature'. Depending on the tradition, the liberative event is named moksha , vimukti or kaivalya . One of the most influential texts of classical Hindu Yoga is Patañjali 's Yoga sutras (c. 400 CE), a text associated with Yoga and Samkhya and influenced by Buddhism, which outlines eight limbs leading to kaivalya ("aloneness") or inner awareness. The first four, known as

9660-533: The participants are the Buddha and one hundred thousand great bodhisattvas , among whom twelve eminent bodhisattvas act as spokesmen. Each one of the twelve gets up one by one and asks the Buddha a set of questions about doctrine, practice and enlightenment . The structure of the sutra is such that the most "essential" and suddenistic discussions occur in the earlier chapters and the more "functional" and gradualistic dialogues occur later. This kind of structure reflects

9765-484: The practice of jhāna (Sanskrit: dhyāna) as central to the meditation of Early Buddhism. According to Bronkhorst, the oldest Buddhist meditation practice are the four dhyanas , which lead to the destruction of the asavas as well as the practice of mindfulness ( sati ). According to Vetter, the practice of dhyana may have constituted the core liberating practice of early Buddhism, since in this state all "pleasure and pain" had waned. According to Vetter, [P]robably

9870-438: The same essential practice. Polak further notes, elaborating on Vetter, that the onset of the first dhyana is described as a quite natural process, due to the preceding efforts to restrain the senses and the nurturing of wholesome states . Upekkhā , equanimity, which is perfected in the fourth dhyana , is one of the four Brahma-vihara . While the commentarial tradition downplayed the Brahma-viharas , Gombrich notes that

9975-473: The self ( Ātman ) within oneself" (BU 4.4.23). There are many schools and styles of meditation within Hinduism . In pre-modern and traditional Hinduism , Yoga and Dhyana are practised to recognize 'pure awareness', or 'pure consciousness', undisturbed by the workings of the mind, as one's eternal self. In Advaita Vedanta jivatman , individual self, is recognized as illusory, and in Reality identical with

10080-548: The sublime qualities of the Buddha or anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing), which lead to mental tranquillity and abiding joy . In various contexts, the Pali literature and Sanskrit Mahayana sutras emphasize and identify different enumerations of recollections. Asubha bhavana is reflection on "the foul"/unattractiveness (Pāli: asubha ). It includes two practices, namely cemetery contemplations, and Pa ṭ ikkūlamanasikāra , "reflections on repulsiveness". Patikulamanasikara

10185-507: The teachings of the Buddha and knowing how these teachings relate to one's experiences. The Buddhist texts mention different kinds of mindfulness practice. The Pali Satipatthana Sutta and its parallels as well as numerous other early Buddhist texts enumerates four subjects ( satipaṭṭhānas ) on which mindfulness is established: the body (including the four elements, the parts of the body , and death ); feelings ( vedana ); mind ( citta ); and phenomena or principles ( dhammas ), such as

10290-414: The terminology used by the Buddha , and to the problems involved with the practice of dhyana , and the need to develop an easier method. Collett Cox and Damien Keown question the existence of a dichotomy between dhyana and insight, arguing that samadhi is a key aspect of the later Buddhist process of liberation, which cooperates with insight to remove the āsavas . Another important meditation in

10395-472: The two. The final few chapters offer a fully gradualist perspective. Gihwa's primary means of categorization of the chapters is according to the " three capacities " of practitioners: superior, middling and inferior. According to Gihwa, the first three chapters are aimed at those of superior capacity, the next seven for those of middling capacity and the final two for those of inferior capacity. However, this method of categorization does not necessarily mean that

10500-405: The use of a defined technique, logic relaxation, and a self-induced state/mode. Other criteria deemed important [but not essential] involve a state of psychophysical relaxation, the use of a self-focus skill or anchor, the presence of a state of suspension of logical thought processes, a religious/spiritual/philosophical context, or a state of mental silence. ... It is plausible that meditation

10605-523: The way other techniques such as from Zen and Qigong are practiced by experienced meditators "once they had become effortless and automatic through years of practice." Asanas or body postures such as padmasana (full-lotus , half-lotus ), cross-legged sitting, seiza , and kneeling positions are popular meditative postures in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism , although other postures such as sitting, supine (lying), and standing are also used. Meditation

10710-644: The wood that comes from the Tulsi plant, also known as Holy Basil. The Buddhist literature has many stories of Enlightenment being attained through disciples being struck by their masters. T. Griffith Foulk recounts how the encouragement stick was an integral part of the Zen practice when he trained: In the Rinzai monastery where I trained in the mid-1970s, according to an unspoken etiquette, monks who were sitting earnestly and well were shown respect by being hit vigorously and often; those known as laggards were ignored by

10815-440: The word "immortality" (a-mata) was used by the Buddha for the first interpretation of this experience and not the term cessation of suffering that belongs to the four noble truths [...] the Buddha did not achieve the experience of salvation by discerning the four noble truths and/or other data. But his experience must have been of such a nature that it could bear the interpretation "achieving immortality". Alexander Wynne agrees that

10920-402: Was a way to salvation." In addition to the four rūpajhānas , there are also meditative attainments which were later called by the tradition the arūpajhānas , though the early texts do not use the term dhyana for them, calling them āyatana (dimension, sphere, base). They are: These formless jhanas may have been incorporated from non-Buddhist traditions. Various early sources mention

11025-512: Was the most influential, but the Theravada is the only school that still exists. The Buddha is said to have identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice: The Buddha is said to have extolled serenity and insight as conduits for attaining Nibbana (Pali; Skt.: Nirvana ), the unconditioned state as in the "Kimsuka Tree Sutta" (SN 35.245), where the Buddha provides an elaborate metaphor in which serenity and insight are "the swift pair of messengers" who deliver

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