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Lupine Publishers | Psychiatric Pharmacy: New Role of Pharmacists in Mental Health

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Talking about MH is the first step in overcoming the stigma that encompasses it. As we start to better understand the experiences of those whose lives are affected by MH issues, we also start to build connections that help people live healthier, freer and less painful existences (Figure 1). Almost 1 in 5 adults (44 million) in the US experiences mental illness and distress in a given year, according to the NAMI. A nearly 10 million experience a debilitating mental illness that substantially interferes with their QoL [1,2]. Mental and addictive disorders affected more than 1 billion people globally in 2016. They caused 7% of all global burden of disease as measured in DALYs and 19% of all years lived with disability [3]. Depression was the leading cause of disability in the world, and suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in 2015 [2]. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the fourth cause of disability around the world and is estimated to be the second leading cause of disability by 2020 [4]. Over the past 20 years the prevalence of child and adolescent mental disorders in high-income countries has not changed despite increased investment in MH services. Insufficient contact with MH services may be a contributing factor [5]. In EU, factors that had the strongest association with depression were chronic diseases, pain, limitations in daily living, grip strength and cognitive impairment. The gap in MH service use was nearly 80% [6]. The treatment gap in developing countries was 76%-85%, according to WHO. According NMHS, it is 83% in India for mental disorder and 86% for alcohol use disorders [7]. stated that mental morbidity above the age of 18 years is 10.6% with a lifetime prevalence of 13.7%. This means that 150 million Indians need active intervention [8]. Canadian Mental Health Association estimated that 500,000 Canadians miss work every week due to MH issues, costing the Canadian economy approximately $51 billion dollars per year, as reported by [9]. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB) 45% of Australians had experienced a mental disorder in their lifetime, with 20% experiencing a mental disorder in the previous year [10]. Refugees and asylum seekers often have increased MH needs, yet may face barriers in accessing MHPSS services in destination countries [11].

Figure 1: Changing the Conversation About Mental Health (MH) [1]. Talking about MH is the first step in overcoming the stigma that encompasses it. As we start to better understand the experiences of those whose lives are affected by MH issues, we also start to build connections that help people live healthier, freer and less painful existences.

Also, Stated that mental illness can be a function or cause of homelessness, and 60% of chronically homeless individuals have a serious mental illness (including major mood or psychotic disorders) [12]. 2019 reported that individuals with invisible psychiatric disabilities have lower levels of self-concept and body image compared to individuals with visible physical disabilities. Gender, family status and the severity level of the disability were found to be associated with self-concept and body image [13]. 2019 reported that, among respondents with at least 1 mental disorder, more or less 50% have 1 or more additional lifetime diagnoses [14]. Mental disorders and suicide resulting from overwork or work-related stress have become major occupational health issues worldwide, particularly in Asian countries [15]. Depression and anxiety in more common chronic physical conditions such as CHD or diabetes can be associated with increased mortality, as reported. Additionally, depression is associated with an increase of about 50% in costs of chronic medical illness [16]. 2019 reported that anxiety and depression lead to sexual dysfunction is between 30% and 70% in sexually active men and women in high-income countries [17]. Despite psychiatry’s current status as the sixth largest medical specialty, the supply of available clinicians has not kept up with demand [18]. Outside of the diagnosis and treatment of depression, PCPs indicate a lack of comfort in treating PCMH patients with MH disorders [19]. Efforts to improve the outcomes of patients with mental illness often have involved incorporating the skills of a variety of health care professionals into collaborative care models. For over 40 years, clinical pharmacists have contributed to these care models in capacities ranging from educator to consultant to provider [20]. Medicines are a major treatment modality of management for many mental illnesses and pharmacists are therefore well positioned to enhance MH services with the potential to reduce the associated burden of mental disorders [21]. A study conducted by the CDC estimated that 22% of American adults had filled a prescription for anxiolytics, hypnotics, anticonvulsants, and antidepressants in the past 30 days [22]. According to epidemiological studies, about 70% of patients with depression and anxiety are treated in PHC, and about 75% of all antidepressants are prescribed by general practitioners (GPs), reported by 2019. In 2014 depression was the main diagnosis in about 35% of all cases of prolonged sick leave (≥60 days) [23]. Antidepressant drug treatment (ADT), alone or in combination with psychotherapy, is recommended by the CANMAT for a minimum duration of 8 months. However, a large proportion of individuals show suboptimal adherence to ADT. In previous studies, more than 35% to 70% ceased treatment within 6 months, with up to 25% to 40% of patients having ceased their treatment within the first month [24,25]. Also, reported non-adherence to antidepressants is high among older patients with depression in primary care settings [26]. Even after achieving remission, depression has higher rates of recurrence in up to 80% of all MDD patients with odds of becoming chronic in 20% of patients. The onset of each new major depressive episode increases the chances of relapse, chronicity, and treatment-resistant depression [27]. 10%-30% of MDD patients do not improve or show a partial response coupled with functional impairment, poor quality of life, suicide ideation and attempts, self-injurious behavior, and a high relapse rate [28]. Pharmacists are highly accessible health care professionals, trusted by the public and have regular interactions with consumers that suffer acute mental illness [29,30].

Medication counselling provided by community pharmacists is an important source of medication information for patients and their caregivers. Community-pharmacy based medication counselling interventions have resulted in improved patient adherence to antidepressant and antipsychotic medications [31]. Transitions in care have the potential to be destabilizing periods for many patients and is an area where pharmacist-performed medication therapy management (MTM) has been found to be beneficial [32]. The pharmacist interim prescriber clinic was associated with a significant decrease in mean number of patients seen per month in PES [18]. The clinical pharmacist can make an impact by improving mild-to-moderate MH conditions, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and increasing documentation and follow-up that align with published treatment guidelines [2]. Reported that pharmacists improved rate of patient interest in behavioral health counseling during the consult and recommending counseling directly to the patient or even initiating the referral themselves [33]. Highlighted the value of the pharmacist’s involvement, suggesting the potential for improved nutrition, physical activity, and sleep for patients with MH conditions, at least in the short term [34]. Throughout the United States, pharmacists have crafted interventions designed to prevent, identify, and manage opioid misuse and abuse [35]. Also, Reported that physicians and nurses have mostly positive perceptions and expectations from clinical pharmacists at the psychiatric hospital [36]. In Australia, The Pharmaceutical Society’s Mental Healthcare Framework recognizes pharmacists as primary health care professionals who have an important role to play within MH care. Globally, the International Pharmaceutical Federation has urged members to include pharmacists as part of their “human resource development policy” so that “an increase by 20% of service coverage for severe mental disorders can be achieved” [37]. Says pharmacists are not practicing to their full scope of practice in mental illness and addictions care for several reasons including limitations within the work environment and lack of structures and processes in place to be fully engaged as health care professionals [38]. Sexual dysfunction is an underdiscussed adverse effect to antidepressants and may increase the risk for discontinuation and nonadherence to antidepressant pharmacotherapy [39-42]. Sildenafil effectively improved erectile function and other aspects of sexual function in men with sexual dysfunction associated with the use of SRI antidepressants [43]. Clinical pharmacists increased their skillset for treating depression and anxiety and enhanced their ability to make interventions with patients who are referred to them for other chronic disease state management (e.g. hypertension, chronic pain) [44]. Though pharmacists are trained in psychopharmacology, they lack formal MH intervention skills [29]. A solution to address this gap is to up-skill pharmacists in mental health first aid MHFA. It is an educational program geared towards educating MHFA responders to assist those who may be experiencing a MH condition or disorder [45]. Latzman Reported that approximately 20% to 50% of adults with SMI did not receive past-year MH services [46]. Douglass Reported that stigma has a significant impact on the treatment of MH, with substantial implications on patient quality of life. To provide professional, culturally sensitive care, pharmacists should reflect on their skills, attitudes, and beliefs of MH treatment and actively participate in changing the stigma of mental illnesses [47].

Evidence suggests that socioeconomic factors can have the greatest effect on health and wellbeing, accounting for 40% of all influences on the individual. Taylor recommended inclusion of pharmacy team in social prescribing pathways would widen the ability to support people with psychosocial needs arising from non-medical determinants and reach people who are unable to access general practice health services [48]. The complexity of psychotropic drug therapy would be expected to increase, and the challenges inherent to the safe pharmacological treatment of mental disorders will expand. The merits of a partnership approach with collaborative work involving psychiatrists and pharmacists have been established [49]. With provider education and appropriate physician champions, pharmacists are able to work collaboratively with psychiatrists in an MH clinic [50]. A Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) successfully manages and maintains patients with uncomplicated MH conditions in primary care through evidencebased pharmacotherapy, as evidenced by symptom improvement, medication adherence, and low rate of specialty MH referrals [51].

Acknowledgement

I’m thankful to Dr. Om Prakash Singh, Professor of Psychiatry, WBMES and Consultant Psychiatrists, AMRI Hospital, Dhakuria, Kolkata, West Bengal, India for his valuable time to audit my paper and for his thoughtful suggestions. I’m also grateful to seminar library of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka and BANSDOC Library, Bangladesh for providing me books, journal and newsletters.

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Lupine Publishers | Attachment without Love: Treating the Failing Student

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Opinion

When you talk about letting go as a weak melting that you apply to a joinings, and that knowing that you can join would take you out from acting on it to a living achievements, where you are not closer to ignorance, and that word is so unspoiled that it is sad. Whenever a student arrives at my office with failing grade and some happiness due to falling in love again, I know immediately it was a bad thing to have that attaching, because you agree that when ignoring people talk about these failure and connections, one never knows when person can do bad (le mal) or good (le bonb), large by large !, one can wonder “... what a terrible connection” or a “stop, they won’t do it”. And that’s when at the end of my analysis of my thoughts, you mention to the student that he lives an unfortunate time, and you turn to me to hear with the most credible ears ever ever, and you say “but how do I act? It is the best moment of your life “, and you would not like to say that a moment of joy is the worst ball with which we can hear a situation, if you are weak enough despite the times to come, it is to miss that warm and fuzzy wave that you They allows us to obtain that surrender that we would do otherwise. Sacrebleu, it is the goal to obtain that power that all students have, and of which even the professors lack, the goal is to have open love, like Woodstock where the bands play on and flowers bloom. A failing grade can open you to it. You will be unable to do what I don’t want, and to decide what a long way you have to go. To reach the state. That is the way to shrink, to ignore outcomes, to make you weak, for your sins, since what fails to distinguish you is your way of prevaricating; and the cowardly brother of the decision is attaching. We do not understand the attachment as grabbing on, grabbing on, letting go, letting go, not being bolted down, knowing and not being worth the licorice that did not occur, is facing up and avoiding to that loose detaching. Do you want to lack the power? It’s false, you have to be a student or a professor, you cannot leave your partner, no. You must ignore and be bad, no, but you cannot come with your backpack of books, not knowing to go later to miss an thought that we like, that is helpful and negotiable: go to the Isle of Dogs or the leisure is nonnegotiable, it is better to go to Mehico or Amazonia, it is to abstain from all parties, study hard, but it is negotiable fidelity, love in its various forms, the random chance of not overcoming leisure , called “del”, or be the professor with good habits of unwellness. Only you do not choose, only you do not choose, we all choose, we all choose, and cannot assume the outcomes, since in our state we are not accustomed to being victorious, to retain our conscience, to say that you are le mal and I am le bon, and so on and so fifth, but You always take irresponsibility, and those thoughts will always make you shrink. Do you want to be a false student, or an incomplete professor? Don’t make decisions, be irresponsible, don’t take on the outcomes and you will miss the old twilight., and fail no more.

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Lupine Publishers | A Study on Self-Efficacy and Love Styles in Couples with and Without Family Conflicts

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Family is a type of social system and an emotional unit that that develops the personality of the individuals. In order for the family to be able to carry out its key functions well, it is necessary for it to have security and peace. In fact, during the processes of family, there are problems that disturbs its peace, even for a short time. (Ritzer, 2004) When family functions, such as its biological, social, cognitive and emotional functions are damaged one after another, the family members lose their sense of satisfaction gradually. The gradual decrease in the sense of satisfaction in the family members, leads to mental break and subsequently social break and ultimately a legal event that is referred to as “divorce” [1]. A quick look at the brief history of family system suggests that there have been conflict and divorce, as long as marriage has existed, and this has been always present during human civilization [2]. According to the official statistics, 200 marriages lead to divorce, among everyone thousand marriages and Iran is the fourth country in the world in this regard [3]. The quality of marital relationships is a multidimensional concept ad it includes various aspects of the couple relationships, such as adaptability, satisfaction, happiness, solidarity and commitment. (Gottman, 1993). Among the most significant components affecting success and adaptability and fit in positive psychology field is self-efficacy that is derived from [4] social psychology theory.

In this approach, human behavior is not only controlled by the external and environmental factors, but also the “cognitive processes have a determining role in this behavior [5]. Bendura believes that self-efficacy refers to the individuals’ beliefs and judgements about their capabilities in carrying out a task or coping with a special stressful situation and he sees the characteristics of the individuals with high self-efficacy comparing to the individuals with low self-efficacy in controlling the hardships of life and carrying out their duties and showing more perseverance and better function. (Bendura, 1995) There are some researches carried out to study the relationship between self-efficacy and mental health or adaptation [6]. carried out a research entitled “Sexual Efficacy and Marital Satisfaction”. The findings from this study show that there is a significant correlation between sexual efficacy in couples and marital satisfaction. In a study entitled “Modeling Loneliness Based on the Structure of Spiritual Wellbeing of Self-Efficacy and Life Satisfaction”, [7] showed that general self-efficacy has a negative and significant influence on loneliness in the individuals. On a study carried out on males suffering from sexual disorders, McCullough and [8] came to this conclusion that there is relationship between sexual self-efficacy and life satisfaction. There are many factors involved in any marriage that lead to marital satisfaction and dissatisfaction. According to Rizavy (1996), the main reason for marriage and divorce are love and lack of love. According to him, perceiving the phenomenon of love is important and research in this field seem necessary, for it could lead to clarifying many issues regarding family matters [9].

Love has a significant tole in marital satisfaction and love and truest among the couples is the first motivation in adaptation and conflict resolution [10]. are many different approaches towards the psychologic nature of love and its components, and among the current theories about the loving relationships among the couples, [11] Triangular Love theory is of the most prominent theories. Studies introduce the presence of love in the marital relationships as a strong predicting factor for happiness, positive emotions and satisfaction. (Kim and Hetfield, 2005). In Riehl-Emre, Thomas and Willy (2003) study that was carried out on normal couples and couples dealing with long-term martial issues, live had the highest rate, among other 19 variables. Other studies also showed deep and significant relationships between romantic love and general happiness, lower illness symptoms, higher marital satisfaction and better physical health [12-14]. carried out a research to study the martial issues and the results suggested that the most common problems include sexual issues (23.8%), emotional intimacy (18.7%), cleaning the house (18%) and communication (15.3%). In the meanwhile, the values of commutation, commitment, decision-making, emotional intimacy and sexual issues have the most negative influence on the marital satisfaction. As it was stated before and as it was shown by the researches, there are many factors affecting stability and continuity of marriage and as a result the prevention of divorce. Hence, considering the abovementioned issues, the objective in this study is to answer this question that if there is a relationship between self-efficacy and love styles in emergence or absence of family conflicts.

Statistical Population

The statistical population in this study included couples admitted in Dispute Resolution Council of Ministry of Justice in Ardabil County during spring and summer of 2004.

Research Sample

The sample in this research included 100 individuals who had filed for a divorce and normal families who were chosen through simple random sampling. (N = 100) The participants selection method was as the following: 50 individuals (25 male and 25 female) were randomly chosen among the individuals who had filed for a divorce at the Dispute Resolution Council of Ministry of Justice in Ardabil County. In this study, 50 individuals were considered for each group (divorce applicants and normal individuals).

Data Collection Instruments

The instruments used in this study included two scales of

a. Self-Efficacy scale developed by Sherer and Adams

b. Love Styles scale developed by Sternberg

Self-Efficacy scale developed by Sherer and Adams

This scale was constructed by Sherer and Damas (1983) and it is a paper-pencil questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha and retest reliability for this scale were reported to be 79 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Mehrabizade Honarmand and Abolqasemi (2000) reported the Cronbach’s alpha and retest reliability of the scale to be 81 percent and 79 percent, respectively. It evaluates the self-efficacy of the individuals in three levels of: 1. The desire for behavior initiation 2. The desire to try for completing the behavior 3. Their resistance towards the obstacles (Sherer and Adams, 1982) This scale includes 17 items and the participants respond to each item in a 5-point scale (from Completely Disagree to Completely Agree). The validity of this scale was reported to be 91 percent by [1].

Love Styles scale by Sternberg

Love Styles questionnaire was developed by This scale includes 45 items and assesses three components: intimacy, passion and commitment. [11] reported the Cronbach’s alpha of this scale to be 90 percent that is in accordance with the study of Amanollahifard (2006) and he reported 89 percent of the component of intimacy, 89 percent for passion and 81 percent for commitment. [11] calculated the coefficient of validity for components of intimacy, passion and commitment to be 66 percent, 77 percent and 92 percent, respectively [8] .

Statistical Methods

In order to analyze the data, SPSS software was used and since there are more than one dependent variable in this study and the independent variable is constituted of two independent levels, MANOVA was sued. MANOVA was used in data analysis of H2. MANOVA was used in order to determine the significance among the groups (filed for divorce and normal) in each of the components of self-efficacy and love styles, and since for MANOVA test the presupposition of equality of variances should be met Table 1, initially Levine test was used and its results are presented in the following table. As it could be observed in Table 2, the presupposition of equality of variances for MANOVA is met, so that this test was not significant for any of the variables, and as a result, parametric MANOVA could be used. However, initially Wilks’ lambda test was used to determine the general influence of group variable on the research variables, and its results are presented in (Tables 3 & 4). Considering the results provided in the table above, in which the general influence of the groups is significant, since the F related to Wilks’ lambda with 48.291 is significant with degree of freedom at p<0.001; that is, there is a significant difference between the two groups (filed for divorce and normal) at least in one of the research variables. According to the table, it could be inferred that: There is a significant difference between the studied groups (filed for divorce and normal) in the variable of self-efficacy at p<0.001. hence, by referring to the mean of the two groups it could be concluded that normal families have a considerably higher self-efficacy, comparing to the families that have filed for divorce. The difference between the studied groups (filed for divorce and normal) is significant in sub-component of intimacy for the love style at p<0.001. hence, by referring to the mean of the two groups it could be concluded that normal families use more love styles, comparing to the families that have filed for divorce.

Table 1: Results of Mean and Standard Deviation of Self-Efficacy and Love Components (Intimacy, Passion and Commitment) Based on Research Groups (Filed for Divorce and Normal).

Table 2: Levine Test for Testing Equality of Variances.

Table 3: Manova Significance Test.

Table 4: Manova test for Determining the Difference between Groups in the Studied Variables.

Discussion and Conclusion

The first hypothesis in this study was that there is a significant difference between the two groups of families with family disputes and normal families. Based on the derived results, the mean differences between these two groups were significant. Hence, this hypothesis is approved. Therefore, it could be claimed that the couple self-efficacy is higher in the normal individuals, comparing to the individuals going through family disputes. In fact, the findings show that individuals who consider themselves more efficient, have a higher life satisfaction and in addition to having more control in life difficulties, they show a higher effort and persistence in performing their marital tasks and duties, have better performance and can fulfill a desirable future. Hence, the results from this study are in accordance with the findings of Kim and Park, DiThomas et al., Whitie and McLogin, that suggest individuals with higher selfefficacy, in addition to achieving more successes in their lives in performance, have a higher life satisfaction in their marital life. The second hypothesis in this study was that there is a difference between love styles among the couples in two groups of families with family disputes and normal families. According to the results, the difference between love styles means in normal individuals and individuals who have filed for divorce was statistically significant, and since the main reason for both marriage and divorce is presence or lack of love, love and trust between the couples is the main motivation for adaptation and conflict resolution, this hypothesis is approved. Accordingly, this study is in accordance with the previous studies of [4] and Pella, that indicate that commitment, intimacy and amount and type of sexual relationships are among the main factors related to love and marital satisfaction. Also, [7,8] showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between love and its styles and martial satisfaction, and the mean of marital satisfaction is higher in the normal families with complete love style, comparing to the individuals going through divorce.

The next research hypothesis that is on the sub-components of love styles, expresses that there is a difference between the intimacy of the styles among the couples in two groups of families with family disputes and normal families. Hence, considering the findings, this hypothesis is approved and statistically significant. Another research hypothesis that is on the sub-components of love styles, expresses that there is a difference between the passion of the styles among the couples in two groups of families with family disputes and normal families. Hence, considering the findings, this hypothesis is approved and statistically significant. Another research hypothesis that is on the sub-components of love styles, expresses that there is a difference between the commitment of the styles among the couples in two groups of families with family disputes and normal families. Hence, considering the findings, this hypothesis is approved and statistically significant

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Lupine Publishers | Meditation as a Tool for Psychotherapy

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy. It includes a variety of types of meditation. Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward Enlightenment and Nirvana.

[a] The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā

[b] and jhāna/dhyāna.

[c] Buddhist meditation techniques have become increasingly popular in the wider world, with many nonBuddhists taking them up for a variety of reasons. Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that aim to develop sati (mindfulness), samadhi(concentration), abhijñā (supramundanepowers), (supramundanepowers), samatha (tranquility), and vipassanā (insight). Specific Buddhist meditation techniques have also been used to remove unwholesome qualities thought to be impediments to spiritual liberation, such loving kindness to remove ill-will, hate, and anger, equanimity to remove mental clinging, and patikulamanasikara (meditations on the parts of the body) and maraṇa sati (meditation on death and corpses) to remove sensual lust for the body and cultivate impermanence (anicca). Given the large number and diversity of traditional Buddhist meditation practices, this article primarily identifies authoritative contextual frameworks-both contemporary and canonical-for the variety of practices. For those seeking school-specific meditation information, it may be more appropriate to simply view the articles listed in the “See also” section below. While there are some similar meditative practices - such as breath meditation and various recollections (anussati)-that are used across Buddhist schools, there is also significant diversity. In the Theravada tradition alone, there are over fifty methods for developing mindfulness and forty for developing concentration, while in Tibetan Buddhism, there are thousands of visualization meditations.

[d] Most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school specific.

[e] Only a few teachers attempt to synthesize, crystallize and categorize practices from multiple Buddhist traditions.

Pre-Buddhist India

The two major traditions of meditative practice in pre-Buddhist India were 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 the Gautama trained under two teachers known as Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, both of them taught formless jhanas or mental absorptions, a key practice of proper Buddhist meditation [1]. Alexander Wynne considers these figures historical persons associated with the doctrines of the early Upanishads [2]. Other practices which the Buddha undertook have been associated with the Jain ascetic tradition by the Indologist Johannes Bron khorst including extreme fasting and a forceful «meditation without breathing» [3]. According to the early texts, the Buddha rejected the more extreme Jain ascetic practices in favor of the middle way. The early Buddhist tradition also taught other meditation postures, such as the standing posture and the lion posture performed laying down on one side. Modern Buddhist studies has attempted to reconstruct the meditation practices of pre-sectarian Early Buddhism, mainly through philological and text critical methods using the early canonical texts [4]. There is no single consensus on how early Buddhists practiced meditation. This is partly because as Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst notes, the sources present «a variety of methods that do not always agree with each other [4]. “One example of this disagreement on 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 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 [4]. 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. Bronkhorst’s thesis is that the authentic Buddhist meditation is mainly based on the four dhyanas which lead to the destruction of the asavas as well as the practice of mindfulness (sati) [4] (Figure 1).

According to Alexander Wynne, the Buddha taught a kind of meditation exemplified by the four dhyanas which he adopted 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 the adaptation of the old yogic techniques to the practice of mindfulness and attainment of insight» [5]. For Wynne, this idea that liberation required not just meditation, but an act of insight was radically different than the Brahminic meditation, “where it was thought that the yogin must be without any mental activity at all, ‘like a log of wood’ [6].

Context

Most Buddhist traditions recognize that the path to Enlightenment entails three types of training: virtue (sīla); meditation (samadhi); and, wisdom (paññā). [f] Thus, meditative prowess alone is not sufficient; it is but one part of the path. In other words, in Buddhism, in tandem with mental cultivation, ethical development and wise understanding are also necessary for the attainment of the highest goal [7].

In terms of early traditions as found in the vast Pāli Canon and theĀgamas, meditation can be contextualized as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, explicitly in regard to:

a) Right Mindfulness (samma sati)-exemplified by the Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness (see Satipatthana Sutta).

b) Right Concentration (samma samadhi) - culminating in jhana (meditative absorption) through the meditative development of samatha [8].

And Implicitly in Regard to:

a) Right View (samma ditthi) : embodying wisdom traditionally attained through the meditative development of vipassana founded on samatha[g] .

Classic texts in the Pali literature enumerating meditative subjects include the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) and the Visuddhimagga’s Part II, “Concentration” (Samadhi).

Serenity and insight:

The Buddha is said to have identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:

a) “serenity” or “tranquillity” (Pali: samatha) which steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates the mind;

b) “insight” (Pali: vipassanā) which enables one to see, explore and discern “formations” (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates) [h].

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 [9]. Moreover, 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 the message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path [i]. In the “Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta” Ven. Ananda reports that people attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways:

a) they develop serenity and then insight (Pali: samathapubbangamam vipassanam)

b) they develop insight and then serenity (Pali: vipassanapubbangamam samatham){{While the Nikayas identify that the pursuit of vipassana can precede the pursuit of samatha, a fruitful vipassana-oriented practice must still be based upon the achievement of stabilizing “access concentration” (Pali: upacara samadhi).}}

c) they develop serenity and insight in tandem (Pali: samathavipassanam yuganaddham) as in, for instance, obtaining the first jhana, and then seeing in the associated aggregates the three marks of existence, before proceeding to the second jhana [10].

In the Pali 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.[j] Nonetheless, 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 the aggregates), while others (such as mindfulness of breathing) are classically used for developing both mental qualities [11].

Dhyāna/Jhāna Dhyāna in Buddhism

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Many scholars of early Buddhism such as Vetter, Bronkhorst and Anālayo see the practice of absorption (Pāli: jhāna, Sanskrit: dhyāna) as central to the meditation of Early Buddhism [12-14]. It is a peaceful and happy mental state, in which one is secluded from sensual pleasures and conceptual thinking. 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 the attainment of liberating insight and some early texts also warn meditators against becoming attached to them and therefore forgetting the need for the further practice of insight [15]. There are said to be four form jhanas or meditative absorptions, each one more subtle and refined (Table 1).

.

They are Characterized by Several Factors called Jhānaṅga (Sanskrit: dhyānāṅga):

Various early sources mention the practice of insight after having achieved jhana. According to Anālayo, two interpretations of this material is possible, “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 a mental condition close to it in concentrative depth [16].” The position that insight can be practiced from within jhana according to the early texts is endorsed by Gunaratna, Crangle and Shankaman [17-19]. 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 the attainment” [20]. Apart from the four rūpajhānas, there are also meditative attainments which were later called by the tradition thearūpajhānas, though the early texts do not use the term dhyana for them, calling them āyatana (dimension, sphere, base). They are:

a) The Dimension of infinite space (Pali ākāsānañcāyatana, Skt. ākāśānantyāyatana),

b) The Dimension of infinite consciousness (Pali viññāṇañcāyatana, Skt. vijñānānantyāyatana),

c) The Dimension of infinite nothingness (Pali ākiñcaññāyatana, Skt. ākiṃcanyāyatana),

d) The Dimension of neither perception nor non-perception (Pali nevasaññānāsaññāyatana, Skt. naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana).

e) Nirodha-samāpatti, also called saññā-vedayitanirodha, ‘extinction of feeling and perception’.

Illustration of mindfulness of death using corpses in a charnel ground, a subset of mindfulness of the body, the first satipatthana. From an early 20th century manuscript found in Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province, Thailand [21]. 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 the teachings of the Buddha and knowing how these teachings relate to one’s experiences. The Buddhist texts mention different kinds of mindfulness practice. According to Bronkhorst, there were originally two kinds of mindfulness, “observations of the positions of the body” and the 4 satipaṭṭhānas which constituted formal meditation [22]. Bhikkhu Sujato and Bronkhorst both argue that the mindfulness of the positions of the body wasn’t originally part of the four satipatthana formula but was later added to it in some texts [23]. In the Pali Satipatthana Sutta and its parallels as well as numerous other early Buddhist texts, the Buddha identifies four foundations for mindfulness (satipaṭṭhānas): the body (including the four elements, the parts of the body, and death), feelings (vedana), mind (citta) and phenomena or principles (dhammas), such as 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 [24] Figure 2.

Brahmavihāra:

Another important meditation in the early sources are the four Brahmavihāra (divine abodes) which are said to lead to cetovimutti, a “liberation of the mind” [25] . The four Brahmavihāra are:

a. Loving-kindness (Pāli: mettā, Sanskrit: maitrī) is active good will towards all [26,27];

b. Compassion (Pāli and Sanskrit: karuṇā) results from metta, it is identifying the suffering of others as one’s own [26,27];

c. Empathetic joy (Pāli and Sanskrit: muditā): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it, it is a form of sympathetic joy [26];

d. Equanimity (Pāli: upekkhā, Sanskrit: upekṣā): is evenmindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially [26,27].

Buddhaghosa with three copies of Visuddhimagga, Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara the oldest material of the Theravada tradition on meditation can be found in the Pali Nikayas and in texts such as the Patisambhidamagga which provide commentary to meditation suttas like the Anapanasati sutta. An early Theravada meditation manual is the Vimuttimagga (‘Path of Freedom’, 1st or 2nd century) [30]. The most influential presentation though, is that of the 5th Century Visuddhimagga (‘Path of Purification’) of Buddhaghoṣa, which describes forty meditation subjects. Almost all of these are described in the early texts [31]. Buddhaghoṣa also seems to have been influenced by the earlier Vimuttimagga in his presentation [32]. Buddhaghoṣa advises that, for the purpose of developing concentration and consciousness, 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) [33]. Buddhaghoṣa subsequently elaborates on the forty meditation subjects as follows (Ch. III, §104; Chs. IV-XI) [34]: Ten kasinas: earth, water, fire, air, blue, yellow, red, white, light, and “limited-space”.

a) ten kinds of foulness: “the bloated, the livid, the festering, the cut-up, the gnawed, the scattered, the hacked and scattered, the bleeding, the worm-infested, and a skeleton”.

b) ten recollections: Buddhānussati, the Dhamma, the Sangha, virtue, generosity, the virtues of deities, death (see theUpajjhatthana Sutta), the body, the breath (see anapanasati), and peace (see Nibbana).

c) four divine abodes: mettā, karuṇā, mudita, and upekkha.

d) four immaterial states: boundless space, boundless perception, nothingness, and neither perception nor nonperception.

e) one perception (of “repulsiveness in nutriment”) f) one “defining” (that is, the four elements)

When one overlays Buddhaghosa’s 40 meditative subjects for 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 the attainment of the first jhana, and contemplation of the four elements culminates in prejhana access concentration [35] (Figure 3).

The practice of meditation by Buddhist laypersons is a key feature of the modernvipassana movement. Particularly influential from the twentieth century onward has been the “New Burmese Method” or “Vipassanā School” approach to samathaand vipassanā developed by Mingun Sayadaw and U Nārada and popularized by Mahasi Sayadaw. Here samatha is considered an optional but not necessary component of the practice-vipassanā is possible without it. Another Burmese method, derived from Ledi Sayadaw via Ba Khin and S. N. Goenka, takes a similar approach. Other Burmese traditions popularized in the west, notably that of Pa Auk Sayadaw, uphold the emphasis on samatha explicit in the commentarial tradition of the Visuddhimagga. These Burmese traditions have been particularly influential on the Western Vipassana movement (also called «Insight meditation There are also other less well known Burmese meditation methods, such as the system developed by U Vimala, which focuses on knowledge of dependent origination and cittanupassana (mindfulness of the mind) [36] . Likewise, Sayadaw U Tejaniya’s method also focuses on mindfulness of the mind. Also influential is the Thai Forest Tradition deriving from Mun Bhuridatta and popularized by Ajahn Chah, which, in contrast, stresses the inseparability of the two practices, and the essential necessity of both practices. Other noted practitioners in this tradition include Ajahn Thateand Ajahn Maha Bua, among others[37]. There are other forms of Thai Buddhist meditation associated with particular teachers, including Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s presentation of anapanasati, Ajahn Lee’s breath meditation method (which influenced his American student Thanissaro) and the “dynamic meditation” of Luangpor Teean Cittasubho [38]. There are other less mainstream forms of Theravada meditation practiced in Thailand which include the vijja dhammakaya meditationdeveloped by Lung Pu Sodh Candasaro and the meditation of former supreme patriarch Suk Kai Thuean. Newell notes that these two forms of modern Thai meditation share certain features in common with tantric practices such as the use of visualizations and centrality of maps of the body. A less common type of meditation is practiced in Cambodia and Laos by followers of Borān kammaṭṭhāna (‹ancient practices›) tradition. This form of meditation includes the use of mantras and visualizations.

Sarvāstivāda

The now defunct Sarvāstivāda tradition and its related subschools like the Sautrāntika and the Vaibhāṣika were the most influential Buddhists in North India and Central Asia. Their highly complex Abhidharma treatises such as the Mahavibhasa, the Sravakabhumi and the Abhidharmakosha contain new developments in meditative theory which are a major influence on meditation as practiced in East Asian Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism. Individuals known as yogācāras (yoga practitioners) were influential in the development of Sarvāstivāda meditation praxis and some modern scholars such as Yin Shun believe they were also influential in the development of Mahayana meditation [39]. According to KL Dhammajoti, the Sarvāstivāda meditation practitioner begins with samatha meditations, divided into the fivefold mental stillings, each being recommended as useful for particular personality types:

contemplation on the impure (asubhabhavana), for the greedy type person.

A. Meditation on loving kindness (maitri), for the hateful type

B. contemplation on conditioned co-arising, for the deluded type

C. contemplation on the division of the dhatus, for the conceited type

D. mindfulness of breathing (anapanasmrti), for the distracted type [40].

Contemplation of the impure and mindfulness of breathing was particularly important in this system and they were known as the ‘gateways to immortality’ (amrta-dvāra) [41] The Sarvāstivāda system practiced breath meditation using the same sixteen aspect model used in the anapanasati sutta and also introduced a unique six aspect system which consists of:

a. counting the breaths up to ten

b. following the breath as it enters through the nose throughout the body

c. fixing the mind on the breath

d. observing the breath at various locations

e. modifying is related to the practice of the four applications of mindfulness and

f. purifying stage of the arising of insight [41].

This six fold breathing meditation method was influential in East Asia and expanded upon by the Chinese Tiantai meditation master Zhiyi [42] . After the practitioner has achieved tranquility, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma then recommends one proceeds to practice the four applications of mindfulness (smrti-upasthāna) in two ways. First they contemplate each specific characteristic of the four applications of mindfulness and then they contemplate all four collectively [43]. In spite of this systematic division of samatha and vipasyana, the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharmikas held that the two practices are not mutually exclusive. The Mahavibhasa for example remarks that, regarding the six aspects of mindfulness of breathing, “there is no fixed rule here - all may come under samatha or all may come under vipasyana [44].” The Sarvāstivāda Abhidharmikas also held that attaining the dhyānas was necessary for the development of insight and wisdom [44].

Japanese wood statue of Asaṅga, a scholar who is believed to have contributed significantly to the development of the Yogacarabhumi, a Mahayana compendium of Buddhist praxis Mahāyāna Buddhism includes numerous schools of practice, which each draw upon various Buddhist sūtras, philosophical treatises, and commentaries. Accordingly, each school has its own meditation methods for the purpose of developing samādhi and prajñā, with the goal of ultimately attaining enlightenment. Nevertheless, each has its own emphasis, mode of expression, and philosophical outlook. In his classic book on meditation of the various Chinese Buddhist traditions, Charles Luk writes, “The Buddha Dharma is useless if it is not put into actual practice, because if we do not have personal experience of it, it will be alien to us and we will never awaken to it in spite of our book learning [45].” Nan Huaijin echoed similar sentiments about the importance of meditation by remarking, “Intellectual reasoning is just another spinning of the sixth consciousness, whereas the practice of meditation is the true entry into the Dharma [46].”

Initially, Mahayana Buddhists in India and East Asia practiced meditation in a similar way to that of the Sarvāstivāda school outlined above. One of the major Indian Mahayana treatises on meditation practice is the Yogacara bhumi (compiled circa late 4^th century), a compendium of texts which includes within it the Sarvāstivāda Sravakabhūmi (c. 2^nd -3^rd entury) as well as the Mahayana Bodhisattvabhūmi (c. 3^rd century) [47]. The works of the Chinese translator An Shigao (147-168 CE) are some of the earliest meditation texts used by Chinese Buddhism and their focus is mindfulness of breathing (annabanna), these texts are known as the Dhyāna sutras [48]. The Chinese translator and scholar Kumarajiva (344-413 CE) transmitted a meditation treatise titled The Sūtra Concerned with Samādhi in Sitting Meditation (T.614, K.991) which teaches the Sarvāstivāda system of fivefold mental stillings [49].

Meditation in the Pure Land School: Mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha

Buddhist prayer beads. Those who practice this method often commit to a fixed set of repetitions per day, often from 50,000 to over 500,000. According to tradition, the second patriarch of the Pure Land school, Shandao, is said to have practiced this day and night without interruption, each time emitting light from his mouth. Therefore, he was bestowed with the title “Great Master of Light” by Emperor Gaozong of Tang [51]. In addition, in Chinese Buddhism there is a related practice called the “dual path of Chán and Pure Land cultivation», which is also called the «dual path of emptiness and existence [52].” As taught by Venerable Nan Huaijin, the name of Amitābha Buddha is recited slowly, and the mind is emptied out after each repetition. When idle thoughts arise, the phrase is repeated to clear them. With constant practice, the mind can remain peacefully in emptiness, culminating in the attainment of samādhi.

Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī

Repeating the Pure Land Rebirth dhāraṇī is another method in Pure Land Buddhism. Similar to the mindfulness practice of repeating the name of Amitābha Buddha, this dhāraṇī is another method of meditation and recitation in Pure Land Buddhism. The repetition of this dhāraṇī is said to be very popular among traditional Chinese Buddhists [53]. It is traditionally preserved in Sanskrit, and it is said that when a devotee succeeds in realizing singleness of mind by repeating a mantra, its true and profound meaning will be clearly revealed.

a) namo amitābhāya tathāgatāya tadyathā

b) amṛtabhave amṛtasaṃbhave

c) amṛtavikrānte amṛtavikrāntagāmini

d) gagana kīrtīchare svāhā

Visualization Methods

Another practice found in Pure Land Buddhism is meditative contemplation and visualization of Amitābha, his attendant bodhisattvas, and the Pure Land. The basis of this is found in the Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra («Amitābha Meditation Sūtra”), in which the Buddha describes to Queen Vaidehi the practices of thirteen progressive visualization methods, corresponding to the attainment of various levels of rebirth in the Pure Land [54]. Visualization practises for Amitābha are popular among esoteric Buddhist sects, such as Japanese Shingon Buddhism.

Meditation in the Chán/Zen school: Pointing to the Nature of the Mind

In the earliest traditions of Zen, it is said that there was no formal method of meditation. Instead, the teacher would use various didactic methods to point to the true nature of the mind, also known as Buddha-nature. This method is referred to as the “Mind Dharma”, and exemplified in the story of Śākyamuni Buddha holding up a flower silently, and Mahākāśyapa smiling as he understood. Figure 4 A traditional formula of this is, “Chán points directly to the human mind, to enable people to see their true nature and become buddhas [55].” In the early era of the Chán school, there was no fixed method or ple formula for teaching meditation, and all instructions were simply heuristic methods; therefore the Chán school was called the “Gateless Gate [56].”

Contemplating Meditation Cases

It is said traditionally that when the minds of people in society became more complicated and when they could not make progress so easily, the masters of the Chán school were forced to change their methods [57]. These involved particular words and phrases, shouts, roars of laughter, sighs, gestures, or blows from a staff. These were all meant to awaken the student to the essential truth of the mind, and were later called gōng’àn , or kōan in Japanese. These didactic phrases and methods were to be contemplated, and example of such a device is a phrase that turns around the practice of mindfulness: «Who is being mindful of the Buddha?» [58] The teachers all always instructed their students to give rise to a gentle feeling of doubt while practicing, so as to strip the mind of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and ensure its constant rest and undisturbed condition [59]. Charles Luk explains the essential function of contemplating such a meditation case with doubt: Since the student cannot stop all his thoughts at one stroke, he is taught to use this poison-against-poison device to realize singleness of thought, which is fundamentally wrong but will disappear when it falls into disuse, and gives way to singleness of mind, which is a precondition of the realization of the self-mind for the perception of self-nature and attainment of Bodhi [60] Figure 5.

Meditation in the Tiantai school; Tiantai śamathavipaśyanā

In China it has been traditionally held that the meditation methods used by the Tiantai school are the most systematic and comprehensive of all [61] . In addition to its doctrinal basis in Indian Buddhist texts, the Tiantai school also emphasizes use of its own meditation texts which emphasize the principles of śamatha and vipaśyanā. Of these texts, Zhiyi’s Concise Śamathavipaśyanā, MoheZhiguan (Sanskrit Mahāśamathavipaśyanā),

and Six Subtle Dharma Gates are the most widely read in China. Rujun Wu identifies the work Mahā-śamatha-vipaśyanā of Zhiyi as the seminal meditation text of the Tiantai school [62]. Regarding the functions of śamatha and vipaśyanā in meditation, Zhiyi writes in his work Concise Śamatha-vipaśyanā: The attainment of Nirvāṇa is realizable by many methods whose essentials do not go beyond the practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā. Śamatha is the first step to untie all bonds and vipaśyanā is essential to root out delusion Figure 6. Śamatha provides nourishment for the preservation of the knowing mind, and vipaśyanā is the skillful art of promoting spiritual understanding. Śamatha is the unsurpassed cause of samādhi, while vipaśyanā begets wisdom [63]. The Tiantai school also places a great emphasis on ānāpānasmṛti, or mindfulness of breathing, in accordance with the principles of śamatha and vipaśyanā. Zhiyi classifies breathing into four main categories: panting, unhurried breathing, deep and quiet breathing, and stillness or rest. Zhiyi holds that the first three kinds of breathing are incorrect, while the fourth is correct, and that the breathing should reach stillness and rest [64]. Zhiyi also outlines four kinds of samadhi in his Mohe Zhiguan, and ten modes of practicing vipaśyanā Figure 7.

Esoteric Practices in Japan

One of the adaptations by the Japanese Tendai school was the introduction of Mikkyō (esoteric practices) into Buddhism, which was later named Taimitsu by Ennin. Eventually, according to Tendai Taimitsu doctrine, the esoteric rituals came to be considered of equal importance with the exoteric teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, by chanting mantras, maintaining mudras, or performing certain meditations, one is able to see that the sense experiences are the teachings of Buddha, have faith that one is inherently an enlightened being, and one can attain enlightenment within this very body. The origins of Taimitsu are found in China, similar to the lineage that Kūkai encountered in his visit to Tang China and Saichō’s disciples were encouraged to study under Kūkai [65]. Meditation through the use of complex guided imagery based on Buddhist deities like Tara is a key practice in Vajrayana. Visual aids such as this thangka are often used.

Tantra Techniques (Vajrayana)

Vajrayana Buddhism includes all of the traditional forms of Mahayana meditation and also several unique forms. The central defining form of Vajrayana meditation is Deity Yoga (devatayoga) [66].This involves the recitation ofmantras, prayers and visualization of the yidam or deity along with the associated mandala of the deity›s Pure Land [67] . Advanced Deity Yoga involves imagining yourself as the deity. Other forms of meditation in Vajrayana include the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings, each taught by the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism respectively. The goal of these is to familiarize oneself with the ultimate nature of mind which underlies all existence, the Dharmakāya. There are also other practices such as Dream Yoga, Tummo, the yoga of the intermediate state (at death) or Bardo, sexual yoga and Chöd. The shared preliminary practices of Tibetan Buddhism are called ngöndro, which involves visualization, mantra recitation, and many prostrations.

Therapeutic uses of Meditation: Mindfulness

For a long time people have practiced meditation, based on Buddhist meditation principles, in order to effect mundane and worldly benefit [68]. As such, mindfulness and other Buddhist meditation techniques are being advocated in the West by innovative psychologists and expert Buddhist meditation teachers such as Thích Nhất Hạnh, Pema Chödrön, Clive Sherlock, Mya Thwin SN Goenka, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Alan Clements, and Sharon Salzberg, who have been widely attributed with playing a significant role in integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness, healing, and well-being. Although mindfulness meditation [69] has received the most research attention, loving kindness [70] (metta) and equanimity [71] (upekkha) meditation are beginning to be used in a wide array of research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience. The accounts of meditative states in the Buddhist texts are in some regards free of dogma, so much so that the Buddhist scheme has been adopted by Western psychologists attempting to describe the phenomenon of meditation in general.[k] However, it is exceedingly common to encounter the Buddha describing meditative states involving the attainment of such magical powers (Sanskrit ṛddhi, Pali iddhi) as the ability to multiply one’s body into many and into one again, appear and vanish at will, pass through solid objects as if space, rise and sink in the ground as if in water, walking on water as if land, fly through the skies, touching anything at any distance (even the moon or sun), and travel to other worlds (like the world of Brahma) with or without the body, among other things, [72-74] and for this reason the whole of the Buddhist tradition may not be adaptable to a secular context, unless these magical powers are seen as metaphorical representations of powerful internal states that conceptual descriptions could not do justice to Table 2.

Theravada Buddhist meditation practices

a) Anapanasati - focusing on the breath

b) Satipatthana - Mindfulness of body, sensations, mind and mental phenomena

c) The Four Immeasurables - including compassion karuna and loving-kindness Metta

d) Kammaṭṭhāna

e) Buddhānusmṛti - devotional meditation

f) Samatha - calm abiding

g) Vipassana - insight

h) Mahasati Meditation

i) Dhammakaya Meditation

Zen Buddhist meditation practices

a) Shikantaza - just sitting

b) Kinhin

c) Zazen

d) Koan

e) Hua Tou

f) Suizen (historically practiced by the Fuke sect)

Buddhist meditation centers

a) Insight Meditation Society - Insight meditation, Barre, Massachusetts, United States

b) Dharma Drum Retreat Center - Ch’an/Zen Buddhist meditation center in Pine Bush, New York, United States

c) Padmaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre Triratna center for men in Norfolk, UK

d) Chapin Mill Zen Buddhist meditation center in Rochester, New York, United States

e) Furnace Mountain Zen Buddhist meditation center in Kentucky, United States

f) San Francisco Zen Center

Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Practices

a) Deity yoga

b) Ngondro - preliminary practices

c) Tonglen - giving and receiving

d) Phowa - transference of consciousness at the time of death

e) Chöd - cutting through fear by confronting it

f) Mahamudra - the Kagyu version of ‘entering the allpervading Dharmadatu’, the ‘nondual state’, or the ‘absorption state’

g) Dzogchen - the natural state, the Nyingma version of Mahamudra

h) The Four Immeasurables, Metta

i) Tantra techniques

Related Buddhist practices

a) Mindfulness - awareness in the present moment

b) Mindfulness (psychology) - Western applications of Buddhist ideas

c) Satipatthana

d) chanting and mantra

Proper floor-sitting postures and supports while meditating:

a) Floor sitting: cross-legged (full lotus, half lotus, Burmese) or seiza

b) Cushions: zafu, zabuton

Traditional Buddhist texts on meditation

a) Anapanasati Sutta

b) Satipatthana Sutta

c) Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga - ‘The path of Purification’, used in Theravada Buddhism

d) Kamalashila’s Bhāvanākrama - ‘Stages of meditation’, used in Tibetan Buddhism

e) Zhiyi’s Great Concentration and Insight (Mohe Zhiguan) - used in the Chinese Tiantai school

f) Seventeen tantras - Major Tibetan Dzogchen texts

g) The Wangchuk Dorje’s “Ocean of Definitive Meaning”, major text on Mahamudra meditation.

h) Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s “Mahamudra: The Moonlight - Quintessence of Mind and Meditation”

i) Fukan-zazengi - By Dogen, used in the Japanese Soto Zen school

Traditional preliminary practices to Buddhist meditation

a) prostrations (also see Ngondro)

b) refuge in the Triple Gem

c) Five Precepts

Analog in Vedas

a) Dhyana in Hinduism

b) Ksirodakasayi Vishnu

c) Paramatma

Analog in Taoism

a) Daoist meditation

b) Internal alchemy

Notes

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For instance, Kamalashila (2003) states that Buddhist meditation “includes any method of meditation that has Enlightenment as its ultimate aim.» Likewise, Bodhi (1999) writes: «To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation.... At the climax of such contemplation the mental eye ... shifts its focus to the unconditioned state, Nibbana....” A similar although in some ways slightly broader definition is provided by Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991). “Meditation - general term for a multitude of religious practices, often quite different in method, but all having the same goal: to bring the consciousness of the practitioner to a state in which he can come to an experience of ‘awakening,’ ‘liberation,’ ‘enlightenment.’Kamalashila (2003) further allows that some Buddhist meditations are “of a more preparatory nature” . The Pali and Sanskrit word bhāvanā literally means «development» as in «mental development.» For the association of this term with «meditation,» see Epstein (1995) and, Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991). As an example from a wellknown discourse of the Pāli Canon, in “The Greater Exhortation to Ranula” (Maha-Rahulovada Sutta, MN 62), Sariputta tells Rahula (in Pali, based on VRI, n.d.): ānāp ānassatiṃ, rāhula, bhāvanaṃ bhāvehi. Thanissaro (2006) translates this as: «Rahula, develop the meditation [bhāvana] of mindfulness of in-&-out breathing.” (Square-bracketed Pali word included based on Thanissaro, 2006, end note.) See, for example, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), entry for “jhāna1 ”; Thanissaro (1997); as well as, Kapleau (1989) for the derivation of the word “zen” from Sanskrit «dhyāna.” PTS Secretary Dr. Rupert Gethin, in describing the activities of wandering ascetics contemporaneous with the Buddha, wrote: T]here is the cultivation of meditative and contemplative techniques aimed at producing what might, for the lack of a suitable technical term in English, be referred to as ‹altered states of consciousness›. In the technical vocabulary of Indian religious texts, such states come to be termed ‹meditations› (Sanskrit: dhyāna, Pali: jhāna) or ‘concentrations’ (samādhi); the attainment of such states of consciousness was generally regarded as bringing the practitioner to deeper knowledge and experience of the nature of the world.” (Gethin 1998) The analysis and interpretation the data based on qualitative variables as follows; The study clearly indicates that majority business management graduates get physical advantages of Vipassana Meditation process, in one way or other. Major benefits includes understanding of hidden potentials (20.3%), ability to withstand pain (15%), flexibility of physique, (12.8%), positive feeling (11.3), increased concentration (6%) etc. Students obtained different advantages by undergoing this awareness process. The study indicates that majority business management student get psychological benefits out of the Vipassana Meditation Process. Among the Psychological benefits 36.2% of students reported that they obtained peace and stability of mind, strong will power, become calm, quiet, and relaxed. They could be able to understand the strength and weaknesses, and become more composed, compassionate, determined, developed and developed the feeling equanimity. Their ability to concentrate day to day classes increased (24.1%) and gained better control over anger, agitation, frustration, reaction formation and hyper activeness (22.6%). Students obtained different psychological advantages by undergoing awareness process. A very few students reported (3%) no change in their behaviour. Goldstein (2003) writes that, in regard to the Satipatthana Sutta, “there are more than fifty different practices outlined in this Sutta. The meditations that derive from these foundations of mindfulness are called vipassana..., and in one form or another - and by whatever name - are found in all the major Buddhist traditions”. The forty concentrative meditation subjects refer to Visuddhimagga’s oft-referenced enumeration. Regarding Tibetan visualizations, Kamalashila (2003), writes: “The Tara meditation ... is one example out of thousands of subjects for visualization meditation, each one arising out of some meditator’s visionary experience of enlightened qualities, seen in the form of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas” Table 3.

Examples of contemporary school-specific “classics” include, from theTheravada tradition, Nyanaponika (1996) and, from the Zen tradition, Kapleau (1989). For instance, from the Pāli Canon, see MN 44 (Thanissaro, 1998a) and AN 3:88 (Thanissaro, 1998b). In Mahayana tradition, the Lotus Sutra lists the Six Perfections (pāramitā) which echoes the threefold training with the inclusion of virtue (śīla), concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (prajñā). For example, Bodhi (1999), in discussing a latter stage of developing Right View (that of “penetrating” the Four Noble Truths), states: To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation - first to strengthen the capacity for sustained concentration, then to develop insight. These definitions of samatha and vipassana are based on the “Four Kinds of Persons Sutta” (AN 4.94). This article’s text is primarily based on Bodhi (2005), See also Thanissaro (1998d). Bodhi (2000) See also Thanissaro (1998c) (where this sutta is identified as SN 35.204). See also, for instance, a discourse (Pali: sutta) entitled, “Serenity and Insight” (SN 43.2), where the Buddha states: “And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? Serenity and insight....” (Bodhi, 2000). When [the Pali discourses] depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying ‘go do vipassana,’ but always ‘go do jhana.’ And they never equate the word vipassana with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassana, they almost always pair it with samatha - not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may ‘gain’ or ‘be endowed with,’ and that should be developed together. Similarly, referencing MN 151, vv. 13-19, and AN IV, 125-27, Ajahn Brahm (who, like Bhikkhu Thanissaro, is of the Thai Forest Tradition) writes: Some traditions speak of two types of meditation, insight meditation (vipassana) and calm meditation (samatha). In fact, the two are indivisible facets of the same process. Calm is the peaceful happiness born of meditation; insight is the clear understanding born of the same meditation. Calm leads to insight and insight leads to calm. (Brahm 2006) Michael Carrithers, (The Buddha 1983) Found in Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986. The author is referring to Pali literature. See however B. Alan Wallace, the bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, where the author demonstrates similar approaches to analyzing meditation within the Indo-Tibetan and Theravada traditions Table 4.

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