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
Go to
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 4th century), a
compendium of texts which includes within it the Sarvāstivāda Sravakabhūmi (c.
2nd -3rd entury) as well
as the Mahayana Bodhisattvabhūmi (c. 3rd 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
Go to
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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