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Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of Meditation techniques that develop Mindfulness , Concentration , Tranquility and Insight . Core meditation techniques are preserved in ancient Buddhist Texts and have proliferated and diversified through the millennia of teacher-student transmissions. Non-Buddhists use these techniques for the pursuit of physical and mental health as well as for non-Buddhist spiritual aims.See, for instance, Kuei-feng's description of ''bonpu'' and ''gedō'' zen, described further below. ...." A similar although in some ways slightly broader definition is provided by Fischer-Schreiber ''et al''. (1991), p. 142: "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" (p. 4). The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are '' "dhyāna." PTS Secretary Dr. Rupert Gethin, in describing the activities of Wandering Ascetics contemporaneous with the Buddha, wrote: 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 instruction, it might be most expedient to simply review articles listed in the " See Also " section below.
:(4) Six Element Practice ( Earth, Water, Fire, Air , space, "consciousness") :(5) Contemplation of Conditionality In addition, he discusses three other meditations as "among the most important" not identified above:Kamalashila (2003), pp. 224 ''ff''.
An important (although not universally accepted) theme throughout Kamalashila's guide is that the various methods of meditation can be divided into s usually treat the development of serenity as the precursor to the development of insight. However, because the aptitudes of meditators differ, several Sutta s allow for alternative approaches to this sequence." The following table summarizes Kamalashila's Five Basic Methods (with metta bhavana expanded to include all four brahma-viharas).The table in this article is an expansion of the table on Kamalashila (2003), p. 192. Limitations of Kamalashila's systemization of Buddhist meditation include:
Nonetheless, it should be noted that Kamalashila's explicit aim is not to create an exhaustive systemization of pan-Buddhist meditation practices but to create a useful meditation guide. Kuei-feng's "Five Types of Zen" In the early ninth century, Kuei-feng (Chinese; also, Guifeng, Tsung-mi, Zongmi; Jap., Kei-ho) grouped Zen practices into five categories. While this typology is best known to Zen practitioners, it is applicable to all Buddhist meditation practices and is thus used here.For the general applicability of Kuei-feng's typology, see Fischer-Schreiber ''et al''. (1991), p. 70, in the entry "Five types of Zen," as well as Kapleau (1989)'s broad definition of "Zen" on p. 385. Discussion of this typology can be found in Fischer-Schreiber ''et al''. (1991), p. 70. and Kapleau (1989), pp. 44-49. According to this typology, the outward appearance of all meditation practitioners is the same, but their substance and purpose differ.Kapleau (1989), p. 45. Thus, for instance, most who practice mindfulness of breath would have a similar posture, meditative subject and level of concentration. But while some use the practice for mental quietude others use it to transcend all suffering. More specifically, Kuei-feng's five categories of meditative practices are: # "Ordinary" (Chinese, ''bonpu''; Jap., ''bonpu'' or ''bompu'') – meditation pursued for mental and physical well-being without any spiritual goal. # "Outside way" (''gedō'') – meditation pursued for non-Buddhist purposes, such as in tandem with Hindu yoga or Christian contemplation or for the pursuit of supernatural powers. # "Small vehicle" (''shōjō'') – the pursuit of self-liberation, Nirvana . # "Great vehicle" (''daijō'') – the pursuit of self-realization to experience the unity of all things and working for the benefit for all beings (see Kensho ). # "Supreme vehicle" (''saijōjō'') – the realization of Buddha-nature as immanent in all beings (see Shikantaza ). While the relative merits of the last three categories is open for discussion among various branches of Buddhism,For instance, some say that Rinzai practitioners pursue ''daijō'' zen and Soto practitioners pursue ''saijōjō'' zen, while others state that both pursuits are essential to both schools (Fischer-Schreiber ''et al''., 1991, p. 70). Similarly, various Theravada discourses, such as "The Bamboo Acrobat" ( SN 47.19; Olendzki, 2005 ), maintain that so-called ''shōjō'' practices are in fact beneficial for others as well as for the contemplative. it is useful to see that the same Buddhist meditation practices have been used for many centuries by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, for different ends. Contemporary Western examples of ''bonpu'' meditation include the psychotherapeutic use of Buddhist mindfulness techniques in Kabat-Zinn 's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)Kabat-Zinn (2001) and Linehan's Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)Linehan (1993). (see also Buddhism And Psychology ). FROM THE PALI LITERATURE
In terms of the vast Pali Canon , meditation can be contextualized as part of the Noble Eightfold Path , explicitly in regards to:
And implicitly in regards to:
: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. Classic texts in the Pali Literature enumerating meditative subjects include the Satipatthana Sutta ( MN 10) and the Visuddhimagga 's Part II, "Concentration" (''Samadhi''). The Buddha's four foundations for mindfulness See Also: Satipatthana Sutta In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha identified four foundations for mindfulness: the body, feelings, mind states and mental objects. He further enumerated the following objects as bases for the meditative development of mindfulness:
:#Breathing (see '' Anapanasati Sutta '') :#Postures :# Clear Comprehending :#Reflections on Repulsiveness Of The Body :#Reflections on Material Elements :#Cemetery Contemplations
:#The Hindrances :#The Aggregates :#The Sense-Bases :#The Factors Of Enlightenment :#The Four Noble Truths Meditation on these subjects develops insight.For instance, see Solé-Leris (1986), p. 75; and, Goldstein (2003), p. 92. Buddhaghosa's forty meditation subjects See Also: Kammatthana In the Visuddhimagga, for the purpose of developing concentration and "consciousness," Buddhaghosa advises that a person should "apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament" with the advice of a "good friend" ('' Kalyana Mitta '') who is knowledgeable in the different meditation subjects (Ch. III, § 28).Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), pp. 85, 90. Buddhaghosa subsequently elaborates on the forty meditation subjects as follows (Ch. III, §104; Chs. IV - XI):Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), p. 110.
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 related to reflections of bodily repulsiveness), and contemplation of the four elements. Of these, according to Pali Commentaries , only breath meditation can lead one to the equanimous fourth jhanic absorption. Foulness meditation can lead to the attainment of the first jhana, and contemplation of the four elements culminates in pre-jhana access concentration.Regarding the jhanic attainments that are possible with different meditation techniques, see Gunaratana (1988) . Swift messengers of Nibbana: Serenity and insight The Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:
Through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to suppress obscuring s, is the path leading to the Unconditioned ? Serenity and insight...." (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1372-73). In the "Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta" (AN 4.170), Ven. Ananda reported that people attain Arahant ship using serenity and insight in one of three ways: # they develop serenity and then insight (Pali: ''samatha-pubbangamam vipassanam'') # they develop insight and then serenity (Pali: ''vipassana-pubbangamam 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''). # they develop serenity and insight in tandem (Pali: ''samatha-vipassanam yuganaddham''), for instance, obtaining the first Jhana and then seeing in the associated aggregates the Three Marks Of Existence , before proceeding to the second jhana.Bodhi (2005), pp. 268, 439 ''nn''. 7, 9, 10. See also Thanissaro (1998f) . In the Pali canon, the Buddha never mentioned independent samatha and vipassana meditation practices; instead, samatha and vipassana are two ''qualities of mind'' to be developed through meditation.See Thanissaro (1997) where for instance he underlines: :When 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, p. 25.) 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.See, for instance, Bodhi (1999) and Nyanaponika (1996), p. 108. SEE ALSO Theravada Buddhist meditation practices: Zen Buddhist meditation practices: Vajrayana Buddhist meditation practices: Related Buddhist practices: Proper floor-sitting postures & supports while meditating:
Traditional Buddhist Texts on meditation: Traditional preliminary practices to Buddhist meditation: NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
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