Buddhist meditation - Religion. Facts. Buddhist meditation is a form of mental concentration that leads ultimately to enlightenment and spiritual freedom. Meditation occupies a central place in all forms of Buddhism, but has developed characteristic variations in different Buddhist traditions. There are two main types of Buddhist meditation: vipassana (insight) and samatha (tranquility). The two are often combined or used one after the other (usually vipissana follows samatha). In China and Japan, an entire school of Buddhism developed around the practice of sitting meditation: Ch’an or Zen Buddhism. . or as an end in itself. The term meditation refers to a broad variety of. Muslim teachings embrace life as a test. Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide. “Meditation is mind’s gift to itself. The ultimate aim of Buddhist meditation is insight into the nature. And when this habit leaks out into daily life. HOW TO MEDITATE? 'The most important thing is practice in daily life. Teachings on Practical Buddhism. The basic purpose of samatha or tranquility meditation is to still the mind and train it to concentrate. The object of concentration (kammatthana) is less important than the skill of concentration itself, and varies by individual and situation. One Pali texts lists 4. Buddha)- virtues (like loving- kindness)The goal of samatha meditation is to progress through four stages (dhyanas): - Detachment from the external world and a consciousness of joy and tranquility; - Concentration, with suppression of reasoning and investigation; - The passing away of joy, but with the sense of tranquility remaining; and- The passing away of tranquility also, bringing about a state of pure self- possession and equanimity. Insight Meditation (Vipassana)Many of the skills learned in tranquility meditation can be applied to insight meditation, but the end goal is different. As its name suggests, the purpose of insight meditation is the realization of important truths. Specifically, one who practices vipassana hopes to realize the truths of impermanence, suffering and "no- self."Of course, these doctrines are already known to any Buddhist. Meditation is a conscious effort to. practice itself. closely to the Buddha's teachings. I have heard that meditation is widely used today by. Vipassana Fellowship's online Meditation Course provides a supported. but this is not in itself sufficient to rid the mind of. vipassana means insight. It is a means of better knowing and understanding the Word which gives insight to life itself. to Profit From Biblical Meditation. Will it give insight to life? Buddhist meditation is a form of mental concentration. There are two main types of Buddhist meditation: vipassana (insight). they are the central teachings of. The teachings on lojong. The Why and How of Lojong, or Mind Training. by Judy Lief. At first glance some of them may seem like practical advice from your. After all, they are the central teachings of the Buddha. But in order to attain liberation, he or she must personally apprehend and truly understand these important truths. Simple knowledge of the Buddhist doctrines is not sufficient. Because vipassana meditation alone produces the understanding through which liberation takes place, it is considered superior to tranquility meditation. It is the primary form of meditation practiced in Theravada Buddhism. The practice of insight meditation centers around the notion of mindfulness. Mindfulness is related to, but different than, concentration. When one is concentrating, one’s entire focus is on the object of concentration in an almost trancelike manner - whether the object is a lotus, one’s own breathing, or a television program. But to be mindful of something is to think about it and observe it carefully. It is not only to focus on a television program, but to comprehend its content. It is not only to block out everything but breathing; it is to observe what the breathing is like and attempt to learn something about it. Gaining the skill of mindfulness is the first step of insight meditation. The most common methods prescribed to develop mindfulness are: walking mindfulness, sitting mindfulness, and mindfulness of daily activities. Walking mindfulness is regularly practiced in monasteries and retreats, especially in the Theravada tradition. But to practice walking mindfulness anywhere, one finds a quiet place to walk, takes a moment to relax, then attempts to focus on the myriad movements and sensations associated with walking. If the mind strays to other things, this is to be mindfully noted, then put aside to again focus on the walking. According to Buddhists who practice this technique, as one progresses in skill it becomes easy to "lose oneself" in the activity and walk for a long time without it feeling like more than a few minutes have passed. This can be very blissful in itself, but it also brings the practitioner closer to insight into the fundamental truths of "no- self" and impermanence. Sitting meditation is very similar to walking meditation, except now the focus is on the breath instead of the walking. The sitting meditator attempts to focus entirely on his or her own breath as it moves in and out, and the abdomen as it moves up and down. As in walking meditation, as other thoughts distract, these are to be mindfully recognized, then put aside. With practice, the meditator is distracted less and notices more about the object of observation, the breath. This practice certainly brings about tranquility, but again, the ultimate goal is to begin to realize for oneself the Buddhist truths of no- self, suffering and impermanence. Finally, the practice of mindfulness in everyday activities applies the skills learned in walking and sitting meditation to everything one does: eating, washing dishes, washing, etc. As this skill is developed, one lives increasinly in the present moment and participates more fully in everything he or she does. One Buddhist master who was accomplished in the practice of mindfulness said simply, "When I eat, I eat. When I sleep, I sleep." Loving- Kindness Meditation (Metta Bhavana)Loving- kindness is a central virtue of Buddhism, and loving- kindness meditation (metta bhavana) is a way of developing this virtue. It is a practice that is seen as supplemental or complementary to other forms of meditation. The purpose of loving- kindness meditation is to develop the mental habit of altruistic love for the self and others. It is said to "sweeten the mind." There are, of course, a variety of ways to practice metta bhavana, but it generally progresses through three stages: - Specific pervasion- Directional pervasion- Non- specific pervasion. In the first stage, the practitioner focuses on sending loving- kindness to specific people, in the following order: - Oneself- An admired, respected person (like a spiritual teacher)- A beloved person (like a close friend or family member)- A neutral person – someone familiar but who evokes no particular feelings (like a person who works in a local store)- A hostile person (like an enemy or someone who causes the practitioner difficulty)Beginning with oneself, the meditator seeks to evoke feelings of loving- kindness for each person in the above list. Tools for accomplishing this include: - Visualization – imagine the person looking joyful and happy- Reflection – reflect on the person’s positive qualities and acts of kindness they have done- Mantra – repeat silently or out loud a simple mantra like "loving- kindness"When this first stage has been accomplished even for hostile persons, one moves on the next stage, Directional Pervasion. In this stage, the practitioner systematically projects feelings of loving- kindness in all geographical directions: north, south, east and west. This can be done by bringing to mind friends and like- minded communities in various cities around the world. The last stage of metta bhavana is "Non- Specific Pervasion," which simply means radiating feelings of universal, unconditional love in everyday life. This stage is often a natural outcome of accomplishment of the other stages. Sources - Buddhist meditation. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.- Buddhist Meditation e. Books – Buddhanet's e. Book Library- Loving- Kindness Meditation – Ven Pannyavaro, Buddhanet Basic Buddhism Guide. External Links on Buddhist Meditation - Knowing and Seeing (PDF) – Buddhanet – on tranquility and insight meditation- Meditation Instruction Talks – Buddhanet Audio. What is Theravada Buddhism? Theravada (pronounced — more or less — "terra- VAH- dah"), the "Doctrine of the Elders," is the school of Buddhism that draws its scriptural inspiration from the Tipitaka, or Pali canon, which scholars generally agree contains the earliest surviving record of the Buddha's teachings.[1] For many centuries, Theravada has been the predominant religion of continental Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos) and Sri Lanka. Today Theravada Buddhists number well over 1. In recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West. Many Buddhisms, One Dhamma- vinaya. The Buddha — the "Awakened One" — called the religion he founded Dhamma- vinaya — "the doctrine and discipline." To provide a social structure supportive of the practice of Dhamma- vinaya (or Dhamma for short [Sanskrit: Dharma]), and to preserve these teachings for posterity, the Buddha established the order of bhikkhus (monks) and bhikkhunis (nuns) — the Sangha — which continues to this day to pass his teachings on to subsequent generations of laypeople and monastics, alike. As the Dhamma continued its spread across India after the Buddha's passing, differing interpretations of the original teachings arose, which led to schisms within the Sangha and the emergence of as many as eighteen distinct sects of Buddhism.[3] One of these schools eventually gave rise to a reform movement that called itself Mahayana (the "Greater Vehicle")[4] and that referred to the other schools disparagingly as Hinayana (the "Lesser Vehicle"). What we call Theravada today is the sole survivor of those early non- Mahayana schools.[5] To avoid the pejorative tone implied by the terms Hinayana and Mahayana, it is common today to use more neutral language to distinguish between these two main branches of Buddhism. Because Theravada historically dominated southern Asia, it is sometimes called "Southern" Buddhism, while Mahayana, which migrated northwards from India into China, Tibet, Japan, and Korea, is known as "Northern" Buddhism.[6]The language of the Theravada canonical texts is Pali (lit., "text"), which is based on a dialect of Middle Indo- Aryan that was probably spoken in central India during the Buddha's time.[7] Ven. Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and close personal attendant, committed the Buddha's sermons (suttas) to memory and thus became a living repository of these teachings.[8] Shortly after the Buddha's death (ca. BCE), five hundred of the most senior monks — including Ananda — convened to recite and verify all the sermons they had heard during the Buddha's forty- five year teaching career.[9] Most of these sermons therefore begin with the disclaimer, "Evam me sutam" — "Thus have I heard."After the Buddha's death the teachings continued to be passed down orally within the monastic community, in keeping with an Indian oral tradition that long predated the Buddha.[1. By 2. 50 BCE the Sangha had systematically arranged and compiled these teachings into three divisions: the Vinaya Pitaka (the "basket of discipline" — the texts concerning the rules and customs of the Sangha), the Sutta Pitaka (the "basket of discourses" — the sermons and utterances by the Buddha and his close disciples), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (the "basket of special/higher doctrine" — a detailed psycho- philosophical analysis of the Dhamma). Together these three are known as the Tipitaka, the "three baskets." In the third century BCE Sri Lankan monks began compiling a series of exhaustive commentaries to the Tipitaka; these were subsequently collated and translated into Pali beginning in the fifth century CE. The Tipitaka plus the post- canonical texts (commentaries, chronicles, etc.) together constitute the complete body of classical Theravada literature. Pali was originally a spoken language with no alphabet of its own. It wasn't until about 1. BCE that the Tipitaka was first fixed in writing, by Sri Lankan scribe- monks,[1. Pali phonetically in a form of early Brahmi script.[1. Since then the Tipitaka has been transliterated into many different scripts (Devanagari, Thai, Burmese, Roman, Cyrillic, to name a few). Although English translations of the most popular Tipitaka texts abound, many students of Theravada find that learning the Pali language — even just a little bit here and there — greatly deepens their understanding and appreciation of the Buddha's teachings. No one can prove that the Tipitaka contains any of the words actually uttered by the historical Buddha. Practicing Buddhists have never found this problematic. Unlike the scriptures of many of the world's great religions, the Tipitaka is not regarded as gospel, as an unassailable statement of divine truth, revealed by a prophet, to be accepted purely on faith. Instead, its teachings are meant to be assessed firsthand, to be put into practice in one's life so that one can find out for oneself if they do, in fact, yield the promised results. It is the truth towards which the words in the Tipitaka point that ultimately matters, not the words themselves. Although scholars will continue to debate the authorship of passages from the Tipitaka for years to come (and thus miss the point of these teachings entirely), the Tipitaka will quietly continue to serve — as it has for centuries — as an indispensable guide for millions of followers in their quest for Awakening. Shortly after his Awakening, the Buddha delivered his first sermon, in which he laid out the essential framework upon which all his later teachings were based. This framework consists of the Four Noble Truths, four fundamental principles of nature (Dhamma) that emerged from the Buddha's radically honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition. He taught these truths not as metaphysical theories or as articles of faith, but as categories by which we should frame our direct experience in a way that conduces to Awakening: Dukkha: suffering, unsatisfactoriness, discontent, stress; The cause of dukkha: the cause of this dissatisfaction is craving (tanha) for sensuality, for states of becoming, and states of no becoming; The cessation of dukkha: the relinquishment of that craving; The path of practice leading to the cessation of dukkha: the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Because of our ignorance (avijja) of these Noble Truths, because of our inexperience in framing the world in their terms, we remain bound to samsara, the wearisome cycle of birth, aging, illness, death, and rebirth. Craving propels this process onward, from one moment to the next and over the course of countless lifetimes, in accordance with kamma (Skt. According to this immutable law, every action that one performs in the present moment — whether by body, speech, or mind itself — eventually bears fruit according to its skillfulness: act in unskillful and harmful ways and unhappiness is bound to follow; act skillfully and happiness will ultimately ensue.[1. As long as one remains ignorant of this principle, one is doomed to an aimless existence: happy one moment, in despair the next; enjoying one lifetime in heaven, the next in hell. The Buddha discovered that gaining release from samsara requires assigning to each of the Noble Truths a specific task: the first Noble Truth is to be comprehended; the second, abandoned; the third, realized; the fourth, developed. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way for Awakening: the end of ignorance, craving, suffering, and kamma itself; the direct penetration to the transcendent freedom and supreme happiness that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha's teachings; the Unconditioned, the Deathless, Unbinding — Nibbana (Skt. Nirvana). Because the roots of ignorance are so intimately entwined with the fabric of the psyche, the unawakened mind is capable of deceiving itself with breathtaking ingenuity. The solution therefore requires more than simply being kind, loving, and mindful in the present moment. The practitioner must equip him- or herself with the expertise to use a range of tools to outwit, outlast, and eventually uproot the mind's unskillful tendencies. For example, the practice of generosity (dana) erodes the heart's habitual tendencies towards craving and teaches valuable lessons about the motivations behind, and the results of, skillful action. The practice of virtue (sila) guards one against straying wildly off- course and into harm's way. The cultivation of goodwill (metta) helps to undermine anger's seductive grasp. The ten recollections offer ways to alleviate doubt, bear physical pain with composure, maintain a healthy sense of self- respect, overcome laziness and complacency, and restrain oneself from unbridled lust. And there are many more skills to learn. The good qualities that emerge and mature from these practices not only smooth the way for the journey to Nibbana; over time they have the effect of transforming the practitioner into a more generous, loving, compassionate, peaceful, and clear- headed member of society. The individual's sincere pursuit of Awakening is thus a priceless and timely gift to a world in desperate need of help. Discernment (pañña)The Eightfold Path is best understood as a collection of personal qualities to be developed, rather than as a sequence of steps along a linear path. The development of right view and right resolve (the factors classically identified with wisdom and discernment) facilitates the development of right speech, action, and livelihood (the factors identified with virtue). As virtue develops so do the factors identified with concentration (right effort, mindfulness, and concentration). Likewise, as concentration matures, discernment evolves to a still deeper level. And so the process unfolds: development of one factor fosters development of the next, lifting the practitioner in an upward spiral of spiritual maturity that eventually culminates in Awakening.
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