Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Meditation

Meditation practices develop mental focus, which is used for the attainment of particular states of consciousness. Meditation is most readily associated with Hinduism and Buddhism; however, it is also practiced in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, numerous indigenous traditions, and a variety of new religious movements. The global dissemination of meditation practice is traced in this entry from India through China as well as from the Middle East through Europe and the Americas.

India: Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Tantra

Among the earliest representations of meditation practice are figures sitting in what appear to be meditative postures on seals from archaeological sites in the Indus Valley civilization (ca. 2700 BCE). The first extensive recorded treatment of meditation practice in Hinduism is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (100 BCE to 200 CE). In this classic text, dhyana (meditation) focused on the cessation of thought. Samkhya philosophy, a dualist philosophy that sees the cosmos as consisting of two radically different forces, purusha consciousness (spirit) and prakrti (matter), is the metaphysical foundation of the Yoga Sutras. Yoga meditation practices were designed as psychophysical disciplines to unite these two cosmic forces. The mind is understood as being continuously engaged in thoughts of past actions, and these thoughts shape the present and create the future. Yoga meditation techniques are a means for stopping this constant stream of thoughts. When the mind becomes still, it can gain awareness of the essential reality that is beyond the subject-object dualism.

Hindu Tantric practices reached maturity during the 10th century CE and focused on the acquisition and use of energy. In its classical form, Tantra is an amalgam of Samkhya philosophy and regional religious traditions focused on The Goddess and Shiva. Tantric meditation differs from that described by Patanjali in its extensive use of visualization, recitation of sacred mantras (sounds), and hand mudras (gestures). As a result of its use of erotic imagery and metaphor, Tantra captured the imagination of the early British colonialists and has generated a contemporary cultural phenomenon often quite different from the classical teachings. Classical Tantric meditation is a discipline for the transcendence of the cosmic duality via the full integration of the spiritual consciousness into the human body.

Nepal, Southeast Asia, Japan, and China: Buddhist Expansion and Chinese Meditation

At the same time when the teachings of the Yoga Sutras were circulating orally (sixth century BCE), the meditation practices of Buddhism were being developed in India. In contrast to Hindu teachings, Buddhism focused on the attainment of nirvana, the ultimate freedom from suffering. According to Buddhism, suffering results from the misperception that appearances, sensory perceptions, and mental formulations are real. In the two major schools of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana, bhavana (meditation) focuses on creating a consciousness of samatha (calm) and vipasyana (insight or higher vision). Together these states constitute the mindfulness practice, which develops an awareness of the body and a general sensation of tranquility that prepares the consciousness for absorption in a state of sunyata (emptiness). Once emptiness is achieved, then nirvana can be experienced. Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism developed as a branch of Mahayana and, like the Hindu Tantra, matured in the 10th century CE. Once Vajrayana practice entered Tibet, it underwent further development, and today, it remains at the core of Tibetan Buddhist practice. Theravada Buddhism spread to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, whereas Mahayana Buddhism progressed eastward into China (second century CE) and Japan (fifth and sixth centuries CE). In both instances, Mahayana developed into Zen (in Chinese, Ch'an) and its meditative practice zazen by the eighth and ninth centuries CE. The goal of Zen practice is the attainment of knowledge that results from a radical change of perception (satori). Zen satori, like the attainment of nirvana, is an experience beyond subject-object dualism and results in union in absolute reality.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution