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Meditation In Popular Culture

Meditate to retrain your mindThe subject of meditation can be confusing and even intimidating to some people. Meditation is an art form that dates back thousands of years. It is well known for being a practice that monks and other religious people participated in.

Today meditation in popular culture, is associated with many health benefits for the mind and the body. It is being used more widely, and what most people don’t know, is that there is more than one form of meditation.

The best way to describe mediation is by this; it is a practice that allows a person to train their mind to a better way of thinking. This could be to stop focusing on the past and let things go, or to develop a more positive mindset.

The practice of meditation allows you to learn how to relax your mind and your body. It can help you develop a new life force, also known as gi, ki, and prana. At the same time you can learn how to love again, have compassion, improve your generosity and to forgive things.

Many religions incorporate some form of meditation into their beliefs. It is often used to help clear the mind and to sync your body and mind together. Mantras were often performed while in a sitting position and helped a person develop a calm state of mind.

The goal is to relax your mind and become totally aware of your thoughts and feelings.

Today it is recognized that meditation can be done in many ways with tons of benefits. Taking part in yoga is one way to meditating. Kneeling or sitting and repeating phrases or quotes, is yet another way. It is even possible to meditate while walking, and many people actually perform it this way.

Various depictions of meditation:

A statue of Patañjali practicing dhyana in the Padma-asana at Patanjali Yogpeeth.
A statue of Patañjali practicing dhyana in the Padma-asana at Patanjali Yogpeeth.

The Hindu Swami Vivekananda, the Buddhist monk Hsuan Hua, Taoist Baduanjin Qigong, the Christian St Francis, the Stoic sage Epictetus and Muslim Sufis in Dhikr.

Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.[1]:228–29[2]:180[3]:415[4]:107[5][6] Scholars have found meditation difficult to define, as practices vary both between traditions and within them.

The Christian St Francis
Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Meditation has been practiced since antiquity in numerous religious traditions, often as part of the path towards enlightenment and self realization. Some of the earliest written records of meditation (Dhyana), come from the Hindu traditions of Vedantism. Since the 19th century, Asian meditative techniques have spread to other cultures where they have also found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health.

Meditation may be used with the aim of reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and increasing peace, perception,[7] self-concept, and well-being.[8][9][10][11] Meditation is under research to define its possible health (psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular) and other effects.

Contents

Etymology[edit]

The English meditation is derived from Old French meditacioun, in turn from Latin meditatio from a verb meditari, meaning “to think, contemplate, devise, ponder”.[12][13] The use of the term meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th century monk Guigo II.[13][14]

Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as dhyāna in Hinduism and Buddhism and which comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai, meaning to contemplate or meditate.[15][16] The term “meditation” in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism,[17] or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm.[4]

Definitions

Meditation has proven difficult to define as it covers a wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions. In popular usage, the word “meditation” and the phrase “meditative practice” are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures.[4][18] These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention or to teach calm or compassion.[19] There remains no definition of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation that has achieved universal or widespread acceptance within the modern scientific community. In 1971, Claudio Naranjo noted that “The word ‘meditation’ has been used to designate a variety of practices that differ enough from one another so that we may find trouble in defining what meditation is.”[20]:6 A 2009 study noted a “persistent lack of consensus in the literature” and a “seeming intractability of defining meditation”.[21]:135

Dictionary definitions

Dictionaries give both the original Latin meaning of “think[ing] deeply about (something)”;[6] as well as the popular usage of “to focus one’s mind for a period of time,”[6] “the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed,”[22] and “to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.”[5]

Scholarly definitions

In modern psychological research, meditation has been defined and characterized in a variety of ways. Many of these emphasize the role of attention.[4][1][2][3] and characterize the practice of meditation as attempts to get beyond the reflexive, “discursive thinking”[note 1] or “logic”[note 2] mind[note 3] to achieve a deeper, more devout, or more relaxed state.

Bond et al. (2009) identified criteria for defining a practice as meditation “for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation,” using “a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research” who were also trained in diverse but empirically highly studied (Eastern-derived or clinical) forms of meditation[note 4];

three main criteria […] as essential to any meditation practice: the use of a defined technique, logic relaxation,[note 5] and a self-induced state/mode.

Other criteria deemed important [but not essential] involve a state of psychophysical relaxation, the use of a self-focus skill or anchor, the presence of a state of suspension of logical thought processes, a religious/spiritual/philosophical context, or a state of mental silence.[21]:135

[…] It is plausible that meditation is best thought of as a natural category of techniques best captured by ‘family resemblances‘ […] or by the related ‘prototype’ model of concepts.”[21]:135[note 6]

Several other definitions of meditation have been used by influential modern reviews of research on meditation across multiple traditions:[note 7]

  • Walsh & Shapiro (2006): “[M]editation refers to a family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration”[1]:228–29
  • Cahn & Polich (2006): “[M]editationis used to describe practices that self-regulate the body and mind, thereby affecting mental events by engaging a specific attentional set…. regulation of attention is the central commonality across the many divergent methods”[2]:180
  • Jevning et al. (1992): “We define meditation… as a stylized mental technique… repetitively practiced for the purpose of attaining a subjective experience that is frequently described as very restful, silent, and of heightened alertness, often characterized as blissful”[3]:415
  • Goleman (1988): “the need for the meditator to retrain his attention, whether through concentration or mindfulness, is the single invariant ingredient in… every meditation system”[4]:107

Separation of technique from tradition

Some of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions;[25] and theories and practice can differ within a tradition.[26] Taylor noted that even within a faith such as “Hindu” or “Buddhist”, schools and individual teachers may teach distinct types of meditation.[27]:2 Ornstein noted that “Most techniques of meditation do not exist as solitary practices but are only artificially separable from an entire system of practice and belief.”[28]:143 For instance, while monks meditate as part of their everyday lives, they also engage the codified rules and live together in monasteries in specific cultural settings that go along with their meditative practices.

Forms and techniques

Classifications

In the West, meditation techniques have sometimes been thought of in two broad categories: focused (or concentrative) meditation and open monitoring (or mindfulness) meditation.[29]

One style, Focused Attention (FA) meditation, entails the voluntary focusing of attention on a chosen object, breathing, image, or words. The other style, Open Monitoring (OM) meditation, involves non-reactive monitoring of the content of experience from moment to moment.[29]

Direction of mental attention… A practitioner can focus intensively on one particular object (so-called concentrative meditation), on all mental events that enter the field of awareness (so-called mindfulness meditation), or both specific focal points and the field of awareness.[21]:130[note 8]

Focused methods include paying attention to the breath, to an idea or feeling (such as mettā (loving-kindness)), to a kōan, or to a mantra (such as in transcendental meditation), and single point meditation.[30][31]

Open monitoring methods include mindfulness, shikantaza and other awareness states.[32]

Practices using both methods[33][34][35] include vipassana (which uses anapanasati as a preparation), and samatha (calm-abiding).[36][37]

In “No thought” methods, “the practitioner is fully alert, aware, and in control of their faculties but does not experience any unwanted thought activity.“[38] This is in contrast to the common meditative approaches of being detached from, and non-judgmental of, thoughts, but not of aiming for thoughts to cease.[39] In the meditation practice of the Sahaja yoga spiritual movement, the focus is on thoughts ceasing.[40] Clear light yoga also aims at a state of no mental content, as does the no thought (wu nian) state taught by Huineng,[41] and the teaching of Yaoshan Weiyan.

One proposal is that transcendental meditation and possibly other techniques be grouped as an ‘automatic self-transcending’ set of techniques.[42] Other typologies include dividing meditation into concentrative, generative, receptive and reflective practices.[43]

Frequency

The transcendental meditation technique recommends practice of 20 minutes twice per day.[44] Some techniques suggest less time,[33] especially when starting meditation,[45] and Richard Davidson has quoted research saying benefits can be achieved with a practice of only 8 minutes per day.[46] Some meditators practice for much longer,[47][48] particularly when on a course or retreat.[49] Some meditators find practice best in the hours before dawn.[50]

Posture

Main article: Asana

Young children practicing meditation in a Peruvian school

Asanas and positions such as the full-lotus, half-lotus, Burmese, Seiza, and kneeling positions are popular in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism,[51] although other postures such as sitting, supine (lying), and standing are also used. Meditation is also sometimes done while walking, known as kinhin, or while doing a simple task mindfully, known as samu.[52]

Use of prayer beads

Some religions have traditions of using prayer beads as tools in devotional meditation.[53][54][55] Most prayer beads and Christian rosaries consist of pearls or beads linked together by a thread.[53][54] The Roman Catholic rosary is a string of beads containing five sets with ten small beads. The Hindu japa mala has 108 beads (the figure 108 in itself having spiritual significance, as well as those used in Jainism and Buddhist prayer beads.[56] Each bead is counted once as a person recites a mantra until the person has gone all the way around the mala.[56] The Muslim misbaha has 99 beads.

Striking the meditator

The Buddhist literature has many stories of Enlightenment being attained through disciples being struck by their masters. According to T. Griffith Foulk professor of Religion at Sarah Lawrence College the encouragement stick was an integral part of the Zen practice:

In the Rinzai monastery where I trained in the mid-1970s, according to an unspoken etiquette, monks who were sitting earnestly and well were shown respect by being hit vigorously and often; those known as laggards were ignored by the hall monitor or given little taps if they requested to be hit. Nobody asked about the ‘meaning’ of the stick, nobody explained, and nobody ever complained about its use.[57]

Using a narrative

Richard Davidson has expressed the view that having a narrative can help maintenance of daily practice.[46] For instance he himself prostrates to the teachings, and meditates “not primarily for my benefit, but for the benefit of others.”[46]

Religious and spiritual meditation[edit]

Indian religions

Hinduism

Main article: Hindu meditation

See also: Yoga

A statue of Patañjali practicing dhyana in the Padma-asana at Patanjali Yogpeeth.

There are many schools and styles of meditation within Hinduism.[58] In pre-modern and traditional Hinduism, Yoga and Dhyana are practised to realize union of one’s eternal self or soul, one’s ātman. In Advaita Vedanta this is equated with the omnipresent and non-dual Brahman. In the dualistic Yoga school and Samkhya, the Self is called Purusha, a pure consciousness separate from matter. Depending on the tradition, the liberative event is named moksha, vimukti or kaivalya.

The earliest clear references to meditation in Hindu literature are in the middle Upanishads and the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita).[59][60] According to Gavin Flood, the earlier Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is describing meditation when it states that “having become calm and concentrated, one perceives the self (ātman) within oneself”.[58]

One of the most influential texts of classical Hindu Yoga is Patañjali‘s Yoga sutras (c. 400 CE), a text associated with Yoga and Samkhya, which outlines eight limbs leading to kaivalya (“aloneness”). These are ethical discipline (yamas), rules (niyamas), physical postures (āsanas), breath control (prāṇāyama), withdrawal from the senses (pratyāhāra), one-pointedness of mind (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and finally samādhi.

Later developments in Hindu meditation include the compilation of Hatha Yoga (forceful yoga) compendiums like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the development of Bhakti yoga as a major form of meditation and Tantra. Another important Hindu yoga text is the Yoga Yajnavalkya, which makes use of Hatha Yoga and Vedanta Philosophy.

The āsana in which Mahavira is said to have attained omniscience
The āsana in which Mahavira is said to have attained omniscience.

Jainism

Main article: Jain meditation

The āsana in which Mahavira is said to have attained omniscience

Jain meditation and spiritual practices system were referred to as salvation-path. It has three parts called the Ratnatraya “Three Jewels”: right perception and faith, right knowledge and right conduct.[61] Meditation in Jainism aims at realizing the self, attaining salvation, and taking the soul to complete freedom.[62] It aims to reach and to remain in the pure state of soul which is believed to be pure consciousness, beyond any attachment or aversion. The practitioner strives to be just a knower-seer (Gyata-Drashta). Jain meditation can be broadly categorized to Dharmya Dhyana and Shukla Dhyana.[clarification needed]

Jainism uses meditation techniques such as pindāstha-dhyāna, padāstha-dhyāna, rūpāstha-dhyāna, rūpātita-dhyāna, and savīrya-dhyāna. In padāstha dhyāna one focuses on a mantra.[63] A mantra could be either a combination of core letters or words on deity or themes. There is a rich tradition of Mantra in Jainism. All Jain followers irrespective of their sect, whether Digambara or Svetambara, practice mantra. Mantra chanting is an important part of daily lives of Jain monks and followers. Mantra chanting can be done either loudly or silently in mind.[64]

Contemplation is a very old and important meditation technique. The practitioner meditates deeply on subtle facts. In agnya vichāya, one contemplates on seven facts – life and non-life, the inflow, bondage, stoppage and removal of karmas, and the final accomplishment of liberation. In apaya vichāya, one contemplates on the incorrect insights one indulges, which eventually develops right insight. In vipaka vichāya, one reflects on the eight causes or basic types of karma. In sansathan vichāya, one thinks about the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of the soul.[63]

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhist meditation

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. In Japan, he is known as Daruma.
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. In Japan, he is known as Daruma.

Bodhidharma practicing zazen 

Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism. 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 awakening and nirvana.[note 9] The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā,[note 10] jhāna/dhyāna,[note 11] and vipassana.

Buddhist meditation techniques have become popular in the wider world, with many non-Buddhists taking them up. There is considerable homogeneity across meditative practices – such as breath meditation and various recollections (anussati) – across Buddhist schools, as well as significant diversity. In the Theravāda tradition, there are over fifty methods for developing mindfulness and forty for developing concentration, while in the Tibetan tradition there are thousands of visualization meditations.[note 12] Most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school-specific.[note 13]

According to the Theravada and Sarvastivada commentatorial traditions, and the Tibetan tradition,[65] the Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:

  • “serenity” or “tranquility” (Pali: samatha) which steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates the mind;
  • “insight” (Pali: vipassana) which enables one to see, explore and discern “formations” (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates).[66]

Through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to weaken the obscuring hindrances and bring the mind to a collected, pliant and still state (samadhi). This quality of mind then supports the development of insight and wisdom (Prajñā) which is the quality of mind that can “clearly see” (vi-passana) the nature of phenomena. What exactly is to be seen varies within the Buddhist traditions.[65] In Theravada, all phenomena are to be seen as impermanent, suffering, not-self and empty. When this happens, one develops dispassion (viraga) for all phenomena, including all negative qualities and hindrances and lets them go. It is through the release of the hindrances and ending of craving through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberation.[67]

In the modern era, Buddhist meditation saw increasing popularity due to the influence of Buddhist modernism on Asian Buddhism, and western lay interest in Zen and the Vipassana movement. The spread of Buddhist meditation to the Western world paralleled the spread of Buddhism in the West. The modernized concept of mindfulness (based on the Buddhist term sati) and related meditative practices have in turn led to mindfulness based therapies.[citation needed]

Sikhism

Main article: Nām Japō

Sikhs gather in Gurdwara‘s and recite Shabad Kirtan, a vocal meditation

In Sikhism, simran (meditation) and good deeds are both necessary to achieve the devotee’s Spiritual goals;[68] without good deeds meditation is futile. When Sikhs meditate, they aim to feel God‘s presence and emerge in the divine light.[69] It is only God’s divine will or order that allows a devotee to desire to begin to meditate.[70]Nām Japnā involves focusing one’s attention on the names or great attributes of God.[71]

East Asian religions

Taoism

Main article: Daoist meditation

“Gathering the Light”, Taoist meditation from The Secret of the Golden Flower

Taoist meditation has developed techniques including concentration, visualization, qi cultivation, contemplation, and mindfulness meditations in its long history. Traditional Daoist meditative practices were influenced by Chinese Buddhism from around the 5th century, and influenced Traditional Chinese medicine and the Chinese martial arts.

Livia Kohn distinguishes three basic types of Taoist meditation: “concentrative”, “insight”, and “visualization”.[72] Ding 定 (literally means “decide; settle; stabilize”) refers to “deep concentration”, “intent contemplation”, or “perfect absorption”. Guan 觀 (lit. “watch; observe; view”) meditation seeks to merge and attain unity with the Dao. It was developed by Tang Dynasty (618–907) Taoist masters based upon the Tiantai Buddhist practice of Vipassanā “insight” or “wisdom” meditation. Cun 存 (lit. “exist; be present; survive”) has a sense of “to cause to exist; to make present” in the meditation techniques popularized by the Taoist Shangqing and Lingbao Schools. A meditator visualizes or actualizes solar and lunar essences, lights, and deities within their body, which supposedly results in health and longevity, even xian 仙/仚/僊, “immortality”.

The (late 4th century BCE) Guanzi essay Neiye “Inward training” is the oldest received writing on the subject of qi cultivation and breath-control meditation techniques.[73] For instance, “When you enlarge your mind and let go of it, when you relax your vital breath and expand it, when your body is calm and unmoving: And you can maintain the One and discard the myriad disturbances. … This is called “revolving the vital breath”: Your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly.”[74]

The (c. 3rd century BCE) Taoist Zhuangzi records zuowang or “sitting forgetting” meditation. Confucius asked his disciple Yan Hui to explain what “sit and forget” means: “I slough off my limbs and trunk, dim my intelligence, depart from my form, leave knowledge behind, and become identical with the Transformational Thoroughfare.”[75]

Taoist meditation practices are central to Chinese martial arts (and some Japanese martial arts), especially the qi-related neijia “internal martial arts”. Some well-known examples are daoyin “guiding and pulling”, qigong “life-energy exercises”, neigong “internal exercises”, neidan “internal alchemy”, and taijiquan “great ultimate boxing”, which is thought of as moving meditation. One common explanation contrasts “movement in stillness” referring to energetic visualization of qi circulation in qigong and zuochan “seated meditation”,[35] versus “stillness in movement” referring to a state of meditative calm in taijiquan forms.

Abrahamic religions

Judaism

Main article: Jewish meditation

Judaism has made use of meditative practices for thousands of years.[76][77] For instance, in the Torah, the patriarch Isaac is described as going “לשוח” (lasuach) in the field – a term understood by all commentators as some type of meditative practice (Genesis 24:63).[78] Similarly, there are indications throughout the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) that the prophets meditated.[79] In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ (Hebrew: הגה‎), to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ (Hebrew: שיחה‎), to muse, or rehearse in one’s mind.[80]

Classical Jewish texts espouse a wide range of meditative practices, often associated with the cultivation of kavanah or intention. The first layer of rabbinic law, the Mishnah, describes ancient sages “waiting” for an hour before their prayers, “in order to direct their hearts to the Omnipresent One (Mishnah Berakhot 5:1). Other early rabbinic texts include instructions for visualizing the Divine Presence (B. Talmud Sanhedrin 22a) and breathing with conscious gratitude for every breath (Genesis Rabba 14:9).[81]

One of the best known types of meditation in early Jewish mysticism was the work of the Merkabah, from the root /R-K-B/ meaning “chariot” (of God).[80] Some meditative traditions have been encouraged in Kabbalah, and some Jews have described Kabbalah as an inherently meditative field of study.[82][83][84] Kabbalistic meditation often involves the mental visualization of the supernal realms. Aryeh Kaplan has argued that the ultimate purpose of Kabbalistic meditation is to understand and cleave to the Divine.[80]

Meditation has been of interest to a wide variety of modern Jews. In modern Jewish practice, one of the best known meditative practices is called “hitbodedut“ (התבודדות, alternatively transliterated as “hisbodedus”), and is explained in Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and Mussar writings, especially the Hasidic method of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav. The word derives from the Hebrew word “boded” (בודד), meaning the state of being alone.[85] Another Hasidic system is the Habad method of “hisbonenus”, related to the Sephirah of “Binah”, Hebrew for understanding.[86] This practice is the analytical reflective process of making oneself understand a mystical concept well, that follows and internalises its study in Hasidic writings. The Musar Movement, founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the middle of the nineteenth-century, emphasized meditative practices of introspection and visualization that could help to improve moral character.[87] Conservative rabbi Alan Lew has emphasized meditation playing an important role in the process of teshuvah (repentance).[88][89] Jewish Buddhists have adopted Buddhist styles of meditation.[90]

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina stated: "Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina stated: “Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him”.

Christianity 

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina stated: “Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him.”[91] 

Main article: Christian meditation

Christian meditation is a term for a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to get in touch with and deliberately reflect upon the revelations of God.[92] The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditari, which means to concentrate. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (e.g. a biblical scene involving Jesus and the Virgin Mary) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.[93] Christian meditation is sometimes taken to mean the middle level in a broad three stage characterization of prayer: it then involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplation in Christianity.[94]

The Rosary is a devotion for the meditation of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary.[95][96] “The gentle repetition of its prayers makes it an excellent means to moving into deeper meditation. It gives us an opportunity to open ourselves to God’s word, to refine our interior gaze by turning our minds to the life of Christ. The first principle is that meditation is learned through practice. Many people who practice rosary meditation begin very simply and gradually develop a more sophisticated meditation. The meditator learns to hear an interior voice, the voice of God”.[97]

According to Edmund P. Clowney, Christian meditation contrasts with Eastern forms of meditation as radically as the portrayal of God the Father in the Bible contrasts with depictions of Krishna or Brahman in Indian teachings.[98] Unlike some Eastern styles, most styles of Christian meditation do not rely on the repeated use of mantras, and yet are also intended to stimulate thought and deepen meaning. Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.[99][100] In Aspects of Christian meditation, the Catholic Church warned of potential incompatibilities in mixing Christian and Eastern styles of meditation.[101] In 2003, in A Christian reflection on the New Age the Vatican announced that the “Church avoids any concept that is close to those of the New Age“.[102][103][104]

Islam

Main article: Muraqaba

See also: Sufism, Sema, and Dhikr § Sufi view

Salah is a mandatory act of devotion performed by Muslims five times per day. The body goes through sets of different postures, as the mind attains a level of concentration called khushu.

A second optional type of meditation, called dhikr, meaning remembering and mentioning God, is interpreted in different meditative techniques in Sufism or Islamic mysticism.[105][106] This became one of the essential elements of Sufism as it was systematized traditionally. It is juxtaposed with fikr (thinking) which leads to knowledge.[107] By the 12th century, the practice of Sufism included specific meditative techniques, and its followers practiced breathing controls and the repetition of holy words.[108]

Sufism uses a meditative procedure like Buddhist concentration, involving high-intensity and sharply focused introspection. In the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi order, for example, muraqaba takes the form of tamarkoz, “concentration” in Persian.[109]

Tafakkur or tadabbur in Sufism literally means reflection upon the universe: this is considered to permit access to a form of cognitive and emotional development that can emanate only from the higher level, i.e. from God. The sensation of receiving divine inspiration awakens and liberates both heart and intellect, permitting such inner growth that the apparently mundane actually takes on the quality of the infinite. Muslim teachings embrace life as a test of one’s submission to God.[110]

Bahá’í Faith

In the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, meditation is a primary tool for spiritual development,[111] involving reflection on the words of God.[112] While prayer and meditation are linked, where meditation happens generally in a prayerful attitude, prayer is seen specifically as turning toward God,[113] and meditation is seen as a communion with one’s self where one focuses on the divine.[112]

In Bahá’í teachings the purpose of meditation is to strengthen one’s understanding of the words of God, and to make one’s soul more susceptible to their potentially transformative power,[112] more receptive to the need for both prayer and meditation to bring about and maintain a spiritual communion with God.[114]

Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the religion, never specified any particular form of meditation, and thus each person is free to choose their own form.[111] However, he did state that Bahá’ís should read a passage of the Bahá’í writings twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the evening, and meditate on it. He also encouraged people to reflect on one’s actions and worth at the end of each day.[112] During the Nineteen Day Fast, a period of the year during which Bahá’ís adhere to a sunrise-to-sunset fast, they meditate and pray to reinvigorate their spiritual forces.[115]

Pagan and occult

Movements which use magic, such as Wicca, Thelema, Neopaganism, and occultism, often require their adherents to meditate as a preliminary to the magical work. This is because magic is often thought to require a particular state of mind in order to make contact with spirits, or because one has to visualize one’s goal or otherwise keep intent focused for a long period during the ritual in order to see the desired outcome. Meditation practice in these religions usually revolves around visualization, absorbing energy from the universe or higher self, directing one’s internal energy, and inducing various trance states. Meditation and magic practice often overlap in these religions as meditation is often seen as merely a stepping stone to supernatural power, and the meditation sessions may be peppered with various chants and spells.[citation needed]

Modern spirituality

Meditation.

Meditation by Jawlensky
Meditation by Alexej von Jawlensky, oil on cardboard, 1918 

 

Mantra meditation, with the use of a japa mala and especially with focus on the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, is a central practice of the Gaudiya Vaishnava faith tradition and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna movement. Other popular New Religious Movements include the Ramakrishna Mission, Vedanta Society, Divine Light Mission, Chinmaya Mission, Osho, Sahaja Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Oneness University, Brahma Kumaris and Vihangam Yoga.

New Age   

New Age meditations are often influenced by Eastern philosophy, mysticism, yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism, yet may contain some degree of Western influence. In the West, meditation found its mainstream roots through the social revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, when many of the youth of the day rebelled against traditional religion as a reaction against what some perceived as the failure of Christianity to provide spiritual and ethical guidance.[116] New Age meditation as practised by the early hippies is regarded for its techniques of blanking out the mind and releasing oneself from conscious thinking. This is often aided by repetitive chanting of a mantra, or focusing on an object.[117] New Age meditation evolved into a range of purposes and practices, from serenity and balance to access to other realms of consciousness to the concentration of energy in group meditation to the supreme goal of samadhi, as in the ancient yogic practice of meditation.[118]

Secular applications

See also: Mindfulness § Applications

Clinical applications

See also: Mindfulness-based stress reduction and Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that “Meditation is a mind and body practice that has a long history of use for increasing calmness and physical relaxation, improving psychological balance, coping with illness, and enhancing overall health and well-being.”[119][10] A 2014 review found that practice of mindfulness meditation for two to six months by people undergoing long-term psychiatric or medical therapy could produce small improvements in anxiety, pain, or depression.[120] In 2017, the American Heart Association issued a scientific statement that meditation may be a reasonable adjunct practice to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, with the qualification that meditation needs to be better defined in higher-quality clinical research of these disorders.[121]

Low-quality evidence indicates that meditation may help with irritable bowel syndrome,[119] insomnia,[119] cognitive decline in the elderly,[122] and post-traumatic stress disorder.[123][124]

Meditation in the workplace

A 2010 review of the literature on spirituality and performance in organizations found an increase in corporate meditation programs.[125]

As of 2016 around a quarter of U.S. employers were using stress reduction initiatives.[126][127] The goal was to help reduce stress and improve reactions to stress. Aetna now offers its program to its customers. Google also implements mindfulness, offering more than a dozen meditation courses, with the most prominent one, “Search Inside Yourself”, having been implemented since 2007.[127] General Mills offers the Mindful Leadership Program Series, a course which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, yoga and dialogue with the intention of developing the mind’s capacity to pay attention.[127]

Sound-based meditation

Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School conducted a series of clinical tests on meditators from various disciplines, including the Transcendental Meditation technique and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1975, Benson published a book titled The Relaxation Response where he outlined his own version of meditation for relaxation.[128] Also in the 1970s, the American psychologist Patricia Carrington developed a similar technique called Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM).[129] In Norway, another sound-based method called Acem Meditation developed a psychology of meditation and has been the subject of several scientific studies.[130]

Biofeedback has been used by many researchers since the 1950s in an effort to enter deeper states of mind.[131]

History

Main article: History of meditation

Man Meditating in a Garden Setting

From ancient times

The history of meditation is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced.[132] Some authors have even suggested the hypothesis that the emergence of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation,[133] may have contributed to the latest phases of human biological evolution.[134] Some of the earliest references to meditation are found in the Hindu Vedas of India.[132] Wilson translates the most famous Vedic mantra “Gayatri” as: “We meditate on that desirable light of the divine Savitri, who influences our pious rites” (Rigveda : Mandala-3, Sukta-62, Rcha-10). Around the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, other forms of meditation developed via Confucianism and Taoism in China as well as Hinduism, Jainism, and early Buddhism in India.[132]

In the Roman Empire, by 20 BCE Philo of Alexandria had written on some form of “spiritual exercises” involving attention (prosoche) and concentration[135] and by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed meditative techniques.

The Pāli Canon from the 1st century BCE considers Buddhist meditation as a step towards liberation.[136] By the time Buddhism was spreading in China, the Vimalakirti Sutra which dates to 100 CE included a number of passages on meditation, clearly pointing to Zen (known as Chan in China, Thiền in Vietnam, and Seon in Korea).[137] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism introduced meditation to other Asian countries, and in 653 the first meditation hall was opened in Singapore.[138] Returning from China around 1227, Dōgen wrote the instructions for zazen.[139][140]

Medieval

The Islamic practice of Dhikr had involved the repetition of the 99 Names of God since the 8th or 9th century.[105][106] By the 12th century, the practice of Sufism included specific meditative techniques, and its followers practiced breathing controls and the repetition of holy words.[108] Interactions with Indians or the Sufis may have influenced the Eastern Christian meditation approach to hesychasm, but this can not be proved.[141][142] Between the 10th and 14th centuries, hesychasm was developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and involves the repetition of the Jesus prayer.[143]

Western Christian meditation contrasts with most other approaches in that it does not involve the repetition of any phrase or action and requires no specific posture. Western Christian meditation progressed from the 6th century practice of Bible reading among Benedictine monks called Lectio Divina, i.e. divine reading. Its four formal steps as a “ladder” were defined by the monk Guigo II in the 12th century with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio (i.e. read, ponder, pray, contemplate). Western Christian meditation was further developed by saints such as Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila in the 16th century.[144][145][146][147]

Modern dissemination in the West

Meditation has spread in the West since the late 19th century, accompanying increased travel and communication among cultures worldwide. Most prominent has been the transmission of Asian-derived practices to the West. In addition, interest in some Western-based meditative practices has been revived,[148] and these have been disseminated to a limited extent to Asian countries.[149]

Ideas about Eastern meditation had begun “seeping into American popular culture even before the American Revolution through the various sects of European occult Christianity”,[27]:3 and such ideas “came pouring in [to America] during the era of the transcendentalists, especially between the 1840s and the 1880s.”[27]:3 The following decades saw further spread of these ideas to America:

The World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in 1893, was the landmark event that increased Western awareness of meditation. This was the first time that Western audiences on American soil received Asian spiritual teachings from Asians themselves. Thereafter, Swami Vivekananda… [founded] various Vedanta ashrams… Anagarika Dharmapala lectured at Harvard on Theravada Buddhist meditation in 1904; Abdul Baha … [toured] the US teaching the principles of Bahai, and Soyen Shaku toured in 1907 teaching Zen…[27]:4

Meditating in Madison Square Park, New York City

More recently, in the 1960s, another surge in Western interest in meditative practices began. The rise of communist political power in Asia led to many Asian spiritual teachers taking refuge in Western countries, oftentimes as refugees.[27]:7 In addition to spiritual forms of meditation, secular forms of meditation have taken root. Rather than focusing on spiritual growth, secular meditation emphasizes stress reduction, relaxation and self-improvement.[150][151]

Research

Main article: Research on meditation

Research on the processes and effects of meditation is a subfield of neurological research.[9] Modern scientific techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, were used to observe neurological responses during meditation.[152] Since the 1950s, hundreds of studies on meditation have been conducted, though the overall methodological quality of meditation research is poor, yielding unreliable results.[153] Concerns have been raised on the quality of meditation research,[9][154][155] including the particular characteristics of individuals who tend to participate.[156]

Since the 1970s, clinical psychology and psychiatry have developed meditation techniques for numerous psychological conditions.[157] Mindfulness practice is employed in psychology to alleviate mental and physical conditions, such as reducing depression, stress, and anxiety.[9][158][159] Mindfulness is also used in the treatment of drug addiction, although the quality of research has been poor.[155][160] Studies demonstrate that meditation has a moderate effect to reduce pain.[9] There is insufficient evidence for any effect of meditation on positive mood, attention, eating habits, sleep, or body weight.[9]

A 2017 systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors found that meditation practices had small to medium effects on self-reported and observable outcomes, concluding that such practices can “improve positive prosocial emotions and behaviors”.[161]

Meditation has been correlated with unpleasant experiences in some people.[162][163][164][165] More than a quarter of meditators report negative experiences, such as anxiety, fear, and distorted emotions and thoughts. Meditators with high levels of repetitive negative thinking and those who only engage in deconstructive meditation were more likely to report unpleasant side effects. Adverse effects were less frequently reported in women and religious meditators.[166]

The 2012 US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (34,525 subjects) found 8% of US adults used meditation,[167] with lifetime and 12-month prevalence of meditation use of 5.2% and 4.1% respectively.[168] In the 2017 NHIS survey, meditation use among workers was 10% (up from 8% in 2002).[169]

Criticisms

The psychologist Thomas Joiner argues that modern mindfulness meditation has been “corrupted” for commercial gain by self-help celebrities, and suggests that it encourages unhealthy narcissistic and self-obsessed mindsets.[170][171]

Meditation, religion and drugs

Further information: Entheogen, Religion and drugs, and Psychedelic psychotherapy

Many major traditions in which meditation is practiced, such as Buddhism[172] and Hinduism,[173] advise members not to consume intoxicants, while others, such as the Rastafarian movements and Native American Church, view drugs as integral to their religious lifestyle.

The fifth of the five precepts of the Pancasila, the ethical code in the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, states that adherents must: “abstain from fermented and distilled beverages that cause heedlessness.”[174]

On the other hand, the ingestion of psychoactives has been a central feature in the rituals of many religions, in order to produce altered states of consciousness. In several traditional shamanistic ceremonies, drugs are used as agents of ritual. In the Rastafari movement, cannabis is believed to be a gift from Jah and a sacred herb to be used regularly, while alcohol is considered to debase man. Native Americans use peyote, as part of religious ceremony, continuing today.[175]

See also

Notes

  1. ^An influential definition by Shapiro (1982) states that “meditation refers to a family of techniques which have in common a conscious attempt to focus attention in a nonanalytical way and an attempt not to dwell on discursive, ruminating thought” (p. 6, italics in original). The term “discursive thought” has long been used in Western philosophy, and is often viewed as a synonym to logical thought (Rappe, Sara (2000). Reading neoplatonism : Non-discursive thinking in the texts of plotinus, proclus, and damascius. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65158-5.).
  2. ^Bond, Ospina et al. (2009) report that 7 expert scholars who had studied different traditions of meditation agreed that an “essential” component of meditation “Involves logic relaxation: not ‘to intend’ to analyze the possible psychophysical effects, not ‘to intend’ to judge the possible results, not ‘to intend’ to create any type of expectation regarding the process” (p. 134, Table 4). In their final consideration, all 7 experts regarded this feature as an “essential” component of meditation; none of them regarded it as merely “important but not essential” (p. 234, Table 4). (This same result is presented in Table B1 in Ospina, Bond, et al., 2007, p. 281)
  3. ^This does not mean that all meditation seeks to take a person beyond all thought processes, only those processes that are sometimes referred to as “discursive” or “logical” (see Shapiro, 1982/1984; Bond, Ospina, et al., 2009; Appendix B, pp. 279–82 in Ospina, Bond, et al., 2007).
  4. ^“members were chosen on the basis of their publication record of research on the therapeutic use of meditation, their knowledge of and training in traditional or clinically developed meditation techniques, and their affiliation with universities and research centers. Each member had specific expertise and training in at least one of the following meditation practices: kundalini yoga, Transcendental Meditation, relaxation response, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and vipassana meditation” (Bond, Ospina et al., 2009, p. 131); their views were combined using “the Delphi technique […] a method of eliciting and refining group judgments to address complex problems with a high level of uncertainty” (p. 131).
  5. ^Bond et al. 2009: “Logic relaxation is defined by the authors as “not ‘to intend’ to analyzing (not trying to explain) the possible psychophysi”cal effects,” “not ‘to intend’ to judging (good, bad, right, wrong) the possible psychophysical [effects],” and “not ‘to intend’ to creating any type of expectation regarding the process.” (Cardoso et al., 2004, p. 59)”
  6. ^The full quotation from Bond, Ospina et al. (2009, p. 135) reads: “It is plausible that meditation is best thought of as a natural category of techniques best captured by ‘family resemblances‘ (Wittgenstein, 1968) or by the related ‘prototype’ model of concepts (Rosch, 1973; Rosch & Mervin, 1975).”
  7. ^Regarding influential reviews encompassing multiple methods of meditation: Walsh & Shapiro (2006), Cahn & Polich (2006), and Jevning et al. (1992), are cited >80 times in PsycINFO. Number of citations in PsycINFO: 254 for Walsh & Shapiro, 2006 (26 August 2018); 561 for Cahn & Polich, 2006 (26 August 2018); 83 for Jevning et al. (1992) (26 August 2018). Goleman’s book has 33 editions listed in WorldCat: 17 editions as The meditative mind: The varieties of meditative experience[23] and 16 editions as The varieties of meditative experience[24] Citation and edition counts are as of August 2018 and September 2018 respectively.
  8. ^The full quote from Bond, Ospina et al. (2009, p. 130) reads: “The differences and similarities among these techniques is often explained in the Western meditation literature in terms of the direction of mental attention (Koshikawa & Ichii, 1996; Naranjo, 1971; Orenstein, 1971): A practitioner can focus intensively on one particular object (so-called concentrative meditation), on all mental events that enter the field of awareness (so-called mindfulness meditation), or both specific focal points and the field of awareness (Orenstein, 1971).”
  9. ^For instance, Kamalashila (2003), p. 4, states that Buddhist meditation “includes any method of meditation that has Enlightenment as its ultimate” 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), 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).
  10. ^The Pāliand Sanskrit word bhāvanā literally means “development” as in “mental development.” For the association of this term with “meditation,” see Epstein (1995), p. 105; and, Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991), p. 20. As an example from a well-known discourse of the Pali Canon, in “The Greater Exhortation to Rahula” (Maha-Rahulovada Sutta, MN 62), Ven. Sariputta tells Ven. Rahula (in Pali, based on VRI, n.d.): ānāpānassatiṃ, 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.)
  11. ^See, for example, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), entry for “jhāna1“[permanent dead link]; Thanissaro (1997); as well as, Kapleau (1989), p. 385, for the derivation of the word “zen” from Sanskrit“dhyāna”. Pāli Text Society Secretary 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” ([Skt.:] 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, p. 10.)

  1. ^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” (p. 92). 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 Buddhasand Bodhisattvas” (p. 227).
  2. ^Examples of contemporary school-specific “classics” include, from the Theravada tradition, Nyanaponika(1996) and, from the Zen tradition, Kapleau (1989).

References

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  7. ^For the 14th Dalai Lama the aim of meditation is “to maintain a very full state of alertness and mindfulness, and then try to see the natural state of your consciousness.“
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  30. ^Easwaran, Eknath (2018). The Bhagavad Gita: (Classics of Indian Spirituality). Nilgiri Press. ISBN978-1-58638-019-9.
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  37. ^Dorje, Ogyen Trinley. “Calm Abiding”.
  38. ^Manocha, Ramesh; Black, Deborah; Wilson, Leigh (10 September 2018). “Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators”. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012: 350674. doi:1155/2012/350674. PMC3352577. PMID 22611427.
  39. ^“There might be a depth of meditation where thinking ceases. This is a refined, refreshing and nourishing state of consciousness. But it is not the goal.” Kirsten Kratz, “Calm and kindness” talk, Gaia House, 03/2013
  40. ^“Meditation”. 21 June 2011.
  41. ^“Huineng (Hui-neng) (638–713)”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  42. ^Travis, Fred; Shear, Jonathan (2010). “Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-transcending: Categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions”. Consciousness and Cognition. 19(4): 1110–1118. doi:1016/j.concog.2010.01.007. PMID 20167507.
  43. ^“Religions – Buddhism: Meditation”. BBC.
  44. ^“The Daily Habit Of These Outrageously Successful People”. Huffington Post. 5 July 2013.
  45. ^Mindfulness#Meditation method
  46. ^ Jump up to:abc “Neuroscientist Says Dalai Lama Gave Him ‘a Total Wake-Up Call'”. ABC News. 27 July 2016.
  47. ^“How Humankind Could Become Totally Useless”. Time magazine. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  48. ^Kaul, P.; Passafiume, J; Sargent, C.R.; O’Hara, B.F. (2010). “Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need”. Behavioral and Brain Functions. 6: 47. doi:1186/1744-9081-6-47(inactive 2019-08-20). PMC 2919439. PMID 20670413.
  49. ^“Questions & Answers – Dhamma Giri – Vipassana International Academy”. www.giri.dhamma.org.
  50. ^“Brahmamuhurta: The best time for meditation”. Times of India.
  51. ^Mallinson, James; Singleton, Mark(2017). Roots of Yoga. Penguin Books. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-241-25304-5. OCLC 928480104.
  52. ^Ng, Teng-Kuan (2018). “Pedestrian Dharma: Slowness and Seeing in Tsai Ming-Liang’s Walker”. Religions. 9(7): 200. doi:3390/rel9070200.
  53. ^ Jump up to:abMysteries of the Rosary by Stephen J. Binz 2005 ISBN 1-58595-519-1 3
  54. ^ Jump up to:abThe everything Buddhism book by Jacky Sach 2003 ISBN 978-1-58062-884-6 175
  55. ^For a general overview see Beads of Faith: Pathways to Meditation and Spirituality Using Rosaries, Prayer Beads, and Sacred Wordsby Gray Henry, Susannah Marriott 2008 ISBN 1-887752-95-1
  56. ^ Jump up to:abMeditation and Mantras by Vishnu Devananda 1999 ISBN 81-208-1615-3 82–83
  57. ^Foulk, Griffith. “The Encouragement Stick: 7 Views”. Tricycle. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  58. ^ Jump up to:abFlood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0.
  59. ^Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Routledge 2007, p. 51. The earliest reference is actually in the Mokshadharma, which dates to the early Buddhist period.
  60. ^The Katha Upanishad describes yoga, including meditation. On meditation in this and other post-Buddhist Hindu literature see Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, p. 199.
  61. ^Acharya Mahapragya (2004). “Foreword”. Jain Yog. Aadarsh Saahitya Sangh.
  62. ^Acharya Tulsi (2004). “blessings”. Sambodhi. Aadarsh Saahitya Sangh.
  63. ^ Jump up to:ab Rudi Jansma; Dr. Sneh Rani Jain Key (2006). “07 Yoga and Meditation (2)”. Introduction To Jainism. Prakrit Bharti Academy, Jaipur, India. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
  64. ^ Rudi Jansma; Dr. Sneh Rani Jain Key (2006). “07 Yoga and Meditation (2)”. Introduction To Jainism. Prakrit Bharti Academy, Jaipur, India. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  65. ^ Jump up to:abReginald Ray (2004), What is Vipashyana?
  66. ^These definitions of samathaand vipassana are based on the “Four Kinds of Persons Sutta” (AN94). This article’s text is primarily based on Bodhi (2005), pp. 269–70, 440 n. 13. See also Thanissaro (1998d).
  67. ^See, for instance, AN 2.30 in Bodhi (2005), pp. 267–68, and Thanissaro (1998e).
  68. ^Sharma, Suresh (2004). Cultural and Religious Heritage of India: Sikhism. Mittal Publications. p. 7. ISBN978-81-7099-961-4.
  69. ^Parashar, M. (2005). Ethics And The Sex-King. AuthorHouse. p. 592. ISBN978-1-4634-5813-3.
  70. ^Duggal, Kartar (1980). The Prescribed Sikh Prayers (Nitnem). Abhinav Publications. p. 20. ISBN978-81-7017-377-9.
  71. ^Singh, Nirbhai (1990). Philosophy of Sikhism: Reality and Its Manifestations. Atlantic Publishers & Distribution. p. 105.
  72. ^Kohn, Livia (2008), “Meditation and visualization,” in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, ed. by Fabrizio Pregadio, p. 118.
  73. ^Harper, Donald; Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (2007) [First published in 1999]. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 880. ISBN978-0-521-47030-8.
  74. ^Roth, Harold D. (1999), Original Tao: Inward Training (Nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism, Columbia University Press, p. 92.
  75. ^Mair, Victor H., tr. (1994), Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu, Bantam Books, p. 64.
  76. ^The history and varieties of Jewish meditationby Mark Verman 1997 ISBN 978-1-56821-522-8 1
  77. ^Jacobs, L. (1976) Jewish Mystical Testimonies, Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House Jerusalem.
  78. ^Kaplan, A. (1978) Meditation and the Bible, Maine, Samuel Weiser, p. 101.
  79. ^The history and varieties of Jewish meditationby Mark Verman 1997 ISBN 978-1-56821-522-8 45
  80. ^ Jump up to:abc Kaplan, A. (1985) Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide,New York Schocken Books.
  81. ^Buxbaum, Y. (1990) Jewish Spiritual Practices, New York, Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 108-10, 423-35.
  82. ^Scholem, Gershom Gerhard (1961). Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. Schocken Books. p. 34. ISBN978-0-8052-1042-2.
  83. ^Kaplan, A. (1982) Meditation and Kabbalah, Maine, Samuel Weiser.
  84. ^Matt, D.C. (1996) The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, San Francisco, HarperCollins.
  85. ^Kaplan, A. (1978) op cit p. 2
  86. ^Kaplan, (1982) op cit, p. 13
  87. ^Claussen, Geoffrey. “The Practice of Musar”. Conservative Judaism 63, no. 2 (2012): 3–26. Retrieved June 10, 2014
  88. ^“Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS”. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  89. ^Lew, Alan (2007-07-31). Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life. Little, Brown. ISBN9780316025911.
  90. ^Michaelson, Jay (June 10, 2005). “Judaism, Meditation and The B-Word”. The Forward.
  91. ^The Rosary: A Path Into Prayerby Liz Kelly 2004 ISBN 0-8294-2024-X 79, 86
  92. ^Christian Meditation for Beginnersby Thomas Zanzig, Marilyn Kielbasa 2000, ISBN 0-88489-361-8 7
  93. ^An introduction to Christian spiritualityby F. Antonisamy, 2000 ISBN 81-7109-429-5 76–77
  94. ^Simple Ways to Prayby Emilie Griffin 2005 ISBN 0-7425-5084-2 134
  95. ^“Home”. Archived from the originalon 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  96. ^“The Holy Rosary”. www.theholyrosary.org.
  97. ^“The Rosary as a Tool for Meditation by Liz Kelly”. www.loyolapress.com.
  98. ^Christian Meditationby Edmund P. Clowney, 1979 ISBN 1-57383-227-8 12
  99. ^Christian Meditationby Edmund P. Clowney, 1979 ISBN 1-57383-227-8 12–13
  100. ^The encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 3 by Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley 2003 ISBN 90-04-12654-6 488
  101. ^EWTN: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Letter on certain aspects of Christian meditation (in English), October 15, 1989]
  102. ^Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2003, New Age Beliefs Aren’t Christian, Vatican Finds
  103. ^“Vatican sounds New Age alert”. 4 February 2003 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  104. ^“Prersentation of Holy See’s Document on New Age”. www.vatican.va.
  105. ^ Jump up to:ab Prayer: a history by Philip Zaleski, Carol Zaleski 2005 ISBN 0-618-15288-1 147–49
  106. ^ Jump up to:ab Global Encyclopaedia of Education by Rama Sankar Yadav & B.N. Mandal 2007 ISBN 978-81-8220-227-6 63
  107. ^Sainthood and revelatory discourse by David Emmanuel Singh 2003 ISBN 81-7214-728-7 154
  108. ^ Jump up to:ab Spiritual Psychology by Akbar Husain 2006 ISBN 81-8220-095-4 109
  109. ^Dwivedi, Kedar Nath (2016). “Book Reviews”. Group Analysis. 22 (4): 434. doi:1177/0533316489224010.
  110. ^Khalifa, Rashad (2001). Quran: The Final Testament. Universal Unity. p. 536. ISBN 978-1-881893-05-9.
  111. ^ Jump up to:ab “Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting”. Bahá’í International Community. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
  112. ^ Jump up to:ab c d Smith, Peter (2000). “Meditation”. A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 243–44. ISBN 978-1-85168-184-6.
  113. ^Smith, Peter (2000). “Prayer”. A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-85168-184-6.
  114. ^Effendi, Shoghi (1983). Hornby, Helen (ed.). Lights of Guidance: A Bahá’í Reference File. New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 506. ISBN 978-81-85091-46-4.
  115. ^Effendi, Shoghi (1973). Directives from the Guardian. Hawaii Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 28.
  116. ^Time Magazine, “Youth: The Hippies” Jul. 7, 1967
  117. ^Barnia, George (1996). The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators. Dallas, Texas: Word Publishing.
  118. ^Lash, John (1990). The Seeker’s Handbook: The Complete Guide to Spiritual Pathfinding. New York: Harmony Books. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-517-57797-4.
  119. ^ Jump up to:ab c “Meditation: In depth”. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, US National Institutes of Health. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  120. ^Goyal, Madhav; Singh, Sonal; Sibinga, Erica M. S.; Gould, Neda F.; Rowland-Seymour, Anastasia; Sharma, Ritu; Berger, Zackary; Sleicher, Dana; Maron, David D.; Shihab, Hasan M.; Ranasinghe, Padmini D.; Linn, Shauna; Saha, Shonali; Bass, Eric B.; Haythornthwaite, Jennifer A. (2014-03-01). “Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being”. JAMA Internal Medicine. 174 (3): 357. doi:1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018. ISSN 2168-6106. PMC 4142584. PMID 24395196.
  121. ^Levine, Glenn N.; Lange, Richard A.; Bairey‐Merz, C. Noel; Davidson, Richard J.; Jamerson, Kenneth; Mehta, Puja K.; Michos, Erin D.; Norris, Keith; Ray, Indranill Basu; Saban, Karen L.; Shah, Tina; Stein, Richard; Smith, Sidney C. (2017). “Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction”. Journal of the American Heart Association. 6 (10): e002218. doi:1161/jaha.117.002218. ISSN 2047-9980. PMC 5721815. PMID 28963100.
  122. ^Gard, Tim; Hölzel, Britta K.; Lazar, Sara W. (2014). “The potential effects of meditation on age-related cognitive decline: a systematic review”. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1307 (1): 89–103. doi:1111/nyas.12348. ISSN 0077-8923. PMC 4024457. PMID 24571182.
  123. ^Gallegos, Autumn M.; Crean, Hugh F.; Pigeon, Wilfred R.; Heffner, Kathi L. (2017). “Meditation and yoga for posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials”. Clinical Psychology Review. 58: 115–124. doi:1016/j.cpr.2017.10.004. ISSN 0272-7358. PMC 5939561. PMID 29100863.
  124. ^Bisson, Jonathan I; Roberts, Neil P; Andrew, Martin; Cooper, Rosalind; Lewis, Catrin (2013-12-13). “Psychological therapies for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults”. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (12): CD003388. doi:1002/14651858.cd003388.pub4. ISSN 1465-1858. PMID 24338345.
  125. ^Karakas, Fahri (2009). “Spirituality and Performance in Organizations: A Literature Review”. Journal of Business Ethics. 94: 89. CiteSeerX 1.1.466.9171. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0251-5.
  126. ^“The mind business”. Financial Times. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  127. ^ Jump up to:ab c “Why Google, Target, and General Mills Are Investing in Mindfulness”. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  128. ^Herbert Benson; Miriam Z. Klipper (1992). The Relaxation Response. William Morrow Paperbacks, Exp Upd edition (February 8, 2000). ISBN 978-0-517-09132-6.
  129. ^Patricia Carrington (1977). Freedom in meditation. Anchor Press. ISBN 978-0-385-11392-2.
  130. ^Lagopoulos, Jim; Xu, Jian; Rasmussen, Inge-Andre; Vik, Alexandra; Malhi, Gin S.; Eliassen, Carl Fredrik; Arntsen, Ingrid Edith; Sæther, Jardar G; Saether, JG; Hollup, Stig Arvid; Holen, Are; Davanger, Svend; Ellingsen, Øyvind (2009). “Increased Theta and Alpha EEG Activity During Nondirective Meditation”. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 15 (11): 1187–92. doi:1089/acm.2009.0113. PMID 19922249.
  131. ^Rubin, Jeffrey B. (2001). “A New View of Meditation”. Journal of Religion and Health. 40 (1): 121–28. doi:1023/a:1012542524848.
  132. ^ Jump up to:ab c A clinical guide to the treatment of human stress responseby George S. Everly, Jeffrey M. Lating 2002 ISBN 0-306-46620-1 199–202
  133. ^Buddhist scholar  Alan Wallace has argued that focused attention is a basis for the practice of mindfulness. He writes that “Truly effective meditation is impossible without focused attention… the cultivation of attentional stability has been a core element of the meditative traditions throughout the centuries” (p. xi) in Wallace, B. Alan (2006). The attention revolution: Unlocking the power of the focused mind. Boston: Wisdom. ISBN 978-0-86171-276-2.
  134. ^Matt J. Rossano (2007). “Did meditating make us human?”. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 17 (1): 47–58. Bibcode:.18..327P. doi:10.1017/S0959774307000054. This paper draws on various lines of evidence to argue that “Campfire rituals of focused attention created Baldwinian selection for enhanced working memory among our Homo sapiens ancestors…. this emergence was [in part] caused by a fortuitous genetic mutation that enhanced working memory capacity [and] a Baldwinian processwhere genetic adaptation follows somatic adaptation was the mechanism for this emergence” (p. 47).
  135. ^Hadot, Pierre; Arnold I. Davidson (1995) Philosophy as a way of life ISBN 0-631-18033-8 83–84
  136. ^Zen Buddhism : a History: India and China by Heinrich Dumoulin, James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter 2005 ISBN 0-941532-89-5 15
  137. ^Zen Buddhism : a History: India and China by Heinrich Dumoulin, James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter 2005 ISBN 0-941532-89-5 50
  138. ^Zen Buddhism : a History: Japan by Heinrich Dumoulin, James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter 2005 ISBN 0-941532-90-9 5
  139. ^Soto Zen in Medieval Japan by William Bodiford 2008 ISBN 0-8248-3303-1 39
  140. ^The Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan by Kōzō Yamamura, John Whitney Hall 1990 ISBN 0-521-22354-7
  141. ^An introduction to the Christian Orthodox churches by John Binns 2002 ISBN 0-521-66738-0 128
  142. ^“Hesychasm”. OrthodoxWiki. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  143. ^Archived from the original Archived July 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine on February 11, 2014.
  144. ^Christian Spirituality: A Historical Sketch by George Lane 2005 ISBN 0-8294-2081-9 20
  145. ^Christian spirituality: themes from the tradition by Lawrence S. Cunningham, Keith J. Egan 1996 ISBN 0-8091-3660-0 38
  146. ^The Oblate Life by Gervase Holdaway, 2008 ISBN 0-8146-3176-2 109
  147. ^After Augustine: the meditative reader and the text by Brian Stock 2001 ISBN 0-8122-3602-5 105
  148. ^Gustave Reininger, ed. (1997). Centering prayer in daily life and ministry. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-1041-2.
  149. ^The organization Contemplative Outreach Archived 2011-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, which teaches Christian Centering Prayer, has chapters in non-Western locations in Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea (accessed 5 July 2010)
  150. ^A clinical guide to the treatment of human stress response by George S. Everly, Jeffrey M. Lating 2002 ISBN 0-306-46620-1page 200
  151. ^Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion by David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden, Stanton Marlan 2009 ISBN page 559
  152. ^Fox, Kieran C.R.; Nijeboer, Savannah; Dixon, Matthew L.; Floman, James L.; Ellamil, Melissa; Rumak, Samuel P.; Sedlmeier, Peter; Christoff, Kalina (2014). “Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners”. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 43: 48–73. doi:1016/j.neubiorev.2014.03.016. PMID 24705269.
  153. ^Ospina, M.; Bond, T. (2007-01-06). “Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 155” (PDF). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  154. ^Van Dam, NT; van Vugt, MK; Vago, DR; Schmalzl, L; Saron, CD; Olendzki, A; Meissner, T; Lazar, SW; Kerr, CE; Gorchov, J; Fox, KCR; Field, BA; Britton, WB; Brefczynski-Lewis, JA; Meyer, DE (2018). “Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation”. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 13 (1): 36–61. doi:1177/1745691617709589. ISSN 1745-6916. PMC 5758421. PMID 29016274.
  155. ^ Jump up to:ab Stetka, Bret (11 October 2017). “Where’s the proof that mindfulness meditation works?”. Scientific American.
  156. ^Van Dam, Nicholas T.; van Vugt, Marieke K.; Vago, David R.; Schmalzl, Laura; Saron, Clifford D.; Olendzki, Andrew; Meissner, Ted; Lazar, Sara W.; Gorchov, Jolie; Fox, Kieran C.R.; Field, Brent A.; Britton, Willoughby B.; Brefczynski-Lewis, Julie A.; Meyer, David E. (10 October 2017). “Reiterated Concerns and Further Challenges for Mindfulness and Meditation Research: A Reply to Davidson and Dahl”. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 13 (1): 66–69. doi:1177/1745691617727529. PMC 5817993. PMID 29016240.
  157. ^Harrington, A.; Dunne, J. D. (Oct 2015). “When mindfulness is therapy: Ethical qualms, historical perspectives”. American Psychologist. 70 (7): 621–631. doi:1037/a0039460. PMID 26436312.
  158. ^Strauss, C.; Cavanagh, K.; Oliver, A.; Pettman, D. (April 2014). “Mindfulness-Based Interventions for People Diagnosed with a Current Episode of an Anxiety or Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials”. PLOS ONE. 9 (4): e96110. Bibcode:..996110S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096110. PMC 3999148. PMID 24763812.
  159. ^Khoury, B.; Sharma, M.; Rush, S. E.; Fournier, C. (Jun 2015). “Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis”. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 78 (6): 519–28. doi:1016/j.jpsychores.2015.03.009. PMID 25818837.
  160. ^Chiesa A (Apr 2014). “Are mindfulness-based interventions effective for substance use disorders? A systematic review of the evidence”. Subst Use Misuse. 49 (5): 492–512. doi:3109/10826084.2013.770027. PMID 23461667.
  161. ^Luberto, Christina M.; Shinday, Nina; Song, Rhayun; Philpotts, Lisa L.; Park, Elyse R.; Fricchione, Gregory L.; Yeh, Gloria Y. (2017). “A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors”. Mindfulness. 9 (3): 708–24. doi:1007/s12671-017-0841-8. PMC 6081743. PMID 30100929.
  162. ^“Does meditation carry a risk of harmful side effects?”. nhs.uk. 2017-05-26.
  163. ^“Dangers of Meditation”. Psychology Today. 2016.
  164. ^“Seriously… – Seriously… – Is Mindfulness Meditation Dangerous?”. BBC Radio 4.
  165. ^“Meditation is touted as a cure for mental instability but can it actually be bad for you?”. www.independent.co.uk. 2015.
  166. ^Schlosser, Marco; Sparby, Terje; Vörös, Sebastjan; Jones, Rebecca; Marchant, Natalie L. (2019). “Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations”. PLOS ONE. 14 (5): e0216643. doi:1371/journal.pone.0216643. PMC 6508707. PMID 31071152.
  167. ^“8.0% of U.S. adults (18 million) used Meditation”. NCCIH. 2014-11-11.
  168. ^Cramer, Holger; Hall, Helen; Leach, Matthew; Frawley, Jane; Zhang, Yan; Leung, Brenda; Adams, Jon; Lauche, Romy (2016). “Prevalence, patterns, and predictors of meditation use among US adults: A nationally representative survey”. Scientific Reports. 6: 36760. Bibcode:..636760C. doi:10.1038/srep36760. PMC 5103185. PMID 27829670.
  169. ^Kachan, Diana; Olano, Henry; Tannenbaum, Stacey L.; Annane, Debra W.; Mehta, Ashwin; Arheart, Kristopher L.; Fleming, Lora E.; Yang, Xuan; McClure, Laura A.; Lee, David J. (5 January 2017). “Prevalence of Mindfulness Practices in the US Workforce: National Health Interview Survey”. Preventing Chronic Disease. 14: E01. doi:5888/pcd14.160034. PMC 5217767. PMID 28055821.
  170. ^Bond, Michael (13 September 2017). “Lost in meditation: Two books argue over mindfulness”. New Scientist.
  171. ^Joiner, Thomas (2017). Mindlessness: The Corruption of Mindfulness in a Culture of Narcissism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-020062-6.
  172. ^O’Brien, Barbara. “The Buddhist Precepts. An Introduction”. com.
  173. ^Weil, Andrew (1998). The natural mind: an investigation of drugs and the higher consciousness. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-395-91156-3.
  174. ^O’Brien, Barbara. “The Fifth Buddhist Precept”. com.
  175. ^“Public law 103-344 [H.R. 4230]; October 6, 1994”. Retrieved 28 November 2010.

Bibliography

Further reading

 

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