Meditation is a discipline or practice of the mind and/or body that enables an individual to alter his consciousness or achieve a higher state of consciousness. It describes a quiet, alert, powerfully concentrated state in the person.
Meditation has been around for thousands of years. Evidence of the practice can be found throughout history in many different religions and many different places in the world.
Meditation has been around for thousands of years. Evidence of the practice can be found throughout history in many different religions and many different places in the world.
Although Eastern religions embraced ritual meditation long ago, meditation itself does not have to be a religious or spiritual activity. In the past three decades, the practice has gained new popularity in the West for its physical, psychological and spiritual benefits. In our stressful, fast-paced society, an increasing number of people have found a need to adopt meditation into their lives.
The desired purpose of each meditation technique is to channel our awareness into a more positive direction by totally transforming one's state of mind. It is principally employed toward obtaining self-improvement and spiritual growth.
HINDU MEDITATIONMeditation in Hinduism is dhyana or contemplation , a concentration on a spiritual idea.
The entire process of meditation usually entails the three stages of concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana) and enlightenment or absorption (samadhi). The individual preparing to meditate usually starts off by harnessing his awareness, such as focussing his mind onto a certain object. Once attention gets engaged, concentration turns into meditation or dhyana. And through continuous meditation, the meditator merges with the object of concentration, which might either be the present moment or the Divine Entity.
The true purpose of meditation is to know our true nature, the bedrock of our personality, by removing the accretions that cover it.
There are several types of meditation in Hinduism. These include (but are not limited to):
Vedanta a form of Jnana Yoga.
Raja Yoga as outlined by Patanjali, which describes eight "limbs" of spiritual practices, half of which might be classified as meditation. Underlying them is the assumption that a yogi should still the fluctuations of his or her mind: Yoga cittavrrti nirodha.
Surat shabd yoga or "sound and light meditation"
Japa Yoga in which a mantra is repeated aloud or silently
Bhakti yoga the yoga of love and devotion, in which the seeker is focused on an object of devotion, e.g. Krishna
Hatha Yoga in which postures and meditations are aimed at raising the spiritual energy, known as Kundalini , which rises through energy centers known as chakras.
BUDDHIST MEDITATIONMeditation has always been central to Buddhism. The historical Buddha himself was said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree. Most forms of Buddhism distinguish between two classes of meditation practices, shamantha and vipassana both of which are necessary for attaining enlightenment. The former consists of practices aimed at developing the ability to focus the attention single-pointedly; the latter includes practices aimed at developing insight and wisdom through seeing the true nature of reality. The differentiation between the two types of meditation practices is not always clear cut, which is made obvious when studying practices such as Anapanasati which could be said to start off as a shamatha practice but that goes through a number of stages and ends up as a vipassana practice.
Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the meditative development of mindfulness (sati, see for example the Satipatthana Sutra) and concentration (samadhi, see kammatthana), as part of the Noble Eigthfold Path, in the pursuit of Nibbana (Nirvana). Traditional popular meditation subjects include the breath (anapana) and loving-kindness (metta).
CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONChristian traditions have various practices which might be identified as forms of "meditation." Many of these are monastic practices. Some types of prayer, such as the rosary and Adoration (focusing on the eucharist) in Catholicism or the hesychasm in Eastern Orthodoxy, may be compared to the form of Eastern meditation that focuses on an individual object.
Christian meditation is considered a form of prayer. Some Christian prayers are made primarily by using the intellect, through the contemplation of the divine mysteries. However, Christian prayer or meditation through the heart, as described in the Philkalia is a practice towards Theosis, which involves acquiring an inner stillness and ignoring the physical senses.
According to the Old Testament book of Joshua, a form of meditation is to meditate on scriptures. This is one of the reasons why bible verse memory is a practice among many evangelical Christians. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)
The use of the word meditation in the western Christian tradition has referred generally to a more active practice of reflection on some particular theme such as "meditation on the sufferings of Christ”.
MUSLIM / SUFI MEDITATIONMeditation in Islam is the core of Muslim mystical traditions (in particular Sufism). Meditative quiescence is believed to have a quality of healing and creativity. Prophet Muhammad, whose deeds devout Muslims follow, spent long periods in meditation and contemplation. It was during one such period of meditation that he began to receive revelations of the Qur’an.
There are two concepts or schools of meditation in Islam:
Tafakkur and Tadabbur, literally meaning reflection upon the universe.
Muslims feel this is a form of intellectual development which emanates from a higher level, i.e. from God. This intellectual process through the receiving of divine Inspiration awakens and liberates the human mind, permitting man’s inner personality to develop and grow so that he may lead his life on a spiritual plane far above the mundane level. This is consistent with the global teachings of Islam, which views life as a test of our practice of submission to Allah, the one God.
The second form of meditation is the Sufi meditation, it is largely based on mystical exercises. However, this method is controversial among Muslim scholars. One group of Ulama, Al-Ghazzali, for instance, have accepted it, another group of Ulama, Ibn Taymiya, for instance, have rejected it as a bid’ah (religious innovation).
Sufism relies on a practice similar to Buddhist meditation, known as Muragaba or Tamarkoz which is taught in the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi order. Tamarkoz is a Persian term that means ‘concentration,’ referring to the “concentration of abilities”. Consequently, the term concentration is synonymous to close attention, convergent, collection, compaction, and consolidation.
Sufism relies on a practice similar to Buddhist meditation, known as Muragaba or Tamarkoz which is taught in the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi order. Tamarkoz is a Persian term that means ‘concentration,’ referring to the “concentration of abilities”. Consequently, the term concentration is synonymous to close attention, convergent, collection, compaction, and consolidation.
Muslims meditate during the second stage of Hajj at "Mount Mercy", from noon to sunset.
JEWISH MEDITATION
There is evidence that Judaism has had meditative practices that go back thousands of years. For instance, in the Torah, the patriarch Isaac is described as going lasuach in the field—a term understood by all commentators as some type of meditative practice (Genesis 24:63).
Similarly, there are indications throughout the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) that meditation was central to the prophets. In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ , which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind.
In modern Jewish practice, one of the best known meditative practices is called hitbodedut (or hisbodedus is explained in Kabbalah and Hassidic philosophy). The word hisbodedut, which derives from the Hebrew word "boded", (a state of being alone) and said to be related to the sfirah of Binah (lit. book of understanding), means "the process of making oneself understand a concept well through analytical study".
Kabbalah is inherently a meditative field of study. Kabbalistic meditative practices construct a supernatural realm which the soul navigates through in order to achieve certain ends. One of the most well known types of meditation is Merkabah, from the root /R-K-B/ meaning "chariot"(of God).
(adapted from Wikipedia.org)
