Meditation – types and practice
The path to enlightenment
meditationThinking quietly as a spiritual or religious exercise. Connection of the mind and soul with the Divine using breathing and other techniques. In Buddhism, using one of a set of techniques or exercises for calming the mind, developing positive emotions and understanding the way things are. is essential for many Buddhists. It is necessary for the growing wisdom, compassion and deep understanding that precede enlightenmentThe realisation of the truth about life. In Buddhism it releases a person from the cycle of rebirth..
The DhammapadaThe most famous of the Buddhist scriptures in the West, with 423 verses in the Pali canon. teaches:
Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let a man so conduct himself that his wisdom may increase.
For Buddhists, meditation can be seen as the basis for growing wisdom. The above passage describes ‘two paths’ – that of ‘progress’ and that of ‘decline’. The Dhammapada makes it clear that the path to ‘progress’ is that of increasing wisdom, which ‘springs from meditation’.
Types of meditation
Different types of meditation allow Buddhists to enter different modes of thinking and reflection. They complement each other and allow the mind to grow.
Samatha meditation
samatha meditationA state of concentrated calmness; meditation focused on one object or idea. helps the mind to become calm and receptive to deeper concentration. Samatha meditation uses mindfulness, such as mindfulness of the breath. It helps people to let go of craving and desires.
Vipassana meditation
vipassana‘Insight meditation’, in which Buddhists aim to understand the nature of reality. means ‘insight’. Once the mind has become calm, it can gain insights and begin to see things as they really are. For example, this type of meditation can help Buddhists to fully grasp the truth of dukkhaSuffering, illness, dissatisfaction or imperfection. An unavoidable fact of existence according to the first Noble Truth of Buddhism. (the unsatisfactoriness of life) and of aniccaThe belief in impermanence; the first of the Three Marks of Existence in Buddhist teaching. (the impermanenceNot lasting forever. nature of reality).
Mettabhavana meditation
mettaThe Buddhist idea of loving-kindness. means ‘loving kindness’. It is one way to avoid samsaraIn Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, this is the cycle of life, death and rebirth. and rebirth. Mettabhavana meditation aids the development of loving kindness. During mettabhavana practice, Buddhists focus their mind on feelings of love for friends and family. They then transfer these feelings first to people they neither like nor dislike, and then to people they dislike. In this way, mettabhavana meditation enables Buddhists to deliberately practise love for all beings.
Surangama Sutra
The Surangama Sutra is a Mahayana BuddhismOne of the major schools of Buddhism, it includes Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. book of teachings. The title can be understood by breaking it down into three parts:
- Suran means ‘great’ and gama means ‘solid’ or ‘durable’. Together, these parts can be translated as ‘indestructible’.
- Sutra means ‘book of teachings’.
The book suggests that without the concentrated state of mind made possible through meditation, following the Dhamma (Dharma)Dhamma is Buddhist doctrine about the nature of existence and includes the teachings of the Buddha. (also called Dharma) is worthless.
Without meditation, a person’s ‘true mind’, or Buddha-nature (also called tathagatagarbhaThis Buddhist word, made up of three smaller words, can be translated as ‘Buddha-nature’. It means that the potential to become a Buddha is within all humans. ), cannot become visible. It will be obscured by the ordinary mind, which is concerned with daily cares and desires.
Question
What form of meditation develops insight into the true nature of reality?
Vipassana meditation.
