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Benjamin Bostor.
Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,
Meditation.
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.
Scholars have found meditation difficult to define as practices vary both between traditions and within them.
Meditation has been practiced since 1500 BCE antiquity in numerous religious traditions,
Often as part of the path towards enlightenment and self-realization.
The earliest records of meditation come from the Hindu traditions of Vedantism,
And meditation has a long tradition of being a practice in Hinduism.
Since the 19th century,
Asian meditation 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,
Self-concept,
And well-being.
Meditation is under research to define its possible health,
Psychological,
Neurological,
And cardiovascular,
And other effects.
Etymology The English meditation is derived from Old French meditation,
In turn from Latin meditatio,
From a verb meditare,
Meaning to think,
Contemplate,
Devise,
Ponder.
The use of the term meditatio as part of a formal stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th century monk Guigo II.
Apart from its historical usage,
The term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices,
Referred to as Dayena in Hinduism and Buddhism,
And which comes from the Sanskrit root dayeha,
Meaning to contemplate or meditate.
The term meditation in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism,
Or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm.
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 describe practices found across many cultures.
These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention of mind or to teach calm or compassion.
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.
A 2009 study noted a persistent lack of consensus in the literature and a seeming intractability of defining meditation.
Religious Definitions Dictionaries give both the original Latin meaning of thinking deeply about something,
As well as the popular usage of focusing one's mind for a period of time,
The act of giving your attention to only one thing,
Either as a religious activity or as a way to becoming calm and relaxed,
And to engage in mental exercise such as concentrating on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.
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 and characterize the practice of meditation as attempts to get beyond the reflexive,
Discursive thinking or logic,
Mind,
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 five-round Delphi study with a panel of seven experts in meditation research,
Who were also trained in diverse but empirically high-studied Eastern-derived or clinical forms of meditation.
Three main criteria as essential to any meditation practice,
The use of a defined technique,
Logic relaxation,
And a self-induced state mode.
Other criteria deemed important but not essential involve a state of psychophysical relaxation,
The use of a self-focused 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.
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.
Several other definitions of meditation have been used by influential modern reviews of research on meditation across multiple traditions.
Walsh and Shapiro 2006.
Meditation 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.
Kahn and Pollock 2006.
Meditation is 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 a central commonality across the many divergent methods.
Jevening 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.
Goleman 1988.
The need for the meditator to retrain his attention,
Whether through concentration or mindfulness,
Is the single and variant ingredient in every meditation system.
Separation of technique from tradition.
Some of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions,
And theories and practices can differ within a tradition.
Taylor noted that even within a faith such as Hindu or Buddhist,
Schools and individual teachers may teach distinct types of meditation.
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.
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.
Classifications 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.
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.
Focused methods include paying attention to the breath,
To an idea or feeling,
Such as Metta,
Loving-kindness.
To a koan,
Or to a mantra,
Such as in Transcendental Meditation.
And Single Point Meditation.
Open Monitoring methods include Mindfulness,
Shikantaza and other awareness states.
Practices using both methods include Vipassana,
Which uses anapanasati as a preparation.
And Samatha,
Calm Abiding.
In No Thought Methods,
The practitioner is fully alert,
Aware and in control of their faculties,
But does not experience any unwanted thought activity.
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.
In the meditation practice of the Sahaja Yoga Spiritual Movement,
The focus is on the thoughts ceasing.
Clear Light Yoga also aims at a state of no mental content,
As does the No Thought Wu Nian state taught by Huining and the teachings of Yoshen Wai Yan.
One proposal is that Transcendental Meditation and possibly other techniques be grouped as an automatic self-transcending set of techniques.
Other typologies include dividing meditation into Concentrative,
Generative,
Receptive and Reflective practices.
Frequency The Transcendental Meditation technique recommends practice of 20 minutes twice per day.
Some techniques suggest less time,
Especially when starting meditation.
And Richard Davidson has quoted research saying benefits can be achieved with a practice of only 8 minutes per day.
Some meditators practice for much longer,
Particularly when on a course or retreat.
Some meditators find practice best in the hours before dawn.
Posture Asanas and positions such as the full lotus,
Half-lotus,
Burmese,
Saiza and kneeling positions are popular in Buddhism,
Jainism and Hinduism,
Although other postures such as sitting,
Supine,
Lying and standing are also used.
Meditation is also sometimes done while walking,
Known as King Hin,
While doing a simple task mindfully,
Known as Samu,
Or while lying down,
Known as Savasana.
Use of Prayer Beads Some religions have traditions of using prayer beads as tools in devotional meditation.
Most prayer beads and Christian rosaries consist of pearls or beads linked together by a thread.
The Roman Catholic Rosary is a string of beads containing five sets with ten small beads.
The Hindu Japa Mala has 108 beads as well as those used in Guadaya Vaishnavism,
The Hare Krishna tradition,
Jainism and Buddhist prayer beads.
Each bead is counted once as a person recites a mantra until the person has gone all the way around the mala.
The Muslim Isbaha 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 Folk,
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.
Using a Narrative Richard Davidson has expressed the view that having a narrative can help maintenance of daily practice.
For instance,
He himself prostrates to the teachings and meditates not primarily for my benefit but for the benefit of others.
Practice and Spiritual Meditation Indian Religions Hinduism There are many schools and styles of meditation within Hinduism.
In pre-modern and traditional Hinduism,
Yoga and dhyana are practiced to realize union of one's eternal self or soul,
One's atman.
In Advaita Vendata,
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 the meditation in Hindu literature are in the Middle Upanishads and the Mahabharata,
Including the Bhagavad Gita.
According to Gavin Flood,
The earlier Brihannarayaka Upanishad is describing meditation when it states that having become calm and concentrated,
One perceives the self,
Atman,
Within oneself.
One of the most influential texts of classical Hindu yoga is Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
A text associated with yoga and samkhya which outlines eight limbs leading to kaivalya,
Aloneness.
These are ethical disciplines,
Yamas,
Rules,
Nyamas,
Physical postures,
Asanas,
Breath controls,
Preneyama,
Withdrawal from the senses,
Prethayahara,
One-pointedness of mind,
Dereneye,
Meditation,
Dayena,
And finally samedi.
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 a Yoga Yajnavacaya which makes use of Hatha Yoga and Vendatta philosophy.
Jainism Jain meditation and spiritual practices systems were referred to as salvation path.
It has three parts called Ratnatraya,
Three jewels,
Right perception and faith,
Right knowledge and right conduct.
Meditation in Jainism aims at realizing the self,
Attaining salvation,
And taking the soul to complete freedom.
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.
Jain meditation can be broadly categorized to Dharmaya Dayana and Sukhla Dayana.
Jainism uses meditation techniques such as Bindesa Dayena,
Rupesta Dayena,
Rupetita Dayena,
And Savirya Dayena.
In Bindesa Dayena,
One focuses on a mantra.
A mantra could be either a combination of core letters or words and 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.
Contemplation is a very old and important meditation technique.
The practitioner meditates deeply on subtle facts.
In Anaya-Vichaya,
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-Vichaya,
One contemplates on the incorrect insights one indulges,
Which eventually develops right insight.
In Vipaka-Vichaya,
One reflects on the eight causes or basic types of karma.
In Sasathan-Vichaya,
One thinks about the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of the soul.
Buddhism 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.
Closest words for meditation in the classical language of Buddhism are bhavana,
Jena,
Jena,
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 across Buddhist schools as well as significant diversity.
In the Theravada tradition,
There are over 50 methods for developing mindfulness and 40 for developing concentration,
While in the Tibetan tradition there are thousands of visualization meditations.
Those classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school-specific.
According to the Theravada and Saravestivada common-tutorial traditions and the Tibetan tradition,
The Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice.
Serenity or tranquility,
Which steadies,
Composes,
Unifies,
And concentrates the mind.
Insight,
Which enables one to see,
Explore,
And discern.
Formations,
Condition,
Phenomena based on the five aggregates.
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.
This quality of mind then supports the development of insight and wisdom,
Which is the quality of mind that can clearly see the nature of phenomena.
What exactly is to be seen varies within the Buddhist traditions.
In Theravada,
All phenomena are to be seen as impermanent,
Suffering,
Not self,
And empty.
When this happens,
One develops dispassion for all phenomena,
Including all negative qualities and hindrances,
And lets them go.
It is through the release of the hindrances and ending of cravings through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberation.
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.
Christianity 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.
The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditare,
Which means to concentrate.
The 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.
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.
The rosary is a devotion for the meditation of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary.
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.
According to Edmund P.
Clowney,
The 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.
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 deepened meaning.
Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.
In aspects of Christian meditation,
The Catholic Church warned of potential incompatibilities in mixing Christian and Eastern styles of meditation.
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.
Secular Applications Clinical Applications The U.
S.
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.
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.
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.
Low-quality evidence indicates that meditation may help with irritable bowel syndrome,
Insomnia,
Cognitive decline in the elderly,
And post-traumatic stress disorder.
Meditation in the Workplace A 2010 review of the Literature on Spirituality and Performance in Organizations found an increase in corporate meditation programs.
As of 2016,
Around a quarter of U.
S.
Employers were using stress reduction initiatives.
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.
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.
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.
Also in the 1970s,
The American psychologist Patricia Carrington developed a similar technique called Clinically Standardized Meditation,
CSM.
In Norway,
Another sound-based method called ASM meditation developed a psychology of meditation and has been the subject of several scientific studies.
