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Buddhist Meditation

by Jane_Michael

While most religions in the world have some form of meditation as
a core practice (be it Christian monasticism or Islamic daily
prayer), none have made it so central a tenet as Buddhism has. As
such, there are many variations in the practice and goals of
meditation within Buddhism. This article therefore is necessarily
an overview and brief introduction to the wide range of Buddhist
meditation.

Buddhism has taught meditation to its adherents since the 5th
century BC. Gautama Buddha (or simply “the Buddha”, meaning “he
who has achieved enlightenment”), the founder of the religion and
its supreme teacher sought escape from this world and found it in
meditation. Since then, this has been passed on to his
followers.

Broadly speaking, Buddhist meditation has as its goal the
achievement of a deeper state of relaxation, or a heightened
sense of awareness, a knowledge of the true nature of things.
Ultimately, all meditation is seen as the path to enlightenment
(a state in which a person is freed from all delusions about the
world) and nirvana(a similar state, where one is free from greed
and hate). Buddhism teaches that the root of all suffering and
pain in the world is ignorance combined with greed and desire. On
reaching nirvana, the soul is freed from all suffering, and
indeed from the very cycle of rebirth.

Techniques for meditation vary between different schools of
thought – for example, there are hundreds of traditional methods
of achieving mindfulness (a state of mind in which you are
strongly aware of the present moment and distant from your own
thoughts) and there are thousands of mental visualisations used
in meditation. Different forms of meditation are designed to
develop different desirable characteristics: concentration,
loving-kindness, compassion, wisdom, freedom and so forth. Many
techniques are common however, such as a focus on breathing as a
means to reach tranquility and awareness. This method, known as
Anapanasati has been recommended as a method by itself to reach
nirvana.

This technique usually involves sitting comfortably, back
straight and with no difficulty breathing. The meditator breathes
normally, observing their breaths and simply becoming aware of
them. No attempt is made to regulate, simply to observe and
become aware of the body and its functioning. Meanwhile the
meditator is trained to focus on eliminating thought. To an
untrained meditator, thoughts will constantly break the calm of
meditation, but with practise, true mental tranquility can be
achieved. While this simplifies, the ultimate goal is to
eliminate thought and clear the mind through a series of stages
to reach nirvana.

The philosophy of Buddhist meditation is therefore one of
liberation – the teaching that man can escape from his
self-imposed suffering through awareness of his surroundings and
focusing his thoughts. Buddha sought to escape from old age,
illness and death, and provided, through meditation, a
prescription to his followers, an exhortation to follow him and
hope to achieve his fate. Through clearing the mind of
infirmities such as greed and hate, meditation seeks to heal the
body of its infirmities.

Jane Michael is the head writer at the Center for Meditation. <a
href="http://www.centerformeditation.org/meditation-articles.html">
Meditation</a> is her practice and her passion. <a
href="http://www.centerformeditation.org/meditation-articles.html">Buddhist
meditation</a> is a great way to start your meditation practice.

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