Meditation in Buddhism
The process of meditation is associated with the core philosophy of Buddhism. The basic
techniques of meditation are preserved in the Buddhist texts that have been spreading
everywhere through teaching. According to the Buddhist cultures, the ultimate enlightenment
and Nirvana can be achieved through meditation. Buddhism religion observes meditation as
dhyana, which in Sanskrit means concentration. Many non-Buddhists throughout the world
practice Buddhism and Buddhist meditation for various reasons. There are a number of
Buddhist meditation techniques for many reasons. These include concentration, achievement
of supramundane powers, insight, mindfulness and above all, tranquility.
The meditation practices across different schools can be similar and at the same time be
significantly diverse. The Theravada alone has fifty practices for mindfulness and forty others
for concentration. In addition, the Tibetan culture has thousands of practices for visualizations.
Mostly, the schools have traditional and classical Buddhist meditation techniques and hardly
any teachers try to design or synthesize any new methods.
According to the early tradition, the meditation can be defined as a part of the eightfold path
leading to nirvana. The insightful approach to this path focuses on two basic concepts. These
concepts are, Right mindfulness (explained in the Buddha’s four foundations theory) and Right
concentration (said to be achieved after meditative development)
The Four foundations required for achieving mindfulness include the body, mind states, feelings
and finally mental objects. The body includes breathing, postures, clear comprehension,
reflections on materials, reflections on body repulsiveness and cemetery contemplations. The
feelings include pleasant, neutral and unpleasant moods. The mind deals with thought
processes and the mental contents include sense bases, noble truths and the factors of
enlightenment.
Serenity and insight are two other achievements that people want because of meditation. The
great Buddha also had two paramount qualities that were achieved after meditative practice.
These include, Serenity, which steadies and unifies the mind and assists with concentration;
and Insight, which helps one discern and explore. Through serenity, one can also suppress
obstacles, with which it becomes easy to develop insight and eventually gain wisdom necessary
for liberation. Gautama Buddha never speaks of the two concepts separately; instead, he says
that both, insight and serenity can only be achieved through meditation. Nonetheless, it is
believed that some meditation practices develop insight meanwhile others would be better at
the development of serenity.
Source:
http://www.researchomatic.com/meditation-in-buddhism-158450.html