Meditation Flashcards
Meditation definition
focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.”
1) For religious purposes: practised with a soteriological goal : “the basic premise that the effort is directly or indirectly conducive to Awakening, is what actually defines Buddhist meditation in general” (Deleanu: 607)
2) As a method of relaxation: technique for mundane benefits (dissociated from religious context; “cultural cannibalism”)
Buddhist Meditation Vocabulary
Sanskrit Key-Words:
* bhāvanā: spiritual/mental cultivation
* dhyāna: meditative absorption: from this term derive the terms: (Ch.) Ch’an / (J.) Zen
* samādhi (P. samatha): concentration, tranquility: “gradual reduction of emotion-stirring functions”
* vipaśyanā (P. vipassanā): insight: “process of awareness in which the reflective (discursive) flow of attention is not suspended” = gives name to the contemporary “mindfulness movement”
I. TRANQUILITY-ORIENTED MEDITATION
Series of meditative stages (dhyāna) leading to increased tranquility
ØOften involves practices of focusing the mind on one external object to develop concentration
ØCultivation of the mind leading to the abandonment of emotionally disturbing factors
ØHas been defined as “en-static”
II: OBLITERATIVE (Auslöschung) MEDITATION
Means of suspending the usual conceptualized perception, ridding the mind of all ideations, while maintaining non-conceptualizing awareness.
Dichotomic mode of cognition:
Sense of an “I” vs. “otherness”, narrative/autobiographical sense, common perception of the world and its linguistic expression, linguistically dependent cognition: duality subject/object.
Dissociation from the ordinary epistemic framework based on the subject/object dichotomy > transformation of the mode of cognition (non-dual) > Absolute cognition = Awakening
III. INSIGHT MEDITATION (Mindfulness)
- vipaśyanā/vipassanā: practice of awareness
- Can take śamatha as a basis or consist in a distinct
practice called application of mindfulness
ØAlso called “observational analysis” (Griffiths)
ØCultivation of the correct wisdom leading to a profound understanding of the three essential characteristics of existence (impermanence, suffering, no self)
Mindfulness is applied to:
1. Body (starting with respiration, the organs…) 2. Feelings (pleasant, painful, neuter)
3. Mind (in various emotional states)
4. Doctrinal factors (dharmas), such as the five aggregates, the factors of awakening, the noble truths etc.
Each object is observed and analyzed “as it is”, without affective reaction
IV. VISUALIZATION PRACTICES
Practices that develop from the mindful recollection (anusmṛti) of ideal subjects (not bodily or mental states, as in type III). These can include:
1. Buddha
2. Dharma
3. Saṃgha
4. Moral Virtue
5. Generosity
6. Gods
The practitioner commemorates the ideal subject, by reviewing a number of qualities that it possesses.
IV. VISUALIZATION PRACTICES: RECOLLECTING THE BUDDHA
The first of these practice was by far the most popular: it consists in the recollections of the qualities of the Buddha and his main epithets.
Ø the systematic recollections of the disappeared master’s qualities would have been critical to those wishing to realize those qualities.
It had a major impact on later practices of visualization and vision quest, that bloomed especially within the Mahāyāna tradition.
- Need to encounter Buddhas on the path to Awakening
- Belief in other Buddhas presently alive and teaching
- Development of practices aiming at seeing/encountering these Buddhas
- Use of substitutes to the Buddha’s presence (esp. images) to witness aspirations to emulate them.
IV. VISUALIZATION PRACTICES: TANTRIC “GENERATION STAGE”
- Visualization of the deity
- Identification with the deity
- Seeing the world as “purified”
- Preliminary to the “fulfillment stage”
practices (=physiology centered or insight meditation)
V. PHYSIOLOGY-CENTERED MEDIT A TION
- Yogic techniques that aim to control and manipulate the inner physiology of the body.
- Conception of a “subtle body” made of “winds, channels and drops”: the winds of the vital energy and the drops of vital fluids circulate into a system of channels and plexuses.
- The vital energy is manipulated with bodily postures and the control of respiration, as well as the use of “seed syllables.”
- In Tantric practices, it may include sexual yoga (actual or visualized).
how central is meditation?
A - Awaking as cosmic battle:
1. Sits at the foot of the bodhi-tree
2. Attacked by the god Māra, governing over the
world of desire and saṃsāra
3. Takes the earth as awitness,not to move until he reaches Awakening
4. Defeats Māra’s army and passes beyond his power
how central is meditation? II
THE BUDDHA’S AWAKENING: REALISATION OF THE TRUTH
1. Enters four stages of Meditative absorption(as described above)
2. First watch of the night: acquires the knowledge of the coming and going of beings in saṃsāra.
3. Second watch of the night: acquires the knowledge of his previous lives.
4. Third watch of the night: realizes the four Noble Truths and acquires the knowledge of the destruction of the “influxes”.
Mediation major element in buddhist practice:
- Noble eightfold path
1. Right view
2. Right intention
3. Right speech
4. Right physical action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness (smṛti)
8. Right concentration (samādhi) - Six perfections
1. Giving
2. Morality
3. Endurance
4. Exertion
5. Meditative Absorption (dhyāna)
6. Wisdom
