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Meditation
Meditation refers to any of a family of practices in
which the practitioner trains his or her mind or self-induces a mode
of consciousness in order to realize some benefit.[1][2][3]
Meditation is generally an internal, personal practice and most
often done without any external involvement, except perhaps prayer
beads to count prayers. Meditation often involves invoking or
cultivating a feeling or internal state, such as compassion, or
attending to a specific focal point. The term can refer to the state
itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate
the state
There are dozens or more of specific styles of meditation
practice.[3] People may mean different things when they use the
word, 'meditation'. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as
a component of numerous religious traditions, especially in monastic
settings.
A 2007 study by the U.S. government found that nearly 9.4% of U.S.
adults (over 20 million) have practiced meditation within the past
12 months, up from 7.6% (more than 15 million people) in 2002
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Since the 1960s, meditation has been the focus of increasing
scientific research of uneven rigor and quality.[6] In over 1000
published research studies, various methods of meditation have been
linked to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation,
and other bodily processes.[7][8] Meditation has been used in
clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction |
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Etymology and history
Main article: History of meditation
Caravans on the Silk Road helped spread meditative practices from
India.The word meditate stems from the Latin root meditatum, i.e. to
ponder.[10] In the Old Testament hāgā (Hebrew: הגה), means to sigh
or murmur, but also to meditate. When the Hebrew Bible was
translated into Greek, hāgā became the Greek melete. The Latin Bible
then translated hāgā/melete into meditatio.[11] The use of the term
meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes
back to the 12th century monk Guigo II.[12]
Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was introduced
as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as
dhyāna in Buddhism and in Hinduism, which comes from the Sanskrit
root dhyai, meaning to contemplate or meditate.[4][13] The term
"meditation" in English may also refer to practices from Islamic
Sufism,[14] or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and
Christian Hesychasm.[15] A recent edited book about "meditation",
for example, included chapter contributions by authors describing
Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Taoist traditions.[16][17]
Scholars have noted that "the term 'meditation' as it has entered
contemporary usage" is parallel to the term "contemplation" in
Christianity.[18]
It is difficult to trace the history of meditation without
considering the religious context within which it was practiced.[19]
Data suggest that even at prehistoric times older civilizations used
repetitive, rhythmic chants and offerings to appease the gods.[20]
Some authors have even suggested the hypothesis that the emergence
of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of
meditation,[21] may have contributed to the final phases of human
biological evolution.[22] References to meditation with Rishabha in
Jainism go back to the prehistoric age with the Acaranga Sutra
dating to 500 BC.[23][24] Some of the earliest written records of
meditation date to 1500BC in Hindu Vedantism. Around 500-600BC
Taoists in China and Buddhists in India began to develop meditative
practices.[19]
In the west, by 20BCE Philo of Alexandria had written on some form
of "spiritual exercises" involving attention (prosoche) and
concentration[25] and by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed
meditative techniques.
The Pāli Canon, which dates to 1st century BCE considers Indian
Buddhist meditation as a step towards salvation.[26] By the time
Buddhism was spreading in China, the Vimalakirti Sutra which dates
to 100CE included a number of passages on meditation, clearly
pointing to Zen.[27] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
introduced meditation to other oriental countries, and in 653 the
first meditation hall was opened in Japan.[28] Returning from China
around 1227, Dōgen wrote the instructions for Zazen.[29][30]
The Islamic practice of Dhikr had involved the repetition of the 99
Names of God in the Qur'an since the 8th or 9th century.[31][32] By
the 12th century, the practice of Sufism included specific
meditative techniques, and its followers practiced breathing
controls and the repetition of holy words.[33] Interactions with
Indians or the Sufis may have influenced the Eastern Christian
meditation approach to hesychasm, but this can not be
proved.[34][35] Between the 10th and 14th centuries, hesychasm was
developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and involves the
repetition of the Jesus prayer.[36]
Western Christian meditation contrasts with most other approaches in
that it does not involve the repetition of any phrase or action and
requires no specific posture. Western Christian meditation
progressed from the 6th century practice of Bible reading among
Benedictine monks called Lectio Divina, i.e. divine reading. Its
four formal steps as a "ladder" were defined by the monk Guigo II in
the 12th century with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio, and
contemplatio (i.e. read, ponder, pray, contemplate). Western
Christian meditation was further developed by saints such as
Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila in the 16th
century.[37][38][39][40]
By the 18th century, the study of Buddhism in the West was a topic
for intellectuals. The philosopher Schopenhauer discussed it,[41]
and Voltaire asked for toleration towards Buddhists.[42] The first
English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in
1927.[43]
Secular forms of meditation were introduced in India in the 1950s as
a Westernized form of Hindu meditative techniques and arrived in the
United States and Europe in the 1960s. Rather than focusing on
spiritual growth, secular meditation emphasizes stress reduction,
relaxation and self improvement.[44][45] Both spiritual and secular
forms of meditation have been subjects of scientific analyses.
Research on meditation began in 1931, with scientific research
increasing dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s.[46] Since the
beginning of the '70s more than a thousand studies of meditation in
English-language have been reported.[46] However, after 60 years of
scientific study, the exact mechanism at work in meditation remains
unclear.[9
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