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Concept
Buddhist meditation
Summary
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā ("mental development") and jhāna/dhyāna (mental training resulting in a calm and luminous mind).
Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward liberation from defilements (kleshas) and clinging and craving (upādāna), also called awakening, which results in the attainment of Nirvana, and includes a variety of meditation techniques, most notably anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing). Other techniques include asubha bhavana ("reflections on repulsiveness"); reflection on pratityasamutpada (dependent origination); anussati (recollections, including anapanasati) and sati (mindfulness), culminating in dhyana (developing an alert and luminous mind); and the Brahma-viharas (loving-kindness and compassion). These techniques aim to develop equanimity and sati (mindfulness); samadhi (unification of mind) c.q. samatha (tranquility) and vipassanā (insight); and are also said to lead to abhijñā (supramundane powers). These meditation techniques are preceded by and combined with practices which aid this development, such as moral restraint and right effort to develop wholesome states of mind.
While these techniques are used across Buddhist schools, there is also significant diversity. A basic classification of meditation techniques is samatha (calming the mind) and vipassana (gaining insight). In the Theravada tradition, emphasizing vipassana, these are seen as opposing techniques,refn|group=note|Goldstein (2003) writes that, in regard to the Satipatthana Sutta, "there are more than fifty different practices outlined in this Sutta. The meditations that derive from these foundations of mindfulness are called vipassana [...] and in one form or another – and by whatever name – are found in all the major Buddhist traditions." (p. 92)The forty concentrative meditation subjects refer to Visuddhimagga's oft-referenced enumeration. while Mahayana Buddhism stresses the interplay between samatha and vipassana.
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