Meditation Flashcards
Why is meditation relevant:
It’s one of the three divisions of the eightfold path, the general term is bhavana, which literally means cultivation or making become. It is what Buddhists use to make themselves what they want to be. Jhana and samadhi are also used, jhana referring more to the jhanas and samadhi referring more to meditative consciousness, whereas bhavana is linked to the specific practises. Almost all schools see meditation as the path to enlightenment
Background:
The techniques developed by the Buddha were common practises among brahminical hindus and ascetics. In addition, yogic techniques were also being used at the time, and it is from these that the Buddha developed his meditative practices.
The nature/purpose of meditation:
It can be described as a controlled inducing of an altered state of consciousness, it aims to develop positive mental states. It should make the person more aware of the specific moments of existence and everything happening in them, while being somewhat detached from them.
Basics of the practise:
Buddha would have first learnt from his two teachers, but what exactly they taught him is unknown. Meditation is difficult because the mind produces distractions, so you have to practise and it can take months before progress is made. Eventually, the person becomes generally calmer and more aware in normal life as well
The Jhanas details:
1st - detachment, joy 2nd - concentration, joy 3rd - concentration, equanimity 4th - 3rd, but also maybe psychic powers and beyond pain/pleasure 5th - infinite space 6th - infinite consciousness 7th - nothingness 8th - neither perception nor non-perception Nibbana
The jhanas:
Basis of meditation, detailing stages of the trances, seem to be beyond linguistic capacity to describe, but they get more subtle and sublime the higher up you go, also more weird sensations like seeing lights, eventually leads to ekaggata (one-pointedness) - pure concentration. Often something will be meditated on to improve yourself
Samatha meditation:
Not purely Buddhist, was around before, can be seen as the basic foundations, aim is to focus on one thing only, sensual desire/ill will/lethargy/worry/doubt are barriers, mindfulness of breathing is common
The four measureless states:
Metta (loving kindess), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), upekkha (equanimity) - stuff to meditate on - metta is popular - starts with loving yourself, then a friend, then a disliked person, then a hated person, then everything. Karuna is for identifying with other’s suffering, mudita for being happy at other’s fortune, upekkha is making sure all these are balanced
Vipassana meditation:
Developed by the Buddha, for achieving insight and enlightenment rather than being calm, often used immediately after samatha, need to be prepared and a Buddhist, need to remove problems in home, family, group, activities, travel, relations, study, illness, the supernatural, and gain so you can focus, you also need a more experienced guide to instruct you on what to focus on, focuses on trying to be fully aware, then aware of emotions shifting, then thoughts, trying to reach the point where you realise there is no self controlling it, just the skhandas
Buddhist psychology and meditation:
6 types of people that can be identified by personality and physical aspects - greed, delusion, hatred, faith, intelligence, argumentative - first 3 are emotion dominated, others are intellect dominated. Different types need different meditation focuses to balance their personality
Mahayana developments:
Meditation is the basis for moral action, visualisation - mind palace basically, spontaneity - realising that every moment is individual and spontaneous
Zen developments:
Zazen - sitting in absorption - deep absorption in meditation - similar to Indian traditions, can be spontaneous, can last for hours, aims to be so aware that there’s no autopilot
