Buddha taught his followers to practice Eightfold Noble Path. Buddhist Meditation is considered to be this practice. There are three parts in it, namely, training in wisdom, concentration & morality.
Three parts in details
- Wisdom or insight: Training in Vipassana meditation helps the person to acquire better insight or wisdom.
- Concentration: Training in Anapana meditation or mindfulness of breathing is considered to be the base. The person undergoing this training learns to control and calm his mind in the initial days. As time progresses, he manages to derive the benefits of having a balanced, steady mind.
- Morality: This is considered to be a common denominator for all religions. Practitioners at the reputed meditation centers can be found to observe five precepts. It includes refraining from lying, using intoxicants or drugs, sexual misconduct, stealing and killing. By observing diligently this morality, the person tends to develop purity of verbal and physical actions.
What exactly is Buddhist Meditation?
It is practicing mental concentration through successive stages to achieve the final objective of nirvana or spiritual freedom. In Buddhism, meditation is known to occupy a significant place. Its highest stages are known to combine progressive increased introversion discipline along with insight derived from prajna or wisdom.
Kammatthana or object of focus might from one individual to the other and situation. 40 kammatthanas are listed in one Pali text. It includes Brahmaviharas (virtues like friendliness), recollections (like the Buddha), repulsive things (like a corpse) and devices (like a light or color).
There are again stated four stages known in Pali as jhanas or in Sanskrit as dhyanas. They are rather distinguished as a shift in focus from the external sensory world. It includes the following:
- Getting detached from the outside world combined with consciousness of ease & happiness.
- Focus, by suppressing investigation & reasoning.
- Eliminating joy, with only sense of ease left
- Eliminating ease, thereby deriving a state of equanimity & pure self possession.
Four Sampattis (attainments) or other spiritual exercises are also adhered to in dhyanas like:
- Being aware of infinity of cognition.
- Being aware of infinity of space
- Being aware of unreality with regards to object of thought
- Concerned with nihility (unreality of things)
Buddhist meditation does have different stages and display several similarities with that of Hindu meditation. It rather reflects a common tradition practiced in ancient India. The exercises prescribed are meant to help develop better insight and wisdom in the person.