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Meditation

Avalokitesvara statue with Buddhist monks

Buddha statue in Sukhothai, Thailand


Meditation refers to the cul­tivation of the human mind, to the de­vel­op­ment of con­cen­tra­tion, mind­ful­ness, aware­ness and wis­dom. Bud­dhism of­fers calm­ness or con­cen­tra­tion med­i­ta­tion and vi­pas­sana or in­sight med­ita­tion. An­oth­er very use­full tool is lov­ing kind­ness med­ita­tion.

Meditation is to be found in many re­lig­ious systems, pur­su­ing dif­fer­ent goals. De­pend­ing on the many dif­fer­ent schools of Bud­dhism (like Ti­bet­an, Zen, Thai, Sri Lankan and Chi­nese Bud­dhism) and their sub­divi­sions, let alone all the diverse forms of med­i­ta­tion in Hin­du­ism and Yoga, we find dif­fer­ent ways to ap­proach medi­ta­tion and we will find diverse med­i­ta­tion tech­niques. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ with dif­fer­ent tech­niques, usu­al­ly just dif­fer­ent goals and ex­pe­ri­ences of those who medi­tate. Dif­fer­ent tech­niques suit dif­fer­ent people.

So there is noth­ing really wrong with ac­knowl­edged various tech­niques, but we should stick to only one of them, not mixing them. One may try dif­fer­ent ways of prac­tice, but one at a time and then choose one and stick to it. Do not trust in any­thing or any­body offer­ing quick results. Med­i­ta­tion is the task of a life­time, it took even the Bud­dha six years of con­tin­ual, at times ex­treme practice to re­al­ize enlight­enment.

The follow­ing is viewed from a Bud­dhist stand­point, though man­y of the men­tioned def­ini­tions and results are com­mon for most of the dif­fer­ent ap­proach­es to life.

Meditation takes energy and com­mit­ment, deter­mi­na­tion and dis­cipline. To get any results from the prac­tice of med­ita­tion it has to be done regu­lar­ly and con­tinu­ally over years, oth­er­wise re­sults will be mea­ger and frus­trat­ing. For me it is the task of a life­time.

By prac­tising medi­ta­tion in the right way we should develop great tol­er­ance to­wards other hu­man beings, it should make us humble in re­gard to them as well as in re­gard to all other forms of life, to the en­vi­ron­ment and to nature. We should keep in mind that all things are con­nect­ed with each other; we are a part of so­ci­ety and na­ture, not apart from them.

The Meditation techniques page of this web­site gives some basic in­tro­duc­tion into three dif­fer­ent kinds of me­di­ta­tion.