Buddhist meditation

Overview

Recall questions on the purpose of meditation, samatha and vipassana practice and how they complement each other, mindfulness and its four foundations, personalised practice, the path factors that cover meditation, the jhanas, secular therapeutic uses, and whether meditation is too inward-looking.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is meditation in Buddhism, and what is it for?

   Model answer

   The general term is bhavana, meaning cultivation or development, which indicates that Buddhists treat meditation as training rather than relaxation. The aim is to change the mind's habits: to steady attention, weaken greed, hatred and delusion, and produce direct insight into impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and no-self. It occupies three of the eight path factors, and Buddhists insist it works alongside ethical conduct rather than replacing it.

2. 2

   What is samatha meditation, and what is its goal?

   Model answer

   Samatha means calm or tranquillity. Its goal is a concentrated, unified and settled mind, achieved by sustaining attention on a single object until distraction subsides and the five hindrances, such as restlessness, ill will and doubt, are suppressed. Buddhists value it both for the peace it brings and, more importantly, as the stable platform that makes insight possible, on the principle that a mind jumping between thoughts cannot examine anything closely.

3. 3

   Give examples of samatha practice.

   Model answer

   Mindfulness of breathing, in which attention rests on the sensation of the breath, is the most widely used. Others include gazing at a coloured or elemental device such as a disc of earth or a flame, recollection of the qualities of the Buddha, contemplation of death, and the cultivation of loving-kindness, in which goodwill is extended in widening circles from oneself to a friend, a neutral person, a difficult person and eventually all beings. Traditional lists offer around forty such objects.

4. 4

   What is vipassana or vipasyana, and what is its goal?

   Model answer

   Vipassana means insight or clear seeing. Rather than settling the mind on one object, it observes experience as it arises and passes in order to see the three marks directly. The goal is not a pleasant state but understanding that actually changes how a person relates to experience, weakening the grip of craving. Buddhists say this is what liberates, since calm alone suppresses the defilements while insight uproots them.

5. 5

   Give examples of vipassana practice.

   Model answer

   The four foundations of mindfulness provide the standard framework: attending to the body, including its posture, breathing and physical parts; to feelings as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; to states of mind, noticing when anger or distraction is present; and to mental phenomena in terms of the teaching, such as the hindrances or the khandhas. Techniques include mentally noting each experience as it appears, sweeping attention through the body, and observing the beginning and ending of thoughts.

6. 6

   How do samatha and vipassana complement each other?

   Model answer

   Buddhists usually describe them as two wings. Samatha supplies the stability, so that observation is not swamped by distraction, drowsiness or emotion; vipassana supplies the understanding, so that stability is not mistaken for the goal. Traditional teaching says calm without insight leaves the defilements dormant, ready to return, while insight attempted without any calm is superficial. Most practice combines them, using a period of settling before turning to observation.

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