Buddhist Meditation
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Dharana, bhavana
Ven Samdhong Rinpoche, Calm And Alert With Buddhist Meditation, July 16, 2018: The Times of India
I do not know the derivation of the English word ‘meditation’, but in Sanskritic tradition, meditation has two aspects, dharana and bhavana. Dharana means to concentrate and bhavana to ponder, think upon, investigate, analyse. So real meditation must consist of these two parts – one-pointedness of mind and the power of analysis. These two together form the totality of meditation, that is, samatha and vipassana. Samatha is to concentrate and vipassana to analyse. Analysis with total concentration makes meditation.
Now, what do we concentrate on and what do we analyse? Generally, in the outer world one does not need a concentrated mind, a fullness of mind, in order to analyse. Even the scientist, without meditating, and depending only on outer instruments, has analysed the material world with great skill.
But now scientists themselves are realising that there is still something to be discovered, and that perhaps, it can only be done by some method which is beyond materialism. Meditation is concentration and reflection and these must be inward, not outward. Meditation is the instrument that we need in order to go inside ourselves to search for that which is yet beyond ourselves.
Methods of meditation are to be found in most religious writings. Buddhists have no special methods which could be described as purely Buddhist. But they have several insights that are specifically their own; for instance, on the nature of samatha, calmness of mind, and vipassana, alertness of mind.
But the techniques are derived from those known in the Samkhya, Vedanta and other Hindu schools of philosophy, and perhaps in other religions which teach meditation.
We have been given guidelines as to how to search for things outside ourselves but hardly any directions have been given on how to look inwards. We have to train ourselves to look inside, and the only way to achieve this is through meditation.
In order to meditate, the mind should be channelled, otherwise it will not have the power to concentrate on one object. In that case, what we often imagine to be meditation is not meditation at all. Our undisciplined mind is like a candle flame which flickers in the wind. Objects distorted by such a light seem to be vibrating and cannot be clearly distinguished by the eyes. Even a few moments of meditation make one realise how quickly the mind moves from one object to another and how disturbed it is by many causes such as emotions and memories.
The mind resembles a crowded street in which cars, motorcycles, bicycles and people are moving. When we are in the crowd we are aware only of the rush and fuss around us, but if we look down from the top floor of a tall building we shall see how large the crowd is and how numerous the people. Similarly, when the mind is full of disturbance and obstructions we do not notice how fickle it is. When we start to meditate and are able to detach ourselves, we become aware how crowded and restless the mind is.
The mind of the ordinary man is usually fragmented and divided, full of thoughts and illusions. In this condition concentration is absolutely impossible. Thus, in order to look inwards, so that we come to know our inner selves better, the mind must be trained in concentration.
