The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies
~ The Art of Meditation ~
The Strategies, Purpose, and Applications of Meditation

Meditation usually refers to a state of extreme relaxation, in which the body is generally at rest and the mind quieted of all surface thoughts. Several major religions include ritual meditation; however, meditation itself need not be a religious or spiritual activity. It is widely thought to be of Eastern origin. 

Meditation is closely akin to prayer and worship, wherein the practitioner turns spiritual thoughts over in the mind and engages the brain in higher thinking processes. The goal in this case is the receipt of spiritual insights and new understanding. 

Strategies common to many forms 

Meditation generally involves avoiding wandering thoughts and fantasies, and calming and focusing the mind. Meditation does not necessarily require effort and can be experienced as "just happening". Physical postures include sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and walking (sometimes along designated floor patterns). Quiet is often desirable, and some people use repetitive activities such as deep breathing, humming or chanting to help induce a meditative state. 

Purposes of Meditation 

The purposes for which people meditate vary almost as widely as practices. It may serve simply as a means of relaxation from a busy daily routine, a means of gaining insight into the nature of reality or a means of communing with a God or Deity. Many have found improved health, concentration, awareness, self-discipline and equanimity through meditation. The self-disciplining aspect of meditation plays a central role in most types of Buddhism. 

Health Applications of Meditation 

Meditation has entered the mainstream of health care as a method of stress and pain reduction. For example, in an early study in 1972, transcendental meditation was shown to effect the human metabolism by lowering the biochemical byproducts of stress, such as lactate (lactic acid), and by decreasing heart rate and blood pressure and inducing favorable brain waves. (Scientific American 226: 84-90 (1972)

As a method of stress reduction, meditation is often used in hospitals in cases of chronic or terminal illness to reduce complications associated with increased stress including a depressed immune system. There is a growing consensus in the medical community that mental factors such as stress significantly contribute to a lack of physical health, and there is a growing movement in mainstream science to fund and do research in this area (e.g. the establishment by the NIH in the U.S. of 5 research centers to research the mind-body aspects of disease.) 

Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist at the University of Colorado, reported that Zazen or Zen meditation rewires the circuitry of the brain in his landmark book Zen and the Brain. This has been confirmed using sophisticated imaging techniques which examine the electrical activity of the brain. 

Dr. Herbert Benson of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard and several Boston hospitals, reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response." The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and brain chemistry.

Jesus and Meditation 

Jesus often left his apostles and the crowds to distance himself in the wilderness areas of Palestine to engage in long periods of dynamic-mind, spiritual meditation wherein he communicated with God. The 40 days following his baptism were spent in such a manner. 

Samadhi 

In the Samadhi or Shamatha, or concentrative, techniques of meditation, the mind is kept closely focused on a particular word, image, sound, person, or idea. This form of meditation is often found in Buddhist and Hindu traditions including Yoga, as well as in Medieval Christianity, Jewish Kabbalah, and in some modern metaphysical schools. Eknath Easwaran developed another, related, method. He called it "passage meditation" -- silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world's great religions. Easwaran believe that, "The slow, sustained concentration on these passages drives them deep into our minds; and whatever we drive deep into consciousness, that we become." 

Mindful Awareness Traditions 

Vipassana and anapanasati are parts of broader notion of mindful awareness, which is part of the Noble Eightfold Path, the ultimate goal in Buddhism that leads to Enlightenment, and expounded upon the in the Satipatthana sutta. While in anapanasati meditation attention is focused on the breath, in vipassana, however, the mind is trained to be acutely aware of not only breathing, but all things that one comes to experience. 

The concept of vipassana works in believing that the meditator's mind will eventually take note of every physical and mental experience "real-time" or as it happens, the goal being that it will gradually reveal to the practitioner how one's mind unknowingly attaches itself to things that are impermanent in nature. Thus, when such things cease to exist, one experiences the suffering from its loss. This very wisdom, achievable solely through vipassana meditation, in turn gradually frees one's mind from the attachment that is the root of suffering. 

For one practicing this form of meditation, it is also very important to note that the wisdom presents itself into the mind of meditator only when he/she is NOT thinking but yet possessing an acute awareness of what goes on in their mind, body and surrounding. The nature of vipassana is sophisticated; one may desire a veteran instructor to provide initial guidance. 

In other words, in Vipassana (insight, or seeing things as they are) meditation, the mind is trained to notice each perception or thought that passes without "stopping" on any one. This is a characteristic form of meditation in Buddhism, especially in some Theravada traditions, and is also a component of Zazen, the term for meditation practice in Zen. 

However, in at least some forms of vipassana, one does not attend to whatever perceptions arise, but purposely moves one's attention over their body part by part, checking for perceptions, being aware and equanimous with them, and moving on. This form of meditation has some resemblance with "choiceless awareness" — the kind of meditation that J. Krishnamurti addressed.  

Specific Traditions

Specific classifications include: 

On every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit. From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of the lower levels of thinking -- ego, worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of society, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication through the art of meditation.

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Meditation