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Throughout history, there have been
numerous traditions of meditation and all of them are, in one-way or
another, attractive to people of differing dispositions. Yoga,
Kundalini, Transcendental Meditation, Sufi, Zen, Samatha, Vipassana, and
Satipatthana are some examples. These traditions have continued
generation after generation without falling out of practice because they
all bring about benefits to people. While they are recognised as
meditation, all of them may not produce the same benefits, and they do
not claim to do so either. But they yield good results; in doing so,
they attract many serious minded people around the world. Of these
meditations, Yoga, Kundalini, and Transcendental Meditation have come
from Hinduism. Sufi is from Islam, and the rest of them have been
introduced by Buddhism.
The other religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Jainism have
their variations of meditation as well. Yet, they are not as widely
practice d as the one we mentioned above. All these examples show that
the practice of meditation is not limited to one or two religions.
Rather, it is a common aspect of many religious traditions. Even some
philosophies like the Vedanta system emphasise meditation in their
systems. The scope of the present study, however, is limited to Buddhist
meditation.
The history of meditation reaches beyond the known
history of mankind. According to archaeologists, a figure of a yogi
found in the Indus Valley Civilisation indicates that yoga practice
could have existed in the first Indian civilisation itself. Ever since
yoga and other forms of meditation have been essential practices in
Hinduism. The Buddha's life story gives detailed accounts on the
advanced yogis from whom Siddhartha Gautama learned yoga practices. Some
of these pre-Buddhistic teachers had achieved eight dhyaanas as well as
the magical skills based on their trance states. Under these teachers,
Siddhartha mastered the teachings of meditation within a short period of
time. He was even offered teaching positions by these masters, but
Siddhartha refused their offers and continued searching for more by
experimenting further with the techniques of meditation. Siddhartha's
achievement which made him a Buddha was the result of these experiments.
Somewhat like the Buddhists, who has the Buddha to lead them in
practice, the Sufis of Islam claim that their meditation started right
from the beginning of their religion as the Prophet Mohammed himself
practised it.
Obviously, the history of each religion is a long
one, as well as the history of meditation within each religion. The
Buddha taught his disciples and these disciples taught theirs. From
master to master there have been individual approaches and
interpretations to the original practices. When Buddhism was received by
Chinese, Japanese, Tibetans, and Southeast Asians, they added their own
methods and interpretations. Japanese Zen and Tibetan Tantra are good
examples of such expanded versions of Buddhist meditation. Again the
scope of the present study does not allow us to discuss the long history
of Buddhist meditation. Here we will be limited to a few experiments
and comments which can be more useful to our lives today than its
historical events and developments.
We have already noted that
before achieving the Buddhahood Siddharta Gautama developed dhyaanas as
well as the supranormal skills based on them. This type of meditation is
known as samatha because by calming down one's thoughts and by
cultivating the power of concentration one's mind reaches the states of
dhyaana. Thus, samatha meditation came from the pre-Buddhistic
practices. What actually led Siddhartha to the Buddhahood was his own
experimentation in meditation. This new meditation is known as Vipassana
which means insight or penetration into reality. Vipassana is Pali term
and its Sanskrit term is vidarshana . It is through vipassana that one
can attain Nirvana, the Absolute or the Goal of Buddhism. Even the one
who has mastered samatha does not attain Nirvana; he has to develop
Vipassana in order to see Nirvana. An essential step of vipassana is
satipatthana (i.e. mindfulness or awareness). Through satipatthana the
meditator becomes aware of the present moment of life, each and every
movement of his or her physical and mental existence. That kind of
awareness is essential to have penetrating insight into the physical and
mental phenomena which encompasses the whole world.
2. Experiments
Recently the present writer had done
several experiments with Professor James W. Boyd at Colorado State
University. At one point I suggested to Dr. Boyd that he should meditate
on the feelings. Here what I mean by feelings is necessarily gross
feelings like anger or anxiety, but any mental or physical feeling like
pleasure or pain. The following was my instruction:
Being aware
of your feelings is traditionally know as vedanaanupassana satipatthana.
When you eat ice cream you enjoy the taste of it. That is rasa vedana.
Rather than letting your thoughts wander about something else or
somewhere else, keep your thoughts on the action of eating ice cream and
the taste of it. Being aware of the act of eating ice cream belongs to
the kaayaanupassana satipatthana,i.e. awareness of bodily movements.
Being aware of the taste of ice cream belongs to the vedanaanupassana
satipatthana, i.e. awareness of feelings. To reiterate, eating ice
cream, it is done with satipa.t.thaana, can bring the highest
realisation of reality. While eating ice cream, one can step beyond the
every day pattern of existence. By the way, one does not have to sit
cross-legged in a lotus position to eat ice cream. Let us try it.
Dr
Boyd agreed. After doing satipatthana meditation on eating ice cream he
sat at his computer and recorded his experience. His computer gives
this report:
I purposely selected one of my favourite flavours
of ice cream, double dip, I was quickly aware of my tongue, the taste of
cold ice cream on it. I tried to be observant of my response to the
taste, and eventually saw that just as I swallowed there was a desire
for more. As I tried to continue that awareness of attachment to the
taste, on about three occasions I became aware that as I paid attention
to the desire, it was neutralised somewhat. I asked myself at those
moments if I craved another bite; there was no sense of craving.
Habitual inattention brought me in and out of this awareness, however,
even with something so appealing as ice cream.
Dr Boyd, by using
his favourite ice cream, is practising satipaltlthana meditation. I
talked to him about Buddhist philosophy using the same practical
experience. One philosophical point was brought into our conversation in
analysing Dr Boyd's remark, I tried to be observant. In satipatthana
meditation, the meditator realises that there is no dichotomy between I
and the observant . The observant and I are one. When the meditation
goes deeper and deeper, the meditator sees that there is no dichotomy
between the feeling and the observant. Feeling itself assumes to be me
or the observant . When the process of feeling is seen clearly with
satipatthana, the feeler disappears. In absence of the feeler,
observant, or ego, the meditator becomes in touch with the flux of life
or the stream of existence. Religiously speaking this is not a simple
achievement. If one has gone this far in meditation, that person will
always have the right attitude towards life and world altogether.
In
the above-mentioned computer report Dr Boyd has said, I asked myself at
those moments if I craved another bite; there was no sense of craving .
That was the second philosophical point he learned from this particular
meditation. Using satipatthana while eating ice cream, he himself
observed how his craving for ice cream faded away. He overcame his
craving, at least his craving for ice cream. On the other hand, he does
not hate ice cream, so he maintains the right view on eating ice cream.
After
he had this meditational experience, Dr Boyd claim that his teaching
ability improved considerably. Before the meditation he taught Buddhism
only from books, but now after meditation he teaches Buddhism from his
own experience. Before he was able to discuss Buddhist philosophy from
his book knowledge but now he teaches it with personal understanding.
When satipatthana is applied to other fields of teaching besides
Buddhism, he finds it to be very effective.
Another experiment I
have done with Dr Boyd is walking meditation. I asked him to be aware
of his feet when he walked. Slowly I directed him to be attentive to the
raising of the feet from the ground, the moving of the feet over the
ground, and to placing them on the ground. In this exercise he had to
pay continuous attention to walking; the movement of his feet. After
this practice Dr Boyd has recorded his experience in the computer thus:
I
quickly realised that I had to slow down and, at first, I became aware
of the bottom of my feet as I placed them on the asphalt. Then I
eventually became aware of the roll of my feet in an arching movement.
As I became aware of my walking, the sense of sequence was there, and
also a sense of the press of my feet against the floor and the lightness
in lifting them. Later there was a strong awareness of motion, and
heaviness.
Normally one does not notice any of these details in
walking although everyone walks daily. Only when one becomes mindful one
sees the minute details of one's walking. Similarly in being fully
attentive, one can take note of all the movements taking place in daily
living.
A step beyond the physical movements is thought. The
meditator begins to see his or her thoughts. Just like he or she
recognised the movements of the feet, he or she begins to recognise the
rising, continuing, and the fall of each thought. Thus, characteristics
like impermanence of the physical and mental entities become revealed to
the meditator. Seeing these characteristics is vipassana. This way
satipatthana leads to vipasana. The progress of vipassana meditation
depends on satipatthana meditation. And one's progress towards
enlightenment depends on vipassana meditation.
Although
satipatthana, vipassana, or Zen can be done in walking or any other
position, people usually think that a sitting posture is the best
position for a meditator. Anyone's mental picture of a meditator is that
of the lotus posture. Several reasons account for the popularity of the
lotus posture. The cultural and historical background in India is a
major one. It is a habit of Indians to sit in lotus posture. The
Satipatthana Sutta [1] itself makes special reference to it as a way of
getting ready to do certain meditations like the meditation on breath
(anapana sati). Obviously, the meditator's lungs remain fully expanded
and spinal cord stays straight when one sits in lotus posture. This
helps lungs and brain to function freely. Besides, it is a stable and
settled position for the meditator. It is not unusual for a person to
fall asleep when the mind becomes calmer and calmer. If it happens the
meditator will not get injured, because he or she is steady in his or
her sitting position itself. We can imagine what could happen if one
falls asleep during the walking meditation. Therefore sitting posture,
especially the lotus posture, is a firm and balanced physical position
for the meditator.
3. Psychology
We have been referring to the ancient
scriptural teachings and traditional practices. Therefore, at this point
of our study we must find out what modern researchers have done in the
field of meditation. First of all modern researchers have recognised
that the meditator's brain functions are distinct from that of the
non-meditator. In addition it has been discovered that the meditator's
brain is not subjected to habituation process whereas all the others
live as victims of habituation of their brains. See the following two
experiments.
Electroencephalographic Analysis of
Meditation
In 1963 a fascinating and unique report
on Zen meditation was presented by Dr Akira Kasamatsu and Dr Tomio Hirai
of the Department of Neuro-Psychiatry, Tokyo University. It contained
the results of a ten-year study of the brain wave or
electroencephalographic (EEG) tracing of Zen masters.
The EEG
tracing revealed that about 90 seconds after an accomplished Zen
practitioner begins meditation, a rhythmic slowing in the brain wave
pattern occurs known as alpha waves. This slowing occurs with eyes open
and progresses with meditation, and after 30 minutes one finds rhythmic
alpha waves of seven or eight per second. This effect persists for some
minutes after meditation. What is most significant is that this EEG
pattern is notably different from those of sleep, normal walking
consciousness, and hypnotic trance and is unusual in persons who have
not made considerable progress in meditation. In other words, it
suggests an unusual mental state; though from the subjective reports of
the practitioners, it does not appear to be a unique or highly unusual
conscious experience. It was also found that a Zen master's evaluation
of the amount of progress another practitioner had made correlated
directly with the latter's EEG changes.
Another finding of the
same study concerned what are called alpha blocking and habituation. To
understand these phenomena let us imagine that a person who is reading
quietly is suddenly interrupted by a loud noise. If the same sound is
then repeated with a few seconds later his attention will again be
diverted, only not as strongly nor for as long a time. If the sound is
then repeated at regular intervals, the person will continue reading and
become oblivious to the sound. A normal subject with closed eyes
produces alpha waves on an EEG tracing. An auditory stimulation, such as
a loud noise normally obliterates alpha waves for seven seconds or
more; this is termed alpha blocking. In a Zen master the alpha blocking
produced by the first noise lasts only two seconds. If the noise is
repeated at 15 second intervals, we find that in the normal subject
there is virtually no alpha blocking remaining by the fifth successive
noise. This diminution of alpha blocking is termed habituation and
persists in normal subjects for as long as the noise continues at
regular and frequent intervals. In the Zen master, however, no
habituation is seen. His alpha blocking lasts two seconds with the first
sound, two seconds with the fifth sound, and two seconds with the
twentieth sound. This implies that the Zen master has a greater
awareness of his environment as the paradoxical result of meditative
concentration. One master described such a state of mind as that of
noticing every person he sees on the street but of not looking back with
emotional lingering. [2]
EEG tracing is only one example found
in modern research. Psychology plays a large role in the modern world
and meditation is essentially a psychological affair. Therefore, it is
worthwhile for us to compare and contrast briefly the modern psychology
with the Buddhist psychology. The Buddha teaches that the world is
operated by mind (cittena neeyati l“k“), [3] pleasure and pain,
happiness and sorrow, progression and regression, in brief the whole
human civilisation is a product of thought. An individual's future and
the future of all mankind depends on our power of thinking. The role of
consciousness is nicely stated thus in Buddhist Meditation and Depth
Psychology:
If the basis of Christianity is God, the basis of
Buddhism is mind. From the Buddhist viewpoint, mind or consciousness is
the core of our existence. Pleasure and pain, good and evil, time and
space, life and death have no meaning to us apart from our awareness of
them or thoughts about them. Whether God exists or does not exist,
whether existence is primarily spiritual or primarily material, whether
we live for a few decades or live forever - all these matters are, in
the Buddhist view, secondary to the one empirical fact of which we do
have certainty; that is the existence of conscious experience as it
proceeds through the course of daily living. Therefore, Buddhism focuses
on the mind; for happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain are
psychological experiences. [5]
In this comparative remark we
represent Western psychologists. While Buddhist psychology, including
meditational application of it, downgrades methodology, Western
psychology gives the highest possible place to it. For instance, John
Marasca, a professor at Ohio State University reports at the American
Psychological Association Convention [6] that a telephone survey of
1,282 women and 749 men was the chosen method for obtaining data
regarding men and women. In the field of meditation such a method is not
considered valid or reliable enough to reach conclusions regarding
human consciousness. Relying on the telephone conversations with that
many men and women, psychologists have decided that women suffer more
distress than men. Accordingly, women experience symptoms of distress
such as sadness, anger, anxiety, malaise, and physical aches 30% more
often than men. The comparison of men and women further shows that women
experience sadness and anger 29% more often than men, anxiety 30% more,
malaise 38% more and physical aches 36% more than men.
These
numbers are very valid statistically. For instance, at working places
precautions can be taken according to the number of men and women
employed so that the negative outcomes of distress can be avoided.
Pharmaceutical companies can focus more on female clients to sell their
drugs prescribed for distress. The results of such research can be used
for various practical purposes like these. From this we can learn the
methods of Western psychological research as well as the applications of
them. The pattern here has been questioning a certain number of people,
analysing their answers, arriving at conclusions, and working according
to those conclusions. In this method of research and its application
some essential human questions have been put aside. Although the
conclusions are made on numbers lie 30% and 38% (No doubt these numbers
are attractive to the readers) the fact remains that feeling of sadness
or anger really takes place in individuals. The cure of them also can be
achieved by individuals but not by large number of men or women
collectively. Although more than enough such psychological research is
being done, such research is not helping enough individuals to eliminate
sadness, anger, anxiety or malaise.
Besides, modern
psychologists recognise mental qualities like anger and anxiety as
normal human qualities. When these mental dispositions grow into a state
of insanity the patient will be treated and cared for, otherwise, they
are accepted as normal human conditions. Because of this influence very
responsible people and social leaders argue for justifiable anger and
even just wars . On the other hand meditation is applied on an
individual basis and it regulates mental dispositions.
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