Meditation at a Leisure time

Meditation

Meditation becomes an alternative tourist destination when traveling abroad, especially to the east countries. Almost every resort has a various types of this new product. There is who offer and bring guest to the real practice in an ancient Buddhist or Hindhu sanctuary to experience as an ascetic. There is who offers contemporary, just being an experience to meditate. Many of them would like to learn and train, seriously.

Meditation is an indigenous tradition or custom from the east world. To attain a pure mind and to achieve a balance between thought and action, we must train ourselves by this method. It is not automatically that a person who practices the meditation will achieve the result. It is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Meditation often involves turning attention to a single point of reference. It is recognized as a component of almost all religions, and has been practiced for over 5,000 years. It is also practiced outside religious traditions. Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual and/or psychophysical practices which may emphasize different goals -- from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.

The word meditation originally comes from the Indo-European root med-, meaning "to measure." From the root med- are also derived the English words mete, medicine, modest, and moderate. It entered English as meditation through the latin meditatio, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning "contemplation."

In Javanese it is called Semedi, means silent. The basic method is the same, but followed by “sesaji” or meals for the ancestors. The “sesaji” is to connect between the person and ancestors to ask a help and life direction.

Meditation originated from Vedic Hinduism which is the oldest religion that professes meditation as a spiritual and religious practice.

Evidence of the origins of meditation extends back to a time before recorded history. Archaeologists tell us the practice may have existed among the first Indian civilizations. Indian scriptures dating back 5000 years describe meditation techniques. From its ancient beginnings and over thousands of years, meditation has developed into a structured practice used today by millions of people worldwide of differing nationalities and religious beliefs

Yoga is one of the six schools of Hindhu philosophy, focusing on meditation. In India, Yoga is seen as a means to both physiological and spiritual mastery.

There are several types of meditation in Hinduism :

Vedanta, a form of Jnana Yoga.

Raja Yoga as outlined by Patanjali, which describes eight "limbs" of spiritual practices, half of which might be classified as meditation. Underlying them is the assumption that a yogi should still the fluctuations of his or her mind: Yoga cittavrrti nirodha.

Surat shabd yoga, or "sound and light meditation"

Japa Yoga, in which a mantra is repeated aloud or silently

Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of love and devotion, in which the seeker is focused on an object of devotion, eg Krishna

Hatha Yoga, in which postures and meditations are aimed at raising the spiritual energy, known as Kundalini, which rises through energy centres known as chakras

The objective of meditation is to reach a calm state of mind. Patanjali, in his Yoga sutras, described five different states of mind: Ksipta, Mudha, Viksipta, Ekagra and Nirodha.

Ksipta defines a very agitated mind, unable to think, listen or remain quiet. It is jumping from one thought to another.

In Mudha no information seems to reach the brain; the person is absentminded.

Viksipta is a higher state where the mind receives information but is not able to process it. It moves from one thought to another, in a confused inner speech.

Ekagra is the state of a calm mind but not asleep. The person is focused and can pay attention.

Lastly Nirodha, when the mind is not disturbed by erratic thoughts, it is completely focused, as when you are meditating or totally centered in what you are doing.

The ultimate end of meditation according to Patanjali is the destruction of primal ignorance (avidya) and the realization of and establishment in the essential nature of the Self.

Swami Vivekananda describes meditation as follows:

"Meditation has been laid stress upon by all religions. The meditative state of mind is declared by the Yogis to be the highest state in which the mind exists. When the mind is studying the external object, it gets identified with it, loses itself. To use the simile of the old Indian philosopher: the soul of man is like a piece of crystal, but it takes the colour of whatever is near it. Whatever the soul touches ... it has to take its colour. That is the difficulty. That constitutes the bondage. The colour is so strong, the crystal forgets itself and identifies itself with the colour. Suppose a red flower is near the crystal and the crystal takes the colour and forgets itself, thinks it is red. We have taken the colour of the body and have forgotten what we are. All the difficulties that follow come from that one dead body. All our fears, all worries, anxieties, troubles, mistakes, weakness, evil, are from that one great blunder — that we are bodies. This is the ordinary person. It is the person taking the colour of the flower near to it. We are no more bodies than the crystal is the red flower.

The practice of meditation is pursued. The crystal knows what it is, takes its own colour. It is meditation that brings us nearer to truth than anything else. ..."

The Bhagavad Gita stresses the importance of meditation. The Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita - "The Yoga of Meditation" describes the technique of meditation, and the characteristics of the Yogi who is well established in meditation.. The Bhagavad Gita stresses the importance of meditation as follows "Make a habit of practising meditation and do not let your mind be distracted. In this way you will come finally to the Lord who is the light-giver, the highest of the high."

Buddhism

Dynamic tranquilty: the Buddha in contemplation.

Main article: Buddhist meditation

Meditation has always been central to Buddhism and considered a key tool in spiritual development. The historical Buddha himself, Buddha Shakyamuni, was said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree. There are countless Buddhas and all of them used meditation to make spiritual progress. Most forms of Buddhism distinguish between two classes of meditation practices, samantha and vipasana, both of which are necessary for attaining enlightenment. The former consists of practices aimed at developing the ability to focus the attention single-pointedly; the latter includes practices aimed at developing insight and wisdom through seeing the true nature of reality. The differentiation between the two types of meditation practices is not always clear cut, which is made obvious when studying practices such as Anapanasati which could be said to start off as a shamatha practice but that goes through a number of stages and ends up as a vipassana practice.

Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the meditative development of mindfulness (sati, see for example the Satipatthana Sutta) and concentration (samadhi, see kamathana), as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, in the pursuit of Nibbana (Nirvana). Traditional popular meditation subjects include the breath (anapana) and loving-kindness (mettā).

ZEN

Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki (1880-1965) in full lotus posture.

In Japanese Mahayana schools, Tendai (Tien-tai), concentration is cultivated through highly structured ritual. Especially in the Chinese Chan Buddhism school (which branched out into the Japanese Zen, and Korean Seon schools), ts'o ch'an meditation and koan meditation practices allow a practitioner to directly experience the true nature of reality (each of the names of these schools derives from the Sanskrit dhyana, and translates into "meditation" in their respective languages). The esoteric shingon sect shares many features with Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) emphasizes tantra for its senior practitioners; hence its alternate name of Tantrayana Buddhism. Many monks go through their day without "meditating" in a recognizable form, but are more likely to chant or participate in group liturgy. In this tradition, the purpose of meditation is to awaken the sky-like nature of mind, and to introduce practitioners to that which they really are: unchanging pure awareness, which underlies the whole of life and death.

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well. Meditation is the road to enlightenment.- Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Most Buddhist traditions recognize that the path to Enlightenment entails three types of training: virtue (sila); meditation (samadhi); and, wisdom (pannaa). Thus, meditative prowess alone is not sufficient; it is but one part of the path. In other words, in Buddhism, in tandem with mental cultivation, ethical development and wise understanding are also necessary for the attainment of the highest goal

Islam

Meditation in Islam is the core of its creed. A Muslim is obligated to pray five times a day (before dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and night). During those times of prayer, the Muslim is expected to focus and meditate on Allah through the recitation of Qur'an and dhikr in order to establish and strengthen the connection between Creator and creation. This, in turn, is meant to guide the soul to truth. This meditation is intended to help Muslims maintain spiritual peace in spite of challenges they may experience in their work, social and family life. In this manner, the five daily times of peaceful prayer are meant to serve as a model for the Muslim's conduct during the whole day, transforming it into a single, sustained meditation. Even sleep is but another phase of that sustained meditation (3 Al Emran verses 189-194) (6 Al Anaam verses 160 to 163).

Meditative quiescence is believed to have a quality of healing and creativity. The Muslim prophet Muhammad, whose deeds devout Muslims follow, spent long periods in meditation and contemplation. It was during one such period of meditation that Muhammad began to receive revelations of the Qur'an.

Two more concepts or schools of meditation in Islam:

Tafakkur and Tadabbur, literally meaning reflection upon the universe. Muslims feel this is a form of intellectual development which emanates from a higher level, i.e. from God. This intellectual process through the receiving of divine inspiration awakens and liberates the human mind, permitting man’s inner personality to develop and grow so that he may lead his life on a spiritual plane far above the mundane level. This is consistent with the global teachings of Islam, which views life as a test of our practice of submission to Allah, the one God.

The second form of meditation is the Sufi meditation, it is largely based on mystical exercises. However, this method is controversial among Muslim scholars. One group of Ulama, Al-Ghazzali, for instance, have accepted it, another group of Ulama, Ibn Taymiya, for instance, have rejected it as a bid'ah (Arabic: بدعة‎) (religious innovation).

Sufism relies on a practice similar to Buddhist meditation, known as Muraqaba or Tamarkoz which is taught in the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi Sufi order. Tamarkoz is a Persian term that means ‘concentration,’ referring to the “concentration of abilities”. Consequently, the term concentration is synonymous to close attention, convergent, collection, compaction, and consolidation.