A few questions

Beautiful951 SG

I realise I may have asked these questions before, but I have gotten confused because of so many different views around the net.

I would like to ask if to attain enlightment is practising insight meditation and to develop compassion.

I would also like to know if insight is the same as awareness.

Dawnfirstlight SG

I am also interested to know how many types of meditation are there and what are they ? I meditate by concentrating on the movement of the breathing, what is this type of meditation called ?

Weychin SG

I realise I may have asked these questions before, but I have gotten confused because of so many different views around the net.

I would like to ask if to attain enlightment is practising insight meditation and to develop compassion.

I would also like to know if insight is the same as awareness.

BellaOnline's Buddhism Editor

Types of Buddhist Meditation

Weychin SG

I am also interested to know how many types of meditation are there and what are they ? I meditate by concentrating on the movement of the breathing, what is this type of meditation called ?

Ānāpānasati (Pali; Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti), meaning 'mindfulness of breathing' ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), is a fundamental form ofmeditation originally taught by the Buddha. According to this teaching, classically presented in the Ānāpānasati Sutta,^[1] practicing this form of meditation as a part of the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the removal of all defilements (kilesa) and finally to the attainment of nibbāna (nirvana).

Anapanasati can also be practised with other traditional meditation subjects including the four frames of reference^[2] and mettā bhāvanā.^[3]

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The Buddha's teaching in this matter was based on his own experience in using anapanasati as a part of the means of achieving enlightenment. The Buddha gave instructions to his family to concentrate on their breathing when he went to visit his father while he was dying.^[4]

Anapanasati is a core meditation practice in Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan traditions of Buddhism, as well as a part of many modern mindfulness programs. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena.^[5]

The Anapanasati Sutta specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, as a part of paying attention to one's body in quietude, and recommends the practice of ānāpānasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (analysis), viriya(persistence), which leads to piti (rapture), then to passaddhi (serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi (concentration) and then to upekkhā (equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of ānāpānasati would lead to release (Pali: nibbāna; Sanskrit: nirvana) from suffering (dukkha).

Traditionally, anapanasati has been used as a basis for developing meditative concentration (samadhi) until reaching the state and practice of full absorption(jhana). It is the same state reached by the Buddha during his quest for Enlightenment.^[6]^{[clarification
needed]}

A traditional method given by The Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta is to go into the forest and sit beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath, if the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.^[7]^[8]

While inhaling and exhaling, the meditator practises:

A popular non-canonical method used today, loosely based on the Visuddhimagga, follows four stages:

First, for the practice to be successful, one should dedicate the practice, and set out the goal of the meditation session, as in all Buddhist practice sessions.^[10] One may decide to either practice ānāpānasati while seated or while walking, or to alternate seated and walking meditation.^[11] Then one generally concentrates on the breath going through one's nose, on the light pressure in the nostrils on the inhalation, turning the attention to the feeling of the breath's movement past the upper lip on the exhalation.^[11] Other times practitioners are advised to attend to the breath at the text-decoration: none; color: #0645ad; background-image: none; background-attachment: initi

Amitayus48 SG

Four main categories with 84,000 methods to achieve supreme compassion or awareness :

For one gate of Buddha remembrance or 'Nien-fo' [��], there are four types:

wisdomeye SG

I realise I may have asked these questions before, but I have gotten confused because of so many different views around the net.

I would like to ask if to attain enlightment is practising insight meditation and to develop compassion.

I would also like to know if insight is the same as awareness.

Hi Beautiful951, not really addressing your questions... but sharing...

I think you are confused because you are trying hard to judge which is the most accurate or best piece of information lying around on the internet just from a theoretical point of view. Although it is good to survey and study and learn before one ventures into actual practice and decides one's path, but due to the fickle tendency of human mind, and the large amount of info available on the net, it is easier to be confused than to get some clarification. Simply put, you don't know who/what to believe.

In such situations, i suggest just forget the matter for a while. Dharma has to be related to one's own life. It is not something outside you. You have to see what works for you. Not just what works for others. Therefore, if you are trying very hard to decipher, weigh, judge what is the best option out there, it is more likely that you are departing further and further from what will really benefit you.

i hope you will meet someone whom you have a karmic connection with and who can help you on the path to liberation. Or at least guide you. Be patient and relax...

wisdomeye SG

I am also interested to know how many types of meditation are there and what are they ? I meditate by concentrating on the movement of the breathing, what is this type of meditation called ?

Hi Dawnfirstlight,

There are generally speaking 2 types of meditation. The first type is called Shamatha, Shine, Calm Abiding, Concentration... (a few names but same meaning), the main goal of such meditation is to first calm down the mind and make it flexible enough to be able to concentrate on any point that you choose without being distracted.

The second type of meditation is called Insight, Vipassana, Mahamudra, Dzogchen meditation. There are various distinctions in the view of the meditation depending on which tradition you follow but generally their purpose is to get a intuitive or heart-felt realisation of the nature of your own mind, of the nature of interdependent arising / emptiness of all phenomenon.

In many instances, teachers will request one to start with the first type of meditation. Because our mind is like a pool of dirty water that is constantly churning... you need to first let it calm down and let the dirt settle down (correspond to first type of meditation) so that you can see through to the bottom of the pool of water (correspond to second type of meditation). If you have concentration and stability of mind, then you can combine that with insight meditation, your insight can have strength and be penetrating and thorough... not just short-lived, weak...

So we have to combine both types of meditation. As for the details of how to combine and which order to practice and what objects to use in the meditation, best you find a teacher to guide you. For instance, in the first type of meditation, often teacher can ask you to use breath as a object to concentrate on. Objects can be of all types... sometimes no object also possible. Depends on the student's inclinations/capacities etc. Very individualised sometimes.

You can read Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's books on this topic. I think he make it quite clear. One good title is "Present Fresh Wakefulness", if my memory don't fail me.

sinweiy SG

I realise I may have asked these questions before, but I have gotten confused because of so many different views around the net.

I would like to ask if to attain enlightment is practising insight meditation and to develop compassion.

I would also like to know if insight(mediation) is the same as awareness.

yea, as qouted

Insight meditation (Vipassana Bhavana) - Sometimes called mindfulness(awareness) meditation, these forms of meditation are not just about stilling the mind, but about observing it. Although instructions differ by school, the general idea is to note sensations, emotions and thoughts as they arise, but to let them pass through your mind without attaching to them. The goal is to experience direct knowledge of impermanence (anicca). Both moving and sitting forms of Insight meditation are taught.

just noted that 一切法得成于忍 of all the method, success/enlightenment is through patient/endurance.

gliang SG

-StarDust- SG

Yoga is considered as wad type of meditation to the buddhsit?

Tranquility meditation?

sinweiy SG

i think Yoga is more like chakra meditation and guru or deity meditation of the Tibetan Buddhism. however, not to mistaken with hindu yoga.

The practice of Yoga is intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of both Buddhism and Hinduism.^[42] However there are distinct variations in the usage of yoga terminology in the two religions. In Hinduism, the term "Yoga" commonly refers to the eight limbs of yoga as defined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, written some time after 100 BCE, and means "yoke", with the idea that one's individual atman, or soul, would yoke or bind with the monistic entity which underlies everything (brahman). In the Vajrayana Buddhism of Tibet, however, the term "Yoga" is simply used to refer to any type of spiritual practice; from the various types of tantra (like Kriyayoga or Charyayoga) to 'Deity yoga' and 'guru yoga'. In the early translation phase of the Sutrayana and Tantrayana from India, China and other regions to Tibet, along with the practice lineages of sadhana, codified in the Nyingmapa canon, the most subtle 'conveyance' (Sanskrit: yana) is Adi Yoga (Sanskrit). A contemporary scholar with a focus on Tibetan Buddhism, Robert Thurman writes that Patanjali was influenced by the success of the Buddhist monastic system to formulate his own matrix for the version of thought he considered orthodox.^[43]

There is a range of common terminology and common descriptions of the meditative states that are seen as the foundation of meditation practice in both Hindu Yoga and Buddhism.aMany scholars have noted that the concepts of dhyana and samādhi - technical terms describing stages of meditative absorption - are common to meditative practices in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Most notable in this context is the relationship between the system of four Buddhist dhyana states (Pali: jhana) and the samprajnata samadhi states of Classical Yoga.^[44] Also, many (Tibetan) Vajrayana practices of the generation stage and completion stage work with the chakras, inner energy channels (nadis) and kundalini, called tummo in Tibetan.