Psychological Theories of Meditation in Early Buddhism and Sāṃkhya/Yoga
Peter Sedlmeier, Kunchapudi Srinivas
The Oxford Handbook of Meditation October 4, 2019 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.27 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that early Buddhist and classical Sāṃkhya-Yoga theories treat meditation as a collection of differing techniques aimed at liberation or enlightenment within a spiritual and moral context, and that both predict benefits for practitioners still on the path. The author proposes these theories can generate predictions beyond current Western meditation research and contribute to a comprehensive theory of meditation. |
Abstract
Abstract Ancient Indian spiritual and philosophical approaches contain psychological theories of meditation that specify (a) what meditation is, (b) what its aim is and how it works, and (c) predictions about its effects. This chapter introduces two representative theories that date back more than two millennia, one derived from early Buddhism and the other from the classical Hindu thought systems of Sāṃkhya and Yoga. According to both theories, meditation is not a single technique but a partly differing collection of many different ones. The final aim of meditation, embedded in a spiritual and moral context, is achieving a state of liberation or enlightenment, although it is unclear whether both theories refer to a common state. Both theories also predict that positive effects can already be expected for practitioners still on the way. The cognitive mechanisms that are the basis for these results are clearly described in the two respective psychological models. The two theories allow for deriving predictions that go beyond the research questions currently pursued in Western meditation research, and they can act as building blocks for a comprehensive theory of meditation.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- What Mindfulness, and for Whom? And Why Might it Work? Mindfulness September 16, 2023
- Mindfulness Meditation According to the Satipatthana Sutta: A Single-Case Study With Participants as Collaborators. Mindfulness June 10, 2023
- Differential Effects of Ethical Education, Physical Hatha Yoga, and Mantra Meditation on Well-Being and Stress in Healthy Participants-An Experimental Single-Case Study. Frontiers in Psychology 2021
- PROMISE: A Model of Insight and Equanimity as the Key Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Frontiers in Psychology October 22, 2019
Cites 17
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering Psychological Science March 28, 2013
- The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin May 14, 2012
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Standardised Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Healthcare: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of RCTs PLoS One April 16, 2015
and 12 more in the library