Meditation methods
Bhikkhu Phra Khantipalo
Routledge eBooks September 2, 2003 DOI: 10.4324/9780203565551-11 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Recollection of the Buddha Mindfulness of Breathing Contemplation of Unattractiveness |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | The chapter presents five meditation subjects as the most commonly used in present-day Buddhist countries: Loving-kindness and Recollection of the Buddha, which lead to calm alone (the jhanas), and Mindfulness of Breathing, Walking, and Contemplation of Unattractiveness, which lead to both calm and insight. |
Abstract
In this chapter only five meditation subjects will be described, though traditionally there are forty.1 Many of these are little used or only occasionally employed in special circumstances. Those which are given here are the commonest meditation subjects used in Buddhist countries at the present time. Two of them, Loving-kindness and the Recollection of the Buddha, lead when developed to calm alone, that is to the jhanas. The other three, Mindfulness of Breathing, Walking and the Contemplation of Unattractiveness lead both to calm and to insight.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |