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Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that develop mindfulness, concentration, tranquility and insight. Core meditation techniques are preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through the millennia of teacher-student transmissions.

Non-Buddhists use these techniques for the pursuit of physical and mental health as well as for non-Buddhist spiritual aims.^[1] Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward Enlightenment and Nirvana.^[2]

The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā^[3] and jhāna (Pāli; Skt.: dhyāna).^[4]

Given the large number and diversity of traditional Buddhist meditation practices, this article primarily identifies authoritative contextual frameworks – both contemporary and canonical – for the variety of practices. For those seeking school-specific meditation instruction, it might be most expedient to simply review articles listed in the "See also" section below.

Types of Buddhist meditation

While there are some meditative practices — such as breath meditation and various recollections (anussati) — that are used across Buddhist schools, there is also significant diversity. For example, in the Theravada tradition alone, there are over fifty methods for developing mindfulness and forty for developing concentration, while the Tibetan tradition has thousands of visualization meditations.^[5]

Most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school specific.^[6] Only a few teachers attempt to synthesize, crystallize and categorize practices from multiple Buddhist traditions.

Kamalashila's "Five Basic Methods"

Western Buddhist Order meditation teacher Kamalashila identifies "Five Basic Methods" as "a traditional set of meditations, each one an antidote to one of the five principal obstructions to Enlightenment."^[7]

Kamalashila's Five Basic Methods are:^[8]

(1) Mindfulness of Breathing^[9]

(2) Metta Bhavana (including all four Brahma-viharas)

(3) Contemplation of Impermanence, including:

:* contemplation of a decomposing corpse

:* reflection on death (see, for example, Upajjhatthana Sutta)

:* reflection on the Tibetan Book of the Dead's "Root Verses"

:* contemplations of mental states and external objects

(4) Six Element Practice (earth, water, fire, air, space, "consciousness")

(5) Contemplation of Conditionality

In addition, he discusses three other meditations as "among the most important" not identified above:^[10]

* Visualization,^[11] including:

:* visualizations of Bodhisattvas (see, for instance, Tara)

:* kasina meditations

:* recollection of the Buddha

:* visualization of the Six-Element Stupa

* Just Sitting (see Shikantaza)

* Walking Meditation

An important (although not universally accepted) theme throughout Kamalashila's guide is that the various methods of meditation can be divided into samatha meditation (tranquillity meditation) and vipassana meditation (insight meditation).^[12] In such a schema, Kamalashila identifies anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) and mettā bhāvanā (development of loving kindness) as samatha meditations. The vipassana meditations include contemplation on impermanence, the six element practice, and contemplation on conditionality. Some meditations (such as Tibetan visualizations) have elements of both samatha and vipassana. Samatha meditations usually precede and prepare for vipassana meditations.^[13]

The following table summarizes Kamalashila's Five Basic Methods (with metta bhavana expanded to include all four brahma-viharas).^[14]

Meditation type	Method		Counteracts	Develops
Samatha (tranquility meditations)	ānāpanasati		distraction	concentration
	four brahma viharas	mettā bhāvanā	hatred [and sentimental attachment]	loving-kindness
		karuna bhāvana	cruelty, sentimental pity and horrified anxiety	compassion
		mudita bhāvana	resentment, envy and vicarious enjoyment	sympathetic joy
		upekkhā bhāvana	fixed indifference and apathetic neutrality	equanimity
Vipassana (insight meditations)	contemplation of impermanence		craving	inner peace, freedom
	six element practice		conceit	clarity regarding nature of self
	contemplation of conditionality		ignorance	wisdom, compassion

Limitations of Kamalashila's systemization of Buddhist meditation include:

• Breath meditation is widely considered a method conducive to developing vipassana as well as samatha.^[15]
• Only passing references to auditory meditations, such as mantras which are particularly important to Pure Land and Nichiren practitioners (see also Buddhist chant).^[16]
• The omission of visualizations from the Five Basic Methods, given for instance the salience of kasina objects in the Pali literature and centrality of visualizations to Vajrayana traditions.

Nonetheless, it should be noted that Kamalashila's explicit aim is not to create an exhaustive systemization of pan-Buddhist meditation practices but to create a useful meditation guide.

Kuei-feng's "Five Types of Zen"

In the early ninth century, Kuei-feng (Chinese; also, Guifeng, Tsung-mi, Zongmi; Jap., Kei-ho) grouped Zen practices into five categories. While this typology is best known to Zen practitioners, it is applicable to all Buddhist meditation practices and is thus used here.^[17] According to this typology, the outward appearance of all meditation practitioners is the same, but their substance and purpose differ.^[18] Thus, for instance, most who practice mindfulness of breath would have a similar posture, meditative subject and level of concentration. But while some use the practice for mental quietude others use it to transcend all suffering. More specifically, Kuei-feng's five categories of meditative practices are:

1. "Ordinary" (Chinese, bonpu; Jap., bonpu or bompu) – meditation pursued for mental and physical well-being without any spiritual goal.
2. "Outside way" (gedō) – meditation pursued for non-Buddhist purposes, such as in tandem with Hindu yoga or Christian contemplation or for the pursuit of supernatural powers.
3. "Small vehicle" (shōjō) – the pursuit of self-liberation, nirvana.
4. "Great vehicle" (daijō) – the pursuit of self-realization to experience the unity of all things and working for the benefit for all beings (see kensho).
5. "Supreme vehicle" (saijōjō) – the realization of buddha-nature as immanent in all beings (see shikantaza).

While the relative merits of the last three categories is open for discussion among various branches of Buddhism,^[19] it is useful to see that the same Buddhist meditation practices have been used for many centuries by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, for different ends.

Contemporary Western examples of bonpu meditation include the psychotherapeutic use of Buddhist mindfulness techniques in Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)^[20] and Linehan's Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)^[21] (see also Buddhism and psychology).

From the Pali literature

Meditation on the Buddhist Path Most Buddhist traditions recognize that the path to Enlightenment entails three types of training: virtue (sīla); meditation (citta); and, wisdom (paññā).[22] 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.[23]

In terms of the vast Pali canon, meditation can be contextualized as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, explicitly in regards to:

• Right Mindfulness (samma sati) – exemplified by the Buddha's Four Foundations of Mindfulness (see Satipatthana Sutta).
• Right Concentration (samma samadhi) – culminating in jhanic absorptions through the meditative development of samatha.^[24]

And implicitly in regards to:

• Right View (samma ditthi) – embodying wisdom traditionally attained through the meditative development of vipassana founded on samatha.^[25]
  
  Classic texts in the Pali literature enumerating meditative subjects include the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) and the Visuddhimagga's Part II, "Concentration" (Samadhi).

  The Buddha's four foundations for mindfulness

  Main article: Satipatthana Sutta

  
  
  In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha identified four foundations for mindfulness: the body, feelings, mind states and mental objects. He further enumerated the following objects as bases for the meditative development of mindfulness:
  • Body (kāyā)

  #Breathing (see Anapanasati Sutta)

  #Postures

  #Clear Comprehending

  #Reflections on Repulsiveness of the Body

  #Reflections on Material Elements

  #Cemetery Contemplations

  • Feelings (vedanā)
  • Mind States (cittā)
  • Mental Contents (dhammā)

  #The Hindrances

  #The Aggregates

  #The Sense-Bases

  #The Factors of Enlightenment

  #The Four Noble Truths

  
  
  Meditation on these subjects develops insight.^[26]

  Buddhaghosa's forty meditation subjects

  Main article: Kammatthana

  
  
  In the Visuddhimagga, for the purpose of developing concentration and "consciousness," Buddhaghosa advises that a person should "apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament" with the advice of a "good friend" (kalyana mitta) who is knowledgeable in the different meditation subjects (Ch. III, § 28).^[27] Buddhaghosa subsequently elaborates on the forty meditation subjects as follows (Ch. III, §104; Chs. IV - XI):^[28]
  • ten kasinas: earth, water, fire, air, blue, yellow, red, white, light, and "limited-space".
  • ten kinds of foulness: "the bloated, the livid, the festering, the cut-up, the gnawed, the scattered, the hacked and scattered, the bleeding, the worm-infested, and a skeleton".
  • ten recollections: the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, virtue, generosity, the virtues of deities, death (see Upajjhatthana Sutta), the body, the breath (see anapanasati), and peace (see Nibbana).
  • four divine abodes: metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha.
  • four immaterial states: boundless space, boundless perception, nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception.
  • one perception (of "repulsiveness in nutriment")
  • one "defining" (that is, the four elements)
  When one overlays Buddhaghosa's 40 meditative subjects for the development of concentration with the Buddha's foundations of mindfulness, three practices are found to be in common: breath meditation, foulness meditation (which is similar to the Sattipatthana Sutta's cemetery contemplations and related to reflections of bodily repulsiveness), and contemplation of the four elements. Of these, according to Pali commentaries, only breath meditation can lead one to the equanimous fourth jhanic absorption. Foulness meditation can lead to the attainment of the first jhana, and contemplation of the four elements culminates in pre-jhana access concentration.^[29]

  Swift messengers of Nibbana: Serenity and insight

  The Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:
  • "serenity" or "tranquillity" (Pali: samatha) which steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates the mind;
  • "insight" (Pali: vipassana) which enables one to see, explore and discern "formations" (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates).^[30]
  Through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to suppress obscuring hindrances; and, with the suppression of the hindrances, it is through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberating wisdom.^[31] Moreover, the Buddha extolled serenity and insight as conduits for attaining Nibbana (Pali; Skt.: Nirvana), the unconditioned state. For example, in the "Kimsuka Tree Sutta" (SN 35.245), the Buddha provided an elaborate metaphor in which serenity and insight are "the swift pair of messengers" who deliver the message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path.^[32]
  
  In the "Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta" (AN 4.170), Ven. Ananda reported that people attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways:
  1. they develop serenity and then insight (Pali: samatha-pubbangamam vipassanam)
  2. they develop insight and then serenity (Pali: vipassana-pubbangamam samatham)^[33]
  3. they develop serenity and insight in tandem (Pali: samatha-vipassanam yuganaddham), for instance, obtaining the first jhana and then seeing in the associated aggregates the three marks of existence, before proceeding to the second jhana.^[34]
  
  
  In the Pali canon, the Buddha never mentioned independent samatha and vipassana meditation practices; instead, samatha and vipassana are two qualities of mind to be developed through meditation.^[35] Nonetheless, some meditation practices (such as contemplation of a kasina object) favor the development of samatha, others are conducive to the development of vipassana (such as contemplation of the aggregates), while others (such as mindfulness of breathing) are classically used for developing both mental qualities.^[36]
  
  

  See also

  Theravada Buddhist meditation practices:
  • Vipassana
  • Samatha
  • Metta
  Zen Buddhist meditation practices:
  • Shikantaza
  • Zazen
  • Koan
  Vajrayana Buddhist meditation practices:
  • Mandala
  • Tonglen
  • Tantra
  Related Buddhist practices:
  • Mindfulness
  • Satipatthana
  Proper floor-sitting postures & supports while meditating:
  • Zazen positions - applicable to all meditation methods
  • Cushions: zafu, zabuton
  Traditional Buddhist texts on meditation:
  • Anapanasati Sutta
  • Satipatthana Sutta
  • Visuddhimagga
  Traditional preliminary practices to Buddhist meditation:
  • prostrations
  • refuge in the Triple Gem
  • Five Precepts
  • chanting

  Notes

  1. ^ See, for instance, Kuei-feng's description of bonpu and gedō zen, described further below.
  2. ^ For instance, Kamalashila (2003), p. 4, states that Buddhist meditation "includes any method of meditation that has Enlightenment as its ultimate aim." Likewise, Bodhi (1999) writes: "To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation.... At the climax of such contemplation the mental eye ... shifts its focus to the unconditioned state, Nibbana...." A similar although in some ways slightly broader definition is provided by Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991), p. 142: "Meditation – general term for a multitude of religious practices, often quite different in method, but all having the same goal: to bring the consciousness of the practitioner to a state in which he can come to an experience of 'awakening,' 'liberation,' 'enlightenment.'" Kamalashila (2003) further allows that some Buddhist meditations are "of a more preparatory nature" (p. 4).
  3. ^ The Pāli and Sanskrit word bhāvanā literally means "development" as in "mental development." For the association of this term with "meditation," see Epstein (1995), p. 105; and, Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991), p. 20.
  4. ^ See, for example, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), entry for "jhāna¹"; Thanissaro (1997); as well as, Kapleau (1989), p. 385, for the derivation of the word "zen" from Sanskrit "dhyāna." PTS Secretary Dr. Rupert Gethin, in describing the activities of wandering ascetics contemporaneous with the Buddha, wrote:

  "...[T]here is the cultivation of meditative and contemplative techniques aimed at producing what might, for the lack of a suitable technical term in English, be referred to as 'altered states of consciousness'. In the technical vocabulary of Indian religious texts such states come to be termed 'meditations' ([Skt.:] dhyāna / [Pali:] jhāna) or 'concentrations' (samādhi); the attainment of such states of consciousness was generally regarded as bringing the practitioner to some deeper knowledge and experience of the nature of the world." (Gethin, 1998, p. 10.)
  5. ^ Goldstein (2003) writes that, in regards to the Satipatthana Sutta, "there are more than fifty different practices outlined in this Sutta. The meditations that derive from these foundations of mindfulness are called vipassana..., and in one form or another — and by whatever name — are found in all the major Buddhist traditions" (p. 92). The forty concentrative meditation subjects refer to Visuddhimagga's oft-referenced enumeration. Regarding Tibetan visualizations, Kamalashila (2003), writes: "The Tara meditation ... is one example out of thousands of subjects for visualization meditation, each one arising out of some meditator's visionary experience of enlightened qualities, seen in the form of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas" (p. 227).
  6. ^ Examples of contemporary school-specific "classics" include, from the Theravada tradition, Nyanaponika (1996) and, from the Zen tradition, Kapleau (1989).
  7. ^ Kamalashila (2003), p. 191. Expanding on what he means by "five principal obstructions," Kamalashila (2003), p. 191, identifies the "five poisons" of the Tibetan tradition: distraction, hatred, craving, conceit, and ignorance. This is similar to but different from the Theravada tradition's "five poisons" (where "poison" is sometimes used as a translation for the Pali word kilesa) defined as lust, hatred, ignorance, pride and envy.
  8. ^ Kamalashila (2003), pp. 191 ff.
  9. ^ Mindfulness of breathing is common to most, if not all, types of Buddhism. For instance, according to the Pali Canon, the Buddha used mindfulness of breathing for the attainment of enlightenment (Bodhi, 2005, p. 264, who cites SN 54.11). Additionally, mindfulness of breathing is a core practice of Zen practitioners (see for example Kapleau, 1989) and is used as an introductory practice for many Tibetan Buddhists (see for example Mipham, 2003).
  10. ^ Kamalashila (2003), pp. 224 ff.
  11. ^ Kamalashila (2003), p. 227, notes that visualization meditations are not explicitly referenced in the Pali canon. Kamalashila goes on to point out that many of the Visuddhimagga's forty meditation subjects (see below), including kasina objects and Recollection of the Buddha, have strong visual components; thus, perhaps, paving the way for more complex visualizations related to bodhisattvas and others.
  12. ^ As is noted in another end note further below, some vehemently oppose dividing meditations into samatha and vipassana types pointing out that such a division is not articulated by the Buddha himself or consistent with actual experience. See, for instance, Brahm (2006) and Thanissaro (1997).
  13. ^ Kamalashila (2003), pp. 88-89, 191-92, 225-26. Kamalashila suggests, as an example, that one start a meditation session by meditating on metta for forty minutes — to develop attainment of the first jhana state — and then meditating on impermanence. See also Bodhi (2005), p. 258, where he writes: "... the Nikayas usually treat the development of serenity as the precursor to the development of insight. However, because the aptitudes of meditators differ, several suttas allow for alternative approaches to this sequence."
  14. ^ The table in this article is an expansion of the table on Kamalashila (2003), p. 192.
  15. ^ See, for example, Nyanaponika (1996), pp. 111 ff., or the many vipassana techniques taught by S.N.Goenka or Zen's use of breath meditation.
  16. ^ Kamalashila (2003) mentions mantras twice: he briefly discusses the mantra of Avalokitesvara (om mani padme hum) as an example of a non-conceptual "Dharma seed" (p. 186); and, in the context of providing a visualization meditation, he effectively incorporates the Tara mantra (om tare tuttare ture svaha) (p. 225).
  17. ^ For the general applicability of Kuei-feng's typology, see Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991), p. 70, in the entry "Five types of Zen," as well as Kapleau (1989)'s broad definition of "Zen" on p. 385. Discussion of this typology can be found in Fischer-Schreiber et al. (1991), p. 70. and Kapleau (1989), pp. 44-49.
  18. ^ Kapleau (1989), p. 45.
  19. ^ For instance, some say that Rinzai practitioners pursue daijō zen and Soto practitioners pursue saijōjō zen, while others state that both pursuits are essential to both schools (Fischer-Schreiber et al., 1991, p. 70). Similarly, various Theravada discourses, such as "The Bamboo Acrobat" (SN 47.19; Olendzki, 2005), maintain that so-called shōjō practices are in fact beneficial for others as well as for the contemplative.
  20. ^ Kabat-Zinn (2001)
  21. ^ Linehan (1993).
  22. ^ For instance, from the Pali Canon, see MN 44 (Thanissaro, 1998a) and AN 3:88 (Thanissaro, 1998b). In Mahayana tradition, the Lotus Sutra lists the Six Perfections (paramita) which echoes the threefold training with the inclusion of virtue (śīla), concentration (dhyāna) and wisdom (prajñā).
  23. ^ Dharmacarini Manishini, Western Buddhist Review. Accessed at [1]
  24. ^ See, for instance, Bodhi (1999).
  25. ^ For example, Bodhi (1999), in discussing a latter stage of developing Right View (that of "penetrating" the Four Noble Truths), states:

To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation — first to strengthen the capacity for sustained concentration, then to develop insight.
26. ^ For instance, see Solé-Leris (1986), p. 75; and, Goldstein (2003), p. 92.
27. ^ Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), pp. 85, 90.
28. ^ Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), p. 110.
29. ^ Regarding the jhanic attainments that are possible with different meditation techniques, see Gunaratana (1988).
30. ^ These definitions of samatha and vipassana are based on the "Four Kinds of Persons Sutta" (AN 4.94). This article's text is primarily based on Bodhi (2005), pp. 269-70, 440 n. 13. See also Thanissaro (1998d).
31. ^ See, for instance, AN 2.30 in Bodhi (2005), pp. 267-68, and Thanissaro (1998e).
32. ^ Bodhi (2000), pp. 1251-53. See also Thanissaro (1998c) (where this sutta is identified as SN 35.204). See also, for instance, a discourse (Pali: sutta) entitled, "Serenity and Insight" (SN 43.2), where the Buddha states: "And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? Serenity and insight...." (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1372-73).
33. ^ While the Nikayas identify that the pursuit of vipassana can precede the pursuit of samatha, a fruitful vipassana-oriented practice must still be based upon the achievement of stabilizing "access concentration" (Pali: upacara samadhi).
34. ^ Bodhi (2005), pp. 268, 439 nn. 7, 9, 10. See also Thanissaro (1998f).
35. ^ See Thanissaro (1997) where for instance he underlines:

When [the Pali discourses] depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying 'go do vipassana,' but always 'go do jhana.' And they never equate the word vipassana with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassana, they almost always pair it with samatha — not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may 'gain' or 'be endowed with,' and that should be developed together.

Similarly, referencing MN 151, vv. 13-19, and AN IV, 125-27, Ajahn Brahm (who, like Bhikkhu Thanissaro, is of the Thai Forest Tradition) writes:

Some traditions speak of two types of meditation, insight meditation (vipassana) and calm meditation (samatha). In fact, the two are indivisible facets of the same process. Calm is the peaceful happiness born of meditation; insight is the clear understanding born of the same meditation. Calm leads to insight and insight leads to calm. (Brahm, 2006, p. 25.)
36. ^ See, for instance, Bodhi (1999) and Nyanaponika (1996), p. 108.