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Meditation
United Communities of Spirit
Meditation is the complement to prayer. While prayer directs the
heart to Ultimate Reality as a transcendent object, meditation cleanses
the heart of all finite objects which obscure Reality so that its ultimate
point may be found within. Meditation takes several forms, and the scrip-
tures teach several meditative techniques.
Hindu, Jain, Taoist, and Buddhist scriptures describe meditation as
sitting in a quiet spot, restricting all sense stimuli, controlling the
mind's wandering thoughts and feelings, and finally attaining a stillness
that reveals the true self-nature within. This self-nature may be the
original Nothingness, or a union with the creative Spirit that flows
through all things. In Confucian meditation this tranquillity is to make
the mind clear and receptive to the impartial evaluation of knowledge.
Meditative spiritual practices are also widespread in Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam. Most of these practices were developed by mystics and
monastics long after the scriptures had been compiled, and regrettably
they are under represented in an anthology which is limited to scripture.
Some are meditations on scripture: For example in Roman Catholicism the
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola and The Dark Night of the Soul
by St. John of the Cross instruct one to meditate on events in Jesus'
life and passion and identify one's own spiritual journey with them.
Muslim Sufis often base their meditation on one or several of the Qur'an's
Ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names of God.1 Jewish mystics may meditate on
a verse of Torah to uncover its hidden meaning. Many Jews and Christians
employ silent meditation as a valuable preparation for prayer; it is a
time of quiet when the mind is calmed and clarified before communing with
God.
The distinctive Theravada Buddhist discipline of the Four Arousings of
Mindfulness aims at achieving awareness of all movements, sensations,
feelings, thoughts, and ideas as they come and go in the body and mind.
The Buddha taught in the Satipatthana Sutta that one should become mindful
at every moment on the ever-changing phenomena of body, senses, and
thought. Through this meditation, a person realizes that everything in
his body and all the phenomena of his mind are transitory and unreal, and
he thus realizes the truth of Dependent Origination. A Mahayana Buddhist
meditation is to construct a mental image: for example an image of Buddha,
a bodhisattva, or the Pure Land.
Finally, there is shamanistic meditation, where the goal is to receive
a vision from the spiritual plane. After a communal initiation, assisted
by songs, fasting, and invoking the spirits, the person on a vision quest
goes to a lonely spot free of distraction. There he remains, meditating,
until the moment when he breaks through beyond ordinary consciousness to
receive a supernatural vision that gives purpose to his life and endows
him with spiritual powers.
Interfaith passages at: origin.org/ucs/ws/theme119.cfm
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