Talk:Buddhist meditation
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Great start!
I do think that we should extend this page. It should include other common Buddhist meditation methods, visualisation meditation for example. Also there should be mention of non-conceptual vipashanna. Then these terms should be related to their Tibetan counterparts. Also should we include a section about Mahamudra and Dzogzen meditations, etc. Maybe we should relate the meditation practices to the different schools of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayanna and Vajrayanna), maybe even list them under these headings. What do you think? 150.203.2.85 23:12, 21 November 2005 (UTC) R.Sok
[edit] Improvement Drive
Meditation is currently a nominee on WP:IDRIVE. If you would like to see this article improved vote for it on WP:IDRIVE.--Fenice 15:33, 27 December 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, it does need a lot of work. First of all I suggest that the articles on samatha and vipassana be merged with this one. I know that one might argue that neither is exclusively Buddhist, and that there may be historical issues (see J. Bronkhorst, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India) as well as modern applications (MBSR; S.N. Goenka) that might warrant the separate articles. Still, I believe that as the terms (samatha & vipassana) are so strongly connected to the Buddhist tradition, those articles should be merged with this one, and then be further clarified here.--Mindzpore 17:06, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
- For what it's worth, I made the following general changes (hopefully, "improvements"):
- added Pali texts in a subsection (perhaps change to "from the Theravada tradition"??); I hope others will feel comfortable adding parallel sections regarding Mahayana and Vajrayana texts; and,
- subsumed Kamalashila's information under a section for those who have developed cross-tradition categorizations; and, again, I hope others will feel comfortable adding alternate cross-tradition systems. (Part of the reason for my expanding the Kamalashila-specific section is that this article previously simply referenced Kamalashila's division of techniques into samatha and vipassana methods: I think this actually distorted Kamalashila's main contribution of identifying Five Basic Methods; and, perhaps more importantly, such a two-fold division is not particularly useful given that two of the most widely used meditation techniques — meditation on the breath and visualizations — are widely recognized to have both samatha and vipassana elements [despite Kamalashila's assertion otherwise about breath meditation being a samatha technique] — a general matter underlined by the cited Thanissaro (1997) article.)
- Hope this helped,
- Larry Rosenfeld (talk) 06:03, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
- P.S. FWIW, I'm not adverse to someone completely deleting the section on Kamalashila. I can understand if someone assesses that an alternate approach — perhaps one simply rehashing the current "See also" section — would be more meaningful to a general WP reader. I feel strongly though that it is better to have the current, more complete representation of Kamalashila's guide than the prior unattributed, non-contextualized summary of his non-canonical samatha/vipassana bifurcation. Larry Rosenfeld (talk) 16:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] suggestions/outline
It seems reasonable to separate it into sections either for the various schools (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) and then their subdivisions; and then the various schools in those countries. Alternatively one might structure it by areas/countries, and then for various schools in those areas, but that seems more complicated and not really necessary.
One may also want a section delineating the historical development. Or maybe better one main section dealing with the historical bit (development of meditation in the various schools until the encounter with the west in the 19th century). Then the development until the 1950ies, and finally what we have now.
(I’m running late for a meeting, but here are some) rough suggestions for possible topics:
• Earliest history and sources (maby including what other sramana groups practiced). • Expansion through central Asia. • History & development in the Theravadi countries. • History & development in the Mahayana countries. • History & development in the Vajrayana. • Modernity and encounter with the west. • Contemporary developments. --Mindzpore 17:44, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
- These are maybe better suited to an article on History of Meditation in Buddhism. The current is too restricted to just eight methods of meditation, giving very little information on the actual practice. More info is needed.Greetings, Sacca 08:56, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
