Buddhism and Meditation

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Meditation is one of the practices that many religious and non-religious people use today. In Christianity, meditation is looked at in a form of prayer. When someone prays to God, they are meditating on their thoughts towards God. In Islam meditation is similar with Christianity. Meditation to them is reciting the Qur’an five times a day, which helps them to become closer to God. In Hinduism, they practice meditation by sitting down and reciting mantras, or in other forms is known as yoga. The Hindu meditation focuses more on physical needs and becoming closer in touch with the Brahman. All these meditations practices seems to all center on focusing to become closer to a higher being. This is what makes meditation in Buddhism much more unique. When they meditate they put all focus one think like their breath. In this sense, they hope to achieve mindfulness and freedom from the circle of life and death. This is what makes Buddhist meditation so unique (www.news-medical.net).
Some might say that meditation was what truly kick started the Buddhism religion. It all started with a prince by the name of Siddhartha Gautama who had never even seen all the bad things that the outside world had in store for him. One day he went outside the palace to see what the outside world was like and came a crossed four signs that shook him with fear (old age, disease, death and a religious mendicant). After seeing these signs he ran away from his palace to go seek a way that he could escape his fear of this worlds suffering and death. He met with many wise religious teachers and practiced all of their teachings. He was not pleased with his results so he went to try and find his own methods of finding enlightenment. He tried holding his breath for ...

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...hings of The Buddha, and those who are just looking to better improve their lives (Bishop 2004, 230-41).

Work Cited
"Meditation Spirituality and Religion." Meditation Spirituality and Religion. Accessed
October 10, 2013.http://www.news-medical.net/health/Meditation-Spirituality-and
Religion.aspx.
Robinson, Richard H., and Willard L. Johnson. The Buddhist Religion. Encino, Calif.
;Belmont, Calif.: Dickenson Publ. Comp, 1977.
"Buddhist Meditation." - ReligionFacts. Accessed October 10, 2013. http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/practices/meditation.htm. "What Is Mindfulness?" Mindfulnet.org: The Independent Mindfulness
Information Website -. Accessed October 10, 2013. http://www.mindfulnet.org/page2.htm.
Bishop, S. R. "Mindfulness: A Proposed Operational Definition." Clinical Psychology:
Science and Practice 11, no. 3 (2004): 230-41. doi:10.1093/clipsy/bph077.

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