“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” (Albert Einstein). By drawing similarities and appreciating the differences of the way others see the world, humans are able to better understand and respect one another. Having more respect and understanding between people can lead to more communication between one another and therefore better cooperation. Improving understanding can lead to many improvements in the ways humans interact on a day to day basis and on a larger scale like one country with another country. In a comparison involving people’s beliefs, respect and acceptance have to be held in order to better understand one another. While comparing Buddhist meditation and Catholic prayer by identifying what …show more content…
This is seen in the way Buddhists may pray on their own or with others, with a prayer wheel or without one, in different locations, there is not one way to meditate. This can also be seen in the way Catholics will pray, it could be formal or informal, using a rosary or without one, with a lot of movement or just standing still, in the same way there are many different types of meditation, there are also different types of prayer. Both meditation and prayer ask the person carrying out the action to look inside themselves to discover something (accesstoinsight.org). Meditation and prayer are very similar, sometimes the words are even used to describe one another. The way the two prompt the person practicing it to look inside of oneself to search for something is very challenging and can pose a serious difficulty to those who are attempting to reach Nirvana or have a conversation with God. The last thing someone wants to do is to look inside of themselves, at all of the good and the bad. Often times humans are too scared to even acknowledge the idea of looking into oneself, much less explore …show more content…
The ultimate goal of prayer is to form a relationship with God by speaking to Him. Specifically prayer is defined as, “...the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church). Meditation and prayer both deal with the mind and overcoming suffering. While prayer focuses on relieving suffering with the help of God, meditation focuses on trying to relieve one’s own suffering by finding a quiet inside of oneself (accesstoinsight.org, vatican.va). Finding quiet inside of oneself is expressed especially well by Deepak Chopra when he mentions, “Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It is a way of entering into the quiet that is already there ― buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.”. This is expressed especially well and is easy to relate to because many people spend the majority of their day planning it rather than living it. This is similar to finding God inside of oneself, buried in the same way under all of the thoughts, once the unnecessary thoughts are removed, only the ones that are needed are left and God is among those
However, meditation is not as common within Buddhism as most believe. There is a large assumption “that Buddhism and meditation go hand in hand”, but the majority of Buddhists have focused on “cultivating moral behavior, preserving the Buddha’s teachings (dharma), and acquiring good karma”(Braun 2014, p.1). Meditation and Buddhism are often assumed to be one and same, but this is also not true. As Buddhism has gained popularity among lay people it’s practices have changed Buddha’s teaching of the middle path has adapted to meditation being “possible in the city” rather than with monks in jungles and caves (p.4). As seen in Burma, in less than 75 years Buddhism and meditation were able to grow “from a pursuit of the barest sliver of the population to a duty of the ideal citizen” (p.5). While meditation is not the core of Buddhism it has encouraged the growth of Buddhism as it’s practice of mindfulness has been inspiring an approachable model (p.6). Meditation and mindfulness are easily manipulated to secularization, but still have significance in Buddhism and following the patterns of your
Meditation is an important psychological practice that protects the brain against aging as well as enhancing an individual’s ability to learn new things. This practice achieves this through sharpening focus, lessening stress, lowering blood pressure, and relieving chronic pain. Generally, it helps a person to experience greater calm, connect with deepest feelings, and challenges tendencies of self-judgment. Consequently, meditation leads to open doors for actual and accessible happiness for an individual. According to Salzberg (2011), meditation is basically training an individual’s attention in order to become more aware of inner workings and external incidents (p.7). After becoming more aware of inner workings and external incidents, a person can choose his/her actions towards things that are visible. While each global religion incorporates some kind of thoughtful exercise, meditation in today’s world is usually practiced separately from any belief system.
Meditation allows for you to relax, slow down, and become more aware of yourself and your environment. By meditating in a quiet place with no distraction, you are able to greatly limit the information that is constantly entering into our brains. This information gives us a train of thought that is very difficult to be halted, because it is in the nature of our brains to analyze any information that we have coming in from our senses like what things we are seeing with our eyes and what we are hearing with our ears. By limiting the amount of information that is entering into the brain, we are able to separate ourselves from the mind that is analyzing all of that information and to become aware of it.
The second meditation starts out by questioning the existence of him. He uses Archimedes famous saying “he could shift the entire earth given one immovable point”. Because, he can doubt anything and everything then he has to find a point of absolute certainty, so he can change his foundations. He wants to find out one thing that is certain and true. So, he began to question his very own existence. He questions the intention of god so, is god truly benevolent or is he a trickster. Then he goes on to think that he exists because he thinks he is the only thing that is thinking, because the ideas are being implanted, something and
Meditation is a private devotion or mental exercise consisting of a number of techniques of concentration, contemplation, and abstraction to heighten spiritual awareness. It has also been defined as, “Consciously directing your attention to alter your state of consciousness.” Meditation has been practiced around the world since the ancient times. It was used back then and still used today for spiritual growth (becoming more conscious). Meditation is mostly concerned about your attention, where it is directed to, and how it alters or changes a person’s consciousness.
People with GAD dwell on their worries excessively, give to much attention to their fearful thoughts, and respond emotionally to negative images. Meditation can help the person to step back from these thoughts, emotions and images and view them as an observer watching from the outside this helps to reduce the stress response and put negative thinking into perspective. Meditation helps control of physical tension by inducing the relaxation response (Wilson, 2009).
The purpose is to investigate the following; “Meditation in Christianity and Buddhism are different pathways leading to the same destination.” Buddhism is a philosophy than a religion was originated about 2,500 years ago in India and about 376 million followers worldwide. Prince Siddhartha Gotama (Buddha) worshipped for years to enlighten himself and found a “middle way” between his two lives, meaning finding moderation and balancing life’s extremes. Whereas, Christianity has about 2.4 billion followers worldwide and based on his teachings of Jesus, who lived about 2000 years prior. In Christian meditation, metaphysics and transcendentalism are used as philosophies because individuals think during their prayer to reflect on unseen things in a spiritual way, including Holy spirit and are observed to connect with God intellectually and spiritually. Nevertheless, Buddhist meditation is to focus on relaxing the brain by forgetting about the meaningless things.
The purpose of meditation, and mindfulness meditation as mentioned in this course, is to increase awareness while calming the normal thought processes that often overcrowd the mind with ideas that are deemed not-true by Buddhism. These brain scans clearly show that the purpose of meditation is achieved in doing so.
Meditation aims to develop and master mindfulness, insight, and equilibrium. It allows its followers to obtain indifference to worldly attachments, experience the mind as it is and its original nature. The mind continuously engages with internal and external stimuli, constantly at work. Meditation is a way in which one can gain control over this constant flow of stimuli, by focusing the mind. Within the practice of Theravada Buddhism, meditation is seen as the most crucial way of reaching enlightenment, escaping samsara, and gaining the full understanding of what nature is. Whereas Mahayana buddhism utilizes mantras and incantation as a form of buddhism that also allows its practitioners to use this form of meditation to reach enlightenment. Despite its origination in religious practice, it has been loosely defined as a self regulating technique of having control over one's physical and mental
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
The Transcendental Meditation technique is a simple, natural, effortless procedure practiced for any amount of time, usually 10-20 minutes in the morning and evening, while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. During this technique, the individual's awareness settles down and experiences a unique state of restful alertness. As the body becomes deeply relaxed, the mind transcends all mental activity to experience the simplest form of awareness, Transcendental Consciousness, where consciousness is open to itself. This is the self-referral state of consciousness.
Meditation takes patience, openness, willingness, perseverance, and self-determination. A measure of self-autonomy is also necessary because an individual will need to be able to commit to action by means of self-direction. Assuming responsibility for one’s own meditation practice guarantees that the individual will actively seek out the benefits through the process of displaying self-determination and perseverance. Thus, compounding some of the principles that are needed such as interest, willingness, and a desire for some type of reward for the individual’s efforts. “One's behavior emanates from one's self; it is self-determined. One does the behavior wholly volitionally because of its utility or importance for one's personal goals” (Deci & Aghrari & Patrick & Leone, 1994, p.121). The self-determination to achieve the desired results of meditation is a fundamental aspect of one’s personality. Lastly, if a person is not interested in and intrinsically motivated to practice meditation they are better off engaging in an activity that better suits their interests and
Meditation is not a time devoted to thinking or reflecting about oneself, but a time to redirect one’s thoughts and emotions away from the outside world and onto something simple, such as the wind or one’s own breathe. By learning how to meditate, an individual can learn how to react appropriately to “the circumstances one finds oneself in, i...
First, I will present the research of the physical effects that meditation has on our body’s major internal systems and other common physical chronic conditions. Secondly, I will discuss how meditation practices can impact one 's mental and emotional health. Lastly, I will offer a definition of spirituality and how meditation can bring positive spiritual results.
The brain is a complex machine capable of performing a multitude of tasks. More than that, it is also able to grow and develop. Amongst the many activities that aid in the enhancement of the abilities of the brain, many do not recognize that the effortless act of solemnly focusing on one’s own mind and sensations can actually enhance cognitive function; moreover, it can also boost physical and mental health. Accordingly, meditation has been confirmed to provide a wide range of benefits. By calming your thoughts now and then, you may notice improvements in the way you carry out particular tasks. With regular practice, this act of attaining a certain state of awareness through deep concentration