Some Christians are against meditation in general, or even mediation in Christian context. Some are fearful because they automatically associate any type of meditation with Asian religious traditions. The Christian practice of meditation has been forgotten by some, and it has been centuries since it was a common tradition. In his book, Prayer of Heart and Body, Thomas Ryan says that rather than learning intellectually about God that the meditation allows the Christian to know Him through direct experience. Christian meditation has been around as long as Christianity itself, including the three major branches, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant including evangelical denominations. In his thesis on the difference between Christian meditation …show more content…
Marcarius, Diadochus, and St. John Climacus, in the fifth and sixth centuries. In the 1500s St. Ignatius implemented the idea of meditation as a way for the Christian to find his or her self in God’s story; this is still used today, centuries later and is often referred to by Christians as “scriptural drama meditation.” Other types of Christian meditation are scriptural truth mediation and Christ-centered present moment awareness. Other well-known Christians who have practiced meditation through the centuries include St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa, Evagrius of Pontus, and others. Groups within Christianity that have used it include: Orthodox, Society of Friends, and …show more content…
Augustine was a Christian monk from the sixteenth century who used devotion and memory to reflect on Genesis as the model for spiritual life with God. St. Augustine’s meditation is an example of devotional meditation. Augustine’s prayer life focused on engaging the mind, emotions and motivation for a direct link to God. St. Teresa of Avila, also of the sixteenth century, emphasized what is known as a prayer of union and the boy as a means to achieve it through importance of contemplative prayer and meditation on the greatness of God. Her works were part of the inspiration behind Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon and the Quietist controversy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Meditation in the Society of Friends, or Quakers, is closely related to the Quietist movement because they both focus on internal spiritual life with God. Protestant Bishop Joseph Hall, a ...of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was influenced by Augustine and wrote several works on meditation titled The Arte of Divine Meditation, Meditations and Vowes, and Heaven on Earth. Despite this, Hall saw meditation as no more than a means to turn the mind on a spiritual item through dialog on a topic. Hall identified three types of meditation: two deliberate forms of meditation- logical and emotional- and then what Hall referred to as an “occasional” meditation because it was prompted by external
Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).
Proponents of the Transcendental Meditation program initiated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have expressed their ideas in various web sites on the World Wide Web, through pages such as The Transcendental Meditation Program at http://www.tm.org and the Scientific Research on Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program of the Maharishi University of Management at http://www.miu.edu/TM_Research. In these sites positive messages are conveyed about the benefits of meditation to its practitioner within the physiological, psychological, sociological, intellectual, and interpersonal realms. Within these sites, the web-browser is presented with an abundance of information relating
The differences the personal shared with me; was the belief between the Christianity and Buddhism in provision of medial care lie in practices of yoga and mediation by Buddha. The Buddha practices yoga to attain self confidence and the optimism that enables the patient to reduce suffering which he is undergoing. In Christianity on the other hand yoga is not practiced.
This paper is about my experience with mindfulness based meditation and scientific inquiry of these experiences. Mindfulness based meditation is describes as technique used to cultivate nonreactive, non-judgmental and stable awareness of the present moment (Garland and Gaylord, 2009). The end goal is to sustain this meta-cognitive state for a long period of time. I practiced non-denominational form of mindfulness based meditation for the first time in my psychology class, which was devoted towards intellectual and experiential examination of meditation. The practice was conducted in a group it was instructed by our own professor and it begun at the end of class. There was one sessions per week and each session was structured meaning it was
Meditation causes you to think on God and his Excellencies, which can possibly change your life, all by itself.
In (Matthew 6:6 NIV), Jesus explains the merits of praying to the lord God and the reward of inner peace, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret: and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” It is through this conversation with God that Christians pursue peace in their lives. Prayer can either be private or communal, spontaneous prayer is one way that charismatic communities can come closer to God. The act of prayer allows believers to have a personal conversation with God; it alleviates stress attributed to the monotony of everyday life. Besides prayer, meditation is another way of attaining inner peace, it is an ancient practice within the Christian tradition, which has undertaken a recent revival, a global group that reaffirms the concept of praying and meditating for inner peace is Taizé. Not as popular as prayer and meditation, Lectio Divina, generally known as bible studies is a way for Christians to feel connected to God and to finally attain inner peace. The studying of the sacred scriptures on a day to day basis and reflecting on prayers also maintain a continual connection with God. It is vital to maintain equilibrium between prayer and service, whereby an individual fathoms the notion ‘ora et labora’, in order to equally partake in both prayer, and the concept of action whereby ora develops inner peace, which is mirrored through the
Buddhist meditation is very different from all other forms preached by other religions. To understand their meditation one must first learn about the Esoteric Buddhist beliefs and teachings. Esoteric Buddhism is a large sect that is also known as Shingon, which translates to true word, and Mikkyo Buddism. Esoteric Buddhism rose to popularity during the Tang dynasty. This rise was due to the rich liturgy that an esoteric buddhist had to study. It became popular amongst the intellectual who wanted to learn more about the teachings. Esoteric Buddhist also are required to meditate in order to advance in their spiritual progress. Esoteric Buddhism is based primarily on the
Instead of seeing a "soul" or a "mind" as the seat of personal identity, in Buddhism, the self is to be found in processes. Meditation, then, has the therapeutic effect of disengaging the practitioner from self-consciousness, freeing the mind. The view of the world without the construct of a permanent essence enables one to "experience reality as it really is" (3). It is important to note that Buddhism does not distinguish mental processes from other senses. Just as seeing takes a visual object, the mind takes a mental object (1). Just as the eye is free to take in different visual objects, the mind is free, as well. While meditation aims to develop "single-pointedness of mind," it is ultimately to free it from external objects. The focus is on the process of breathing, in Zen, and, eventually, one can reach a state where one is not considering anything (2). Zen considers the "blank-mind" stage to be a higher form of consciousness because it is free from attachments.
Meditation is used for many other reasons than for religious purposes. The main idea is to generate a more peaceful
crisscrossed on a pillow, hand raised with fingers curled in a circle, eyes closed, repeatedly muttering mantras such as “om.” On the contrary, Christian meditation can take many forms. Opponents of contemporary music have stated that the reason they dislike such songs is because the same words are repeated over and over again to the point of being monotonous. However, therein lies one example of modern Christian meditation. Meditation confront the vice of business that Foster quotes as “Hurry is not of the Devil; it is the Devil” (Foster, 15). In my Junior High small group, I introduced my youth group girls to practice of meditatio Scripturarum and was met with warm responses. After scattering the girls in a dark room to listen to me periodically
Meditation is a great way to reduce the pain of chronic disease without the side effects of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. It can be done virtually anywhere with no special equipment or instructions.
“The more you meditate, the more helpful you can be to others, and the more deeply you will be in tune with God.” This quote was said by Paramahansa Yogananda and is a wonderful quote that spoke to me because I do have a close relationship to God and being helpful to other people is really important to me. I attended the Brahma Kumaris meditation center to learn more about what meditation consists of and expand my knowledge on why this is a big part in the Hindu religion. In class we I learned about the different types of yoga that is practiced in Hinduism. Jhana yoga, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, and Raja yoga are the different types of yoga practiced and I had some sort of understanding on what I would possibly see in the meditation session. I did some research on what the Brahma Kumaris meditation center was about and their main goal. In the Brahma Kumaris meditation center they focus on specifically raja yoga and focusing on self reflection and positivity. My first session at the meditation center was enlightening and very interesting because of the new things I learned and what they focus on to help people overcome obstacles in their lives.
The results of this study showed significant improvement in quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure in the meditation group. While in controls, quality of life deteriorated and there was no improvement in blood pressure.
Anyone can be practiced meditation. It's easy and cheap and does not require any special equipment.
The purpose of this assessment is to investigate the following statement; “Meditation in Christianity and Buddhism are different pathways leading to the same destination.” Meditation is an act or a practice of calming the brain to spend more time in thoughts for relaxation and to reflect. Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with about 2.4 billion followers worldwide. Christianity is based on his teachings and convictions of Jesus Christ, who lived in the Holy Land 2000 years prior and his disciples continued this religion. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the significant part of Christianity. 2016 census data reveals that 52% of the population in Australia are Christians.