early meditation manuals

Textual analysis and comparative discussion on early Buddhist sects and scriptures.
Nyana
Posts: 2233
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 am

Re: early meditation manuals

Post by Nyana »

Dmytro wrote:"Meditation" is a fairly recent concept.
No it isn't. This bugaboo over the use of the English terms "meditation" and "contemplation" is much ado about nothing. Both terms have broader meanings in Western contemplative traditions than is often acknowledged. Moreover, the English term "meditation" has now shifted and expanded in meaning due to the influence of Buddhism and other Eastern yoga traditions. In some modern dictionary entries for "meditate," Buddhist & Hindu meanings are now given alongside common meanings and Western contemplative meanings. Cf. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: meditate.
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Ben
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Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: early meditation manuals

Post by Ben »

Ñāṇa wrote:
Dmytro wrote:"Meditation" is a fairly recent concept.
No it isn't. This bugaboo over the use of the English terms "meditation" and "contemplation" is much ado about nothing. Both terms have broader meanings in Western contemplative traditions than is often acknowledged. Moreover, the English term "meditation" has now shifted and expanded in meaning due to the influence of Buddhism and other Eastern yoga traditions. In some modern dictionary entries for "meditate," Buddhist & Hindu meanings are now given alongside common meanings and Western contemplative meanings. Cf. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: meditate.
:goodpost:
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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