Where does Meditation come from?
Written by: ayammie
The tradition of meditation dates back to the history of human beings. When it really started is unheard of. Years back, Patanjali, an Indian Sage of legend, called meditation as self realization since he experienced an absolute awareness of his “self”. One technique of Buddha to free the mind from suffering is Meditation. The Samadhi or enlightenment can be achieved thru classical yoga exercises. And the seventh path of the yogis is Mediation. Before, the church was against Meditation. But still, yoga spread through out India, China and Tibet. Some schools wherein Meditation was taught came up like Zen and Vajrayana Buddhism. The first ones to meditate in the west were the Monks who lived in seclusion. From the East, meditation went to the west. Yoga and Zen movements were used by monks, spiritual teachers and gurus.
The Chronological Table of the History of Meditation
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| 2000-3000 before Christ |
Vedic Meditation texts are found in old Hindu texts |
| 1000 before Christ |
In the I Ching we find the first references to Qi Gong, a meditative motion doctrine that later on resulted in Tai Chi |
| 588 before Christ |
Buddha reaches enlightenment through Meditation and thereby starts Buddhism. |
| 200 before Christ |
Patanjali writes yoga sutras. The seventh step is Meditation.
Advice!: If you are interested in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's then go to Patanjali's Yoga to read more about it. |
| 200 after Christ |
A group of Christian monks who call themselves "the fathers of the desert" live in seclusion from society, among other things to get closer to God through Meditation. |
| 1000 after Christ |
Jewish cabalistic groups use Meditation to get closer to God.
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| 1500 after Christ |
Under the influence of Martin Luther the Catholic Church diminishes the influence of Meditating monks. |
| 1550 after Christ |
St. Theresa was strongly in favour of Meditation. In spite of this after 1550 Meditation practically disappeared from Christian religious practice. |
| 1893 |
Asian priests first present their ideas about Meditation at a
meeting of religious leaders in the U.S.A.
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| 1967 |
The Beatles start to practise Meditation with the Maharashe Yogi
and thereby start a world-wide movement that results in a fast growth of Meditation in the West
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| Today |
Firms have rooms where people may not talk and where employees get an opportunity to meditate. In the course of the last decade the number of people that practise Meditation in the U.S.A. has doubled and is now about 10 million.
Meditation is more and more accepted in the world of health-care and in the world of science.
In some circles, for instance in Hollywood and New York Meditation is considered hip and trendy.
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In spite of this after 1550, Meditation practically disappeared from Christian religious practice. In 1893, Asian priests first presented their ideas about Meditation at a meeting of religious leaders in the U.S.A. In 1967, The Beatles started to practice Meditation with the Maharashe Yogi and thereby started a world-wide movement that resulted in a fast growth of Meditation in the West Today. Meditation is helpful in one’s life. It changes your outlook and perception of things because of a more focused lifestyle.
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| jrothman |
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| vir |
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The article has oversimplified the subject.Even if the article is meant to be miniscule,how can we ignore the greatest yogi of all times Lord Krishna,and his Yogic teachings by way of Bhagwat Geeta(around 2000 B.C.),or the Islamic contribution to meditation made by the Sufis(11th century onwards),or the 20th century contribution of Theosophists(Annie Beasant,J.Krishanmurthy),of Swami Shivanand(whose German born disciple-;Shivananda Radha-;popularized meditation by setting up Yahodhara Ashram in Canada,and wrting books on Kundalini Yoga,Mantra Yoga),or of the Russia born American mystic Gurdjieff,and even for that matter of Osho(Rajneesh) whose depth and width of understanding of various meditation traditions of East and West keeps any person who truly understands MEDITATION spell bound.
To clarify further,Panajali’s Ashtanga Yoga talks of eight steps to achieve Samadhi,and thus it cannot be achieved by asanas only.It was Budhism that spread from India to Tibet,China,and then to Japan.Yogic techniques and teachings went with that religion,and spread and fructified there.It was Swami Vivekanand who represented Hindu religion in the the World Congress of Religions in Chicago,but being young he was spreading blessings/teachings of his Guru Swami Ramkrishan,whose contribution to mysticism and meditation in the last century is very significant.
To sum up,meditation is as old as human being is.It has existed in every society in the world in some form or other at every point of time.Meditation is the result of yearning in every human soul to be near the creator/source/God.It is thus as natual for the soul as hunger and thrust for the body.
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