Nikāya Buddhism and Early Chan - A Different Meditative Paradigm - Grzegorz Polak

Nikāya Buddhism and Early Chan - A Different Meditative Paradigm - Grzegorz Polak

The Wrong and the Right Forms of Meditation

Nikāya Buddhism and Early Chan - A Different Meditative Paradigm - Grzegorz Polak

Grzegorz Polak [+-]
Maria Curie Skłodowska University
Grzegorz Polak is an associate professor in the Institute of Philosophy at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. His research interests include philosophical and meditative ideas of Nikaya Buddhism, early Chan, and comparative study of Buddhism and Western philosophy. He is the author of Reexamining Jhana: Towards a Critical Reconstruction of Early Buddhist Soteriology and several articles.

Description

Chapter 1 takes as its starting point the juxtaposition of wrong and right forms of meditation present in Nikāya and early Chan texts. This juxtaposition is problematic in that both criticized and praised forms of meditation are states of mental calm and absence of thought, which raises the issue of the exact nature of their difference. It is argued that the criticized practices share a common denominator: their cultivation involves various forms of deliberate mental effort and active implementation of a meditative method. It is pointed out that such practices were prevalent in the history of Buddhism and the chapter introduces a notion of the mainstream paradigm of meditation.

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Citation

Polak, Grzegorz . The Wrong and the Right Forms of Meditation. Nikāya Buddhism and Early Chan - A Different Meditative Paradigm. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 28-84 Aug 2024. ISBN 9781800504257. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44350. Date accessed: 09 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.44350. Aug 2024

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