The Right and Wrong Forms of Meditation
Nikāya Buddhism and Early Chan - A Different Meditative Paradigm - Grzegorz Polak
Grzegorz Polak [+]
Maria Curie Skłodowska University
Grzegorz Polak is Associate Professor in the Institute of Philosophy at the Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin.
Description
Chapter one 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 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.