Probably most of us, when we hear about meditation, will think about somebody sitting in the lotus position, in a deeply relaxed, trance-like state of mind, where one would have lucid and extraordinary visions. This is partially true, but not always necessarily. Meditation can be even practiced while walking.
In this article I will talk about the two major types of meditation, which, in Buddhism, are called Samatha and Vipassana.
Samatha is the type of meditation where the person focuses their attention on a specific internal or external object, which can be the breathing, a Mantra (sound), a mental image, a part of the body, a candle, etc. The objective of this type of meditation is to quiet the mind and improve concentration. During this type of meditation, if your attention moves away from the object of meditation, you gently bring it back to it. The extraordinary experiences mentioned in the beginning of this article, such as visions, would, in principle, happen mainly in this type of meditation.
This category of meditation is also known as objective meditation, concentration meditation or tranquility meditation.
The objective of the other type of meditation (which is called Vipassana) is to develop mindfulness or awareness to the point of seeing things as they really are, without any personal bias. When you are mindful you don’t keep worrying about the future or regret about the past. You stay at the present moment.
In this type of meditation, which is also known as mindfulness or insight meditation, the person just watches their experience, i.e., their thoughts, emotions, feelings, sensations, etc. The person does not think about or attach any meaning to their experience, acting only as a passive observer. This type of meditation can be also practiced while walking. In this case, the focus of attention is on the movements related to walking.
Some people consider mindfulness meditation superior to the concentration meditation, because it can ultimately bring “liberation” or a state of complete acceptance of life’s events, of detachment to things and liberation from suffering.
Please click here for a detailed explanation of how to develop mindfulness.
Mindfulness meditation also requires concentration, but in this case, the difference in relation to concentration meditation is that you don’t only focus on your object of meditation, but also on whatever is happening at the present moment. You use your concentration to be mindful, because mindfulness involves seeing the whole experience, from beginning to end. You can only do this with a concentrated mind.
One method of applying practicing formal mindfulness meditation is the following:
You focus your attention on your breathing. You are mindful of how your breathing happens. You notice every time the air comes in and goes out. If you get distracted by thoughts, you just gently bring your attention back to your breathing. Don’t force anything. Accept whatever happens during the process, including distractions and discomfort. If your distraction is something major, as strong feelings for example, you watch your feeling, with steady attention, and keep watching it until the feeling goes away. Then you bring your focus back to your breathing.
You keep following these steps until you finish meditation.