Expert: Justin Choo - 6/11/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hello There,

I'm fourteen and have been studying Buddhism for about a year and a half now. I have looked for different types of meditation techniques, but I have only found two(walking and sitting). I know there are several types of meditation like Metta, Samatha, and Vippisanna, but I wanted to know if there are more techniques that Theravadans practice, like Yoga perhaps.

-Thank You For Your Time

ANSWER: Hi Kris,

Nice to know that you are a very young person and interested in Buddhism.

"Meditation" is like exercise.  There are so many types of exercises.  Each type has its own special emphasis, but I would say all forms of exercises are benficial, if you don't overdo it.  So is meditation.  Here we would talk about Buddhist meditation.  Basically, we can classify it into 3 types, as you already know: samatha, vipassana, and metta.  

Samatha is for the purpose of stilling the mind, making the mind relaxed through concentration on a single object, like the movement of the breath or the movement of the abdomen.  

Vipassana is to cultivate insight by observing natural phenomena without attaching to them; for the purpose of discerning "things as they really are."

Metta is meditation on "loving kindness."

There are sure to be a bit of controversy over which is the "best."  To me they are complementary.  You can do all these sitting or walking, although walking is usally for cultivating awareness and mindfulness.

Buddhist meditation is basically as described above, irrespective of the tradition.

The word "yoga" means "union" in Sanskrit.  In spiritual sense, it means union with the supreme.  The practice of yoga involves both the physical and the mental, although most of the time we only get to view the physical side.  It is a complete system of harmonizing physical well-being with mental relaxation, thus "being with nature"...union with the supreme.    The yoga most people associate with is actually called Hatha Yoga which involves "exercising" the physical body by various postures called "asana".  Anyone can practise yoga irrespective of their religions.

Hope this helps.

Take care.  

Justin Choo





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi There Mr. Choo,

Thanks for the information on meditation, it helped me discern the differences in each practice and how they are ultimately related. My follow up is, can you help explain what is Vipassana meditation exactly? I have a vague idea, but every time I read something over it, I become a bit confused due to the way the information is written.

-Thanks Again

Answer
Hi Kris,

Welcome back.

What is Buddhist meditation?  Below is an extract from one of my teachers:
(http://sdhammika.blogspot.com/2008/11/meditation.html)

[Meditation
The English word meditation comes from the Latin meditatio meaning `to ponder' or `to ruminate.' The Pali word usually translated as meditation is bhavana and means `to develop,' `to cultivate,' or `to expand.' Thus the word meditation is actually an unsatisfactory one for the various techniques of psychological transformation taught by the Buddha.
In relation to thoughts, one could say that there are three approaches to meditation in Buddhism: (1) to utilize thoughts, (2) to still thoughts and (3) to observe thoughts. Loving- kindness meditation would be an example of the first of these. The meditator deliberately thinks particular types of thoughts for the purpose of evoking certain emotions and behaviour. An example of the second of these types of meditation would be mindfulness of breathing, where the meditator focuses his or her attention on the breath thus slowing down and finally stopping the flow of thoughts. In mindfulness meditation the mediator develops the ability to simply observe mental activity (thoughts, emotions, conceptualizing, etc.) thus gradually becoming less influenced by them.]

From the above explanation; (1)is Metta meditation, (2)is Samatha meditation and (3)is Vipassana meditation.  Please remember this subject always generates controversial opinions.  I am not surprised that the average "meditator" is equally confused over vipassana.  If you only take vipassana as a separate method of meditation, then you are in "trouble" of misunderstanding Buddhist meditation.  

My personal interpretation is that I will need tranquil mind in order to achieve insight.  As far as I am concerned, I just meditate to stay focused or "one-pointedness" and let "nature" take its course.  I feel that if one can project the mind to focus on one point for a long period, then one will pave the way to experience insight.  Many "serious" meditators will laugh at me.  After all, I am not a meditation "expert".

I can give you another simple example.  When you first started to learn how to drive, your mind was focused on driving alone.  When you became comfortable with your driving, you would also start to enjoy the view, while at the same time concentrating on the driving.  The first is like samatha, and the latter is like vipassana.

You can search through the internet to obtain more information.  You may like to refer to the following sites:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_meditation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassana_meditation
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html


Hope this helps.

Justin Choo