The Christian Contemplative Tradition | Centering Prayer
“A naked intent toward God, the desire for him alone, is enough.”
“He is your being and in him you are what you are.”
– The Cloud of Unknowing and Book of Privy Counsel; 7:36-38, 34-35
Beginning with the Desert Fathers of 3rd Century Egypt, continuing through the developed monasticism of the Middle Ages, and branching into various orders within both Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the Christian Contemplative Tradition includes various forms of meditative or semi-meditative practice including Lectio Divina, Imaginative Prayer, the Examen, Psalmody, Repetitious Prayer, the Jesus Prayer, Inner Listening, Fasting, the practice of Solitude, and/or simply Maintaining Silence.
The apophatic strand of the Christian Tradition is most well-represented by The Cloud of Unknowing and the practice of Centering Prayer based on this work. Apophatic meditative experience – the direct and unitive experience of the Source of consciousness, beyond thought – is also attested to by prominent Christian mystics such as Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and Meister Eckhart.
Modern voices from the Christian Tradition include Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault, Basil Pennington, Bernard McGinn, and William Johnston.
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The Vedantin Contemplative Tradition | Mantram
“In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself.”
“Mantram is the bow…”
– Bhagavad Gita, 6:20; Mundaka Upanishad, 2:2:4
The Vedantin Contemplative Tradition, drawing primarily from a corpus of Hindu texts referred to as the Prasthanatrayi (the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutras), centers around the spiritual reality of Brahman – the Absolute Spiritual Source and Ground of Existence – and Atman, the Ground of the individual soul. From the perspective of this tradition, the ultimate expression of spiritual realization is for an aspirant to attain Union with Brahman. The Reality of Brahman is also sometimes referred to in the tradition as “the Self,” and Union as “Self-Realization.” In Vedantin texts, connotations of Self-Realization are also that of a heart made pure, the actions of the saint now marked by authentic selflessness – free from the “taint of self will.”
One popular Vedantin schematic of spiritual practice comes from the Bhagavad Gita, which proposes Four Paths to Union with Brahman or Self-Realization: Jnana Yoga – the Path of Intellectual Knowledge, Bhakti Yoga – the Path of Devotion, Karma Yoga – the Path of Selfless Service, and Raja Yoga – the Path of Meditation. The Four Yogas are not mutually exclusive, nor are they the only forms of spiritual practice within Hinduism, as Hinduism remains a tradition of “many paths.” The most common form of meditation in Vedanta, and Hinduism more widely, is Mantram.
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The Yogic Contemplative Tradition | Yogic Meditation
"Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. When that is accomplished, the seer abides in its own true nature."
– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:2-3
The Yogic Tradition is one of the six orthodox schools of Indian Philosophy. The fundamentally authoritative text of the Yogic Tradition, which likely systematizes various pre-modern schools, is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
The term Yoga has a variety of connotations in Indian thought. In the context of the Yogic Tradition, Yoga refers to the meditative state of the completely stilled mind. This end state is traditionally interpreted from within the tradition as Purusa – Pure Consciousness – resting in Itself. Purusa can be considered synonymous with the more commonly used “Brahman” of Vedanta – both referring to the Spiritual Ground or Absolute. An alternative way of interpreting the end state of Yoga from within the tradition is as Asamprajnata-Samadhi (“Abstract Samadhi”), the deepest form of Samadhi or meditative absorption.
Although not the only framework in the Yoga Sutras, the most well-known map of practice from this school is the Eight Limbs of Yoga. According to the Eight Limbs, an aspirant is to practice: (1) abstentions, (2) observances, (3) posture, (4) breath control, (5) withdrawal of the senses, (6) concentration, (7) meditation, and (8) absorption.
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The Theravada Buddhist Contemplative Tradition | Sati-Jhana
“There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned…”
“Then he achieves cessation…”
– Siddhartha Gautama, Udana 8.3; Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification
The Theravada Buddhist Tradition is the earliest Buddhist strand and represents most closely the historical teaching of Siddhartha Gautama – the Buddha. All Theravada practice is aimed at attaining Nibbana – the complete Cessation of Suffering.
The Theravada Tradition centers around the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths include: (1) Dukkha (Suffering/Unsatisfactoriness), (2) the Origin of Dukkha, (3) the possible Cessation of Dukkha, and (4) the Way Leading to the Cessation of Dukkha. The Noble Eightfold Path involves practicing: (1) Right View, (2) Right Intention, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5) Right Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Mindfulness, and (8) Right Meditation.
The primary forms of meditation in the Theravada Tradition are Sati (“Mindfulness”) and Jhana meditation. The culmination of Theravada meditative practice can be thought of as the meditative experience of Nibbana – sometimes referred to by the tradition as Nirodha/Cessation or as Nirodha-Samapatti – the Cessation of Perception and Feeling. Within Theravada, this meditative experience is most often conceptualized as “Wholly Other” – the antithesis of samsaric existence, although the attainment of Nibbana also has consequences for how one navigates the world – without craving. “Minor” forms of meditation in the tradition include Metta, Discursive Reflections on the Body, and Right Effort.
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The Zen Contemplative Tradition | Zazen
“Your body-mind of itself will drop away and your original face will appear.”
– Dogen, Recommending Zazen to All People
The Zen Contemplative Tradition is a school of Mahayana Buddhism which draws heavily from the Tathagatagarbha, or Buddha Nature, doctrine.
Although Zen legend traces the tradition back to Siddhartha and one of his first disciples – Mahakasyapa – the tradition starts less legendarily with a teacher named Bodhidharma, who is credited with bringing what would become Zen Buddhism from India to China in roughly the 5th Century CE. Bodhidharma was known for meditating while facing a wall, but what he specifically taught about meditative practice is unclear. His teaching strongly emphasized directly seeing one’s True or Buddha Nature. Subsequent teachers such as Hui-Neng and Eihei Dogen would add native Chinese concepts such as Original Nature and Original Face to the tradition and speak more specifically to meditative practice.
Zazen is a general term meaning “seated meditation,” but has come to refer to a group of practices in the Zen Tradition, including maintaining attention on the breath, counting breaths, and what is sometimes considered the peak form of Zen practice – Shikantaza, “Just Sitting.” Other forms of Zen practice include the use of a Koan and Kinhin – Walking Meditation.
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The Classical Taoist Contemplative Tradition | Xinzhai, Zuowang
“…my intellect is discarded, all form left behind, split from ‘knowing’ as I find identity in the Great Connection.”
“Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses, and everything will fall into place.”
– Zhuangzi, 6.8; Tao Te Ching, 23
The Classical Taoist Contemplative Tradition centers around the Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu) and the Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou).
The Tao Te Ching – “The Book of the Immanence of the Tao,” “The Book of Tao and Its Power,” or simply “The Book of Tao” – describes the mysterious Tao: that which gives birth to and eternally underlies the manifold world. The Tao is described variously as Source, a Well, Eternal Void, Darkness, Mother, Hidden But Always Present, Infinite, Eternal, Beyond Conception, Ungraspable, Preceding Time and Space, Empty, Serene, Solitary, and Unchanging. All things emerge from, and eventually flow back to, Tao. In the Tao Te Ching, the Tao is both the Ground of one’s own being and the Ground of Being shared by all things.
Meditation in the Tao Te Ching is unsystematic and intuitive. One must simply find the Tao inside themselves, attune themselves to It, or become One with It. The way of living which results from attunement with Tao is referred to as Wu-wei (Not-Doing) in the tradition. A Master is simply “lived by Tao” in all simplicity and naturalness. Formal, apophatic, meditation is described more fully in the Zhuangzi, and is there referred to variously as Xinzhai (“Fasting of the Mind”) and Zuowang (“Sitting in Forgetfulness,” or “Sitting in Oblivion”).
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The Islamic Contemplative Tradition | Dhikr
“This is fana: that a man be extinguished from himself.”
– Ibn Ata Allah Al-Iskandari, The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Souls
The Islamic Contemplative Tradition, although typically expressed within a traditional Islamic belief structure, is often identified separately, as Sufism. Sufism is sometimes spoken of as the way to God through Love.
There are many orders of Sufism, each with distinct lineages and practices. Common features in most Sufi orders include: master/disciple initiation practices, a communal nature, esoteric interpretations of the Quran, imitation of the Prophet, the spiritual use of music and poetry, the experience of ecstatic states, and an emphasis on “stations” of spiritual development. The most common spiritual practice within Sufism is Dhikr.
Dhikr – meaning remembrance, recollection, or invocation – in its widest sense can include any act through which one “remembers God.” In a more specialized sense, Dhikr refers to a meditative practice in which one continually repeats a name of God. The end state of Dhikr is sometimes conceived of as fana – self-extinction in God. All forms of spiritual practice are designed to lead an aspirant through the stations of spiritual development, until conceivably reaching a final stage, sometimes referred to in the tradition as “the Pure Self.”
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