If one starts to enquire
into the origin of meditation one soon discovers that there is very little
knowledge and documented research available to how, when and where it actually
originated.
According to findings in
history and literature the origin of meditation dates back more than 5500 years
around the same time when writing was invented.
The earliest evidence
regarding prehistoric religion in India, date back to the late Neolithic in the
early Harappan period (5500-2600 BCE). Though
Mehrgarh and Kile Gul-Mohammad are the best-known sites of pre-Harappan
culture.
“The pre-Harappan culture was succeeded by the
Indus-Saraswati Civilisation. The Indus-Saraswati Civilisation was a unique
product of a slowly growing and changing civilisational process that was
occurring from the eighth millennium through the third millennium in
north-western India, including the Indus and the Saraswati basins, in which the
West Asian, Turanian and Central Asian cultures had some role to play but
generally in the field of economic interaction and not so much in social,
cultural, religious and ideational fields. The Indus civilization grew
out of this culture's technological base, as well as its geographic expansion
into the alluvial plains of what are now the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in
contemporary Pakistan and Northern India.”
Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilisation sites, dating to the mid 3rd millennium BC, depict figures in positions
resembling a common yoga or meditation pose, showing "a form of ritual
discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga," according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl.
Some type of connection between the Indus Valley
seals and later yoga and meditation practices is speculated upon by many
scholars, though there is no conclusive evidence. More specifically, scholars and archaeologists have remarked on close
similarities in the yogic and meditative postures depicted in the seals with
those of various Tirthankaras: the "kayotsarga" posture of Rsabha and the "mulabandhasana" of Mahavira along with seals depicting meditative figure flanked by upright
serpents bearing similarities to iconography of Parsva. All these are indicative of not only links between Indus Valley
Civilisation and Jainism, but also show the contribution of Jainism to various
yogic practices.
Techniques for experiencing higher states of
consciousness in meditation were developed by the sharamanic traditions and in the Upanishadic tradition.
Historians agree, that the
evolution of meditation gave rise to philosophy, psychology and all major
religions.
Descriptions of meditation
practise can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Mayan Culture, Taoism, Islam and
Christianity.
To be able to put things
into words requires the ability to put things into a greater perspective, which
is based on a more refined awareness of things and their inter-relationship to
the whole.
Those abilities seem to be
directly related to the evolution and development of our brain function.
There are two trains of
thought, which might be able to explain that:
·
“Between a 100,000
and 50,000 years ago a substantial anatomical improvement of the voice box
occurred, which is the basis of language.”
·
A change in
brain organization without a change in brain size made our modern language
possible.
These changes distinguish
the Neanderthal from the Cro-Magnon Man.
“ The Cro-Magnon Man was
able to produced a variety of tools, weapons and pieces of art 50,000 years
ago, which led to the invention of watercrafts and to colonisation in Australia
and New Guinea and ultimately the whole world.
Highly developed burial
sites had been found dating back 40,000 years, which is evidence that our
Cro-Magnon ancestors had stepped away from what was necessary for immediate
survival. They treated the dead with respect, which shows that they had developed
a greater perspective on themselves, their families and enemies, which evolved
into an interactive mechanism in our brains and indicated the beginning of
modern consciousness”
Later precious items like
jewellery, pottery and weapons were buried together with the departed, which
indicates that our ancestors believed in an afterlife or a world that exists
beyond our own creation.
The
English meditation is derived from the Latin meditatio, from a verb meditari, meaning, "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder, meditate"
· In the Old Testament hāgâ (Hebrew: הגה), means to sigh or murmur,
but also to meditate. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, hāgâ became the Greek melete.
· The Latin Bible then translated hāgâ/melete into meditatio. The use of the term meditatio as part of a formal, stepwise process of
meditation goes back to the 12th century monk Guigo II.
Apart from its historical usage, the term meditation was
introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as dhyāna
in Buddhism and in Hinduism, which comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai, meaning to
contemplate or meditate.
The term "meditation" in English may also refer to practices
from Islamic Sufism, or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm. An edited book about "meditation" published in 2003, for example,
included chapter contributions by authors describing Buddhist, Christian,
Hindu, Islamic, and Taoist traditions.
Scholars have noted
that "the term 'meditation' as it has entered contemporary usage" is
parallel to the term "contemplation" in Christianity.
Data suggest weasel words that even at prehistoric times older civilizations used repetitive,
rhythmic chants and offerings to appease the gods.Some
authors have even suggested the hypothesis that the emergence of the capacity
for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation, may have contributed to the final phases of human biological evolution.
· References to meditation with Rishabha in Jainism go back to the Acaranga Sutra dating to 500 BC.
· Around 500-600BC Taoists in China and Buddhists in India began to develop meditative practices.
· In the west, by 20BCE Philo of Alexandria had written on some form of "spiritual exercises" involving
attention (prosoche) and concentration and
by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed meditative
techniques.
· The Pāli Canon, which dates to 1st century BCE considers Indian Buddhist meditation as a step towards salvation. By
the time Buddhism was spreading in China, the Vimalakirti Sutra, which dates to 100CE included a number of passages on meditation,
clearly pointing to Zen.
· The Silk Road transmission of
Buddhism introduced meditation to other oriental
countries, and in 653 the first meditation hall was opened in Japan.[25]Returning
from China around 1227, Dōgen wrote the instructions for Zazen.
· The Islamic practice of Dhikr had involved the repetition of the 99 Names of God since the 8th or 9th
century.
· By the 12th century, the practice of Sufism included specific meditative
techniques, and its followers practiced breathing controls and the repetition
of holy words. Interactions
with Indians or the Sufis may have influenced the Eastern Christian meditation approach to hesychasm, but this cannot be proved.
· Between the 10th and 14th centuries, hesychasm was developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and involves the repetition of the Jesus prayer.
· Western Christian meditation contrasts with most other approaches in that it does not
involve the repetition of any phrase or action and requires no specific
posture. Western Christian meditation progressed from the 6th century practice of Bible reading among Benedictine monks called Lectio Divina, i.e. divine reading.
· Its four formal steps as a "ladder" were defined by the monk Guigo II in the 12th century with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio,
oratio, and contemplatio (i.e. read, ponder, pray, contemplate).
Western Christian meditation was further developed by saints such as; Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila in the 16th century.
By
the 18th century, the study of Buddhism in the West was a topic for intellectuals. The philosopher Schopenhauer discussed it, and
Voltaire asked for toleration
towards Buddhists.
The
first English translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead was published in 1927.
· Secular forms of meditation were introduced in India in the 1950s as a
Westernized form of Hindu meditative techniques and arrived in the United
States and Europe in the 1960s. Rather than focusing on spiritual growth,
secular meditation emphasizes stress reduction, relaxation and self-
improvement.
· Both spiritual and secular forms of meditation have been subjects of
scientific analyses.
· Research on meditation began in 1931, with scientific research increasing dramatically during
the 1970s and 1980s. Since the beginning of the '70s more than a thousand
studies of meditation in English-language have been reported.
However, after 60
years of scientific study, the exact mechanism at work in meditation remains
unclear.
Ever since human mankind had
developed the ability to put things in relation to the whole an internal drive
and longing to explore and enquire gave rise to many unanswered questions.
Why are we here? What is the
purpose of this life? What animates this body? Is there another existence after
death? What created this whole universe? What is life’s purpose and is there
such a thing than a creator who created this universe?
Certain kind people started
researching the external world, which gave rise to sciences like maths,
physics, chemistry, medicine and astronomy etc. The very early scientists
discovered the laws of nature, developed machines and more refined devices and
came to the conclusion that everything is made of five elements. The concept of
acupuncture and Ayurveda is still based on the five element principles.
Much later scientists made a
deal with the pope, in
which they came to the agreement that the body & the external world belongs
to science and the spirit and internal world belongs to the church. That’s how
the unity of both worlds were divided and split into two different entities in
our western world.
In ancient times philosophy,
psychology, alchemy and cosmology were considered to be four different aspects
of the internal and external universe, encompassing one unity.
A different kind of people
started researching the internal world and the mind. They developed pranyama techniques and came
up with different concepts and approaches with the intent to define
consciousness.
In the meantime scientists
came to the conclusion that the world is comprised of 108 elements with
different attributes and that each element is made of atoms. Further research
proofed that the atoms are not the underlying basis of everything, that there
is another building material they named electron. With more refined devices
they discovered that the electron has two properties: It is moving as well as
not moving and that it acts like a particle and like a wave, which gave rise to
a new definition “the quantum”, which means dual and that the quantum is having
properties of wave and particle simultaneously.
And after even more research
they discovered that on a very subtle level the electron is nothing more than
an infinitesimal energy particle and that it is this particular energy, which
can transform itself into an electron and subsequently into matter.
While the first group of
people advanced in researching the external world, the second group through
focusing their attention inwards, had refined their techniques to such an
extend that they discovered a subtle all encompassing frequency, known as the
universal pulse of consciousness which is omnipresent throughout the whole
universe and infinitely present in all there is, thus in time science will come
to the same conclusion that the underlying building material is not an
infinitesimal energy particle but the pure ever expanding universal pulse of
consciousness.
Copyright © December 2013 Alexander Filmer-Lorch all rights reserved
