Meditation

All About Inner Peace

Many people have seen pictures of Buddhist monks with big smiles on their faces, despite living a life that most of us would consider austere. What’s their big secret? What do people who practice Buddhist meditation or other forms of meditation, such as people who practice yoga, know about meditation and inner peace that we don’t know? Although it might sound trite, meditation can help you “find yourself”, or if you prefer, “lose yourself”. Here’s a quick look at meditation and the inner peace it can bring.

Buddhist Meditation

Twenty-five hundred years ago, a prince in northern India gave up his palace and his wealth to become a religious mendicant. After years of study and meditation, people noticed that Prince Siddhartha was different from other people, so they asked him, “What are you? Are you a god?” “No,” the prince answered, “I am awake.” Thus he gained the name “Buddha,” which means “Awakened One,” and his followers, who also wished to reach a similar awakened, enlightened state, became known as “Buddhist”. The goal of Buddhism is to reach a state of permanent inner peace through using different meditation techniques, including traditional sitting meditation as well as integrating the insights gained from meditation into daily life.

Yoga and Meditation

Although most western people think of yoga as a form of stretching and exercise, the origin of yoga is in the meditative traditions of the Hindu religion. Similar to Buddhist meditation, meditation in traditions of yoga seek to harness the power of the mind through meditation, leading to profound states of inner peace.

Lose Yourself , or Find Yourself?

Although Buddhism developed in the same region as Hinduism, and although Prince Siddhartha – the Buddha – himself began as a Hindu devotee, there is a significant difference in the ultimate goal of Buddhist meditation and meditation coming from a yogic or Hindu tradition. Hinduism proposes a Higher Self, called the Atman, similar to the idea of a soul. The final goal of meditation in this tradition, then, is to realize the Atman. You might say that meditation in yoga or Hinduism helps you “find yourself”. Buddhist meditation has a different approach, countering the idea that there is an independent or inherently existent soul. Instead, Buddhist meditation leads meditators to realize the interdependent nature of all things, including the self or soul, showing that the self is not inherently existent but is inseparably dependent upon all other phenomena. Therefore, you might say that Buddhist meditation helps you “lose yourself”. In both traditions of meditation, deep inner peace seems to be a natural by-product – a claim which is increasingly backed up by scientific studies.

Meditation in the Modern World

Today, simple meditation techniques are being introduced to non-Buddhist and non-Hindu practitioners throughout western nations. In America, it’s all about yoga: increasingly, people gain their first exposure to meditation techniques through their local yoga studio. Pilates, an off-shoot of the more fitness-oriented aspects of yoga, is also helping introduce yoga and meditation to western students. Meditation and pregnancy also go well together in the west, as mothers discover the benefits of meditation during their pregnancy. Overall, it seems that the ancient traditions of meditation are here to stay in our busy modern world, helping ordinary people to find inner peace.