Hindu, Buddhist and Daoist Meditation: Cultural Histories
Halvor Eifring (ed.)
Large waves of global interest in meditation over the last half century have all focused on techniques stemming from Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism. This collection of essays explores selected topics from the historical traditions underlying such practices.
- Product type
- Book - ISBN 978-82-8034-201-0
- Product language
- English
- Price
The book ventures far beyond the well-known Hindu repetition of sounds, Buddhist attention to breath and body, and Daoist movement of limbs and bodily energies. A picture emerges of meditative traditions that are much richer and more diverse than our modern viewpoint typically acknowledges. Many of the practices are also shown to be of greater cultural relevance than commonly recognized.
Contents
- The Uses of Attention: Elements of Meditative Practice ● Halvor Eifring and Are Holen
- Can There Be a Cultural History of Meditation? With Special Reference to India ● Johannes Bronkhorst
- Words for “Meditation” in Classical Yoga and Early Buddhism ● Jens Braarvig
- “Creative Contemplation” (Bhāvanā) in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra ● Bettina Bäumer ‘Sharada’
- The First Absorption (Dhyāna) in Early Indian Buddhism: A Study of Source Material from the Madhyama-āgama ● Bhikkhu Anālayo
- Vipassanā in Burma: Self-government and the Ledi Ānāpāna Tradition ● Gustaaf Houtman
- Contemplation of the Repulsive: Bones and Skulls as Objects of Meditation ● Bart Dessein
- Red Snakes and Angry Queen Mothers: Hallucinations and Epiphanies in Medieval Daoist Meditation ● Stephen Eskildsen
- Daoist Clepsydra-Meditation: Late Medieval Quánzhēn Monasticism and Communal Meditation ● Louis Komjathy
Published by Hermes, Oslo, 2014.