One Thing To Do Before Die

Mindfulness (Pali: Sati; Sanskrit:smṛti स्मृति ) is a technique in which a person becomes intentionally aware of their thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It plays a central role in Buddhism, with Right Mindfulness (Pali:sammā-sati; Sanskritsamyak-smṛti) being the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the sadhana of which is held in the tradition to engender insight and wisdom. Mindfulness may be paralogous in Christianity through the Eastern Orthodox hesychastic concept of nepsis. Paralogous or analogous: East and West Mindfulness may be paralogous in Christianity through the Eastern Orthodox hesychastic concept of nepsis which has been defined by Abbot Georgios of the monastery of St. Gregorios on Mount Athos as "vigilance of the nous and watchfulness at the gates of the heart, so that every thought that moves in it can be controlled." Nepis is practiced in Orthodox monasteries with the aid of Philokalia which contains the writings of great ...

Contemplation comes from the latin root templum (from Greek temnein: to cut or divide), and means to separate something from its environment, and to enclose it in a sector. Contemplation is the Latin translation of Greek 'theory' (theoria). In a religious sense it is a type of prayer or meditation. Within Western Christianity it is related to mysticism, and portrayed by the works of authors such as Teresa of Avila, Margery Kempe, Augustine Baker and Thomas Merton. In Eastern Christianity contemplation is to force all of the faculties of ones consciousness on God or things divine. This is to cultivate an understanding and relationship with the divine. Many religions share the concept of contemplation. Naropa University, for example, offers a Master's program in contemplative education in the context of Buddhism. Contemplation was an important part of the philosophy of Plato; for Plato, by means of contemplation the soul may ascend to knowledge of the Form of the Good or othe...

Meditation according to Krishnamurti J Krishnamurti used the word meditation to mean something entirely different from the practice of any system or method to control the mind. He said, “Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.” For Krishnamurti, meditation was choiceless awareness in the present. He said "..When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy - if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation." Active/dynamic medit...

New Age New Age meditations are often influenced by Eastern philosophy and mysticism such as Yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism, yet may contain some degree of Western influence. Examples of such meditations include: * Passage Meditation, a modern method developed by spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran, involves silent, focused repetition of memorized passages from world scripture and the writings of great mystics. * Transcendental Meditation, a form of meditation taught and promoted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. * FISU (Foundation for International Spiritual Unfoldment) was established by Gururaj Ananda Yogi's prime disciples Rajesh Ananda and Jasmini Ananda whom are the leaders ever since. * Ananda Marga meditation was propounded by a Mahakaula Guru Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiiji in India, who said that it revived sacred practices taught by SadaShiva and Sri Krs'na. His system of meditation, he said, is based on original Tantra as given by Shiva and has sometimes been referred...

There is evidence that Judaism has had meditative practices that go back thousands of years.[21] For instance, in the Torah, the patriarch Isaac is described as going "לשוח" (lasuach) in the field—a term understood by all commentators as some type of meditative practice (Genesis 24:63). Similarly, there are indications throughout the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) that meditation was central to the prophets.[21] In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ (Hebrew: הגה‎), which means to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ (Hebrew: שיחה‎), which means to muse, or rehearse in one's mind. In modern Jewish practice, one of the best known meditative practices is called hitbodedut (התבודדות) or hisbodedus is explained in Kabbalah and Hassidic philosophy. The word hisbodedut, which derives from the Hebrew word "boded", בודד (a state of being alone) and said to be related to the sfirah of Binah (lit. book of understanding), means the proce...

The Jains use the word Samayika, a word in the Prakrit language derived from the word samay (time), to denote the practice of meditation. The aim of Samayika is to transcend the daily experiences of being a "constantly changing" human being, Jiva, and allow for the identification with the "changeless" reality in the practitioner, the Atma. The practice of Samayika begins by achieving a balance in time. If the present moment of time is taken to be a point between the past and the future, Samayika means being fully aware, alert and conscious in that very moment, experiencing one's true nature, Atma, which is considered common to all living beings. The Samayika takes on special significance during Paryushana, a special 8-day period practiced by the Jains. Meditation techniques were available in ancient Jain scriptures that have been forgotten with time. A practice called preksha meditation is said to have been rediscovered by the 10th Head of Jain Swetamber Terapan...

Meditation in Islam is the core of Muslim mystical traditions (in particular Sufism). Meditative quiescence is believed to have a quality of healing and creativity.[15] The Muslim prophet Muhammad, whose deeds devout Muslims follow, spent long periods in meditation and contemplation. It was during one such period of meditation that Muhammad began to receive revelations of the Qur'an.[16] There are two concepts or schools of meditation in Islam: * Tafakkur and Tadabbur, literally meaning reflection upon the universe. Muslims feel this is a form of intellectual development which emanates from a higher level, i.e. from God. This intellectual process through the receiving of divine inspiration awakens and liberates the human mind, permitting man’s inner personality to develop and grow so that he may lead his life on a spiritual plane far above the mundane level. This is consistent with the global teachings of Islam, which views life as a test of our practice of submission to Allah,...

Christian traditions have various practices which might be identified as forms of "meditation." Many of these are monastic practices. Some types of prayer, such as the rosary and Adoration (focusing on the eucharist) in Catholicism or the hesychasm in Eastern Orthodoxy, may be compared to the form of Eastern meditation that focuses on an individual object. Christian meditation is considered a form of prayer. Some Christian prayer is made primarily by using the intellect, through the contemplation of the divine mysteries. However, Christian prayer or meditation through the heart, as described in the Philokalia is a practice towards Theosis, which involves acquiring an inner stillness and ignoring the physical senses. According to the Old Testament book of Joshua, a form of meditation is to meditate on scriptures. This is one of the reasons why bible verse memory is a practice among many evangelical Christians. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; medit...

Meditation has always been central to Buddhism. The historical Buddha himself was said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree. Most forms of Buddhism distinguish between two classes of meditation practices, shamatha and vipassana, both of which are necessary for attaining enlightenment. The former consists of practices aimed at developing the ability to focus the attention single-pointedly; the latter includes practices aimed at developing insight and wisdom through seeing the true nature of reality. The differentiation between the two types of meditation practices is not always clear cut, which is made obvious when studying practices such as Anapanasati which could be said to start off as a shamatha practice but that goes through a number of stages and ends up as a vipassana practice. Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the meditative development of mindfulness (sati, see for example the Satipatthana Sutta) and concentration (samadhi, see kammatthana), as part of...

Bahá'í Faith The Bahá'í Faith teaches that meditation is necessary for spiritual growth, alongside obligatory prayer and fasting. 'Abdu'l-Bahá is quoted as saying: "Meditation is the key for opening the doors of mysteries to your mind. In that state man abstracts himself: in that state man withdraws himself from all outside objects; in that subjective mood he is immersed in the ocean of spiritual life and can unfold the secrets of things-in-themselves."[10] Although the Founder of the Faith, Bahá'u'lláh, never specified any particular forms of meditation, some Bahá'í practices are meditative. One of these is the daily repetition of the Arabic phrase Alláhu Abhá (Arabic: الله ابهى) (God is Most Glorious) 95 times preceded by ablutions. Abhá has the same root as Bahá' (Arabic: بهاء‎ "splendor" or "glory") which Bahá'ís consider to be the "Greatest Name of God".

Hinduism can safely be considered the oldest religion that professed meditation as a spiritual and religious practice. Yoga (Devanagari: योग) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on meditation. In India, Yoga is seen as a means to both physiological and spiritual mastery. There are several types of meditation in Hinduism. These include (but are not limited to): * Vedanta, a form of Jnana Yoga. * Raja Yoga as outlined by Patanjali, which describes eight "limbs" of spiritual practices, half of which might be classified as meditation. Underlying them is the assumption that a yogi should still the fluctuations of his or her mind: Yoga cittavrrti nirodha. * Surat shabd yoga, or "sound and light meditation" * Japa Yoga, in which a mantra is repeated aloud or silently * Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of love and devotion, in which the seeker is focused on an object of devotion, eg Krishna * Hatha Yoga, in which postures and meditations are...

Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. It usually involves turning the attention inward to a single point of reference.[1] Meditation is often recognized as a component of eastern religions, where it has been practiced for over 5,000 years.Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual and/or psychophysical practices which can emphasize development of either a high degree of mental concentration, or the apparent converse, mental quiescence. The word meditation comes from the Latin meditatio, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning "contemplation." Eastern spiritual teachings, including meditation, have been adapted and increasingly practiced in Western culture. Forms of meditation Meditation has been defined as: "self regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry, in the here and now."[6] The va...

Zen (禪 or 禅) is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on practice and experiential wisdom—particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen—in the attainment of awakening. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct individual experience of one's own true nature. A broader term is the Sanskrit word "dhyana", which exists also in other religions in India. The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahāyāna Buddhist thought—among them the Yogācāra and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajñāpāramitā literature—and of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huáyán Buddhism. From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zen also began to establish a notable...

The newness of life In order to learn something new you must first accept that you do not know it. To fully understand another person, you must let go of your desire to make blind assumptions and judgments about that person. Turn down the volume and intensity of your own chattering thoughts, and you can hear the music of life. Stop expecting to see what you've always seen before, and new and wondrous beauty will appear in front of your eyes. When you continue to perform a task the exact same way you've always done it, your effectiveness cannot improve very much. Be open to new ideas and techniques, and you can vastly accelerate your performance. If you cynically think you've experienced it all, you'll close yourself off from much of life's richness. If you consider yourself smarter than everyone else, you'll be supporting and advancing your own growing ignorance. Open your mind and your heart to the newness of life that comes with each moment. There is always mo...