MEDITATION ORIGINS. Part 3 of 5.

In most Western religions, meditation takes the form of prayer - direct communion with God. On the other hand, monastic and mystic meditation prayer differs from ordinary prayer, which usually incorporates complaints and requests. Contemplative prayer, on the other hand, approaches God with humility and devotion, contemplating His holy characteristics and welcoming His presence into the meditator's heart. The ultimate goal is to completely surrender the individual ego in one with the Divine.

Contemplative prayer, the Christian equivalent of meditation, may be traced back to Jesus. For 40 days and nights, he fasted and prayed in the desert. According to Father Thomas Keating, contemplation "opens your consciousness and heart to God, the ultimate mystery, who lives in the depths of your being, beyond the mind's grasp." His centred prayer has sparked an interest in Christian meditation.

In the third and fourth centuries, the desert fathers of Egypt and Palestine were the first critical Christian meditators after Jesus. He mostly lived alone and promoted awareness of the Divine presence by repeatedly reciting a sacred word. Their forefathers, mediaeval European monks, nuns, and mystics, pioneered the contemplative practice of repeating and lingering over a scriptural passage, without thinking about or analysing it, until its deeper meaning became clear to the mind.

Monks in Greece and Eastern Europe have long used a similar approach, combining prostrations ,full-body bows, with repeating the Jesus prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ take pity on me, a sinner", until all practices vanish, exposing a profound internal silence filled with love and peace.

Mystic interpreters of the Bible have unearthed evidence of meditation dating back to Abraham, the founder of Judaism. Fasting and austere practise appear to have influenced the consciousness of the Old Testament prophets and mystics in the first few centuries A.D., concentrated on an Ezekiel vision.

Sacred phrases or lines from scripture have long been used as mantras by Jewish meditators, as have practitioners of many God-centered religions. One well-known Hasidic instructor said that repeating the phrase r'bono Shel Olam ,"master of the world", constantly brings you to oneness with God. And it is this harmony that Jewish meditation strives for.

In recent years, Eastern influences have prompted Judaism, like Christianity, to revitalise its own meditative traditions.

Sufis have worn Islamic garments since the prophet Mohammed's time in the seventh century A.D. However, according to Shabda Kahn, an American-born Sufi educator, their origins stretch far further back than Mohammed, Buddha, or other notable instructors.

Sufis claim to be a spiritual group whose primary purpose is to encounter the Divine in their hearts. Sufism's forms have evolved over time, from teacher to teacher, from geographical place to geographical area. Nonetheless, the core idea remains the same: there is nothing but God.

To prepare for more sophisticated meditation techniques, Sufis usually begin with a Darood – the recitation of a sacred word synchronised with the breath. The following practice was given by Samuel Lewis, an American-born Sufi guru who died in 1971:

1. Begin walking rhythmically, matching your breathing to your speed — four steps for each inhale and four for each exhale.

2. Repeat the phrase "toward the one" while you walk, one syllable per step, with a silent space on the fourth step.

As you walk, notice how your breathing pattern strengthens and develops.

3. Continue for as long as you like, paying complete attention.

"The Sufi practises breathing 24 hours a day," explains Shabda Kahn, a Sufi instructor trained under Lewis.

In Sufism, meditation often takes the form of quietly or aloud repeating a sacred word while breathing deeply and rhythmically – a technique known as zikr, or "remembrance of the Divine." Sufis, according to Kahn, retranslates the biblical beatitude "Blessed are the impoverished in spirit" to "Blessed are those with purified breath." When a Sufi has developed and perfected their breath, they may utilise it to submit to the divine presence in every moment – with every breath.

When Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau studied Hindu texts in English translations of German adaptations from Sanskrit, the first significant influx of Eastern teachings occurred in the 1840s and 1850s! While Thoreau retired to Walden Pond to contemplate nature, his good friend Emerson mixed German idealism, Yankee optimism, and Indian spirituality to develop his version of the Transcendentalist credo. He converted the Hindu Brahman (the divine root of being) into the Oversoul, a more universal idea.

Later in the century, the Theosophists — a predominantly Western movement led by the Russian-born Madame Blavatsky, who adapted and popularised Indian spiritual thought — made Hindu meditation texts available to the general reader. Followers of the New Thought movement practised guided visualisations and mantra meditations adapted from Eastern sources.

The World Parliament of Religions, a worldwide assembly of religious leaders and instructors held in Chicago in 1893, was a pivotal meditation event.

Asian gurus delivered their lessons directly to Westerners on American territory for the first time.

Following the meeting, various masters ,including Indian philosopher Swami Vivekananda and Japanese Zen instructor Soyen Shaku, lectured to eager audiences around the United States.

The Zen monk Nyogen Senzaki continued Soyen Shaku's effort to spread the seeds of meditation in the New World decades after the World Parliament. Swami Paramananda, a follower of Swami Vivekananda, founded centres where inquiring Americans may practise meditation and listen to sophisticated Indian spiritual teachings. In the United States and Europe, the Vedanta Society, which sprang up around the work of swamis Vivekananda and Paramananda and their students, continues to thrive. The Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. His effort evolved into the Self-Realization Fellowship, which now has adherents worldwide.

Come back tomorrow for part 4.

Be well.

We all need a helping hand from time to time. Please share this post with as many people as possible. You never know who might need it.

You Belong Here.