Buddha (c. 500 BC) reached his goal of enlightenment by meditating for 49 days. Meditating was already common practice for Indian holy men in those days – and Buddha probably used buddhist meditation techniques similar to those that have been described by Patanjali.
Both religions still share many similar routes to meditation. For example, Buddhists and Hindus may chant a mantra in front of an image such as a thangka from Tibet or a picture of the Hindu goddess Kali.
Buddhism is a religion without a ‘God’, so Buddhist practice, including meditation, tends to feel especially comfortable for non-believers. Buddha became enlightened using vipassana, one of the simplest and most effective types of meditation, which focuses on breathing.
He taught his followers vipassana, and many Buddhists today meditate this way. Since his death, the word of the Buddha has spread and blossomed within different cultures. The result is many schools of Buddhism, which also teach different styles of meditation.
Buddhism helped spread the practice of meditation throughout Asia, as far East as Japan. Meditation is used in Buddhism to help the individual’s mind turn inward in order to find enlightenment.
There is some common ground between different schools, though. The Buddhist way often involves bringing meditation into everyday life. Buddhists practice mindfulness, which, simply put, means paying attention to the here and now. So if you are chopping a carrot, you focus all of your attention on the chopping of the carrot. This doesn’t mean going into a carrot-chopping trance, but simply concentrating fully on the activity. This kind of moving meditation is especially useful for highly active people.
Mandalas
Since the time of Buddha, devotees have created mandalas as a visual focus for meditation. Mandala means ‘circle’ in Sanskrit, the Indian language of holy texts. Mandalas are symbolic representations of the order of the universe, often shown as concentric circles populated by deities.
With buddhist meditation, the meditator imagines herself traveling through the circles in a spiral to reach the mandala’s centre. These works can be ephemeral, made of sand intended to blow away, or they may be built to last forever, like the great temple in Java, at Borobodur. The act of creating a mandala is often a form of meditation in itself and usually takes place with some ceremony.