Cognitive operations in Buddhist meditation: interface with Western psychology
Contemporary Buddhism 13 (1):35-60 (2012)
| Abstract | This paper interprets Buddhist meditation from perspectives of Western psychology and explores the common grounds shared by the two disciplines. Cognitive operations in Buddhist meditation are mainly characterized by mindfulness and concentration in relation to attention. Mindfulness in particular plays a pivotal role in regulating attention. My study based on Buddhist literature corroborates significant correspondence between mindfulness and metacognition as propounded by some psychologists. In vipassan? meditation, mindfulness regulates attention in such a way that attention is directed to monitor the ever-changing experiences from moment to moment so that the practitioner attains the ?metacognitive insight? into the nature of things. In samatha meditation, mindfulness picks an object as the focus of ?selective attention' and monitors whether attention is concentrated on the chosen object so as to attain the state of ?concentration?. Nimitta that appears in a deep state of concentration resembles ?imagery? in psychology. Mindfulness consists in the wholesome functioning of saññ?. A finding by psychologists supports my view that saññ? can act as perception on the one hand and, on the other hand, it can produce nimitta ?imagery? in deep meditation where perception is suspended | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAntonino Raffone, Angela Tagini & Narayanan Srinivasan (2010). Mindfulness and the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention and Awareness. Zygon 45 (3):627-646.
Jake H. Davis & Evan Thompson (forthcoming). From the Five Aggregates to Phenomenal Consciousness: Toward a Cross-Cultural Cognitive Science. In Steven M. Emmanuel (ed.), A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.
Florin Deleanu (2010). Agnostic Meditations on Buddhist Meditation. Zygon 45 (3):605-626.
John Peter Carriero (2009). Between Two Worlds: A Reading of Descartes's Meditations. Princeton University Press.
Sharn Rocco, Shaun Dempsey & David Hartman (2012). Teaching Calm Abiding Meditation to Mental Health Workers: A Descriptive Account of Valuing Subjectivity. Contemporary Buddhism 13 (2):193-211.
Sumano (2011). The Brightened Mind: A Simple Guide to Buddhist Meditation. Quest Books/Theosophical Publishing House.
Antoine Lutz (2008). Attention Regulation and Monitoring in Meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12 (4):163--169.
Adam Moore & Peter Malinowski (2009). Meditation, Mindfulness and Cognitive Flexibility. Consciousness and Cognition 18 (1):176-186.
Ayon Maharaj (2013). Yogic Mindfulness: Hariharānanda Āraṇya's Quasi-Buddhistic Interpretation of Smṛti in Patañjali's Yogasūtra I.20. Journal of Indian Philosophy 41 (1):57-78.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-05-29Total downloads13 ( #89,057 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,847 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
