pure consciousness, beyond any attachment or aversion. the practitioner strives to be just a knower-seer (gyata-drashta). jain meditation can be broadly categorized to dharma dhyana and shukla dhyana. jainism uses meditation techniques such as pindāstha-dhyāna, padāstha-dhyāna, rūpāstha-dhyāna, rūpātita-dhyāna, and savīrya-dhyāna. in padāstha dhyāna one focuses on a mantra. a mantra could be either a combination of core letters or words on deity or themes. there is a rich tradition of mantra in jainism. all jain followers irrespective of their sect, whether digambara or svetambara, practice mantra. mantra chanting is an important part of daily lives of jain monks and followers. mantra chanting can be done either loudly or silently in mind. contemplation is a very old and important meditation technique. the practitioner meditates deeply on subtle facts. in agnya vichāya, one contemplates on seven facts – life and non-life, the inflow, bondage, stoppage and removal of karmas, and the final accomplishment of liberation. in apaya vichāya, one contemplates on the incorrect insights one indulges, which eventually develops right insight. in vipaka vichāya, one reflects on the eight causes or basic types of karma. in sansathan vichāya, one thinks about the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of the soul. buddhism bodhidharma practicing zazen buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward awakening and nirvana. the closest words for meditation in the classical languages of buddhism are bhāvanā ("development"), and the core practices of body contemplations (repulsiveness and cemetery contemplations) and anapanasati (mindfulness of in-&-out breathing) culminating in jhāna/dhyāna or samādhi. while most classical and contemporary buddhist meditation guides are school-specific, the root meditative practices of various body recollections and breath meditation have been preserved and transmitted in almost all buddhist traditions, through buddhist texts like the satipatthana sutta and the dhyana sutras, and through oral teacher-student transmissions. these ancient practices are supplemented with various distinct interpretations of, and developments in, these practices. the theravāda tradition stresses the development of samatha and vipassana, postulating over fifty methods for developing mindfulness based on the satipatthana sutta, and forty for developing concentration based on the visuddhimagga. the tibetan tradition incorporated sarvastivada and tantric practices, wedded with madhyamaka philosophy, and developed thousands of visualization meditations. via the dhyana sutras, which are based on the sarvastivada-tradition, the zen-tradition incorporated mindfulness and breath-meditation. downplaying the "petty complexities" of satipatthana and the body-recollections (but maintaining the awareness of immanent death), the early chan-tradition developed the notions or practices of wu nian ("no thought, no "fixation on thought, such as one's own views, experiences, and knowledge") and fēi sīliàng (非思量, japanese: hishiryō, "nonthinking"); and kanxin ("observing the mind") and shou-i pu i (守一不移, "maintaining the one without wavering," turning the attention from the objects of experience, to the nature of mind, the perceiving subject itself, which is equated with buddha-nature. the silk road transmission of buddhism introduced meditation to other asian countries, reaching china in the 2nd century ce, and japan in the 6th century ce. in the modern era, buddhist meditation techniques have become popular in the wider world, due to the influence of buddhist modernism on asian buddhism, and western lay interest in zen and the vipassana movement, with many non-buddhists taking-up meditative practices. the modernized concept of mindfulness (based on the buddhist term sati) and related meditative practices have in turn led to mindfulness based therapies. dhyana dhyana may have been an original contribution of gautama buddha (5th cent. bce), the founder of buddhism. while often presented as a form of focused attention or concentration, as in buddhagosa's theravada classic the visuddhimagga ("path of purification, 5th c. ce), according to a number contemporary scholars and scholar-practitioners, it is actually a description of the development of perfected equanimity and mindfulness, apparently induced by satipatthana, an open monitoring of the breath, without trying to regulate it. the same description, in a different formula, can be found in the bojjhanga, the "seven factors of awakening," and may therefore refer to the core program of early buddhist bhavana. according to vetter, dhyana seems to be a natural development from the sense-restraint and moral constrictions prescribed by the buddhist tradition. samatha and vipassana the buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice or bhavana, namely samatha ("calm," "serenity" "tranquility") and vipassana (insight). as the developing tradition started to emphasize the value of liberating insight, and dhyana came to be understood as concentration, samatha and vipassana were understood as two distinct meditative techniques. in this understanding, samatha steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates the mind, while vipassana enables one to see, explore and discern "formations" (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates). according to this understanding, which is central to theravada orthodoxy but also plays a role in tibetan buddhism, through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to weaken the obscuring hindrances and bring the mind to a collected, pliant, and still state (samadhi). this quality of mind then supports the development of insight and wisdom (prajñā) which is the quality of mind that can "clearly see" (vi-passana) the nature of phenomena. what exactly is to be seen varies within the buddhist traditions. in theravada, all phenomena are to be seen as impermanent, suffering, not-self and empty. when this happens, one develops dispassion (viraga) for all phenomena, including all negative qualities and hindrances and lets them go. it is through the release of the hindrances and ending of craving through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberation. hinduism a statue of patañjali practicing dhyana in the padma-asana at patanjali yogpeeth. there are many schools and styles of meditation within hinduism. in pre-modern and traditional hinduism, yoga and dhyana are practised to recognize 'pure awareness', or 'pure consciousness', undisturbed by the workings of the mind, as one's eternal self. in advaita vedanta jivatman, individual self, is recognized as illusory, and in reality identical with the omnipresent and non-dual ātman-brahman. in the dualistic yoga school and samkhya, the self is called purusha, a pure consciousness undisturbed by prakriti, 'nature'. depending on the tradition, the liberative event is named moksha, vimukti or kaivalya. one of the most influential texts of classical hindu yoga is patañjali's yoga sutras (c. 400 ce), a text associated with yoga and samkhya, which outlines eight limbs leading to kaivalya ("aloneness"). these are ethical discipline (yamas), rules (niyamas), physical postures (āsanas), breath control (prāṇāyama), withdrawal from the senses (pratyāhāra), one-pointedness of mind (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and finally samādhi. later developments in hindu meditation include the compilation of hatha yoga (forceful yoga) compendiums like the hatha yoga pradipika, the development of bhakti yoga as a major form of meditation, and tantra. another important hindu yoga text is the yoga yajnavalkya, which makes use of hatha yoga and vedanta philosophy. sikhism in sikhism, simran (meditation) and good deeds are both necessary to achieve the devotee's spiritual goals; without good deeds meditation is futile. when sikhs meditate, they aim to feel god's presence and emerge in the divine light. it is only god's divine will or order that allows a devotee to desire to begin to meditate. nām japnā involves focusing one's attention on the names or great attributes of god. taoism centering the mind 中心圖, 1615 xingming guizhi "gathering the light", taoist meditation from the secret of the golden flower taoist meditation has developed techniques including concentration, visualization, qi cultivation, contemplation, and mindfulness meditations in its long history. traditional daoist meditative practices were influenced by chinese buddhism from around the 5th century and influenced traditional chinese medicine and the chinese martial arts. livia kohn distinguishes three basic types of taoist meditation: "concentrative", "insight", and "visualization". ding 定 (literally means "decide; settle; stabilize") refers to "deep concentration", "intent contemplation", or "perfect absorption". guan 觀 (lit. "watch; observe; view") meditation seeks to merge and attain unity with the dao. it was developed by tang dynasty (618–907) taoist masters based upon the tiantai buddhist practice of vipassanā "insight" or "wisdom" meditation. cun 存 (lit. "exist; be present; survive") has a sense of "to cause to exist; to make present" in the meditation techniques popularized by the taoist shangqing and lingbao schools. a meditator visualizes or actualizes solar and lunar essences, lights, and deities within their body, which supposedly results in health and longevity, even xian 仙/仚/僊, "immortality". the (late 4th century bce) guanzi essay neiye "inward training" is the oldest received writing on the subject of qi cultivation and breath-control meditation techniques. for instance, "when you enlarge your mind and let go of it, when you relax your vital breath and expand it, when your body is calm and unmoving: and you can maintain the one and discard the myriad disturbances. ... this is called "revolving the vital breath": your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly." the (c. 3rd century bce) taoist zhuangzi records zuowang or "sitting forgetting" meditation. confucius asked his disciple yan hui to explain what "sit and forget" means: "i slough off my limbs and trunk, dim my intelligence, depart from my form, leave knowledge behind, and become identical with the transformational thoroughfare." taoist meditation practices are central to chinese martial arts (and some japanese martial arts), especially the qi-related neijia "internal martial arts". some well-known examples are daoyin "guiding and pulling", qigong "life-energy exercises", neigong "internal exercises", neidan "internal alchemy", and taijiquan "great ultimate boxing", which is thought of as moving meditation. one common explanation contrasts "movement in stillness" referring to energetic visualization of qi circulation in qigong and zuochan "seated meditation", versus "stillness in movement" referring to a state of meditative calm in taijiquan forms. also the unification or middle road forms such as wuxingheqidao that seeks the unification of internal alchemical forms with more external forms. judaism judaism has made use of meditative practices for thousands of years. 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 tanakh (the hebrew bible) that the prophets meditated. in the old testament, there are two hebrew words for meditation: hāgâ (hebrew: הגה), to sigh or murmur, but also to meditate, and sîḥâ (hebrew: שיחה), to muse, or rehearse in one's mind. classical jewish texts espouse a wide range of meditative practices, often associated with the cultivation of kavanah or intention. the first layer of rabbinic law, the mishnah, describes ancient sages "waiting" for an hour before their prayers, "in order to direct their hearts to the omnipresent one (mishnah berakhot 5:1). other early rabbinic texts include instructions for visualizing the divine presence (b. talmud sanhedrin 22a) and breathing with conscious gratitude for every breath (genesis rabba 14:9). one of the best-known types of meditation in early jewish mysticism was the work of the merkabah, from the root /r-k-b/ meaning "chariot" (of god). some meditative traditions have been encouraged in kabbalah, and some jews have described kabbalah as an inherently meditative field of study. kabbalistic meditation often involves the mental visualization of the supernal realms. aryeh kaplan has argued that the ultimate purpose of kabbalistic meditation is to understand and cleave to the divine. meditation has been of interest to a wide variety of modern jews. in modern jewish practice, one of the best known meditative practices is called "hitbodedut" (התבודדות, alternatively transliterated as "hisbodedus"), and is explained in kabbalistic, hasidic, and mussar writings, especially the hasidic method of rabbi nachman of breslav. the word derives from the hebrew word "boded" (בודד), meaning the state of being alone. another hasidic system is the habad method of "hisbonenus", related to the sephirah of "binah", hebrew for understanding. this practice is the analytical reflective process of making oneself understand a mystical concept well, that follows and internalises its study in hasidic writings. the musar movement, founded by rabbi israel salanter in the middle of the nineteenth-century, emphasized meditative practices of introspection and visualization that could help to improve moral character. conservative rabbi alan lew has emphasized meditation playing an important role in the process of teshuvah (repentance). jewish buddhists have adopted buddhist styles of meditation. christianity saint pio of pietrelcina stated: "through the study of books one seeks god; by meditation one finds him." christian meditation is a term for a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to get in touch with