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Nirvikalpa
''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the ''Yoga Sutras'' of Patanjali. In the oldest Buddhist suttas, on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind which is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions, and the Buddhist commentarial tradition on which the Burmese Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest tradition rely, it is interpreted as a meditative absorption or trance, attained by the practice of '' dhyāna''. Definitions ''Samadhi'' may refer to a broad range of states. A common understanding regards ''samadhi'' as meditative absorption: * Sarbacker: ''samādhi'' is meditative absorption or contemplation. * Diener, Erhard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashtanga (eight Limbs Of Yoga)
Ashtanga yoga (, "the eight limbs of yoga") is Patanjali's classification of classical yoga, as set out in his ''Yoga Sutras''. He defined the eight limbs as yamas (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption). The eight limbs form a sequence from the outer to the inner. Postures, important in modern yoga as exercise, form just one limb of Patanjali's scheme; he states only that they must be steady and comfortable. The main aim is ''kaivalya'', discernment of ''Purusha'', the witness-conscious, as separate from '' prakriti'', the cognitive apparatus, and disentanglement of ''Purusha'' from its muddled defilements. Definition of yoga Patanjali begins his treatise by stating the purpose of his book in the first sutra, followed by defining the word "yoga" in his second sutra of Book 1: * Sanskrit Original with Translation 1The Yoga PhilosophyTR Tatya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vipassana Movement
The Vipassanā movement, also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American vipassana movement, refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (''sukha-vipassana'') to attain stream entry and preserve the Buddhist teachings, which gained widespread popularity since the 1950s, and to its western derivatives which have been popularised since the 1970s, giving rise to the more dhyana-oriented mindfulness movement. The Burmese vipassana movement has its roots in the 19th century, when Theravada Buddhism came to be influenced by western modernism, and some monks tried to restore the Buddhist practice of meditation. Based on the commentaries, Ledi Sayadaw popularized ''vipassana meditation'' for lay people, teaching ''samatha'' and stressing the practice of '' satipatthana'' to acquire ''vipassana'' (insight) into the three marks of existence as the main means to attain the beginning of awakening and become a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autobiography Of A Yogi
''Autobiography of a Yogi'' is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda (5 January 1893 – 7 March 1952) first published in 1946. Paramahansa Yogananda was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, into a Bengali Hindu family. ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' introduces the reader to his life and his encounters with spiritual figures of both the Eastern and the Western world. The book begins with his childhood family life and follows-on to his finding his guru, to becoming a monk and establishing his teachings of Kriya Yoga meditation. The book continues in 1920 when Yogananda accepts an invitation to speak at a religious congress in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He then travels across America lecturing and establishing his teachings in Los Angeles, California. In 1935, he returns to India for a yearlong visit. When he returns to America, he continues to establish his teachings, including writing this book. The book is an introduction to the methods of attaining ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attestations reported in the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' are from the 8th century. In King Alfred's translation of '' De Consolatione Philosophiae'', it is used to refer to the immaterial, spiritual, or thinking aspect of a person, as contrasted with the person's physical body; in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50, it means "life" or "animate existence". The Old English word is cognate with other historical Germanic terms for the same idea, including Old Frisian ''sēle, sēl'' (which could also mean "salvation", or "solemn oath"), Gothic ''saiwala'', Old High German ''sēula, sēla'', Old Saxon ''sēola'', and Old Norse ''sāla''. Present-day cognates include Dutch ''ziel'' and German ''Seele''. Religious views In Judaism and in some Chr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yogi
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 The feminine form, sometimes used in English, is yogini. Yogi has since the 12th century CE also denoted members of the Nath siddha tradition of Hinduism, and in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a practitioner of tantra.Rita Gross (1993), ''Buddhism After Patriarchy'', SUNY Press, , pages 85–88 In Hindu mythology, the god Shiva and the goddess Parvati are depicted as an emblematic yogi–yogini pair. Etymology In Classical Sanskrit, the word ''yogi'' (Sanskrit: masc ', योगी; fem ') is derived from ''yogin'', which refers to a practitioner of yoga. ''Yogi'' is technically male, and ''yoginī'' is the term used for female practitioners. The two terms are still used with those meanings today, but the word ''yogi'' is also used g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Consciousness
The superconscious (also super-conscious or super conscious) is a proposed aspect of mind to accompany the conscious and subconscious and/or unconscious. It is able to acquire knowledge through non-physical or psychic mechanisms and pass that knowledge to the conscious mind.Atkinson, William Walker. (1909). ''Subconscious and Superconscious; Planes of Mind'', Progress, Chicago, 1909.Lyttelton, Edith (1931). ''Our Superconscious Mind'', Philip Allan, 1931. It therefore transcends ordinary consciousness. The term is also used to describe transcendental states of consciousness achieved through meditation and related practices, thus accessing the superconscious mind directly. Knowledge acquired by the superconscious need not be from the present or nearby, it may be from the past or future, from a physically remote present, or of beings undetectable by the physical senses. Superconsciousness is therefore offered in order to provide an explanation for psychic phenomena such as precognit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) / Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India, and who lived his last 32 years in America. A chief disciple of the Bengali yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of yoga to the West, to prove the unity between Eastern and Western religions and to preach a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality. His long-standing influence in the American yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture of Los Angeles, led him to be considered by yoga experts as the "Father of Yoga in the West." Yogananda was the first major Indian teacher to settle in America, and the first prominent Indian to be hosted in the White House (by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927); his early acclaim l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus is an American writer on Buddhism. He is a graduate of Temple University's Department of Religion, and is a specialist in '' Yogācāra''. The author of several articles and books on the topic, Lusthaus has taught at UCLA, Florida State University, the University of Missouri, and in the Autumn of 2020 he was an Associate in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. Lusthaus also collaborated with Heng-ching Shih in the translation of Kuiji's (K'uei-chi) commentary on the Heart Sutra with the Numata translation project. Lusthaus is an editor for the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, in the area of Indian/East Asian ''Yogācāra''/'' Tathāgatagarbha''. He contributed the contents of his catalogue of the major ''Yogācāra'' translations of ''Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ekaggata
Ekaggatā (Pali; Sanskrit: '' ekāgratā'', एकाग्रता, "one-pointedness") is a Pali Buddhist term, meaning tranquility of mind or one-pointedness, but also "unification of mind." According to the Theravada-tradition, in their reinterpretation of ''jhana'' as one-pointed concentration, this mental factor is the primary component in all jhānas and the essence of concentration or samādhi. One-pointedness temporarily inhibits sensual desire, a necessary condition for any meditative attainment. Ekaggatā exercises the function of closely contemplating the object, the salient characteristic of jhāna, but it cannot perform this function alone. It requires the joint action of the other four jhāna factors each performing its own special function: vitakka, vicāra, pīti, and sukha. ''Ekaggatā'' is identified within the Buddhist teachings as: * One of the seven universal mental factors within the Theravada abhidharma teachings. * One of the qualities associated wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Citta
''Citta'' (Pali and Sanskrit: चित्त; pronounced ''chitta''; IAST: ''citta)'' is one of three overlapping terms used in the '' nikaya'' to refer to the mind, the others being '' manas'' and '' viññāṇa''. Each is sometimes used in the generic and non-technical sense of "mind" in general, and the three are sometimes used in sequence to refer to one's mental processes as a whole. Their primary uses are, however, distinct. Usage The Pali–English Dictionary translates ''citta'' as heart or heart-mind, emphasizing it as more the emotive side of mind, as opposed to '' manas'' as the intellect in the sense of what grasps mental objects (''dhamma''). C''itta'' is the object of meditation in the third part of Satipatthana, also called Four Foundations of Mindfulness. ''Citta'' primarily represents one's mindset, or state of mind. It is the term used to refer to the quality of mental processes as a whole. ''Citta'' is neither an entity nor a process; this likely accoun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
