> Interesting but take with a grain of salt.... Edgar
>
>
> Stanford scholar tracks meditation's migration from ancient monasteries to
> modern yoga
>
> May 2nd, 2012 in Psychology & Psychiatry
>
> For many Americans, "yoga" conjures up mental images of athletic-minded
> people engaging in a simultaneous "warrior pose" while being told to focus on
> their breathing.
>
> What many yoga enthusiasts may not realize is that this athletic practice
> represents only one of the various ways in which aspects of Buddhism have
> infiltrated the secular American culture.
>
> From its start, Buddhism has emphasized the achievement of a state of
> liberation and enlightenment, which can be achieved through a variety of
> methods, including meditation. Historically, this mentally challenging
> practice has been limited to monasteries and not even utilized by the typical
> Buddhist. Over time, however, the less technical forms of meditation have
> become popular in the United States – a glimpse of which can be seen in the
> athletic practice of yoga and its focus on counting one's measured breaths.
>
> Religious Studies Professor Carl Bielefeldt has dedicated his academic career
> to the study of 13th century Japanese Zen, a tradition of Buddhism that
> emphasizes the practice of meditation. As Bielefeldt describes it, the deep
> visualization of more technical meditation could not realistically play a
> role in modern American life. "I am not going to get up in the morning and
> enter into a deep state of trance and visualize something because then I will
> be late for work, so instead I will get up in the morning and watch my breath
> in and out."
>
> Tracing the route to modern Buddhist meditation
>
> As the editor of a project to translate the scriptures of the largest school
> of Zen in Japan, the Soto Zen School, Bielefeldt is shedding light on the
> works of the 13th century Zen master Dōgen.
>
> Bielefeldt said he is providing annotation and translation of the master's
> often-obscure essays in hopes that the English translation will help his work
> to be more accessible to the international community.
>
> Buddhist meditation has taken a long journey to reach U.S. shores. While it
> technically began in China in the seventh century, it was not popular in
> countries such as Japan and Korea until approximately 1200.
>
> When Japan opened itself to the West in the 19th century, Buddhism changed
> forever. As Western ideas of religion and the academic field of religious
> studies began to flood into the country, many citizens began to view their
> spiritual practice of Buddhism as a form of religion for the first time.
>
> Not only did Western influence come into the country, but Japanese traditions
> of Zen flowed out as well. "Zen became popular in the West, but then there
> was a certain kind of feedback system where people in Japan became more
> interested in Zen, saying 'Oh, other people outside of Japan find this
> interesting, maybe there is something more to it,' " Bielefeldt said.
>
> Despite this feedback system, the movement of meditation from the monasteries
> to ordinary communities in Japan and other Asian nations did not rival the
> movement in the United States. As Buddhism moved to the western hemisphere,
> meditation began to spread into the broader cultures, even outside of the
> religious realm. Today, Bielefeldt notes, meditation is used in health care
> as a way of coping with pain and in the sports industry as a way to focus the
> mind.
>
> "We [Americans] don't really have much example, certainly to this degree, of
> a religion escaping from its religious tradition and background and community
> into the broader culture," said Bielefeldt. "We are looking at a religion
> that is going to have broader diffuse influence on American culture than any
> other major religion."
>
> Bringing meditation theory into the classroom
>
> Recently, Bielefeldt brought his broader interest in meditation into the
> classroom. His winter-quarter class on Buddhist Yoga was created to give
> students a basic understanding of meditation's role within Buddhism and
> societies across the globe.
>
> Bielefeldt connected with students through an emphasis on meditation's
> journey from Japanese monasteries to San Francisco apartments.
>
> "Meditation appeals to what is more interesting, typically, about Buddhism,"
> said Bielefeldt. "It is a religion in which we can do something, do a
> practice, a kind of utilitarian or therapeutic practice."
>
> The class focused on meditation as a form of Buddhist soteriology or, in
> other words, as a theory of salvation or "what people in the religion want or
> expect to get, hope to get, and how they get it."
>
> In class, Bielefeldt focused on the meditation path taken by some Buddhists
> to achieve this salvation. Buddhism, unlike other religions, is not a way of
> life, but rather a means to get from one state to another. "Buddhism is often
> said to be a raft that takes you from one shore to the other shore," said
> Bielefeldt. "Then you don't carry the raft with you afterwards."
>
> Buddhists generally strive to achieve the three elements of the spiritual
> discipline before they can reach their desired end state of awakening:
> ethics, mental (including meditation) and wisdom. "Meditation is a kind of
> door between the elements," said Bielefeldt. "In one sense it's a kind of
> behavior, so it has to do with ethic. In another sense it involves certain
> states of understanding, so it is connected with wisdom."
>
> While some Buddhists approach meditation through the traditional practice of
> visualization, "It is really complex and requires a lot of work," said
> Bielefeldt. "It is not a thing that you can just sit down and do on a
> Saturday."
>
> The technicality of this meditation has, for the most part, been limited to
> Buddhists in monasteries rather than ordinary practicing Buddhists. It is
> only since the 20th century that there have been concerted efforts to bring
> meditation practices out of the monasteries.
>
> Through this movement, the more popular forms of meditation have been the
> less technical ones, the "mindfulness practices." These mindfulness
> practices, however, have taken a much stronger hold in ordinary communities
> in the United States than in many Asian countries.
>
> Provided by Stanford University
>
>
> "Stanford scholar tracks meditation's migration from ancient monasteries to
> modern yoga." May 2nd, 2012.
> http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-stanford-scholar-tracks-meditation-migration.html
>
>
>
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