Home›Meditative Practices›Practice Status›Living tradition, practised todayBrowse ByLiving tradition, practised todayThis page groups practices by whether they are still carried out today. Wikipedia notes that "in French, for example, sections in newspapers giving the schedule of worship for Catholic services are headed Culte Catholique," ordinary evidence of a still-living practice. Browsing this way lets a visitor tell a living practice apart from one preserved only in historical description.FactsLearn MoreLiving tradition, practised todaySourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedDisciplines of sustained, trained attention - calm abiding, insight, recitation of a formula, visualisation, fixed gazing, contemplative reading and prayer. The English word covers techniques with incompatible aims: samatha and vipassana are distinguished within Buddhism itself, and lectio divina, Sufi muraqabah and Daoist internal alchemy are not one thing under different names. 2OriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedThe modern comparative category owes much to twentieth-century Buddhist modernism, which recast meditation as a technique separable from monastic life and doctrine and presented it in that form to Western audiences; the Burmese insight movement from Ledi Sayadaw onward is the clearest case. 4StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedUsed, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed 5DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1Contested UseContested or Appropriated Modern UseWell-attestedSeveral of these disciplines now circulate detached from the traditions that transmit them - mindfulness as a secular clinical and corporate technique, yoga as exercise, meditation as a movement in its own right - and the detachment is itself contested by practitioners and by scholars. 3Learn MoreThe Meditative Practices This group holds meditative practices, the disciplines of stilling, focusing or training the mind, from breath awareness and mantra recitation to visualisation and contemplative absorption. Such practices are especially developed in the Indian and Buddhist traditions but appear across many religions. The browser will find meditative practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's technique, aim and lineage, noting how differently the traditions understand the goal of meditation.Living tradition, practised todayFilter Results53 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-800 (1)-500 (4)-400 (5)-300 (2)600 (1)700 (5)850 (1)950 (1)1042 (1)1050 (3)1100 (1)1150 (1)1227 (1)1400 (1)1499 (1)1522 (1)1650 (1)1773 (1)1800 (1)1875 (1)1890 (1)1913 (1)1955 (1)1970 (1)1974 (1)1992 (1)Unesco StatusAllInscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2)Solitary or CommunalAllPerformed alone (25)Performed alone or together (23)Performed by a gathered group (1)Performed by an officiant for a recipient (4)TraditionAllBreslov Hasidism (1)Chabad-Lubavitch (1)Church of Cyprus (1)Church of Greece (1)Eastern Orthodoxy (2)Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (1)Georgian Orthodox Church (1)Greek Orthodox Church (1)Haredi Judaism (1)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (2)Roman Catholicism (1)Romanian Orthodox Church (1)Russian Orthodox Church (1)Serbian Orthodox Church (1)Shaivism (2)Shaktism (1)Shangqing (Highest Clarity) (1)Soto (1)Sufism (3)Theravada (4)Tibetan Buddhism (6)Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1)Vajrayana (3)Zen (6)Category of PracticeAllDevotional (1)Meditative (15)Purificatory (3)Who Performs ItAllAll adherents of the tradition (29)Clergy or ordained officiants (1)Initiates only (15)Lay people (3)Monastics: monks and nuns (3)Trained or authorised specialists (2)Scholarly StandingAllA standard analytic category in the study of religion (53)CadenceAllAs the occasion requires (4)Continuous: a standing discipline, not an event (4)Daily (16)Several times a day (1)ObligationAllObligatory (1)Optional and voluntary (2)Recommended and meritorious, not required (5)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (11)Holds ElementAllAir (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 53AnapanasatiLiving tradition, practised todayAstral projectionLiving tradition, practised todayBhastrikaLiving tradition, practised todayBreathworkLiving tradition, practised todayCentering prayerLiving tradition, practised todayChinkonLiving tradition, practised todayChodLiving tradition, practised todayDeity yoga and visualizationLiving tradition, practised todayDream Yoga (Milam)Living tradition, practised todayGrounding and CenteringLiving tradition, practised todayHabs-i-Dam (Sufi Breath Practice)Living tradition, practised todayHesychasm (the Jesus Prayer)Living tradition, practised todayHitbodedutLiving tradition, practised todayHitbonenutLiving tradition, practised todayIgnatian contemplationLiving tradition, practised todayInternal alchemy (neidan)Living tradition, practised todayKapalabhatiLiving tradition, practised todayKinhin (walking meditation)Living tradition, practised todayKoan practiceLiving tradition, practised todayKyerim and DzogrimLiving tradition, practised todayLectio divinaLiving tradition, practised todayLucid dreamingLiving tradition, practised todayMeditationLiving tradition, practised todayMetta-bhavana (loving-kindness meditation)Living tradition, practised todayMicrocosmic orbitLiving tradition, practised todayMindfulnessLiving tradition, practised todayMuraqabahLiving tradition, practised todayNaam SimranLiving tradition, practised todayNadi ShodhanaLiving tradition, practised todayNoble SilenceLiving tradition, practised todayPhowaLiving tradition, practised todayRetreatLiving tradition, practised todaySamatha (calm abiding)Living tradition, practised todaySamayikaLiving tradition, practised todayShikantaza (just sitting)Living tradition, practised todaySound bathLiving tradition, practised todayStudy of KabbalahLiving tradition, practised todaySungazingLiving tradition, practised todaySusokukan (Zen Breath Counting)Living tradition, practised todayTai chi (Taijiquan)Living tradition, practised todayTaixi (Embryonic Breathing)Living tradition, practised todayTantraLiving tradition, practised todayThe Five Falun Gong ExercisesLiving tradition, practised todayTonglen (giving and taking)Living tradition, practised todayTranscendental MeditationLiving tradition, practised todayTrataka (fixed gazing)Living tradition, practised todayTrekcho and TogalLiving tradition, practised todayTummoLiving tradition, practised todayUjjayiLiving tradition, practised todayVipassana (insight meditation)Living tradition, practised todayYogaLiving tradition, practised todayZazenLiving tradition, practised todayZuowangLiving tradition, practised todaySources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. MeditationView the Source3. Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religiontier 1Lola Williamson, New York University Press, 20104. The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadawtier 1Erik Braun, University of Chicago Press, 2013View the Source5. Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experiencetier 1Robert H. Sharf, Numen, 1995View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.