Home›Meditative Practices›Scholarly Standing›A standard analytic category in the study of religionBrowse ByA standard analytic category in the study of religionThis page groups practices by how settled their scholarly classification is. Wikipedia notes that "starting about 1920, 'cult' acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions," a term whose meaning has shifted considerably. Browsing this way lets a visitor see which practices scholars describe consistently and which remain genuinely contested.FactsLearn MoreA standard analytic category in the study of religionSourcesComments (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.A standard analytic category in the study of religionFilter Results54 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-800 (1)-500 (4)-400 (5)-300 (2)600 (1)700 (5)850 (1)950 (1)1042 (1)1050 (4)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 (26)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 (7)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 (16)Lay people (3)Monastics: monks and nuns (3)Trained or authorised specialists (2)Practice StatusAllLiving tradition, practised today (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 (12)Holds ElementAllAir (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 54AnapanasatiA standard analytic category in the study of religionAstral projectionA standard analytic category in the study of religionBhastrikaA standard analytic category in the study of religionBreathworkA standard analytic category in the study of religionCentering prayerA standard analytic category in the study of religionChinkonA standard analytic category in the study of religionChodA standard analytic category in the study of religionDeity yoga and visualizationA standard analytic category in the study of religionDream Yoga (Milam)A standard analytic category in the study of religionGrounding and CenteringA standard analytic category in the study of religionHabs-i-Dam (Sufi Breath Practice)A standard analytic category in the study of religionHesychasm (the Jesus Prayer)A standard analytic category in the study of religionHitbodedutA standard analytic category in the study of religionHitbonenutA standard analytic category in the study of religionIgnatian contemplationA standard analytic category in the study of religionInternal alchemy (neidan)A standard analytic category in the study of religionKapalabhatiA standard analytic category in the study of religionKinhin (walking meditation)A standard analytic category in the study of religionKoan practiceA standard analytic category in the study of religionKyerim and DzogrimA standard analytic category in the study of religionLectio divinaA standard analytic category in the study of religionLucid dreamingA standard analytic category in the study of religionMeditationA standard analytic category in the study of religionMetta-bhavana (loving-kindness meditation)A standard analytic category in the study of religionMicrocosmic orbitA standard analytic category in the study of religionMindfulnessA standard analytic category in the study of religionMuraqabahA standard analytic category in the study of religionNaam SimranA standard analytic category in the study of religionNadi ShodhanaA standard analytic category in the study of religionNoble SilenceA standard analytic category in the study of religionPhowaA standard analytic category in the study of religionRetreatA standard analytic category in the study of religionSamatha (calm abiding)A standard analytic category in the study of religionSamayikaA standard analytic category in the study of religionShikantaza (just sitting)A standard analytic category in the study of religionSix Yogas of NaropaA standard analytic category in the study of religionSound bathA standard analytic category in the study of religionStudy of KabbalahA standard analytic category in the study of religionSungazingA standard analytic category in the study of religionSusokukan (Zen Breath Counting)A standard analytic category in the study of religionTai chi (Taijiquan)A standard analytic category in the study of religionTaixi (Embryonic Breathing)A standard analytic category in the study of religionTantraA standard analytic category in the study of religionThe Five Falun Gong ExercisesA standard analytic category in the study of religionTonglen (giving and taking)A standard analytic category in the study of religionTranscendental MeditationA standard analytic category in the study of religionTrataka (fixed gazing)A standard analytic category in the study of religionTrekcho and TogalA standard analytic category in the study of religionTummoA standard analytic category in the study of religionUjjayiA standard analytic category in the study of religionVipassana (insight meditation)A standard analytic category in the study of religionYogaA standard analytic category in the study of religionZazenA standard analytic category in the study of religionZuowangA standard analytic category in the study of religionSources1. 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.