Home›Meditative Practices›Solitary or Communal›Performed alone or togetherBrowse ByPerformed alone or togetherThis page groups practices by whether they are carried out alone or with others. Wikipedia distinguishes "communal rites, whether of worship, where a community comes together to worship" from "rites of personal devotion, where an individual worships, including prayer and pilgrimages." Browsing this way lets a visitor separate a group ceremony from a practice one person performs alone.FactsLearn MorePerformed alone or togetherSourcesComments (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.Performed alone or togetherFilter Results23 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-800 (1)-500 (2)-400 (4)-300 (2)700 (2)950 (1)1150 (1)1227 (1)1499 (1)1650 (1)1890 (1)1974 (1)1992 (1)Unesco StatusAllInscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2)TraditionAllEastern Orthodoxy (1)Haredi Judaism (1)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (1)Shaivism (2)Shaktism (1)Shangqing (Highest Clarity) (1)Soto (1)Sufism (2)Theravada (4)Vajrayana (1)Zen (6)Category of PracticeAllMeditative (8)Who Performs ItAllAll adherents of the tradition (16)Initiates only (3)Lay people (3)Monastics: monks and nuns (1)Practice StatusAllLiving tradition, practised today (23)Scholarly StandingAllA standard analytic category in the study of religion (23)CadenceAllAs the occasion requires (1)Continuous: a standing discipline, not an event (2)Daily (12)ObligationAllObligatory (1)Optional and voluntary (1)Recommended and meritorious, not required (2)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (2)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 23AnapanasatiPerformed alone or togetherBreathworkPerformed alone or togetherCentering prayerPerformed alone or togetherHabs-i-Dam (Sufi Breath Practice)Performed alone or togetherKinhin (walking meditation)Performed alone or togetherKoan practicePerformed alone or togetherMeditationPerformed alone or togetherMetta-bhavana (loving-kindness meditation)Performed alone or togetherMindfulnessPerformed alone or togetherNaam SimranPerformed alone or togetherRetreatPerformed alone or togetherSamatha (calm abiding)Performed alone or togetherSamayikaPerformed alone or togetherShikantaza (just sitting)Performed alone or togetherStudy of KabbalahPerformed alone or togetherSusokukan (Zen Breath Counting)Performed alone or togetherTai chi (Taijiquan)Performed alone or togetherTantraPerformed alone or togetherThe Five Falun Gong ExercisesPerformed alone or togetherUjjayiPerformed alone or togetherVipassana (insight meditation)Performed alone or togetherYogaPerformed alone or togetherZazenPerformed alone or togetherSources1. 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.