Great to see meditation discussed on Hacker News. I would like to join with my two cents.
There seems to be some confusion regarding the different kinds of meditation there are, and there are lot. Within the Buddhist context there are two main types: Samatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight).
Concentration meditation calms and relaxes, and this is usually achieved by instructing the practitioner to focus on something and not to let go for the period set aside to meditate. That which is focused on (the object of meditation) can be the breath where the instruction would be :follow your breath while you meditate, a syllable - om is the classic one, a posture - by sitting in a certain way and just being fully aware or engaging in a yoga asana or even the whole body which is what mindfulness meditation seems to be about. Most people find it hard to stay with something like the breath without interruptions for 3 minutes, let alone 15, 30 or 60 minutes. If this is done long enough it becomes natural to stay with the object for any amount of time and the ability to focus increases.
Insight meditation leads to breakthroughs in the Buddhist framework. In this practice one focuses on something in one’s awareness: a physical sensation, a thought, a mental imagine or visualisation, etc... By doing this one is said to be able to realise it’s 3 Characteristics which are Impermanence, Suffering and No-Self. The breakthrough will eventually lead to Enlightenment which is the Cessation of Suffering. The capitalisation is to denote Buddhist dogma for a great explanation of these concepts and the stages one goes through please refere to: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram MD, available for free here. http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml
Traditionally, in Buddhism anyway, one builds up the ability to stay with an object with clarity for a period of time by doing concentration (samatha) and then moves on to do (vipassana)
I hope this is helpful. Meditation is an interesting topic but at this point in time it is difficult to make sense of all the jargon and perspectives. Perhaps my time reading up on this is helpful to someone in a position similar to mine a few years ago.
There seems to be some confusion regarding the different kinds of meditation there are, and there are lot. Within the Buddhist context there are two main types: Samatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight).
Concentration meditation calms and relaxes, and this is usually achieved by instructing the practitioner to focus on something and not to let go for the period set aside to meditate. That which is focused on (the object of meditation) can be the breath where the instruction would be :follow your breath while you meditate, a syllable - om is the classic one, a posture - by sitting in a certain way and just being fully aware or engaging in a yoga asana or even the whole body which is what mindfulness meditation seems to be about. Most people find it hard to stay with something like the breath without interruptions for 3 minutes, let alone 15, 30 or 60 minutes. If this is done long enough it becomes natural to stay with the object for any amount of time and the ability to focus increases.
Insight meditation leads to breakthroughs in the Buddhist framework. In this practice one focuses on something in one’s awareness: a physical sensation, a thought, a mental imagine or visualisation, etc... By doing this one is said to be able to realise it’s 3 Characteristics which are Impermanence, Suffering and No-Self. The breakthrough will eventually lead to Enlightenment which is the Cessation of Suffering. The capitalisation is to denote Buddhist dogma for a great explanation of these concepts and the stages one goes through please refere to: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram MD, available for free here. http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml
Traditionally, in Buddhism anyway, one builds up the ability to stay with an object with clarity for a period of time by doing concentration (samatha) and then moves on to do (vipassana)
I hope this is helpful. Meditation is an interesting topic but at this point in time it is difficult to make sense of all the jargon and perspectives. Perhaps my time reading up on this is helpful to someone in a position similar to mine a few years ago.