"Meditation: The Path to Enlightenment?

Paper Summary:

Many authorities on how to live today might be content to merely state that there are a number of advantages to one approach over another. However, according to "Meditation: The Path to Enlightenment," simply stating that there are "many virtues" is insufficient and the work proceeds to list the 28 benefits to be gained from secluded meditation. This paper provides a personal response to "Meditation: The Path to Enlightenment," followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

From the Paper:

""Secluded meditation has many virtues." The concise epigraph above contains the essence of this essay, and it turns out that there are precisely 28 advantages to be gained from secluded meditation. It is for these reasons that all of the Tathagatas [from the Sanskrit: "Thus gone one"; those who have attained Buddhahood] continued to practice meditation even after reaching a state of nirvana. "All the Tathagatas have won their all-knowledge in a state of secluded meditation, and, even after their enlightenment, they have continued to cultivate meditation in the recollection of the benefits it brought to them in the past" (649). For many Western observers who might not appreciate the profound differences embraced by this approach to life, meditation according to these precepts appears to represent a completely different avenue to self-awareness and insight."

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