Acknowledgements vi

Contributors vii

Hindu, Buddhist and Daoist Meditation viii

 

The Uses of Attention: Elements of Meditative Practice 1

Halvor Eifring and Are Holen

 

Can There Be a Cultural History of Meditation?

With Special Reference to India 27

Johannes Bronkhorst

 

Words for “Meditation” in Classical Yoga and Early Buddhism 41

Jens Braarvig

 

“Creative Contemplation” (Bhāvanā) in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra 57

Bettina Bäumer ‘Sharada’

 

The First Absorption (Dhyāna) in Early Indian Buddhism: A Study of Source Material from the Madhyama-āgama 69

Bhikkhu Anālayo

 

Vipassanā in Burma: Self-government and the Ledi Ānāpāna Tradition 91

Gustaaf Houtman

 

Contemplation of the Repulsive: Bones and Skulls as Objects of Meditation 117

Bart Dessein

 

Red Snakes and Angry Queen Mothers: Hallucinations and Epiphanies in Medieval Daoist Meditation 149

Stephen Eskildsen

 

Daoist Clepsydra-Meditation: Late Medieval Quánzhēn Monasticism and Communal Meditation 185

Louis Komjathy

 

Bibliography 216

Index 235