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Meditation is a practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself.〔Watts, Alan. "11 _10-4-1 Meditation." ''Eastern Wisdom: Zen in the West & Meditations.'' The Alan Watts Foundation. 2009. MP3 CD. @4:45〕 The term ''meditation'' refers to a broad variety of practices that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force (''qi'', ''ki'', ''prana'', etc.) and develop compassion,〔University of Wisconsin-Madison (2008, March 27). Compassion Meditation Changes The Brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326204236.htm〕 love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. A particularly ambitious form of meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration〔Gen. Lamrimpa (author); "Calming the Mind." Snow Lion Publications. 1995. Book on Buddhist methods for developing single pointed concentration.〕 meant to enable its practitioner to enjoy an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity. The word ''meditation'' carries different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions and beliefs.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://vitalwarrior.org/the-program/step-7-meditation/ )〕 Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate the mind in some way. Meditation is often used to clear the mind and ease many health concerns, such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. It may be done sitting, or in an active way—for instance, Buddhist monks involve awareness in their day-to-day activities as a form of mind-training. Prayer beads or other ritual objects are commonly used during meditation in order to keep track of or remind the practitioner about some aspect of that training. Meditation may involve generating an emotional state for the purpose of analyzing that state—such as anger, hatred, etc.—or cultivating a particular mental response to various phenomena, such as compassion. The term "meditation" can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state.〔 Meditation may also involve repeating a mantra and closing the eyes.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.wildmind.org/mantras )〕 The mantra is chosen based on its suitability to the individual meditator. Meditation has a calming effect and directs awareness inward until pure awareness is achieved, described as "being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself." In brief, there are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice, and many different types of activity commonly referred to as meditative practices.〔For descriptions of some of the more prominent approaches, both eastern and western, see Goleman's (1988) ''Meditative Mind'', ISBN 0-87477-833-6 and Shear's (2006) ''Experience of Meditation'', ISBN 978-1-55778-857-3, both listed in this article's bibliography.〕 ==Etymology== The English ''meditation'' is derived from the Latin ''meditatio'', from a verb ''meditari'', meaning "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder".〔''An universal etymological English dictionary'' 1773, London, by Nathan Bailey ISBN 1-00-237787-0. Note: from the 1773 edition on Google books, not earlier editions.〕 In the Old Testament, ''hāgâ'' (Hebrew: ''הגה'') means to sigh or murmur, and also, to meditate.〔Terje Stordalen, "Ancient Hebrew Meditative Recitation", in Halvor Eifring (ed.), ''Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Cultural Histories'', 2013, ISBN 978-1441122148 pages 17-31〕 When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, ''hāgâ'' became the Greek ''melete''. The Latin Bible then translated ''hāgâ''/''melete'' into ''meditatio''.〔''Christian spirituality: themes from the tradition'' by Lawrence S. Cunningham, Keith J. Egan 1996 ISBN 0-8091-3660-0 page 88〕 The use of the term ''meditatio'' as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to the 12th-century monk Guigo II.〔''The Oblate Life'' by Gervase Holdaway, 2008 ISBN 0-8146-3176-2 page 115〕 The Tibetan word for meditation "Gom" means "to become familiar with" and has the strong implication of training the mind to be familiar with states that are beneficial: concentration, compassion, correct understanding, patience, humility, perseverance, etc.〔(What is Meditation? )〕 Apart from its historical usage, the term ''meditation'' was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as ''dhyāna'' in Buddhism and in Hinduism, which comes from the Sanskrit root ''dhyai'', meaning to contemplate or meditate.〔Feuerstein, Georg. ("Yoga and Meditation (Dhyana)." ) Moksha Journal. Issue 1. 2006. ISSN 1051-127X, OCLC 21878732〕〔The verb root "dhyai" is listed as referring to "contemplate, meditate on" and "dhyāna" is listed as referring to "meditation; religious contemplation" on page 134 of 〕 The term "meditation" in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism, or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm. An edited book about "meditation" published in 2003, for example, included chapter contributions by authors describing Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.〔 In the print edition (pp. 54-55), the "Through the Ages" box describes "Christian Meditation", "Cabalistic (Jewish) Meditation", "Muslim Meditation", and others.〕 Scholars have noted that "the term 'meditation' as it has entered contemporary usage" is parallel to the term "contemplation" in Christianity,〔. Page 161 states "In Christianity, the term 'contemplation' is parallel to the term 'meditation' as it has entered contemporary usage"〕 but in many cases, practices similar to modern forms of meditation were simply called 'prayer'. Christian, Judaic and Islamic forms of meditation are typically devotional, scriptural or thematic, while Asian forms of meditation are often more purely technical.〔Halvor Eifring, "Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Technical Aspects of Devotional Practices", in Halvor Eifring (ed.), ''Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Cultural Histories'', 2013, ISBN 978-1441122148 pages 1-16.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Meditation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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