When we think of meditation, we often think of Buddhism — of the Zen monastery, the Tibetan retreat, the mindfulness app. But stillness, silence, and contemplative practice appear in every major world religion. The forms differ dramatically. The underlying orientation — turning attention inward, away from distraction and toward something deeper — is universal.
Buddhism: The Formal Practice
Buddhism is the tradition most associated with meditation because it explicitly centers the practice as the primary path to liberation. The Buddha himself attained enlightenment through meditation, and the Pali Canon preserves extensive, detailed instructions on technique.
*Samatha* (calm abiding) develops concentration — the capacity to hold attention steadily on a single object, typically the breath. *Vipassana* (insight) uses that concentrated attention to investigate the nature of experience: the impermanence of all phenomena, the absence of a fixed self, the way suffering arises from clinging.
The goal is not relaxation — it is the clear seeing that leads to liberation from suffering.
Judaism: Hitbonenut and Hitbodedut
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly Hasidic teaching, developed sophisticated contemplative practices. *Hitbonenut* ("contemplation") involves deep intellectual reflection on the nature of God — not as academic exercise but as a practice that, at its depth, dissolves the distinction between knower and known.
*Hitbodedut* ("self-seclusion") is the practice associated with Rebbe Nachman of Breslov — speaking to God in one's own language, spontaneously, from the heart, alone. It is a deeply personal practice, more like stream-of-consciousness prayer than formal meditation, but with the same goal: direct encounter with the divine.
The Psalms themselves function as contemplative texts — slowly prayed, repeated, sat with until they open.
Christianity: Hesychasm and Contemplative Prayer
The Eastern Orthodox tradition developed *hesychasm* (from the Greek *hesychia*, "stillness") — a practice of interior silence aimed at direct experience of God's uncreated light. The 14th-century theologian Gregory Palamas defended hesychasm as authentic Christian practice, arguing that humans can experience God's energies directly, not just know about them conceptually.
In the Western church, the tradition of *lectio divina* — slow, contemplative reading of scripture — and the work of the mystics (Meister Eckhart, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila) developed a rich contemplative heritage. Thomas Keating's Centering Prayer movement revived contemplative practice for modern Catholics and Protestants.
Islam: Dhikr and Sufi Practice
Sufi tradition makes contemplation central. *Dhikr* ("remembrance") is the practice of repeating names or attributes of God — aloud or silently, sometimes in rhythmic movement — until the ordinary chatter of the ego quiets and awareness of God's presence intensifies.
The great Sufi orders each developed their own forms: the whirling of the Mevlevi dervishes (followers of Rumi), the breath practices of other orders, the silent *muraqaba* (watchful meditation) of others. All aim at *fana* — the dissolution of the individual self in the divine presence.
Hinduism: The Source
Yoga — in its original meaning — is a meditation technology. The sage Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (compiled around 400 CE but drawing on much older traditions) describe the eight limbs of yoga, culminating in *samadhi*: absorption, union with the object of meditation.
Hindu tradition contains the oldest written meditation instructions on earth — in the Upanishads (around 800 BCE), which describe the practice of withdrawing the senses, concentrating the mind, and ultimately realizing the identity of the individual self (*atman*) with the universal consciousness (*Brahman*).
The Universal Structure
Across traditions, contemplative practice follows a similar arc: withdrawal from distraction, concentration of attention, deepening of awareness, and ultimately some form of encounter — with God, with reality, with the nature of mind itself — that transforms the practitioner.
The forms are different. The invitation is the same: be still, and know.
Traditions Covered