Hinduism and Meditation

Meditation in Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions often involves visual contemplation of a subtle body with a vertical axis, along which different levels of experience correspond to levels of the cosmos. Practitioners aim to awaken power rising through these levels to achieve liberation, pleasure, or power. This visualization supports the soul leaving the body at death, while some traditions emphasize non-visual pure awareness. The essay examines these practices in major Hindu tantric traditions focused on Śiva, with references to Goddess, Viṣṇu, and Buddhist traditions, noting their influence on later Yoga and modern Western transformations.

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Abstract

Abstract Meditation has been integral to Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions, in particular involving visualization or visual contemplation, practiced as part of ritual and also in its own right in order to achieve the goals of liberation from the cycle of reincarnation and also to achieve pleasure or power in this and other worlds. Visual contemplation is particularly focused on the body envisioned as being pervaded by a vertical axis at a subtle level, along which are located different levels of experience associated with different levels of the hierarchical cosmos. Power is awakened through meditation that rises up through these levels up to the very highest realization. This visual contemplation is thought to be of the subtle body as the support of the soul that leaves the physical body at death. There is also meditation without visualization that emphasizes the flow of pure awareness. This essay examines these practices in the major Hindu tantric traditions focused on the deity Śiva with some reference to the traditions of the Goddess, Viṣṇu, and Buddhism. These traditions influence the later Yoga tradition and have been transformed in the modern West.