alizing one’s teacher as identical with one’s protective
deity (a practice called guru-yoga).
Mental culture
The above reflections are not meant to minimize the
significance of meditation as a technology of self-
cultivation meant to affect mental states and traits, as
well as the content of mind. India scholastics canon-
ized an early schema (perhaps pre-Buddhistic) that saw
meditation as combining two kinds of mental exercise.
One exercise, dhyana proper, involved techniques for
the cultivation of calm ( ́amathas ) and concentration
(samadhi), and was the main ground for extraordinary
powers, yet, by itself, it could not lead to liberation.
The other, the exercise of the cognitive faculty (jñana)
in an act of accurate perception (dars ́ana), involved the
practice of calm, clear-minded observation (vipas ́yana)
and the cultivation of discernment (prajña).
Most Buddhist meditation theories consider both
aspects of meditation necessary in the pursuit of lib-
eration, but argue that correct insight is the uniquely
Buddhist component in this joint practice. Nonethe-
less, techniques of calm and techniques of discernment
often overlap. The ABHIDHARMA, for instance, tended
to group together certain techniques and objects of
meditation that were seen as primarily means toward
the development of concentration, but could be used
as props for discernment. Many of these lists are in fact
mixed groupings of objects, styles, and states of med-
itation. One such inventory, explained by BUD-
DHAGHOSAin his Visuddhimagga(Path of Purity), lists
forty “fields” of cultivation of meditation (each is a
kammatthana,working ground). The list includes het-
erogeneous categories, such as a hierarchy of medita-
tive states (the four dhyanas), object-states (e.g., the
boundless states or brahmavihara), general objects
(e.g., material or corporeal objects), and particular
object-tools of meditation (that is, objects designed
specially as aids to meditation).
Buddhaghosa’s summary is thus a heterogeneous
list describing various technical dimensions of medi-
tation. For instance, among the “object-tools” of med-
itation are the all-inclusive or total objects, usually
identified by their Pali name kasina.This device is a
simple visual object that can become the single, neu-
tral object of attention. For instance, a red kasinais a
circle of red sand or clay that is spread out on the
ground before the meditator, who then focuses on it
until he is able to displace all thoughts from the mind
except the image of the red circle. The meditator con-
tinues the practice until he is able to keep in his mind
the red circle even when he is away from the actual ex-
ternal kasina.The outcome is regarded as a state of
perfect calm and concentration that can serve as a
foundation for special psychic powers or as a prelim-
inary to insight meditation.The mind: practices of recollection.Like medita-
tion techniques and objects, meditative states cannot
be easily classified as objects or states, processes or
supports for sustained attention, nor can they be eas-
ily distinguished into states of serenity, processes of
observation, or moments of insight. For example, the
practice of MINDFULNESS(smrti) can be used emblem-
atically for concepts that encompass concentrated
mental calm, as well as insightful observation, and that
likewise straddle the distinction between object,
process, and goal.
Broadly understood, mindful recollection includes
a spectrum of mental states and exercises that the tra-
dition conceives as “memory” or “bringing to mind”
(the literal meaning of smrti) and that overlap with
practices of watchful recollection (anusmrti). As a
superordinate term smrtirefers broadly to three related
practices: (1) vigilance with regard to one’s own de-
meanor and behavior, (2) bringing to mind (recalling)
and keeping in the mind (retaining) a prescribed ob-
ject of meditation, and (3) constantly directing one’s
attention toward, and keeping in awareness, a pre-
scribed object, especially the processes of one’s body
and mind.
The first usage, watching one’s own behavior, ar-
guably fits better in a discussion of the rules of monas-
tic conduct and consists primarily of an effort to
remain constantly aware of one’s own demeanor, bod-
ily posture, tone of voice, gaze, and so on, with a view
to keeping mind and body (thoughts and senses) calm
and restrained. This dimension of practice is totally ig-
nored in Western accounts of Buddhist meditation but
is amply described in classical literature under the
rubrics of samvara(self-restraint) and ́ikss a (training
practices). Although often found as an integral part of
monastic practice, its importance is suggested by both
its pervasiveness on the ground and by influential clas-
sical treatments in works like S ́ANTIDEVA’s BODHI-
CARYAVATARAor the Xiaozhiguanattributed to ZHIYI,
the systematizer of the Chinese TIANTAI SCHOOL.
Recollection practices of the second type (recalling
and retaining prescribed objects of meditation) may be
divided heuristically into the recollection of ideas, the
recollection of sensory images, and the evocation of af-
fective states. In the classical Indian practice ofMEDITATION