A (very) brief history of meditation
Meditation practice has been with us for centuries. We find meditation throughout human history, in many different cultures, evolving over time, intimately woven into the ways we perceive and understand ourselves and the world around us.
It has been theorised that the origins of meditation lie as far back as the earliest humans, who likely stumbled upon meditative or trance-like states through experiences with fire gazing and rhythmic drumming. Using these methods to achieve altered, trance-like states, prehistoric humans likely found methods by which they could explore inner consciousness. It may even be the case that in these explorations the seeds of symbolism and abstract thinking were sown, setting the stage for the development of the modern human mind.
Meditation-like practices served an important role too in Shamanism, one of the most ancient and widely practiced spiritual traditions in human history. A shaman would serve as a community’s intermediary between the human and spirit worlds, leading and performing rituals and ceremonies in order to seek guidance, perform healing, or solve problems. Meditation-like practices were integral to their role, allowing them to access the altered states of awareness necessary to commune with the spiritual essence or consciousness ancient people believed all natural objects and forces possessed.
One of the earliest documented records of meditation comes from ancient India. Around 1500 BC, the Vedas, a collection of sacred Hindu scriptures, included hymns and mantras designed to cultivate meditative states of mind. Early Indian practitioners recognised the profound effects of meditation and began to set out various techniques including yogic meditation practices. These foundations led to future developments, including the Hindu Tantra tradition which arose around the 4th century AD.
Buddhism is one of the world’s major faiths, with between 400 and 500 million followers across the globe. It was founded around 500 BC, by an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama. Disillusioned by the discovery of poverty and illness beyond his protected surroundings he embarked on a journey of spiritual education and discovery leading to his awakening from the sleep of existential confusion and becoming the Buddha. Meditation plays a central and essential role in Buddhism. It is a key practice helping followers develop mindfulness, insight, and a deeper understanding of the nature of reality. In Buddhism, meditation is used to stimulate a process of change and development toward the goal of Enlightenment or Nirvana.
In the period between the 6th and 12th centuries as Buddhism spread to East Asia, it gave rise to Zen Buddhism. Zen has a tight focus on meditation practice, or Zazen, as the route to realising our inherent Buddha nature. It instructs that practitioners seek through meditation that direct unmediated experience essential to unveil the true nature of existence, and reject scripture and other forms of religious observance. Zen has proven a powerful influence on wider Japanese culture, as well as global culture more broadly.
At roughly the same time as the beginnings of Buddhism in India, one of the key texts in Taoism, an ancient philosophical and spiritual tradition originating in China, was written by Lao Tzu. The ‘Tao Te Ching’ offers guidance on how to live a balanced and fulfilling life, emphasising "effortless action" (wu-wei), humility, and the cultivation of inner peace. Taoism integrates forms of meditation practice and is centred around the concept of "Tao" or "Dao," representing the fundamental and unchanging principle of the universe. Taoism's ideas continue to be influential today and have gained popularity in the West for their emphasis on simplicity, mindfulness, and living in harmony with nature.
In approximately the second century AD the first monks of the Christian tradition were living in desert areas of the middle east, adopting a lifestyle focused on the renunciation of ordinary life for an existence of quiet reflection and meditation as a way to commune with God. Contemplative meditation in various forms has continued to be used widely in the Christian tradition throughout its history, despite the suppression of the practice by the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century.
Similarly, in both the Islamic and Jewish traditions meditative practice has found a place with followers seeking states of heightened spiritual awareness and experiences of the divine. Around 1000AD within the Islamic world, Sufism, a mystical and pious strand of the religion, incorporated such practices. And in Judaism at around the same time we can see the arising of Kabbalistic meditation, which continues to be popular in the modern world.
In the 20th century, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi popularised Transcendental Meditation, a type of meditation that originates from ancient Hindu traditions. The practice focuses on the repetition of a specific and personal mantra, provided by an approved teacher, which it is believed leads to a transcendental state of consciousness. Transcendental Meditation gained significant popularity in the West through becoming associated with the wider counter-cultural social movements of the 1960s. It remains one of the most widely practiced forms of meditation, as well as being one of the most thoroughly researched.
In the most recent decades, Mindfulness meditation has gained widespread popularity in the Western world. Drawing inspiration from Buddhism and Zen, Mindfulness emphasises the cultivation of present-moment awareness and non-judgmental observation of thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness has proliferated in modern Western culture through a seemingly ever widening set of applications. From sports coaching to workplace wellness, from pain management to financial management, Mindfulness can often appear to be the secular Swiss army knife of self improvement. However, it has demonstrated robust and verifiable results in significant areas, not least through the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme originally devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn and now used in over 200 centres in the United States to support patients struggling with stress, pain and illness. Mindfulness is increasingly becoming integrated into care pathways in the NHS too, having been recognised as holding significant potential.