Five meditations
five meditations
[五停心観] (Jpn gojoshin-kan )
Also, five meditations for stopping the mind. Five meditative practices for quieting the mind and eliminating delusion.
They are
(1) meditation on the vileness of the body,
(2) meditation on compassion,
(3) meditation on dependent origination,
(4) meditation on the correct discernment of the phenomenal world, and
(5) breath-counting meditation.
Meditation on the vileness of the body serves to eliminate greed by contemplating the impurity of the body and severing one's attachment to it. Meditation on compassion serves to eliminate anger and hatred by contemplating compassion. Meditation on dependent origination serves to eliminate foolishness or ignorance by contemplating the twelve-linked chain of causation. Meditation on the correct discernment of the phenomenal world enables one to gain an understanding that no phenomena or existences have any permanent intrinsic substance, by contemplating the five components and the eighteen elements. Breath-counting meditation serves to calm the mind by counting one's breaths.
