Similarities+of+Hindu+and+Buddhist+Meditation

Back to home There are many similarities and differences of Hindu and Buddhist meditation.

__Similarities__
Buddhism and Hinduism both use meditation as a way to slow things down and get into a state of deep relaxation. They try to cut out all of the outside distractions and focus their attention. The goal of both is to overcome an illusion, although the illusions differ. Hindus's goal is to overcome Maya, and Buddhists's goal is to overcome self permanence.

__Differences__
One of the major differences of meditation is the silence factor. For Hindu meditation, silence is a necessity. For Buddhism, however, they can tune out all noise around them and still meditate. Hindu meditation is more focused on breaking through Maya, whereas Buddhism is more focuses on finding yourself and understanding impermanence.

__History of Meditation__
Surprisingly enough, meditation wasn't first used by Buddhists. In ancient times, meditation was come across when hunters found themselves in a strange type of consciousness by staring into the flame of a fire. The earliest recorded time that meditation was used dates back to around 5,000 years ago. It was recorded in "tantras" which is an Indian text. This was actually before Buddhism was created. Actually, Buddhism came about due to a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who reached Nirvana during a deep state of meditation. This was around 500 B.C. and was the start of a much greater spread of meditation that stretched across many parts of Asia. http://www.mcbrien.plus.com/liam/img/photos/flames2.jpg