The History Of Meditation

The history of meditation dates back thousands of years, in those times it was only the higher sages that practiced meditation.

Ancient civilizations where governed by divine law and their leaders where dieties or priests.

The Eygptians and Greeks had their pharaohs, high priests and priestesses, the Native Indians and Chinese had their shamans, diviners, healers and medicine men.

There is very little recorded information of formal meditation practices by the Egyptions, however, we do know that their dreams and the messages they contained where very important to them.

People practiced dream incubation in temples that existed thousands of years ago.

They slept in the temple hoping to receive an important dream which would be eventually be interpreted by priests or prophets.

The significance of this is the rituals they performed before the person's night in the temple, such as anointing with oils, praying and fasting, which are forms of meditation.

The history of meditation tells us that the Greeks also practiced dream incubation and the rituals that where done before hand, they focused mainly on finding cures and healing, by asking Morpheus and Hypnos the gods of sleep for help.

Tribal societies lived close to nature and were exposed to the unpredictable changes of the weather and things such as drought, lightning and thunderstorms, they believed in the powerful spirit forces.

Their form of religion adopts the rituals of drumming and dancing which created states of bliss and visions, during which they could hear the voices of the spirit world.

The shaman are the specialists of these states and are able to communicate with the spirits. However these trance states are not considered to be true meditative states.

The members of the tribes of early hunter-gatherer societies developed acute intuitive abilities mainly during their hunt rituals which involved hours even days of deep calm, concentration and increased awareness as they tracked down their prey.

Achieving this state of mind is a key part of meditation.

One form of meditation for the members of the universal religions such as christianity was solitary reflection.

Meditation came from the Hindu tradition which has been around for three millennia BCE. Archaeologists have uncovered a statue dating back to that time, of a Hindu God in deep thought in what looks like a yoga position.

The Buddhist path is the one closest to meditation. Return from the history of meditation to meditation can improve your life

Custom Search

Disclaimer: If you have a serious illness and are taking medication for that illness, DO NOT STOP TAKING YOUR MEDICATION unless you are told it is safe for you to do so by your health care professional. The author of this web site in no way recommends the stopping of medication if you need to take it, use your medication together with meditation.