Meditation and Culture: The Interplay of Practice and Context

282 Pages·2015·6.381 MB·English

by  Halvor Eifring (editor)

Meditation and Culture
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Meditation and Culture
Th e Interplay of Practice and Context
Edited by
Halvor Eifring
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published 2015
Paperback edition fi rst published 2017
© Halvor Eifring and Contributors, 2015
Halvor Eifring has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Editor of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-7990-4
PB: 978-1-3500-3626-0
ePDF: 978-1-4725-7991-1
ePub: 978-1-4725-7992-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meditation and culture: the interplay of practice and context/edited
by Halvor Eifring. – 1 [edition].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4725-7990-4 (hb) – ISBN 978-1-4725-7991-1 (epdf) – ISBN 978-1-4725-7992-8
(epub) 1. Meditation. 2. Religion and culture. I. Eifring, Halvor, editor.
BL627.M396 2015
204’.35–dc23
2015019642
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments viii
List of Contributors ix
Introduction
1 Meditative Practice and Cultural Context Halvor Eifring 3
Section 1 Traveling Practices
2 Th e Daoist Adaptation of Buddhist Insight Meditation Livia Kohn 11
3 Ignatian Visual Meditation in Seventeenth-Century China
Nicolas Standaert 24
4 Modern Meditation in the Context of Science Øyvind Ellingsen and
Are Holen 36
Section 2 Competing Practices
5 Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chán Robert H. Sharf 55
6 Reverence and Quietude in Neo-Confucianism
Rur-bin Yang 76
7 Meditative Pluralism in Hānshān Déqīng Halvor Eifring 102
Section 3 Competing Cultures
8 Th e Hindi Sants’ Two Yogic Paths to the Formless Lord Daniel Gold 131
9 Inner Islamization in Java Paul D. Stange 147
10 Cinnabar-fi eld Meditation in Korea Don Baker 162
Section 4 Cultural Mosaics
11 Tibetan Chöd as Practiced by Ani Lochen Rinpoche Hanna Havnevik 175
vi Contents
12 Vedic Chanting as a Householder’s Meditation Practice in the
Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta Tradition M. D. Muthukumaraswamy 186
13 Spontaneous Th oughts in Meditative Traditions Halvor Eifring 200
Notes 217
References 242
Index 263
List of Illustrations
Figure 9.1 Th e founder of Sumarah, Sukinohartono, at his home in
Yogyakarta in 1970. (Photo: Soebagio of Ungaran). 150
Figure 9.2 Sudarno Ong at a meeting in Ungaran (near Semarang) in
1973. (Photo: Suyono Hamongdarsono). 152
Figure 9.3 Suwondo Hardosaputra (center) at a meditation meeting
in his home at Kratonan (Surakarta) in 1976.
(Photo: Suyono Hamongdarsono). 153
Figure 9.4 Sudarno Ong, with Suprapto Suryodarmo on his right and
the author on his left , at a meditation meeting at the home
of Suyono Hamongdarsono in Solo (Surakarta) in 1976.
(Photo: Suyono Hamongdarsono). 155
Figure 9.5 Arymurthy speaking to the Sumarah national conference in
Surakarta in 1973. (Photo: Suyono Hamongdarsono). 157
Figure 9.6 Zahid Hussein (center foreground) at the Sumarah conference
in Surakarta in 1973. (Photo: Suyono Hamongdarsono) 158
Figure 11.1 A monk practicing chöd at the gate of Tashilhunpo monastery.
(Photo: Havnevik 2010). 178
Figure 11.2 A mural of Ani Lochen’s lineage in Longchen Rabjampa’s
cave at Gangri Th ökar. Ani Lochen, bottom right.
(Photo: Havnevik 2001). 181
Figure 11.3 New mural at Samding with portrayals of Machig Labdron
(top left ) and some of the Dorje Phagmo reincarnations.
(Photo: Havnevik 2010) 182
Figure 11.4 Statue of Ani Lochen at Shugseb Nunnery.
(Photo: Havnevik 2004). 184
Figure 12.1 Tantric painting of sound and deities on the bodily parts.
(Photo: M. D. Muthukumaraswamy). 192
Figure 12.2 A page from Sanskrit Srirudram in Tamil script used by
practitioners. (Photo: M. D. Muthukumaraswamy). 196
Acknowledgments
Th e conference on Cultural Histories of Meditation that was the starting point for this
book was made possible by generous support from the following institutions:
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Taipei
Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo
PluRel, University of Oslo
Kultrans, University of Oslo
Th e Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo
Th e initial planning of the conference and the book took place during the fi ve months
the editor spent as a guest researcher at Research Center for Monsoon Asia, National
Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 2009.
Th e conference took place at the Acem International Retreat Centre Halvorsbøle,
Oslo, Norway, in May 2010. In addition to the editor, the organizing committee
included Svend Davanger and Terje Stordalen, both from the University of Oslo.
Th e following persons helped in the organization of the conference or assisted in
the work with the book: Wubshet Dagne, Yue Bao, Regina Cinduringtias Pasiasti,
Torbjørn Hobbel, Stig Inge Skogseth, Alexander Lundberg, and—last, but not least—
the editor’s patient and loving wife, Joy Chun-hsi Lu, who has provided much food
both for thought and for the belly along the way.
Th e editor would hereby like to express his deep felt gratitude for all kind support
from these persons and institutions, as well as others who have off ered help along the
way. Th is includes the anonymous reviewers who have given their feedback on earlier
versions of the book.
Oslo, January 1, 2015
Halvor Eifring