To Meditate Image Theory

Meditation is the key issue in Buddhism. As a rational and practical religion, the rich Buddhist philosophy is deeply rooted in the practice of meditation. The study of meditation is driven by an intense concern of the Chinese Buddhism as a whole. Meditation is the source of Buddhist wisdom. Taixu held that the major Chinese Buddhist schools such as the Tiantai school and the Huayan school all owe their wisdom and confidence to their intense practice of meditation.However, following the track of the development of the Chinese Buddhism, it is not difficult to find the general trend of theoretical abstraction and simplification in practice. The Tiantai and particularly the Huayan sect represents the former trend whilst the Chan school and Pureland school which advocates the simple repetition of the name of Amitaba Buddha represents the latter. In the historical process of theoretical abstraction, a lot of valuable and effective ways of practice have been lost or forgotten. The value and meaning of the religion have been degraded, as a result, there are too much misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Buddhism today.Ever since the introduction of Buddhism into China, generations of dedicated masters and scholars, with their great religious inspiration and historical sense, had shown deep interest in the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation. From the ancient masters of Daoan and Huiyuan till the modern masters and scholars like Xuyun, Ouyang jingwu, Taixu, lvcheng and even some other living masters and scholars, their exists a tradition of treasuring the value of the study and practice of Buddhist meditation. This is because they all know well that the issue of meditation is crucial for the very existence and basic value of Buddhism .The core of meditation is mental picture. As the content and result of meditation, it embraces both concrete pictures and abstract philosophy. Accordingly meditation can be classified into theoretical and pictorial. The former is so familiar in the Chinese Buddhist tradition that it had resulted in a lot of misunderstanding and even ignorance of Buddhism. Many have turned the serious and earnest practice of Buddhism into a game of intelligence or a moral theory. On the other hand, pictorial meditation, which is characterized with systematic and serial methods of progress, had long been ignored. This shows the arrogance of reason against our religious tradition.The paper mainly explores the method, content, and principles of pictorialmeditation, in order to reveal the rich treasure of Buddhist tradition. At the same time, the close relation between the philosophical side and religious side of meditation is revealed. The relation finds its expression in the combination of the meditation of theory and pictures in which the two sides become one. Mental pictures are religious expressions of the intangible theory, while theory is the means to interpret essence of objects of meditation, and the tool to transcend the mental pictures and even the whole world.As regard the systematic studies of meditation, Ouyang jingwu has his root in the Yogacaraabhumi-sastra, Lvcheng has his in the Qingjing dao lun or Jie tuo dao lun, and Taixu had his source in the Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan schools of China, majoring in Tiantai and its origin the Madhyamika school. The paper, using the three major schools of studies of meditation as a reference, digs into detailed research of basic types of meditation. Different interpretations of different types of meditation are revealed, and in turn, different methods and contents of meditation are clarified.A series of typically religious and representative contents and methods of meditation have been chosen. Major source comes from the early translations on meditation done by An shigao, Kumarajiva and Fotuoba tuoluo etc. These sutras have a longer history than the late systematic and highly theoretical works on meditation, therefore, they are more authentic, more reliable and perhaps had a real lineage of teaching. This makes them more valuable for researchers in this field. Some modern analysis and interpretations of these types of meditation have also been added in order to show the modern impact of them. At the end of the paper, an exemplary analysis is offered to show the close relation between the philosophical and religious side in the practice of Buddhist meditation. This is a new method to approach the issue.The close exploration of the subject of mental pictures in meditation gives insight to the better understanding of the generation and cultivation of Buddhist wisdom. It can also throw a new light in the analysis of the development and fate of the Chinese Buddhism as a whole. It is only through serious practice can people have a real good understanding of Buddhism. In this information and commercial age, both Buddhism study and practice are facing unprecedented challenges. So it is necessary to turn to the core of our tradition to find more powerful support for Buddhism. At last, the study of Buddhist meditation can help find a way for people to tear away from frivolous and superficial living style, go deep in life, feel the joy of meditation andgain wisdom. All these have to be done through mental pictorial and theoretical meditation.