The Oxford Handbook of Meditation

Meditation techniques, including mindfulness, have become popular wellbeing practices. The scientific study of their effects has recently turned 50 years old. But how much do we know about them? What were they developed for and by whom? How similar or different are they? How effective can they be in changing our thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and biology? What are their social, spiritual, and ethical implications?

The Oxford Handbook of Meditation is the most comprehensive volume published on meditation, written in accessible language by world-leading experts on the science and history of these techniques. It covers the development of meditation across the world and the varieties of its practices and experiences. It includes approaches from various disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, history, anthropology, religious studies, and sociology, and it explores its potential for therapeutic and social change, as well as unusual effects.

Edited by practitioner- researchers, this book is an essential guide for all interested in meditation, including teachers, clinicians, therapists, researchers, or anyone who would like to better understand this topic.

Miguel Farias, Director of the Brain, Belief, & Behaviour Lab, Coventry University,David Brazier, Director of the International Zen Therapy Institute, International Zen Therapy Institute,Mansur Lalljee, Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, University of Oxford, Jesus College, University of Oxford

Miguel Farias, BSc (Lisbon), MA (Wales), DPhil (Oxford) is the founding director of the Brain, Belief, & Behaviour Lab at Coventry University. After his doctorate in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University (2000-2004), he was a Research Fellow at Cambridge University and Oxford University (2005-2007) and a Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University (2008-2013). His work focuses on the psychobiology of spiritual practices and beliefs, and in 2017 he won the William Bier award, given by the American Psychological Association, Division 36, for his outstanding contribution to research in the psychology of religion and spirituality. He is a regular speaker at Science festivals, and his popular book with Catherine Wikholm, The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?, has been translated into various languages.

David Brazier, MA, PhD (Keele University) is president of the International Zen Therapy Institute, author of a dozen books and many chapters, monographs and articles on Buddhism, psychology and culture, a Buddhist priest, and head of a religious order. He holds professional qualifications in psychotherapy, social work and management and is an authority on Buddhist psychology. In the past he has practised as a psychotherapist and previously in social work, setting up rehabilitation schemes in the fields of mental health, respite care for the mentally handicapped, and juvenile delinquency, as well as aid projects for refugees. He lectures on Buddhism and Buddhist psychology in Europe, Asia and North & South America and supervises educational programmes in English and Spanish. He has practised meditation for over fifty years.

Mansur Lalljee BA (Bombay); BA, MA, DPhil. (Oxon.). Until his retirement, Mansur Lalljee was a University Lecturer in Social Psychology and Fellow of Jesus College, University of Oxford. After graduating with a degree in philosophy from the University of Bombay, he moved to Oxford to complete his studies in psychology, and stayed on the faculty at Oxford for the rest of his career. He has published work on a wide range of psychological issues including the psychology of respect; the psychology of explanation; religion; social and political attitudes; and interpersonal communication; and has been invited to talk about these issues at conferences and in Universities in several parts of the world. He has also held visiting appointments at Trinity College, Dublin, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and Yale University, New Haven.

ForewordPart I. Overview1. Introduction: Understanding and studying meditation, Miguel Farias, David Brazier, & Mansur Lalljee2. Meditation and the Modern Encounter between Asia and the West, Richard King3. Studying the Effects of Meditation: The First Fifty Years, Doug OmanPart II. Meditation across the World's Traditions4. Hinduism and Meditation: Tantra, Gavin Flood5. Hinduism and Meditation: Yoga, Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen6. Judaism and Meditation, Tomer Persico7. Western Christianity and Meditation, Martin Laird8. Eastern Christianity and Meditation, Cyril Hovorun9. Islam and Meditation, Scott Kugle10. Theravada Buddhism and Meditation, Sarah Shaw11. Chan Buddhism and Meditation, Caifang Zhu12. Buddhist Meditation in Tibet: Exoteric and Esoteric Orientations, Georgios Halkias13. Classical Daoist Meditation: 400-100 B.C.E, Harold D. Roth14. Daoist Meditation: From 100 CE to the Present, Louis KomjathyPart III. Varieties of Meditative Practices and Experiences14. Relaxation and Meditation, Ayesha Nathoo16. Concentration and Visualization Techniques in Buddhist Meditation, Nobuyoshi Yamabe17. The Phenomenology of Meditation: Commonalities and Divergences between Christian Meditatio and Hindu Dhyana, Carlos do Carmo Silva18. The Self in Meditation: The art of self-transformation, Jessica FrazierPart IV. Approaches to the Study of MeditationBiology and Neuroscience19. Meditation and the brain, Kieran C. R. Fox and B. Rael Cahn20. Psychophysiology of Meditation, Dusana DorjeePsychology21. Meditation and emotion, Tim Lomas22. Individual differences in meditation outcomes, Ivana Buric & Inti Brazil23 Reflections on the Role of Control in Meditation, Deane H. Shapiro, Jr.24. Psychological Theories of Meditation in Early Buddhism and S??khya/Yoga, Peter Sedlmeier and Kunchapudi Srinivas†Sociology25. The sociology of meditation, Michal Pagis26. The demographics of meditation in the United States, Conrad HackettAnthropology27. Meditation and the post-secular condition, Manu Bazzano28. Christian Contemplative Thought and Practice in the Contemporary World, Douglas E. Christie29. Goenka's Vipassana Movement: From Conversion to Disaffiliation, Masoumeh Rahmani30. Meditation in Contemporary Monastic Life, Caroline StarkeyPart V. Individual and Social Change through MeditationTherapeutic Applications31. Mental Illness Through the Lens of Mindfulness, Patricia Lynn Dobkin and Kaveh Monshat32. Mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of physical conditions, Madhav Goyal and Heather L. Rusch33. Transcendental Meditation in the treatment of mental and physical conditions, David Orme-Johnson34. Zen Therapy, David BrazierSocial Change35. Enacting Social Change Through Meditation, Ann Gleig36. Meditation and Education, Candy Gunther Brown37. Meditation in Prison, Katherine M. AutyPart VI. Debates and Controversies in Meditation38. Challenging and Adverse Meditation Experiences: Toward A Person-Centered Approach, Jared R. Lindahl, Willoughby B. Britton, David J. Cooper, Laurence J. Kirmayer39. The Dark Nights of the Soul in Abrahamic Meditative Traditions, Nathan Fisher40. Meditation sickness, Juhn Y. Ahn41. Meditation to kill and be killed by The Use of Samadhi Power Imperial Japan, Brian Victoria42. Neuroscience and meditation: Help or hindrance?, Ron Purser and David Lewis43. Meditation, Exceptional Psychophysiological Control, and Parapsychology, Etzel Cardeña