The Oxford Handbook of Meditation

Meditation techniques, including mindfulness, have become popular wellbeing practices and 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 minds and biology, what are their social 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, and sociology and it explores its potential for therapeutic and social change, as well as unusual or negative effects.

Edited by practitioner-researchers, this book is the ultimate guide for all interested in meditation, including teachers, clinicians, therapists, researchers, or anyone who would like to learn more about 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.

Foreword
Part I. Overview
1. Understanding and studying meditation, Miguel Farias, David Brazier, & Mansur Lalljee
2. Meditation and the Modern Encounter between Asia and the West, Richard King
3. Studying the Effects of Meditation: The First Fifty Years, Doug Oman
Part II. Meditation across the World's Traditions
4. Hinduism and Meditation: Tantra, Gavin Flood
5. Hinduism and Meditation: Yoga, Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen
6. Judaism and Meditation, Tomer Persico
7. Western Christianity and Meditation, Martin Laird
8. Eastern Christianity and Meditation, Cyril Hovorun
9. Meditation in the Islamic Tradition, Scott Kugle
10. Theravada Buddhism and Meditation, Sarah Shaw
11. Chan Buddhism and Meditation, Caifang Zhu
12. Buddhist Meditation in Tibet: Exoteric and Esoteric Orientations, Georgios Halkias
13. Classical Daoist Meditation: 400-100 B.C.E, Harold Roth
14. Daoist Meditation: From 100 CE to the Present, Louis Komjathy
Part III. Varieties of Meditative Practices and Experiences
15. Concentration and Visualization Techniques in Buddhist Meditation, Nobuyoshi Yamabe
16. The Phenomenology of Meditation: Commonalities and Divergences between Christian Meditatio and Hindu Dhy?na, Carlos do Carmo Silva
17. The Self in Meditation: The art of self-transformation, Jessica Frazier
18. Relaxation and Meditation, Ayesha Nathoo
Part IV. Approaches to the Study of Meditation
Biology and Neuroscience
19. Meditation and the brain, Kieran C. R. Fox and B. Rael Cahn
20. Psychophysiology of Meditation, Dusana Dorjee
Psychology
21. Meditation and emotion, Tim Lomas
22. Individual differences in meditation outcomes, Ivana Buric & Inti Brazil
23. Psychological Theories of Meditation in Early Buddhism and S??khya/Yoga, Peter Sedlmeier and Kunchapudi Srinivas?
Sociology
24. The sociology of meditation, Michal Pagis
25. The demographics of meditation in the United States, Conrad Hackett
Anthropology
26. Meditation and the post-secular condition, Manu Bazzano
27. Christian Contemplative Thought and Practice in the Contemporary World, Douglas E. Christie
28. Goenka's Vipassana Movement: From Conversion to Disaffiliation, Masoumeh Rahmani
29. Meditation in Contemporary Monastic Life, Caroline Starkey
Part V. Individual and Social Change through Meditation
Therapeutic Applications
30. Mental Illness Through the Lens of Mindfulness, Patricia Lynn Dobkin and Kaveh Monshat
31. Mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of physical conditions, Madhav Goyal and Heather L. Rusch
32. Transcendental Meditation in the treatment of mental and physical conditions, David Orme-Johnson
33. Zen Therapy, David Brazier
Social Change
34. Enacting Social Change Through Meditation, Ann Gleig
35. Meditation and Education, Candy Gunther Brown
36. Meditation in Prison, Katherine M. Auty
Part VI. Debates and Controversies in Meditation
37. Challenging and Adverse Meditation Experiences: Toward A Person-Centered Approach, Jared R. Lindahl, Willoughby B. Britton, David J. Cooper, Laurence J. Kirmayer
38. The Dark Nights of the Soul in Abrahamic Meditative Traditions, Nathan Fisher
39. Meditation sickness, Juhn Y. Ahn
40. Meditation to kill and be killed by The Use of Sam?dhi Power (???) in Imperial Japan, Brian Victoria
41. Neuroscience and meditation: Help or hindrance?, Ron Purser and David Lewis
42. Meditation, Exceptional Psychophysiological Control, and Parapsychology, Etzel Carde?a
43. Reflections on the role of control in meditation, Deane H. Shapiro, Jr.