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What are the Similarities and Differences Between Prayer and Meditation?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
That's quite interesting. There are different kinds of meditation. I'm not sure all of them could be characterized as "waiting for an answer".
Ben Dhyan
Veteran Member
True it can and does, but this is true of all disciples of all religions at the beginning of most religious practices, but sooner or later so long as there is sufficient sincerity, faith, virtue, courage, and devotion, sooner or later there will be an event/process initiated known in the east as Kundalini arousal which, if it reaches a certain threshold of intensity, can't be stopped. It is this that will bring about the reintegration of the soul and the universal spirit, along with the ending of the personal self and hence the mortal life itself.
Very few ever get that far, for many are called but the ego's fear of extinction along with the severe trials and tribulations is too much for most to bear at the 'portal' of being translated. Only those who understand that this process is not one about extinction will be ultimately translated/born of the spirit/enlightened/etc..
Jeremiah
Well-Known Member
In my mind, prayer is communing with a higher source while meditation is communing with yourself.
Scarlett Wampus
psychonaut
Hmm, my legs hurt.
Did I leave the stove on?
Surely that's half an hour.
I wish that seagull would shut up.
This is great.
This is boring.
That girl at the office is pretty.
Oh, I really meditated there for a bit.
I want a drink.
Believe it or not meditation isn't really meant to be about communing with yourself.
DallasApple
Depends Upon My Mood..
I think they are identical.Except with prayer you may have one supreme being you are trying to relate with that has a name.But believe it or not prayer isnt only trying to "speak to " God..It can be just hanging or open to any answers to questions,..and to just clear the mind.
Love
Dallas
Love
Dallas
Standup Philosopher
Stand Up Philosopher
The way they are commonly practiced, prayer is talking and meditation is listening.
I'm not saying the common practice is the best, it's just common. You've got to be quiet to listen and I think we find that difficult in the West.
If you check out contemplative prayer (websites)-there is almost no difference between the two.
I'm not saying the common practice is the best, it's just common. You've got to be quiet to listen and I think we find that difficult in the West.
If you check out contemplative prayer (websites)-there is almost no difference between the two.
DallasApple
Depends Upon My Mood..
Thats very weird you say that because I have wanted to "smack' some Christians around because they were "waiting' for answers really quietly while I'm screaming..GET out of THERE ..NOW!! DUH!!!!! :sorry1:
Love
Dallas
Last edited:
ayani
member
well.... meditation can mean different things in different faith traditions, and so can prayer.
but i recall that when i was practicing Buddhism, meditation consisted of sitting quietly, stilling my thoughts, and striving to understand or know something of truth in the silence and stillness that resulted internally. other times i would consciously slow down to become more aware of my bodily sensations and feelings, and then mindfully move or see more purposefully and with a deeper attention to the interplay and unity of everything around and within me.
as a Christian, i simply talk to God. i don't understand God as a vague principal or immanent reality as i used to- something to be understood, made aware of, or united with. instead i recognize God as Father, Lord, Creator, and Redeemer. He is Someone with whom i walk and relate, and my spiritual life is focused now on personal prayer, and Bible study.
i would say that *generally* (very generally) meditation can be understood more as a mental or spiritual excercise in which the mind works towards a spiritual goal or state. prayer more often involves something dynamic and vocal- chanting, liturgies, or words offered to a god, for a multiplicity of purposes.
but i recall that when i was practicing Buddhism, meditation consisted of sitting quietly, stilling my thoughts, and striving to understand or know something of truth in the silence and stillness that resulted internally. other times i would consciously slow down to become more aware of my bodily sensations and feelings, and then mindfully move or see more purposefully and with a deeper attention to the interplay and unity of everything around and within me.
as a Christian, i simply talk to God. i don't understand God as a vague principal or immanent reality as i used to- something to be understood, made aware of, or united with. instead i recognize God as Father, Lord, Creator, and Redeemer. He is Someone with whom i walk and relate, and my spiritual life is focused now on personal prayer, and Bible study.
i would say that *generally* (very generally) meditation can be understood more as a mental or spiritual excercise in which the mind works towards a spiritual goal or state. prayer more often involves something dynamic and vocal- chanting, liturgies, or words offered to a god, for a multiplicity of purposes.
Evee
Member
I think there are a number of people who meditate while chanting, but, to be honest, I don't know what the significance is.
For myself, meditation is integral to my prayer. Without stilling my thoughts and listening to myself, how will I know what to pray for?! And if my head is jumbled with day-to-day things, how can I hear G-d's answer?
But I think the real difference is that prayer involved really talking to G-d. It's a dynamic communication. Meditation can be all alone, just you, or with G-d. That's the separation, as I practice them.
For myself, meditation is integral to my prayer. Without stilling my thoughts and listening to myself, how will I know what to pray for?! And if my head is jumbled with day-to-day things, how can I hear G-d's answer?
But I think the real difference is that prayer involved really talking to G-d. It's a dynamic communication. Meditation can be all alone, just you, or with G-d. That's the separation, as I practice them.
Scarlett Wampus
psychonaut
I feel I should say that zazen meditation, the central practice of Zen, is different enough from even contemplative prayer that it should really be distinguished as such. Contemplative prayer will produce different sorts of things than zazen especially later on. Quite different. However, they would definitely compliment each other.
Also, meditation is progressive as I'm sure contemplative prayer is. Listening is a good way to put it to begin with. Paying attention is another way and of course there is the emphasis on quiescence. As things move along it becomes more convenient to use the concepts & words that have come specifically from meditative traditions because they signify specific qualities of experience that do not have an decent equivalent in common english or western religions (though maybe somebody could challenge that assertion).
Also, meditation is progressive as I'm sure contemplative prayer is. Listening is a good way to put it to begin with. Paying attention is another way and of course there is the emphasis on quiescence. As things move along it becomes more convenient to use the concepts & words that have come specifically from meditative traditions because they signify specific qualities of experience that do not have an decent equivalent in common english or western religions (though maybe somebody could challenge that assertion).
Jeremiah
Well-Known Member
"My mind, sir, is my castle. Mind your own!" - Aristophanes
"Did I leave the stove on?
Surely that's half an hour.
I wish that seagull would shut up.
This is great.
This is boring.
That girl at the office is pretty.
Oh, I really meditated there for a bit.
I want a drink."
That is not what I was talking about and you know that full well.
"Believe it or not meditation isn't really meant to be about communing with yourself."
Believe it or not, I have my own ideas about the nature of meditation. Crazy, I know but I am big on that think for yourself gambit. Perhaps, if you'd just simply asked I would have clarified.
Simply put, meditation is concentration. Concentrating on different things have different outcomes. Traditionally, meditation is used to focus on the breath, to become stilled in oneself, and eventually to know oneself.
Prayer is a one sided communication from you to the divine. It may or may not be communicated through meditation.
Prayer is a one sided communication from you to the divine. It may or may not be communicated through meditation.
Smoke
Done here.
I don't practice extemporaneous prayer and haven't for many years. For me the main difference between prayer or chanting (whether Christian or Buddhist) and meditation / centering down / waiting in silence is that in the latter case you see what thoughts arise, and lay them aside. See where your mind goes, but don't go with it. In prayer/chanting, being focused on the chant helps keep your mind from wandering, but that's not the same thing at all. However, you can reach a point -- for instance, in saying the rosary or chanting the trisarana, when what's going on is much like what's going on in silent meditation. The chant or prayer forms a kind of background music to your meditation.
Sometimes when you're learning prayers or chants -- when I first started praying in Greek, for instance, and now when I'm learning Buddhist chants -- what's going on is very different. A lot of it is just the intellectual exercise of learning the words; it only becomes truly meditative later.
Sometimes when you're learning prayers or chants -- when I first started praying in Greek, for instance, and now when I'm learning Buddhist chants -- what's going on is very different. A lot of it is just the intellectual exercise of learning the words; it only becomes truly meditative later.