Relationship between Buddhist meditation and better life
In this section, the effects of Buddhist meditation are assessed in terms of three categories, which are psychological effects, social effects and physical effects respectively. If the practice of Buddhist meditation can make improvements in the above areas, it can be summarized that Buddhist meditation is positively related to a better life.
Psychological effects
Psychological effects mainly focus on the impacts brought by Buddhist meditation on people’s emotions.
Both Samatha and Vipassana meditation utilize a variety of meditation methods to counteract different negative affects and develop positive emotions.
For Samatha meditation, Anapana meditation counterbalances distraction
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It produces positive psychological effects to ordinary people.
Social effects
Social effects mainly refer to the influence brought by Buddhist meditation on people’s relationship with others.
The positive emotions and thoughts brought by the Samatha and Vipassana meditation facilitate the building up of good liaison with others. For instance, the loving and kindness, compassion and wisdom brought by the Buddhist meditation foster the development of great bonding with people.
In particular, metta meditation makes people become dear to human beings around them. Building relationship with others is a dynamic process. If one loves others, they will love him back in return. Moreover, metta meditation improves people’s facial expression. Their appearance becomes more adorable since they are often joyful and having peace in the mind. The benevolent and compassionate personalities possessed by people after metta meditation attracts others to be friends with
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In other words, the benefits caused by Buddhist meditation fulfill the criteria of subjective wellbeing, which includes personality, outlook, the quality of people’s social relationships and their ability to meet the basic needs. Through the various improvements in practitioners’ lives, it is suggested that Buddhist meditation is positively related to a better life.
However, it should be noted that the conclusion drawn from this essay is not absolute since the impacts of Buddhist meditation on individuals vary. Furthermore, the measurement of wellbeing is complex because individuals place different importance on each factor. One may place more importance on financial sustainability, whilst others may emphasize on the quality of their social relationship (Waldron 2010).
As a result, extensive surveys and scientific researches on how the lives of meditators change after practicing Buddhist meditation should be