TIBETAN TYPES OF MEDITATION
The picture is reproduced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GSeWdjyr1c
Tibetan meditation is mainly founded on Theraveda Buddhism and Tibetan Lamaism. Nevertheless, the Tibetans also lay much emphasis on the Bodhisattva ideal, the essence of which is to help others.
The primary purpose of meditation is to achieve clarity of mind to serve as the basis for religious fulfillment. They believe in rebirths, whereby the mind is transmitted from one life to another. The main aim is to cultivate the mind so that it will have a good path in successive lifetimes, or in this lifetime it can break away from the cyclic existence.
Tibetan techniques are usually shrouded in secrecy. The following meditation technique, however, is clearly explained, in condensed form here, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself:
Sit in either the full or half cross-legged posture... The backbone is to be straightened like an arrow; the neck is to be bent just a little downward; aim the eyes over the nose to the front; attach the tongue to the roof of the mouth; leave your lips and teeth as usual; and leave your arms a little loose, not forcing them against the body.
If your mind is involved with desire or hatred, it is necessary first to engage in a technique to loosen from it. Meditation on the inhalation and the exhalation of the breath up to a count of twenty-one is the prime means for doing so ... Then, it is necessary to form a virtuous motivation of compassion and altruism, wishing to help others ...
Do not let your mind think about what has happened in the past, nor let it chase after things that might happen in the future; rather, leave the mind vivid, without any constructions, just as it is... If, rather than the mind, you use an external object of observation ... visualize it mentally, causing an internal image of it to appear in the mind.
Tibetan meditation is also well known for its development of psychic powers. Lobsang Rampa in many of his books, like "The Third Eye" and "The Cave of the Ancients", suggests that supernormal abilities like telepathy, clairvoyance and astral travel are quite common among the Tibetans.
It is also reported that some Tibetan meditators seal off their doors and windows, thereby absolutely cutting themselves off from the outside world. Hence, either they must succeed in their meditation training and be liberated in their astral bodies or other means, or they perish in their self-imprisoned cells. The use of sounds and mystical designs is also quite common in their meditation techniques.
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