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Running head: HOW CAN MEDITATION CONTRIBUTE TO INCREASEDSTUDENT PERFORMANCE IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS?How can Meditation Contribute to IncreasedStudent Performance in Educational Settings?John Christopher HarrisonSt. John’s UniversityEDU 7297Literature Review
 
H
OW CAN MEDITATION CONTRIBUTE TO INCREASED STUDENT PERFORMANCE INEDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
?
 
2
I.
 
Introduction
The word meditation carries with it a complex set of meanings, depending on the perspective it is approached from. Generally speaking, meditation is commonly thoughtto be an introspective practice of “turning within” oneself to investigate the mind. Thereare several supposed side effects to such a practice; namely a sense of physical calm,mental peace, and the development of metaphysical understanding. Traditionally,meditation was taught as a spiritual practice, developed within the Buddhist religioustraditions of Southeast Asia to bring about certain desired mental states thought to promote the “enlightenment” of its practitioners. According to Thurman (2006), aColumbia University scholar and professor:meditation translates from the Sanskrit
dhyana, bhavana,
and even
 samadhi
,which all designate organizations of the mind-body complex considered differentfrom sensory and intellectual receptive states (as in learning) and intellectualreflective or discursive states, though they include these states sometimes.(p. 1765)Meditation was first brought into the western consciousness through a scholarlyinteraction with these eastern philosophies. Although almost every world religion canclaim to have some sort of meditative or contemplative practice included within its ritual base, it has been primarily through the Buddhist tradition that meditation was introducedto the west as a comprehensive practice unto itself.Buddhism officially came to America sometime in the 1950’s, embroiled withinthe transcendentalist curiosities of the “Beat Generation.” It was formally adopted as amajor American religious pursuit once monastic clergy from Japanese, Tibetan, and
 
H
OW CAN MEDITATION CONTRIBUTE TO INCREASED STUDENT PERFORMANCE INEDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
?
 
3Southeast Asian monasteries came to the United States to teach. Along with thedevelopment of self-inquisitive psychology and the psychedelic drug experimentation of the 1960’s, meditation grew a firm root in American soil. Since that time, the practice of meditation has branched out to include diverse practices within many fields, including psychology, medicine, therapy, social work, and education. This literature review aimsto establish a baseline for the use of meditation as an aid to student performance withinan educational or classroom setting.In order to understand how meditation can be used to increase student performance within an educational setting, it is first important to formulate a workingdefinition of what meditation exactly is. Formal meditation is best defined by looking toits origins within the traditional Buddhist literature. Initial primary source material on thesubject of meditation exists in the form Sanskrit texts that were composed in northernIndia. Many of these texts were exported and translated into Tibetan as Buddhismmigrated over the Himalayas. For our purposes, secondary texts were consulted inEnglish translation, accompanied by the commentary of various Tibetan and AmericanBuddhist teachers.Although there is substantial variation within the diverse methodological perspectives of Buddhism, most schools agree that meditation can be broadly broken intotwo distinct categories (Lamrimpa, 1992):1.
 
Samantha
 – a form of meditation, which creates a stable mind capable of focusing single-pointedly on any phenomena.
2.
 
Vipassana
 – a form of meditation in which a calm, stable mind is able to perform analysis and inquiry into the nature of reality.
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