Meditation as a means to transcend the suffering of existence seems to have emerged in northern India around the fifth century BCE. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (second to fourth century CE), it is key to stilling the fluctuations of the mind, which obscure pure consciousness and higher awareness. Patanjali identifies three phases of meditation: the concerted fixing of the mind (dharana); effortlessly centered concentration (dhyana); and the transformative realization that the seer and the seen are one (samadhi). With variations, such as focusing the mind on a deity as revealed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, meditation became a pillar of most later yoga traditions.
South Asian artists often represented great sages, enlightened beings, and deities in the act of meditation to convey their spiritual attainment. The most ubiquitous signifiers of meditation, visible in sculptures and paintings throughout this catalogue, are the symmetrical, motionless postures of sitting in padmasana or standing with upright spine and arms extended downward.
South Asian artists often represented great sages, enlightened beings, and deities in the act of meditation to convey their spiritual attainment. The most ubiquitous signifiers of meditation, visible in sculptures and paintings throughout this catalogue, are the symmetrical, motionless postures of sitting in padmasana or standing with upright spine and arms extended downward.
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