Buddha Shakyamuni meditating in the lotus position, India, Bihar, fly yoga in kl Kurkihar, Pala dynasty, c. Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. While these techniques are used across Buddhist schools, there is also significant diversity.

Modern Buddhist studies has attempted to reconstruct the meditation practices of pre-sectarian Early Buddhism, mainly through philological and text critical methods using the early canonical texts. According to Bronkhorst, such practices which are based on a «suppression of activity» are not authentically Buddhist, but were later adopted from the Jains by the Buddhist community. The two major traditions of meditative practice in pre-Buddhist India were the Jain ascetic practices and the various Vedic Brahmanical practices. The early Buddhist tradition also taught other meditation postures, such as the standing posture and the lion posture performed lying down on one side. Early Buddhism, as it existed before the development of various schools, is called pre-sectarian Buddhism.

Its meditation-techniques are described in the Pali Canon and the Chinese Agamas. Meditation and contemplation are preceded by preparatory practices. As described in the Noble Eightfold Path, right view leads to leaving the household life and becoming a wandering monk. Sila, morality, comprises the rules for right conduct. It includes two practices, namely cemetery contemplations, and Paṭikkūlamanasikāra, «reflections on repulsiveness». Patikulamanasikara is a Buddhist meditation whereby thirty-one parts of the body are contemplated in a variety of ways. Illustration of mindfulness of death using corpses in a charnel ground, a subset of mindfulness of the body, the first satipatthana.

Mindfulness is a polyvalent term which refers to remembering, recollecting and «bearing in mind». It also relates to remembering the teachings of the Buddha and knowing how these teachings relate to one’s experiences. The Buddhist texts mention different kinds of mindfulness practice. According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations.

Anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, is a core meditation practice in Theravada, Tiantai and Chan traditions of Buddhism as well as a part of many mindfulness programs. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena. The Suttapitaka and the Agamas describe four rupa-jhanas. First dhyana: the first dhyana can be entered when one is secluded from sensuality and unskillful qualities. According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states. Alexander Wynne further explains that the dhyana-scheme is poorly understood.

Upekkhā, equanimity, which is perfected in the fourth dhyana, is one of the four Brahma-vihara. While the commentarial tradition downplayed the Brahma-viharas, Gombrich notes that the Buddhist usage of the brahma-vihāra, originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude toward other beings which was equal to «living with Brahman» here and now. Nirodha-samāpatti, also called saññā-vedayita-nirodha, ‘extinction of feeling and perception’. These formless jhanas may have been incorporated from non-Buddhist traditions. Various early sources mention the attainment of insight after having achieved jhana. In the Mahasaccaka Sutta, dhyana is followed by insight into the four noble truths. The mention of the four noble truths as constituting «liberating insight» is probably a later addition.

The effect of cultivating the brahmavihāras as a liberation of the mind finds illustration in a simile which describes a conch blower who is able to make himself heard in all directions. This illustrates how the brahmavihāras are to be developed as a boundless radiation in all directions, as a result of which they cannot be overruled by other more limited karma. Traditionally, Eighteen schools of Buddhism are said to have developed after the time of the Buddha. The Sarvastivada school was the most influential, but the Theravada is the only school that still exists. The oldest material of the Theravāda tradition on meditation can be found in the Pali Nikayas, and in texts such as the Patisambhidamagga which provide commentary to meditation suttas like the Anapanasati sutta. The Visuddhimagga describes forty meditation subjects, most of being being described in the early texts.