Member-only story

The Philosophy of Metta Meditation

What loving-kindness meditation can teach us about ethics

Daniel Lehewych
The Apeiron Blog
8 min readMay 29, 2020

Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash

Mindfulness Meditation: A Growing Trend

Of all the world’s religions, Buddhism — in its vast manifestations — resembles that of what can be considered “philosophy” the most. That is not to say that there are not the typical elements of what we ordinary associate with religion with (namely, otherworldliness and far out their metaphysics). However, unlike most religions, the doctrines of Buddhism — most of which are referred to as sutras (aphoristic scriptures attributed to the word of the Buddha) — contain profoundly novel ethical doctrines and practical customs in which metaphysics need not be taken into account.

One of these practices is meditation. Meditation, like the different forms of Buddhism, comes in a wide variety of differing manifestations. The most popular form of meditation at the time — at least in the West — is mindfulness meditation, or, vipassana. Vipassana at bottom is simply making a strong attempt at being aware of the contents of consciousness as they are prior to our ego’s attachment to concepts towards them. So, for instance, sitting outdoors and paying attention to all of the sensations that are arising in the present moment, and not doing anything with your thoughts and/or intentions…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Published in The Apeiron Blog

An easy to read philosophical space that aims to elicit discussion and debate on matters of the universe.

Written by Daniel Lehewych

Philosopher | Writer | Bylines: Big Think, Newsweek, PsychCentral

No responses yet

What are your thoughts?