Patriarch meditation’ and ‘tathagatha meditation’ in vietnam: a comparative investigation based on satipatthana

Buddhist meditation techniques have become increasingly popular in the wider world, with many non-Buddhists taking them up for a variety of reasons. There is considerable homogeneity across meditative practices – such as breath meditation and various recollections. In the Theravāda tradition alone, there are over fifty methods for developing mindfulness and forty for developing concentration, while in the Tibetan tradition there are thousands of visualization meditations. Most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school-specific. In this paper, I try to figure out two popular traditions of meditation which Vietnamese Buddhists are following and practicing for the purpose of enlightenment and salvation: ‘Tathagatha Meditation’ and ‘Patriarch Meditation’.