ABSTRACT
The trend of current research is to define meditation primarily according to the model of stress reduction. Such a model is a likely consequence of psychophysiological investigations of meditation. This chapter aims to combine data from three independent projects: a Three Month Study of intensive meditation; data collection on Advanced Western Students; and a South Asian Study of enlightened masters. The idea of a stage model came from a very detailed study of indigenous Buddhist meditation practitioners and the authoritative textual traditions in which their practices have been recorded. Eventually, a fundamental non-dual awareness will intuitively and experientially understand the operations of the mind/universe. Insight training eventually leads to a radical transformation of experience, selfunderstanding, and psychological functioning called enlightenment. According to the tradition of mindfulness meditation, enlightenment is said to result in permanent and irreversible changes in perception and experience. The tradition distinguishes between what in Western psychology might be called state and trait changes.
