Buddhist meditation takes many different forms and is taught in many different ways. Each form is practiced with slight variations according to the specific sect from which it originates and the teacher who transmits it.

Every type of Buddhist meditation has the same basic purpose: to discipline the mind and to help sentient being achieve freedom and release from suffering by practicing a ritual of awareness and detachment.

Any form of meditation can be physically and spiritually beneficial, not just Buddhist meditation. Meditation can originate from the Buddhist religious tradition, from Hindu traditions, from New Age or pagan disciplines, or from Christian monastic traditions. 

Most forms of Buddhist mediation have achieved some degree of popularity in the West, especially in the U.S. where Buddhism has become quite popular in recent years. Ironically, in eastern countries, Buddhist meditation is not always practiced outside the monastery. In many of the places where Buddhism is the main religion of the people, only monks meditate on a regular basis.

That doesn't mean that Westerners can't benefit from learning the techniques.

They can and they do.

The following forms of Buddhist meditation are the ones that are most commonly practiced in the West today. This list is not exhaustive, but it does give a good general overview.

Concentration Meditation is the form of Buddhist mediation which is most commonly practiced in the West. Hundreds of different forms of concentration meditation are taught but all of them basically focus on the human breath as an object. Practitioners sit quietly and simply focus on the breath as it moves in and out of the body. Sometimes the focus is only on the out breath or only on the in breath. Sometimes the focus is on the entire cycle of the breath. During concentration meditation the practitioner does not try to stop thoughts, but rather simply observes them and brings attention back to the breath.

Insight Meditation (also referred to as ‘mindfulness meditation’) is concerned with quieting and observing the mind. Thoughts and feelings that drift through the mind during meditation are not resisted nor are they grasped, but are simply observed instead. By observing thoughts and emotions, the practitioner breaks his or her identification with those same thoughts and feelings themselves and begins to identify with pure awareness. Insight meditation may be combined with other forms of meditation such as focusing on the breath or on a word or sound (as in mantra meditation).

Zazen is a type of sitting or walking meditation that belongs to the sect of Zen Buddhism. Zazen is similar to insight meditation. The goal of zazen meditation practice is to break the mind’s identification with thoughts and emotions and become pure awareness instead. Sometimes zazen practitioners are given a 'koan' (a 'koan' is a riddle or nonsense question) to bring their awareness to over and over again as they meditate. Zazen sessions tend to be long and initially uncomfortable for most Westerners. A single zazen sitting can last an hour or even much longer. Westerners who go on zazen retreats sometimes go through a bit of a 'meltdown' when they realize the difficulty of sitting still for long periods.

Loving Kindness Meditation focuses on sending energy associated with love, healing, and compassion to other people through meditative concentration. Most loving kindness meditation is progressive in that it starts out with the meditator developing feelings of compassion and kindness for him or herself, and then for specific other persons, and then ultimately for all sentient beings.Most loving kindness meditation is done alongside a practice of daily concentration meditation and under the supervision of an experienced teacher or spiritual guide familiar with the practice. The reason for this is that loving kindness meditation can cause difficulties to surface within the student (that is actually part of its purpose), and the novice practitioner may need expert help to transcend these obstacles or work through them. That doesn’t mean basic loving kindness meditation can’t be practiced in solo; it just means regular loving kindness meditation is usually part of a formal tradition that includes a teacher.

Mantra Meditation involves learning a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated during practice in the form of an ongoing chant. Mantras are used in Tibetan Buddhist practice but they are also part of many other Buddhist traditions and also of many Hindu traditions. The simplest mantra is the single Sanskrit syllable “Om,” which is the believed to be the sound the Universe makes (if you could hear it). A common, somewhat more complex Buddhist mantra is “Om Mani Padme Hum,” which can’t be translated word for word to make much sense, but is associated with Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. Many Buddhists believe this mantra, and others, possesses intrinsic transformative power, much like magic words.

Yantra Meditation focuses the practitioner's attention on a type of mandala or abstract drawing that most often takes the form of a wheel. Yantras are believed to represent different states of enlightenment. By gazing upon the Yantra during sitting meditation, the practitioner aligns his or her own conscious state with the one represented in the mandala. Yantra meditation is somewhat less common in the West than other forms, partly because it is more commonly taught as part of advanced monastic practices.

Deity Meditation focuses the practitioner's attention on an external deity or guru, and is the least common form of Buddhist meditation and one not usually practiced by Westerners. Deity meditation is a major component of Vajrayana Buddhism, a branch of Buddhist thought and practice that uses a variety of techniques for achieving enlightenment very quickly. The purpose of focusing on a deity in this form of meditation is to become like the deity and see the world through divine eyes. Vajra practice is not recommended for beginners and is rarely taught to Westerners for good reason. Vajra practice can be very destabilizing and should only be attempted under the tutelage of the right teacher after a serious and lifelong commitment to advanced practice has already been demonstrated. Most people who become involved in this type of meditation are monks.