The Radboud University Nijmegen researching meditation in Bali

Meditation has been attracted many people. Most of them want to learn and experience the peaceful mind as the result of meditation. There are dozens or more specific styles of meditation practice. People may mean different things when they use the word, ‘meditation’. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions, especially, in Western countries, in monastic settings. In the Eastern spiritual traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, meditation is more commonly a practice engaged in by many if not most believers.

“The reason that we contacted you was of course no coincidence, since you are the expert on meditation in Indonesia. It is therefore an honor that you are prepared to supervised our master student in researching meditation”, said Dr Cor Van Halen as the Coordinator Domain Behavior, Department of Social and Cultural Psychology, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherland to Professor Luh Ketut Suryani as the Principal of Suryani Institute.

“This study aims to compare the motives for meditation between a group of Dutch meditation practitioners and a group of Balinese meditation practitioners. The comparison will be based on a qualitative content analysis of interviews taken in the Netherlands (individualized and future orientated community) and Indonesia (collective and tradition orientated community)” said Professor Suryani after she being pointed to be external supervisor for Miriam Thye.