Meditation is an intensive reflection penetrated deep into. It implies mind immersion into different objects, ideas and other that is achieved by means of concentration on one object and elimination of all other factors. These factors are both external (sound, light) and internal ones (physical, emotional and other tensions). They are eliminated because they distract person’ attention.
Meditation can be also defined as a method of psychological training which takes different shapes according to cultural and historical surroundings.
The appearance of meditation in the west was marked by the quickness and by a great scope.
Equally with other methods of psychological techniques, which broaden the consciousness and allow to exceed all bounds of usual ideas about ourselves and about the world, many forms of meditation offer things that, obviously, our culture needs and that it is lacking.
In spite of guarded attitude of many investigators people are attracted by the possibility of discovering and development concealed opportunities, that exceed the limits of available cultural norms.

But the absence of scientific comprehension of these possibilities as a result cause the disregarding them by a great part of science association , convert the usage of this psychological techniques into a play with many unknown aspects, sometimes into dangerous play.
That’s why we need some cartographies of internal space which are based on further working out the fundamental for psychology questions about the nature of consciousness.
East philosophical and psychological studies are based on the idea of that usual state of human’s consciousness is nothing more than a thing that can be expressed as some illusion, as waking dream, as awakening, as ignorance.
Hinduists call it “maya”, Buddhists - “samsara”.
The principle object of meditation, as they suppose, is the liberation from this illusion, “enlightenment”, “vision” of the world as it is indeed.
For about four thousand years, eastern religions composed cartographies of internal space and worked out some methods of induction some states of consciousness, that were much more different from ordinary consciousness.
Behind the variety of formulations, that are inevitable under the circumstances of different cultures, “images of world”, often means the same way and the same object.
Interpretation of these states depend on aims, expectations, possession of language material. But as the researches show such words as “dhiana”, “samadhy”, “fana” and others which are taken from Buddhism; rajah-yogis; suphism; Kabbula; and others imply the same state.
In Tibet there are two levels of religion: “a study as a trick directed at achieving some goal” and “ a final study” where some differences disappear.
K.Narano and R.Earnsten show that the variety of methods of meditation come to two or three main types, each of which has its aim of achieving a certain state of consciousness. These states are of great value in eastern cultures. They are connected with such ideas as “salvation”, “ deliverance from sufferings”, “enlightenment”, “genuine vision”.
These meditation techniques are based on specific, sometimes also similar studies of consciousness, that are worked out in more detailed form. There should be pointed out one of the work of Buddhism literature where the conception of consciousness is expounded. In Buddhism literature consciousness means a source of higher psychic activity, it implies the condition when all psychic functions unite.
These functions include conscious as well as unconscious ones, and they unite emotional and intellectual processes.
Conscious of a common person is regarded in the unity of two main aspects of existence and functioning:
1. “Clear consciousness” is a fundamental aspect that at the same time consists of genuine nature and essence of all things and phenomena. It is a constant and invariable base of consciousness.
2. “ Dirty”, “darken” consciousness is a transient and changeable aspect, that makes perception illusive. It is possible to get rid of it by psychic self-regulation, and in such a way to liberate consciousness from its darken influence.
The complex of these two aspects is called “ consciousness – depository” and is regarded as a constantly changing current of consciousness.
There was framed a hypothesis that the first aspect of consciousness correspond to energy of attention – consciousness, and that the second aspect is corresponded with category structures of consciousness.
Such conceptions of Buddhist psychology as the conception of “ consciousness – depository” where two aspect at the same time are not united and are not different, can throw light on understanding of the interaction of base consciousness and category structures of consciousness in western science.
According to shastra “darken” aspect of consciousness forms imprints and traces of past events, desires, actions, ideas and impressions, the memory of which is kept in “ consciousness – depository”. One of the main of these darken formations is a complex “I”. According to Buddhist theory of individual “I”, neither the complex in itself nor its elements do not have any concrete essence and do not have real existence.
One of the factors, which darken person’s consciousness, is discursive logical thinking, that is based on singling out distinctive features, on conceptualization of things and phenomena of the reality, which indeed are free from this all.
“Darken” consciousness sees the world as split one, divided into individual features and shapes, that are covered with name labels, taking all this as a genuine reality. But shastra says that all states, things, events are devoided of all form of description, definition, of all form of conceptualization.
Shastra says that to achieve “enlightenment” state it is necessary to free oneself from this mistaken thinking, that darken clear to its nature consciousness. In shastra it is explained that the liberalization from these mistaken thoughts means the contemplation of something that is out of limits of our thoughts, beyond verbal reality, it means meditation.
In Buddhism this state implies a state in which there are no sensations, there is even no their presence. Here there is the exceeding the bounds of language possibilities.
A great attention in shastra is paid to practical methods of achieving the enlightenment, among them two meditative techniques are of mush importance: “samadhy” and “vipassana”. Besides these two kinds of meditation there are a great number of meditative techniques in different cultures.
The term “samadhy” in the context of Buddhist psychology mans calming the consciousness, all exciting and darkening factors’ ceasing to influence a person’s state of mind. The essence of samadhy is in concentration, fixation the attention on one object. Beforehand all sensations are brought to minimum as a result of taking one of special state poses and using respiratory techniques.
At early stages of meditation there is a tension between concentration and distracting thoughts, feelings, desires. Stunning experiences, that come as a result of application of popular in West techniques of consciousness transformation – beep relaxing, intensive painful body sensations, live waking dreams – all these phenomena come at the first stage of meditation with the use of samadhy method as a reaction to restriction of receiving information.
There are some levels of meditation that are characterized by certain states of mind, namely:
1. Distracting thoughts are overcome; some other thoughts still remain; consciousness of sensations and body. Thoughts of the main object of concentration prevail. A feeling of delight, happiness, stability. Bursts of light and body lightness.
2. Distracting thoughts disappear. Consciousness of painful physical states, attentions is strictly directed at the object of concentration. A feeling of bliss, delight.
3. A feeling of bliss, delight, one-directed position. There are no thought about the object of concentration.
4. A feeling of bliss, one-directed position and coolness. Delight disappears.
5. One-directed position and coolness, a bliss and a feeling of pleasure in body disappear.
6. Consciousness of internal space, coolness and One-directed position.
7. Consciousness of space without any object or thing. Coolness and One-directed position.
8. Consciousness of emptiness.
9. No perception and “not no perception”. Coolness and One-directed position.

The second well – known kind of meditetion is “vipassana”. This is a transcendental analyze of person’s inner world with the help introspective contemplation and intuitive comprehension.
Meditater’s attention is directed at sensations, feelings, thoughts and reactions corresponding them. A person must contemplate all that occurs to him or his surroundings. He should not reject anything as something that is not worthy to pay attention to.
Vipassana is recommended to be carried out always, during various activities in order the enlightened state of mind to become a usual one. The matter is that Buddhist science claims that it is a state when different usual activities can be possible.
Speaking of the relationship of brain and meditation we should point out that meditation has tangible psychological and physiological benefits. It can be proved in neurobiological terms by giving insight into consciousn, feedback methods. It was revealed that meditation has greainfluence on the brain, and human behavior.
There are various forms of meditation detached a person from desires and objects which cause him sufferings, allowed a person to separate himself from the transitory nature of the world, it should be told about two forms of meditation: Transcendental Meditation and Zen meditation.
They differ from other types of meditation because the involve both mind and body. The examination of these meditation methods showed that a body can communicate with external as well as with interior world of a person. What happens to the body has a great impact on person’s mind, his brain. There is undoubtedly a large correlation of physical states with mental states in meditation .
Meditation has tangible physiological and biological effects. Results if the investigation showed that during meditation there is some changes: in the areas of the cerebrum which are taking part in perception of specific information, in the relationship between the two hemispheres.
Practice results also revealed such tendencies as increasing EEG coherence; more efficient transformation of information in the brain; lower respiration rates; more stable autonomic nervous system; strong stress stability; faster reactions.

As a conclusion, there should be pointed that the eastern type of meditation consists of all forms of yogis in India, in China, and implies religious and mystical distracting of individual consciousness in impersonal, looked like a ocean the absolute.
These situations are created in different ways for instance, situation that is realized by the images of butterflies, or by image of ceasing light of a candle and others.
There is another interpretation of religious – mystical tendency of meditation. It was cultivated be the Christianity. This tendency means that meditation is the unity of two personalities – a human one and a divine personality.
Nowadays the science of meditation has seen a tremendous growth. In 20th century a lot of methods of meditation were worked out. Many science school devoted their work to this question.
Methods of meditation have already exceed the bounds of religious and mysterious sphere. Now they are widely used in psychology, they are used as a system of psychophysical training.
Modern meditation to a great degree is aimed at therapeutic effect, has nothing with religious and mysterious ideas.

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