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The Hebrew word for meditation, "hitbonenut" is a derivative of the word binah, which is usually translated as "understanding".
It means much more than that. The Mitteler Rebbe (Dovber, son of the Alter Rebbe, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi), explains that
hitbonenus is the "powerful and concentrated examination of the depths of a concept", which is called "iyyun"
in the Gemara. This is obviously only a very basic definition, as will become clear. It is generally translated as "meditation."
There are basically three stages of hitbonenut/meditation:
1. Study-meditation: having understood the concept
clearly, one contemplates on the concept in depth, until the "essentiality" of the idea itself becomes clear to
him.
2. Before prayer: here the main purpose is to feel the chiyut i.e. the vitality of the concept which he has
learned.
3. During prayer: the purpose of which is to experience the G-dliness of the concept which he has learned.
(Hayom Yom Tammuz 20, and at length in Igrot of the Rebbe Rayatz, vol. 3 pp. 525-529).
Understanding is also divisible
into three parts: 1. The source and essential point from which the understanding develops. 2. The understanding itself with
all its related concepts, explanations, and ramifications. 3. The effect of this understanding on the emotions, character
traits, actions etc. (Ma'amarim Kuntreisim part 2 p. 672)
It seems to me that these three aspects of understanding
parallel the three stages of hisbonenus, that is to say: Stage 1: Study-meditation is the search for the essential idea which
underlies the concept one is contemplating. Stage 2: The vitality of the concept (how he lives with it, or it with(in) him)
is directly related to the breadth of his understanding. Stage 3: The G-dliness of the concept affects his emotions bringing
them to full maturity (gadlut hamidot) and his actions, ultimately even changing his nature, "changing the nature of
his emotional traits" (see Likutei Dibburim part 1, p. 56a). Naturally all of this requires lengthy explanation, which
is beyond the scope of this introduction.
Each of these three stages of contemplation may be divided into the following
subcategories:
1. The aim of contemplation.
2. The psychology of contemplation, i.e. how it works.
3. The methods,
i.e. how you do it.
4. The results.
STUDY-MEDITATION
1. The aim:
I will explain
this idea of "abstraction" (mentioned above) at greater length, since this is the essence of contemplation on the
subject that one learns, as expressed in Chabad Chassidus. What follows is more or less a free translation of original Chabad
texts, with some commentary and interpretation:
In truth, you are not used to this way of (abstract) thinking, only
to intellectualization based on sense perception, and even in this we find it necessary to use "signs" i.e. letters
by which we define and limit the concept in order to make it accessible to thought. But in fact the essence of thought is
that which is prior to its enclothement and limitations in letters (or images).
It is therefore self understood
that "pure thought" is the "ayin" (nothingness), without being clothed in letters, and that the process
of enclothement in fact hinders the process of pure thought... for in truth everything is as nothing and void...It is only
out of habit that we see the coarse physicality of this world... (compare the statement of the Ba'al Shem Tov - One should
cleave so much that what one sees is the Creator Blessed Be He, and not the creation! Keser Shem Tov #200). This is the ultimate
purpose of pure thought, to nullify the heart and mind from sense perception in order to perceive the pure thought. The essence
of pure thought is "Chochma comes from Ayin". (from Igros Kodesh of the Alter Rebbe, Milu'im, #2)
At
the time of hisbonenus one must understand and grasp clearly the concept on which he is meditating. Nevertheless, while actually
learning, the awareness of intellect is predominant, whereas during contemplation on one's learning, the awareness of Godliness
should predominate.
The study of Chassidus is then a deep knowledge of Godliness, from the lowest levels to the
very highest. This knowledge is, specifically, understood clearly and grasped firmly in intellect. In this way one can (ultimately)
"grasp" Godliness. But it should be clear that the (Godly) concept (i.e. the concept being explained in the Chassidic
discourse which you are learning), and the Godliness are two different things. For example, let's say the topic being discussed
in the discourse are the sefirot Chochma and Binah. The concept of Chochma or Binah is the clear understanding and firm grasp
of "how Chochma is, how Binah is above", i.e. what is Chochma, what is Binah? Having understood this clearly (understanding
the ma'amer), one now attempts to examine, or search for the source of these concepts, i.e. the essential point from which
these concepts derive, i.e. E-lokus as manifested in Chochma, E-lokus as manifested in Binah. The same process applies to
any concept being contemplated such as the Immanent and Transcendent aspects of the Or Ein Sof etc. Through clear knowledge
and understanding of the concept being discussed, you grasp the E-lokus. This leads ultimately to Hisamsus (from the word
emes = truth), the clear vision of the ultimate truth (=emes).
The "jump" between the understanding of the
concept, and the grasping of E-lokus is achieved by hisbonenus i.e. the process of abstraction mentioned above. (from a letter
of the Rebbe Rashab to his son, the Fre'erdike Rebbe printed in Migdal Oz pp. -. See also Kuntres haT'fillah, ch 5-6).
...There are two opposite processes here, one - hafla'ah, which is the ascent from level to level of refinement
of thought and from hidden level to hidden level, until absolute separation from all thought and ideas; and the second - the
opposite of this, i.e. the power of descent and drawing down from hiddenness to revelation on even the lowest levels... The
power of hafla'ah is the power of abstraction (hafshata) mentioned above, i.e. stripping every concept of the garments
of thought, until one reaches the greatest depths and the innermost aspects, which are so refined that they cannot be grasped
in the vessels of thought. This is because (at these levels) there is no limitation or form defining the concept because of
its tremendous refinement. (However, this is not to say that it is not grasped at all, only that it is not grasped in thought).
Then there is the descent and drawing down into the garments of thought...(will be explained " in stage three of contemplation,
contemplation during davening). (from " ' -)
Avodah with the inner aspects of the mind i.e. hisbonenus
in the essence of a G-dly concept is the aspect of Neshama (as opposed to the avodah on the levels of Nefesh and Ruach explained
earlier in the ma'amer. There are five levels of soul, from lowest to highest, nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya, yechida. Each
has its particular type of avodah. The main avodah of neshama is hisbonenus. See Kuntres Ha'avodah; Inyana shel Toras Hachasidus
from the Rebbe Shlita ch. 5 ff. and references there). There are however different levels: the grasping of the essential aspect
of the G-dly concept comes only after understanding through the garments of thought i.e when it is not possible for him to
grasp the G-dly concept as it is prior to "enclothement", but rather the concept comes clothed in understandable
ideas and explanations through which he understands and grasps the G-dly concept in all its details. Initially he must understand
clearly the concept at hand, in all its details, through explanations and figurative analogies etc. Then he negates and strips
down and reduces the ideas of the "garment" which he initially used to understand the essential concept, until he
arrives at the essential concept itself, absolutely abstracted from any material connotations, i.e. from any forms of thought,
or conceptualization, or imagery whatsoever. (Nevertheless, since he used thought forms to arrive at the essence, the "absolute
essence" is not revealed, only that level of G-dly "light" which descends into the worlds in a state of Tzimtzum,
contraction, and can be perceived by created beings). (Kuntres Ha'avodah p.7-8)
Avodah on the level of Neshama
(i.e. the level of hisbonenus described above), is an intermediary stage whereby one arrives at the avodah of the essence
of the soul, Chaya, which is higher than reason and understanding - ta'am v'da'as (the fourth level of the soul as mentioned
previously, but called here the essence of the soul relative to the three lower levels). By means of the contemplation and
understanding on the level of Neshama i.e. the aspects of Or Ein Sof as revealed in (limited) immanence, one comes to the
level of transcendence i.e. knowledge and understanding in the hafla'ah (absolute abstraction from the worlds) and rommemus
(sublimity) of Ein Sof Blessed be He. One also comes to know the essence of the Or Ein Sof. This is what is known as yedi'as
hashelilah (what Or Ein Sof is not, i.e. grasping the unknowable to human intellect) and recognition of hafla'ah and hisamsus
(clear vision of the truth). (Kuntres Ha'avodah p.9)
UNDER CONSTRUCTION. CHECK BACK SOON!
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A MEDITATION ON LIFE-FORCE
The main subject matter of hitbonenut (meditation) is how God continually renews creation, day by day, from nothing. If God
would withdraw the power He invests in the creation, the creation would return to nothingness.
This is not like the
product of a craftsmans hands that no longer requires the craftsman, but continues to exist independently of him, for the
vessel was fashioned from material that already existed, whereas the creation is ex nihilo and must be recreated from moment
to moment. If the flow of life-force would be withdrawn for even a moment it would be as if it never existed.
"It
is written: Forever, O God, Your word stands firm in the heavens." The letters of the ten utterances with which the world
was created, stand firmly forever within in the creation to give it life. If the letters would withdraw into their source,
the entire creation would return to absolute nothingness, as if they had never existed at all.
So too with all created
things in all of the worlds if the letters of the Ten Utterances would withdraw they would return to a state of naught and
absolute nothingness.
Rosh HaShanah [the Jewish New Year] is called "the beginning of Your deeds" for
it is when the life force creating souls and angels and all the worlds and their contents ex nihilo is revealed in a general
way for the entire year. Subsequently, the life force is subdivided into particularized streams of energy for each week of
the year. It is then subdivided even more into days of the week, hours, and into moments. Each twenty-four hour period is
divided into the twelve hours of the day, corresponding to the twelve permutations of the Tetragrammaton, Yud-Hai-Vav-Hai,
and twelve hours of the night, corresponding to twelve permutations of the Name Aleph-Dalet-Nun-Yud. Each hour is further
subdivided into 1080 moments, each moment being a different permutation of the Tetragrammaton. Thus the permutation that creates
and gives live to each moment in time returns to its source and a new permutation is produced.
This is the meaning
of the verse, vehachayot ratzo vashov (Ezekiel 1:14) [In his vision of the Divine Chariot - the manifestation of Divine life-force
in the world of Yetzirah - the Prophet Ezekiel describes the actions of the animals pulling the chariot: They eagerly raise
themselves up to catch a glimpse of the world of Beriah above the rakia (firmament) separating Yetzirah and Beriah. Then they
hastily retreat in fear back to the world of Yetzirah. He renders this as vehachayot ratzoh vashov and the animals run and
return (Ezekiel 1:14). Now the word chayot (literally "wild animals") can also be read as chiyut - "life force."
The force enlivening all of the worlds is in a state of constant flux, of running and returning. Life force is not static
it pulsates; indeed it is evidenced in the beating of the heart and the pulse, and in the inhalation and exhalation of the
breath, as mentioned on the previous page]. This is also called in Kabbalah mati vlo mati [literally, reaching out and withdrawing.
This phrase describes the pulsing forth of the creative life force from above into the created worlds. Each packet of energy
pulsates through the system and then returns to its source above. In general, mati vlo mati describes the emanation of the
packet of energy from the Creator to the created, whereas ratzo vashov describes the response of the created recipient to
the influx of energy it rises up in a state of ratzo to receive the energy from above, and returns in a state of shov to
use the energy until the next packet of energy descends]. "And from my flesh I see" how a person's heart beats continuously,
since it is the main seat of energy of the person, and the life fore runs and returns.
At every moment God creates
ex nihilo and enlivens all of the worlds and the creations in them, and the higher and lower levels of the Garden of Eden.
If His outpouring of life would be withdrawn for a moment, it would be as if nothing ever existed. But in His goodness He
renews daily the works of creation, as the verse states, "Forever, O God, Your word stands firm in the heavens."
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