Although there are many different methods of meditation, all are contained within Shinay (Calm Abiding) and Lhatong (Supreme Insight) meditations. Listed here are just a few online sources for discussion of calm abiding and insight meditation.
The following information is taken from The Role Of Meditation In Buddhism by the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. This is part of a 5-page online teaching about calm abiding and insight meditation. As taught in the Tibetan tradition, meditation has two stages. The first stage is called in Sanskrit, shamata or in Tibetan, shinay or in English calm abiding. The Tibetan term is shiné, and the Sanskrit is shamatha. In the case of the Tibetan, the first syllable, shi, and in the case of the Sanskrit, the first two syllables, shama, refer to "peace" or "pacification." The meaning of peace or pacification in this context is that normally our mind is like a whirlwind of agitation. The agitation is the agitation of thought. Our thoughts are principally an obsessive concern with past, conceptualization about the present, and especially an obsessive concern with the future. This means that usually our mind is not experiencing the present moment at all. We are usually miles ahead of our selves. As long as this process continues, our mind never comes to rest, and we can never experience any state of pliability or happiness... However meditation does not consist only of tranquillity. The other aspect is insight, which in Tibetan is called lhatong. The term lhatong literally means "superior seeing." This can be interpreted as a superior manner of seeing, and also seeing that which is the essential nature. Its nature is a lucidity, a clarity of mind, based on the foregoing tranquillity, that enables one to determine the characteristics and ultimate nature of all things unmistakenly–without confusion or mix-up of any kind. Fundamentally it consists of a recognition of the abiding or basic nature of everything, in an unmistaken manner. For this reason, insight meditation is referred to as superior seeing or superior vision, lhatong. The way these two aspects of meditation are practiced is that one begins with the practice of tranquillity; on the basis of that, it becomes possible to practice insight or lhatong. Through one's practice of insight being based on and carried on in the midst of tranquillity, one eventually ends up practicing a unification of tranquillity and insight. The unification leads to a very clear and direct experience of the nature of all things. This brings one very close to what is called the absolute truth.
The following information is taken from Vipashyana Meditation by the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. This is part of a 5-page online teaching about calm abiding and insight meditation. Please click here for the complete teaching Three Causes of the Generation of Insight: What is insight? It is very important. It is described as being the prajna or full knowledge which distinguishes all dharmas or all things. How does one generate it? According to Jamgon Lodro Thaye in the Treasury of Knowledge, one generates it in reliance upon three causes. These three causes are taught in Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila. The first of them is to rely upon great beings, which means upon qualified spiritual friends or teachers, from whom one receives instruction. This alone is not sufficient, however. It is necessary to apply the second cause, which is to become learned, or literally "to have listened a great deal." One should thoroughly examine the Buddha's teachings, his supreme speech, as well as the commentaries on these teachings, by the scholars and siddhas of India, Tibet and so forth. However, this itself is also not sufficient, because the third cause is also necessary, which is proper reflection--to properly and thoroughly examine the actual meaning of the instructions that one has studied. In reliance upon these three causes, one can generate the full knowledge, which is insight.
The following information on Shinay is taken from the online Buddhist teaching resource called the Berzin Archives. Please click here for the complete teaching. Shamata meditation [or shinay in tibetan, or calm abiding in English] requires the mental factors of attention, mindfulness, alertness, and concentration. Attention or "taking to mind" is based on distinguishing. Only when we are able to distinguish the object of meditation can we pay attention to as it is happening. What is happening is the mental activity. The mental activity is accompanied by attention to the conventional nature of the mental activity, otherwise the object could not be our focal object. It is not, however, that there is a separate "me" that is paying attention to it as the observer... What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is the mental glue, holding on to the object of focus and not letting go of it. Alertness is keeping watch on the mental hold; it is part of the mindfulness. If there is a mental hold on an object of focus and the hold is maintained, then an automatic part of that hold is alertness of the condition of the hold. It is not that there needs to be a separate "me" that is watching and being alert to check. Concentration is mental abiding, staying on the object. If there is mental holding of the object (mindfulness), there is also mental abiding on it (concentration).
From The Buddhism of Tibet by the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications:
The nature of calm abiding (or shinay) is the one-pointed abiding on any object without distraction of a mind conjoined with a bliss of physical and mental pliancy. If it is supplemented with taking refuge, it is a Buddhist practice; and if it is supplemented with an aspiration to highest enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, it is a Mahayana practice. Its merits are that, if one has achieved calm abiding, one's mind and body are pervaded by joy and bliss; one can–through the power of its mental and physical pliancy-set the mind on any virtuous object one chooses; and many special qualities such as clairvoyance and emanations are attained.
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