Visualization in Early Buddhism

A survey of selected early Buddhist discourse passages brings to light a distinct visual dimension that would have been integral to their oral performance, apparently involving, to various degrees, the practice of some form of meditative bringing to mind images or visualizing. Even though visualization is often associated with later Buddhist traditions, an explicit instance of such visualization can already be found in the early discourses. Moreover, this takes the form of a mindfulness meditation, being one of the practices that fall under the heading of right mindfulness. This shows the breadth of applicability of mindfulness in its early Buddhist setting.