What is Buddhist Meditation? 
Meditation is interpreted differently by different cultures, traditions, and religious practices. For constructive discussion we need to clearly define the terms and underlying concepts to understand exactly what is meant by the words being used. Every culture on earth has produced some sort of mental discipline that could be considered meditation that vary widely in technique; most of these traditions focus an individual’s ability to develop mental or spiritual concentration. I make no attempt to survey these practices here - there are many other sources for that. I am only addressing the practices as defined and developed by Gautama Buddha and practiced by Buddhist traditions worldwide.
There are many people talking, writing, and running workshops today about various meditation techniques: mindfulness meditation, focused concentration, increasing creativity, meditation for stress reduction, creating positive energy, you name it. And there is building scientific evidence gained from brain scanning technology (such as fMRI) that show actual physical changes in the brains of people who have years of meditation experience.
Buddhist meditation practice, as originally taught by Gautama Buddha, incorporates two distinct forms of meditation, known by the Pali words “Vipassana” and “Samatha” meditation. Vipassana can be translated as “insight,” a clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens in the present moment. Samatha can be translated as “concentration” or “tranquility,” a state in which the mind is brought to rest, focused only on one item and not allowed to wander. In the Buddhist tradition, Samatha is practiced as an exercise to prepare the mind for practicing Vipassana / Insight meditation, which was and remains the more important of the two. I am going to use the term Insight meditation throughout the remainder of this article.
The Insight mediator uses his samadhi concentration as a tool to blow away the fog of illusion to extinguish the fires that cause dukkha (suffering); the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya) that are the roots of craving. It is a gradual process of ever-increasing awareness into the inner workings of reality itself. The ultimate goal is to reach a state where craving for things to be different than they are is completely eliminated. In the Buddha’s Pali language, attaining the state of Nibbana liberates the meditator from the illusions arising from desire, which is the goal of all Buddhist systems of practice. The routes to the attainment of that end are quite diverse.
Within the Buddhist tradition, concentration, known as Samatha in Pali, is highly valued. The Buddhist meditation practice also includes another component, known as Vipassana in Pali, which sets Buddhism apart from all other meditation practices. Vipassana translates as “insight” - awareness into the true nature of reality. Buddhist meditation focuses on development of Vipassana or insight awareness, using concentration as a tool. While there are numerous Buddhist lineages and traditions, all traditions use Vipassana meditation. 
Vipassana is the oldest of Buddhist meditation practices. It is 2,500+ years old and is a codified system of sensitivity training that uses various mind exercises dedicated to becoming more aware, perceptive, and receptive to our own life experience. The method comes directly from the Sitipatthana Sutta, a discourse attributed to Buddha himself. Vipassana is a direct and gradual cultivation of mindfulness or insightful awareness. The practitioner’s attention is carefully directed to intensely examine the true nature of their own existence. The meditator is trained to notice more and more of his own moment-by-moment flowing life experience by using attentive listening, total seeing, and careful testing. We learn to smell acutely, to touch fully, and really pay attention to what we feel in the present moment. We learn to pause before reacting. We learn to listen to and observe our own thoughts without being caught up in them. We are training ourselves to be mindfully aware of each present moment experience without being attached to outcomes, craving things to be different, and letting go of the past and future.
The object of Vipassana practice is to learn to pay attention to “now.” We think we are doing this already, but that is an illusion. It comes from the fact that we are distracted by monkey mind (kapicitta). Monkey mind is a term used by the Buddha to describe the agitated, easily distracted and incessantly moving behaviour of ordinary human consciousness. Once he 
observed:
`Just as a monkey swinging through the trees grabs one branch and lets it go only to seize another, so too, that which is called thought, mind or consciousness arises and disappears continually both day and night'.
Anyone who has spent even a little time observing his own mind and then watched a troop of monkeys will have to admit that this comparison is an accurate and not very flattering one. On another occasion the Buddha said that a person with uncontrolled craving:
`jumps from here to there like a monkey searching for fruit in the forest'
Vipassana is a form of mental training that will teach you to experience the world in an entirely new way. Through Vipassana and mindfulness, we slowly develop the ability to quiet our monkey mind and become aware of what we really are down below the ego image. We wake up to the reality that life is not just an illusory parade of ups and downs, happiness and sadness. We learn to see through this illusion and realize that life has a much deeper texture and meaning, if we look in the right way.
You will learn for the first time what is truly happening to you, around you and within you. It is a process of self discovery, a participatory investigation in which you observe your own experiences while fully participating in them as they occur.
The Pali term for Insight meditation is Vipassana Bhavana. Bhavana comes from the root 'Bhu' meaning to grow or to become. Thus Bhavana means to cultivate and the word is always used in reference to the mind. Bhavana means mental cultivation. 'Vipassana' is derived from two roots. 'Passana' means seeing or perceiving. 'Vi' is a prefix with a complex set of connotations. The basic meaning is 'in a special way.' But there also is the connotation of both 'into' and 'through'. The whole meaning of the word is looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and separate, yet interdependent, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing. This process leads to insight into the basic reality of whatever is being inspected. Put it all together and 'Vipassana Bhavana' means the cultivation of the mind, aimed at seeing in a special way that leads to insight and to full understanding.
In Vipassana mediation, we cultivate this special way of seeing life. We train ourselves to see reality exactly as it is and we call this special mode of perception 'mindfulness.' This process of mindfulness is really quite different from what we usually do. We usually do not look into what is really there in front of us. We see life through 
conditioned screens of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental constructs and objects for reality. We get so caught up in this endless thought stream that reality flows by unnoticed. We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in an eternal pursuit of pleasure and gratification and an eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness. We spend all of our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears. We are endlessly seeking security. Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and untasted. In Vipassana meditation we train ourselves to ignore the constant impulses to be more comfortable, as well as the background “chatter” of our monkey mind, and we dive into the flow of reality instead. The ironic thing is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it.
When you relax your driving desire for comfort, real fulfillment arises. When you drop your hectic pursuit of gratification, the real beauty of life comes out. When you seek to know the reality without illusion, complete with all its pain and danger, that is when real freedom and security are yours. This is not some doctrine being drilled into you. Vipassana a practice of investigative personal discovery that is inherently experiential. It is not theoretical. In the practice of mediation you become sensitive to the actual experience of living, to your true feelings and reactions to your inner thoughts and external stimuli. You do not sit around developing subtle and aesthetic thoughts about living. You live. Vipassana meditation more than anything else is learning to live.
Vipassana meditation practice must be approached with the following attitude: 
‘Never mind what I have been taught. Forget about theories and prejudgments and stereotypes. I want to understand the true nature of life. I want to know what this experience of being alive really is. I want to apprehend the true and deepest qualities of life, and I don't want to just accept somebody else's explanation. I want to see it for myself.’
If you pursue your meditation practice with this attitude, you will succeed. You'll find yourself observing things objectively, exactly as they are--flowing and changing from moment to moment. Life then takes on an unbelievable richness which cannot be described. It has to be experienced.
Follow the links in the upper right menu to learn more about meditation practice techniques and resources for beginning a journey of discovery.