Instead of dealing with meditation practices of esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism, the presentation will aim to show and discuss estoric dimensions and an alternative views on the powers of the mind in two classical forms of meditation: Brahmavihara and Dhyana meditation. Especially the former, well known and practiced up to the present day in almost all major Buddhist traditions, shows underlying esoteric conceptions of a mind capable to radiate empathy, love and compassion, actually reaching other people’s minds. However, in the Western reception of Buddhism, these aspects are quite often not dealt with as they are in conflict with usual Western readings of “protestant Buddhist modernism.”