Ethnography of the Vipassana Meditation Retreat
Fieldwork in Religion March 20, 2015 Glenys Eddy
The practice of vipassana meditation helps meditators come to understand the Buddhist worldview through direct experience, leading to personal transformation. Fieldwork at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre in Australia between 2003 and 2005 shows that many respondents found their experiential understanding of dukkha (suffering) and anicca (impermanence) through Vipassana practice to be significant. The author's own experience with the five hindrances—mental states that hinder mindfulness—differed from respondents' experiences, revealing limitations in using the researcher's meditation experience as an interpretive tool and the need for reflexive examination of personal biases.