Abstract This chapter illustrates connections between meditation and social change, distinguishing assimilative and radical currents recognizable in the adoption of meditation as a tool of social stability and social transformation, especially within a North American context. The assimilative approach rests on the assumption that individual meditation practice will naturally lead to social...
This chapter examines the ambivalent relationship between American Buddhist convert communities and the mindfulness movement, and tracks some of the major patterns around mindfulness that have emerged from within those communities. It argues that the mindfulness movement should be located in the lineage of scientific rationalism, one of the three main discourses of modern Buddhism, and is...
Certain patterns have developed around meditation and enlightenment, or awakening, as many prefer to call it, in the American Insight network. Network here is defined as a loose affiliation of individuals and communities that prioritize Vipassana meditation as their central practice and trace their immediate Buddhist roots to Burmese and Thai Theravadin lineages. One current network emphasizes...
Reviewed by: The Participatory Turn: Thinking Beyond the Philosophies of Consciousness and Constructivism in the Study of Religion Ann Gleig (bio) The Participatory Turn: Thinking Beyond the Philosophies of Consciousness and Constructivism in the Study of Religion. Edited by Jorge N. Ferrer and Jacob H. Sherman. Albany: SUNY Press, 2008. 396 pp. $34.95 If we recognize the radically creative...