The Virgin of the Conception, also called Queen of the Forest, became the patron saint of the Santo Daime religion because she appears in foundational narratives as the spiritual instructor of founder Raimundo Irineu Serra (Master Irineu) during his initiation with ayahuasca, an indigenous drink used in Daime worship. This article reflects on how notions of frontier and "in-between place," applied to the Brazilian religious field through a pluralist lens, help to understand this mythical construction. The Virgin's presence in the myth is considered a third creative element, resulting from cultural negotiation and symbolic reappropriation in the search for legitimacy and distinct contours for a new religious subjectivity at the border between different traditions.
The Mahāsī Method, developed by Mahāsī Sāyadaw (1904-1982), is a prominent vipassanā meditation method within the modern Vipassana Movement of Theravāda Buddhism. This article investigates the relationship between teachings (pariyatti) and practice (patipatti) in this method. It presents the method's foundational principles, meditation techniques, and the 16 stages of Meditative Cognitions (vipassanā-ñāṇa), which are meditative experiences leading to the final experience of nibbāna. The uniqueness of the Mahāsī Method lies in its absence of preparatory concentration techniques and its focus on vipassanā techniques, hence called suddha-vipassanā, or pure Insight. The main meditative techniques are Mental Labeling and Momentary Concentration.