Contemporary Buddhism
June 1, 2026
Kanae Kawamoto
In Buddhism, the abhiññās (literally ‘higher knowledges’) refer to six types of supernatural powers that include recalling past lives and reading minds. This research explores the practical importance of supernatural powers (abhiññās) within the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, focusing on the contemporary meditation method formulated by the Burmese monk, Hpa-Auk Sayadaw (1934-). While modern...
Contemporary Buddhism
April 22, 2025
Nicholas K. Canby, Jared R. Lindahl, David J. Cooper et al.
1 citation
Although meditation is often treated as an individual practice, meditation teachers can play an important role. Drawing on the mixed-methods dataset of the Varieties of Contemplative Experience project, this paper examines the role of meditation teachers and their impacts on Western practitioners who are navigating meditation-related challenges. Quantitative and qualitative results from 68...
Contemporary Buddhism
February 20, 2019
P. Kyaw
ABSTRACT This article explores the popular Sunlun and Theinngu meditation traditions in Myanmar. The founders, Sunlun Sayadaw Ven. U Kavi (1878–1952) and Theinngu Sayadaw Ven. U Ukkaṭṭha (1913–1973), both led a lay life until in their mid-40s and only then took up meditation, going on to become highly respected meditation teachers. Their meditation techniques are similarly distinctive in...
Contemporary Buddhism
November 1, 2013
Beatrice Alba
19 citations
AbstractSurveys were conducted at two metta meditation retreats in order to examine the psychological effects of metta meditation. Participants were invited to complete the survey at the beginning of the retreat, at the end of the retreat, and two weeks after the end of the retreat. Participants completed the same scales at each time phase, which included measures of happiness, compassionate...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Bhikkhu Bodhi
620 citations
The purpose of this paper is to determine the meaning and function of mindfulness meditation using as the source of inquiry the Pāli Canon, the oldest complete collection of Buddhist texts to survive intact. Mindfulness is the chief factor in the practice of satipa hāna, the best known system of Buddhist meditation. In descriptions of satipa hāna two terms constantly recur: mindfulness (sati)...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Paul Grossman, Nicholas T. van Dam
540 citations
The Buddhist construct of mindfulness is a central element of mindfulness-based interventions and derives from a systematic phenomenological programme developed over several millennia to investigate subjective experience. Enthusiasm for ‘mindfulness’ in Western psychological and other science has resulted in proliferation of definitions, operationalizations and self-report inventories that...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Rupert Gethin
402 citations
The Buddhist technical term was first translated as ‘mindfulness’ by T.W. Rhys Davids in 1881. Since then various authors, including Rhys Davids, have attempted definitions of what precisely is meant by mindfulness. Initially these were based on readings and interpretations of ancient Buddhist texts. Beginning in the 1950s some definitions of mindfulness became more informed by the actual...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
J. Mark G. Williams, Jon Kabat‐zinn
390 citations
The guest editors introduce this special issue on Mindfulness, explaining its rationale, aims, and intentions. Integrating mindfulness-based approaches into medicine, psychology, neuroscience, heal...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Ruth A. Baer
271 citations
The commitment to evidence-based practice in clinical psychology requires scientific investigation of the effects of treatment and mechanisms of change. Empirical evidence suggests that mindfulness-based treatments provide clinically meaningful improvement for people suffering from many important problems, including depression, anxiety, pain, and stress. However, the processes of change that...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Christina Feldman, Willem Kuyken
237 citations
In this paper we investigate compassion and its place within mindfulness-based approaches. Compassion is an orientation of mind that recognizes pain and the universality of pain in human experience and the capacity to meet that pain with kindness, empathy, equanimity and patience. We outline how learning to meet pain with compassion is part of how people come to live with chronic conditions...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Mirabai Bush
142 citations
This paper explores the introduction of mindfulness into courses in higher education. Some of these courses are taught by Buddhist scholars; others are taught by scholars within other disciplines who themselves have a meditation practice. Those scholars included here represent a much larger number in diverse settings, including state universities, liberal arts colleges, Ivy League institutions,...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Edel Maex
70 citations
Jon Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living skilfully succeeded in translating traditional Buddhist concepts in modern everyday language so as to make them accessible to the West. It was a stroke of genius to take mindfulness training out of the Buddhist context, but the risk might be that, instead of opening a door to the Dharma (the Buddhist teaching), it might also close a door leading to the...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Martine Batchelor
42 citations
In this article I share some of my experiences of practising Korean Zen meditation and how, without ever mentioning the word ‘mindfulness,’ this practice helps us to become mindful. This leads me to suggest that the main ingredients of Buddhist meditation are samatha (which I will translate here as ‘concentration’) and vipassanā (which I will call ‘experiential enquiry’). No matter which...
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Melanie Fennell, Zindel V. Segal
31 citations
AbstractMindfulness-based cognitive therapy creates an unlikely partnership, between the ancient tradition of mindfulness meditation rooted in Buddhist thought, and the much more recent and essentially western tradition of cognitive and clinical science. This article investigates points of congruence and difference between the two traditions and concludes that, despite first appearances, this...