Skip to content

Relationships between Religious and Scientific Worldviews in the Narratives of Western Buddhists Reporting Meditation-Related Challenges

Roman Palitsky, David J. Cooper, Jared R. Lindahl, Willoughby B. Britton

Journal of Contemplative Studies July 23, 2025 DOI: 10.57010/gdcw6138 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size 101
Population Western Buddhist meditators and meditation experts
Topics Buddhism Meditation
Keywords Meditation-related challenges Science Religion Culture Meaning making
Citations 10
Key findings Meditators and teachers describe five distinct relationships between scientific and religious worldviews when making sense of meditation-related challenges.

Abstract

Contemporary Buddhist meditators in the West are likely to find themselves engaged in practices with rich associations with both religious and scientific worldviews. Meditation-related challenges can provoke existential concerns that make unexplored relationships between religious and scientific worldviews more important and explicit for Western Buddhist meditators, who may turn to both religion and science for making sense of these challenges. Interviews with 68 meditators and 33 meditation experts were analyzed to examine how meditators and meditation teachers understand the roles of, and relationships between, scientific and religious worldviews in the context of meditation-related challenges. Observed themes included: conflict between science and religion, compatibility between science and religion, nested relationships between science and religion, science and religion as discrete domains, and complementarity between science and religion. These themes suggest an expansion of existing understandings of the relationships between religion and science as they apply to Buddhist meditators, especially in the context of meditation-related challenges. The variety of relationships between religion and science, their existential relevance for meditators, and their interaction with responses to meditation-related challenges suggest that varied relationships between religious and scientific worldviews are important considerations in the scientific study of contemplative practices. Nuanced understandings of how religion and science relate may also benefit practitioners, experts, and their communities when addressing meditation-related challenges.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on buddhism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... 2017 Qualitative study with mixed-methods
A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners 2014 Qualitative study
Common Core Thesis and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Mysticism in Chinese Buddhist Monks and Nuns Chinese Pure Land and Chan Buddhist monks and nuns 2011 Mixed-methods study n = 139
Anger regulation in traumatized Cambodian refugees: the perspectives of Buddhist monks. Buddhist Cambodian monks in Massachusetts 2011 Qualitative study n = 6
The Lived Experiences of Experienced Vipassana Mahasi Meditators: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Experienced Vipassana Mahasi meditators 2018 Qualitative study

Citations in the library

Cited by 9

and 4 more in the library

Cites 14

and 9 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Buddhism Meditation