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The role of silence in the production of social order in meditation (on the example of vipassana)

A. K. Spirkina

RUDN Journal of Sociology June 30, 2023 DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2023-23-2-389-403 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Key findings Silence in vipassana meditation is a collective practice that produces sociality, not isolation, and meditators can integrate this practice into daily life by partially reproducing the center's social conditions at home.

Abstract

The article considers silence as the most important component of vipassana (meditation technique from early Buddhism) as it is taught in the tradition of S.N. Goenka. As a religious vow, silence is a condition for the successful meditation retreat. Although meditative silence does not seem to form sociality, vipassana courses are a collective practice. After the end of courses, the desire of people to meet and meditate together proves the need not in a ‘solitary’ silence but in a group that produces special collective silence. The author considers the silent co-presence of people in the meditation center ‘here-and-now’ as a special interactive situation, a social feature of the meditation practice, and shows how the subjective success of this interaction and its methods depend on the technical and spatial conditions of the meditative center. The empirical basis of the article is mainly the author’s participant observation (in the role of a new student). Based on the concepts of sociology of everyday life, the author describes the key mechanisms of the production of sociality in various situations of joint forced silence during the vipassana course - from collective meditation in the common room to the silent organization of joint activities in the meditation center. By partially reproducing the basic social conditions of the center at home - silence and the support of those around them - meditators manage to ensure the continuity of the practice and to successfully integrate it into their daily lives outside the meditation center.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, 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
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system 2004 Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety 2006 Exploratory mixed methods study n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context 2001 Qualitative study n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators 2013 Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

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