When Buddhist vipassanā travels to Jewish West Bank settlements: openness without cosmopolitanism
Ori Mautner, Nissim Mizrachi
Ethnic and Racial Studies May 27, 2020 DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1640377 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Participants in a Jewish Vipassanā meditation retreat at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank |
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Key findings | Participants culturally appropriated vipassanā by depicting it as essentially Jewish, which deepened their belief in the superiority of national-religious Judaism rather than fostering cosmopolitan openness. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Insight meditation (vipassanā) originated in Theravāda Buddhism. However, participants in a “Jewish Vipassanā” meditation retreat – held at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank region controlled by Israel since 1967 – often depicted vipassanā as essentially Jewish. Indeed, to validate their adoption of insight meditation, many participants first needed to establish their exclusive commitment to orthodox Judaism. Consequently, they culturally appropriated vipassanā, decoupling this practice from “religious” Buddhist elements and instead depicting it as “theirs”. While this appropriation entailed significant dimensions of openness to cultural otherness, including an appreciation of “eastern” expertise in meditation, it would be difficult to characterize it as “cosmopolitan”. Rather, in this case openness ironically depended on, and resulted in deepening, meditators’ belief in the superiority of national-religious Judaism. Thus, far from being identical to openness, cosmopolitan attitudes may actually preclude openness in settings that emphasize an exclusive commitment to a single tradition. Theoretical implications are discussed.
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 |