Skip to content

Meditation and Aspiration at Kagyu Monlam Chenmo in Bodh Gaya

Malwina Krajewska

Religions August 26, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/rel17080911 (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text
Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Ethnography Peer reviewed
Population Lay and monastic practitioners at the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo in Bodh Gaya
Topics Meditation
Keywords Buddhist meditation Aspiration prayer Kagyu monlam Karmapa Karma kagyu Bodh gaya
Key findings Argues that collective aspiration prayer at the Monlam functions as a contemplative practice within a disciplined meditative framework, where individual attention takes shape through joint participation and repetition, sustaining lineage continuity in a specific Karma Kagyu setting.

Abstract

This article examines practices of meditation and aspiration performed during the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo in Bodh Gaya, within the Karma Kagyu institutional and devotional network associated with the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. It focuses on the collective recitation of Samantabhadra’s King of Aspiration Prayers, not only as a liturgical performance, but as a contemplative practice shaped by attention, bodily endurance, repetition, and joint participation. The article argues that Bodh Gaya provides a setting in which meditation is not separated from ritual, place, institution, and religious labour. Drawing on James A. Beckford’s social constructionist approach, I examine how lay and monastic practitioners take part in forming a contemplative space under the Bodhi Tree. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, the article shows how collective aspiration works within a disciplined meditative framework, while allowing individual attention to take shape by accompanying a common ritual rhythm. The Monlam may therefore be understood as a site where lineage continuity is ritually sustained within a specific Karma Kagyu setting. By focusing on aspiration, repetition, and sacred place, the article contributes to discussions of lived Buddhism and to the study of meditation as a social and spatial practice.

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

Citations in the library

Cites 3

Related reading

Explore topics

Meditation Buddhism