VIPASSANĀ AS LIVED RELIGION
Otávio Augusto Diniz Vieira
Interações September 25, 2026 DOI: 10.5752/p.1983-2478.2026v21n2e212d08 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Self-ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | The author, a participant in a 14-day Mahasi vipassanā retreat in Yangon, Myanmar |
| Intervention | Mahasi vipassanā (insight meditation) |
| Duration | 14-day retreat |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Lived religion Self-ethnography Mahasi Non-self |
| Key findings | The author reports that non-self emerged during the retreat not merely as a doctrinal concept but as an experiential weakening of ownership, control, and fixed identity, unfolding across phases from doubt and adjustment through pain, equanimity, and concentration to experiences of impermanence and destabilization of the self. The author argues that self-ethnography is a productive method for examining how contemplative practice is bodily enacted, interpretively shaped, and lived as religion, while requiring reflexive care regarding the relation between experience and interpretation. |
Abstract
This article examines a 14-day Mahasi vipassanā (insight meditation) retreat in Yangon, Myanmar, as a form of lived religion. It aims to analyze how non-self (anattā) emerges in meditative practice as an experiential process and to assess the value of self-ethnography for the study of contemplative practice. The analysis is based on self-ethnographic notes and recordings produced during the retreat and later analyzed retrospectively. Although the retreat took place across two centers—Mahasi Sāsana Yeiktha and Panditarama—it is treated as a continuous contemplative process, since both followed the same Mahasi method. Organized in three phases, the analysis traces a movement from initial doubt and adjustment, through pain, equanimity, and concentration, to more explicit experiences of impermanence, attachment, and the destabilization of the self. The results show that non-self emerges not merely as a doctrinal concept, but as an experiential weakening of ownership, control, and fixed identity. The article also argues that self-ethnography is a productive method for examining how contemplative practice is bodily enacted, interpretively shaped, and lived as religion, while requiring reflexive care regarding the relation between experience and interpretation.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.