Buddhism, Meditation, and Global Secularisms
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) 2017 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1251845 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Citations | 26 |
| Key points | Argues that Buddhism in the modern world shows the boundary between the secular and religious to be porous, and that the categories of "religious" and "secular" are diverse, fluid, and constructed across Buddhist cultures and national contexts, while still having real-world effects and driving substantial change in belief and practice. |
Abstract
Buddhism in the modern world offers an example of (1) the porousness of the boundary between the secular and religious; (2) the diversity, fluidity, and constructedness of the very categories of religious and secular, since they appear in different ways among different Buddhist cultures in divergent national contexts; and (3) the way these categories nevertheless have very real-world effects and become drivers of substantial change in belief and practice. Drawing on a few examples of Buddhism in various geographical and political settings, I hope to take a few modest steps toward illuminating some broad contours of the interlacing of secularism and Buddhism. In doing so, I am synthesizing some of my own and a few others' research on modern Buddhism, integrating it with some current research I am doing on meditation, and considering its implications for thinking about secularism. This, I hope, will provide a background against which we can consider more closely some particular features of Buddhism in the Chinese cultural world, about which I will offer some preliminary thoughts.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 8
- British Buddhism, secular mindfulness, and the politics of sustainability Religion June 22, 2023
- Anticipating Stress: To Focus on the Body or Do a Self-Inquiry? The Effects of a Focused and Deconstructive Meditation Session on the Stress Response Mindfulness November 24, 2025
- Meditation in the Pali Social Imaginary I Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
- Meditation in the Pali Social Imaginary II Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
- Meditation and the Ethic of Autonomy Rethinking Meditation September 14, 2023
and 3 more in the library