Eddy, Glenys (University of Sydney, Australia)
Mindfulness as an agent of self-transformation and religious commitment in western Vipassana meditation practice
During recent decades Vipassana meditation, imported from Theravada Buddhist countries in southeast Asia, has become very popular amongst Westerners, who learn the practice by attending classes and meditation retreats. Central to the practice of Vipassana meditation is training in mindfulness practice, which has been shown to produce beneficial psychological effects in both religious and clinical contexts. Despite this, whilst many studies address the historical, demographic, social, and organizational aspects of the growth of Buddhist traditions and centres in Western countries, very little research has addressed the subjective experience of Buddhist conversion–of choosing to be Buddhist–in a Western context. Research undertaken at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre (BMIMC) between 2003 and 2006 demonstrated the way in which the Western practitioner comes to understand Vipassana practice as the practical embodiment of the Theravada Buddhist worldview.
More specifically, data obtained from participant observation and interview illustrated the way in which the development of mindfulness, through its experiential identification and cultivation, aids the practitioner’s appreciation of Vipassana meditation as a method for working directly with one’s experience in order to transform one’s habitual mental states. This data also revealed the role of mindfulness practice in the interrelated processes of socialization into the Theravadin Buddhist belief system, self-transformation and religious commitment to Buddhism, adding to knowledge of the role of specific religious concepts and doctrinal frameworks in participants’ decisions to commit to a religious tradition or organization. This paper provides a more detailed account of the way in which practitioners apply mindfulness in their meditation practice and in everyday life to facilitate their continual self-transformation and progress on the Buddhist path.
Mindfulness as an agent of self-transformation and religious commitment in western Vipassana meditation practice
During recent decades Vipassana meditation, imported from Theravada Buddhist countries in southeast Asia, has become very popular amongst Westerners, who learn the practice by attending classes and meditation retreats. Central to the practice of Vipassana meditation is training in mindfulness practice, which has been shown to produce beneficial psychological effects in both religious and clinical contexts. Despite this, whilst many studies address the historical, demographic, social, and organizational aspects of the growth of Buddhist traditions and centres in Western countries, very little research has addressed the subjective experience of Buddhist conversion–of choosing to be Buddhist–in a Western context. Research undertaken at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre (BMIMC) between 2003 and 2006 demonstrated the way in which the Western practitioner comes to understand Vipassana practice as the practical embodiment of the Theravada Buddhist worldview.
More specifically, data obtained from participant observation and interview illustrated the way in which the development of mindfulness, through its experiential identification and cultivation, aids the practitioner’s appreciation of Vipassana meditation as a method for working directly with one’s experience in order to transform one’s habitual mental states. This data also revealed the role of mindfulness practice in the interrelated processes of socialization into the Theravadin Buddhist belief system, self-transformation and religious commitment to Buddhism, adding to knowledge of the role of specific religious concepts and doctrinal frameworks in participants’ decisions to commit to a religious tradition or organization. This paper provides a more detailed account of the way in which practitioners apply mindfulness in their meditation practice and in everyday life to facilitate their continual self-transformation and progress on the Buddhist path.