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119-618: The Vipassanā movement , also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American Vipassana movement , refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" ( sukha-Vipassana ) to attain stream entry and preserve the Buddhist teachings, which gained widespread popularity since the 1950s, and to its western derivatives which have been popularised since

238-441: A meditation retreat and self-reports of unpleasant experiences. This is a relevant consideration insofar as Vipassana/Insight meditation is often taught in retreats. This result differs from previous research which found that retreat attendance tends to be correlated with a range of positive effects. Contemporary Burmese Theravāda Buddhism is one of the main creators of modern Vipassanā practice, which has gained popularity from

357-576: A Western audience were Anagarika Dharmapala and Soyen Shaku in 1893 at The World Congress of Religion . Shaku's student D.T. Suzuki was a prolific writer, fluent in English and he introduced Zen Buddhism to Westerners. Scholars such as Martin Verhoeven and Robert Sharf, as well as Japanese Zen monk G. Victor Sogen Hori, have argued that the breed of Japanese Zen that was propagated by New Buddhism ideologues, such as Imakita Kosen and Soyen Shaku,

476-439: A complete manuscript. While palm-leaf manuscripts have likely been in use since before the 5th century CE, existing examples date from the 18th century and later, with the largest number having been created during the 19th century. Because of the materials used and the tropical climate, manuscripts from earlier eras are generally not found intact in palm-leaf form, and many manuscripts have been badly damaged. During

595-457: A defense of Buddhism against government persecution, they also saw it as a way to bring their nation into the modern world as a competitive, cultural force. Kosen himself was even employed by the Japanese government as a "national evangelist" during the 1870s. The cause of Japanese nationalism and the portrayal of Japan as a superior cultural entity on the international scene was at the heart of

714-592: A deity and he is worshipped in its practice. Other forms of Neo-Buddhism are found outside Asia, particularly in European nations. According to Bernard Faure – a professor of Religious Studies with a focus on Buddhism, Neo-Buddhism in the forms found in the West is a modernist restatement, a form of spiritual response to anxieties of individuals and the modern world that is not grounded in its ancient ideas, but "a sort of impersonal flavorless or odorless spirituality". It

833-596: A devotion to the Divine Mother of all. Vipassanā movement traditions have offered meditation programs in some prisons. One notable example was in 1993 when Kiran Bedi , a reformist Inspector General of India's prisons, learned of the success of Vipassanā in a jail in Jaipur , Rajasthan . A ten-day retreat involved officials and inmates alike was then tried in India's largest prison Tihar Jail near New Delhi. Vipassana

952-453: A group of modern Buddhist leaders emerged to argue for the Buddhist cause. These leaders stood in agreement with the government persecution of Buddhism, stating that Buddhist institutions were indeed corrupted and in need of revitalization. This Japanese movement became known as Shin Bukkyō ('New Buddhism'). The leaders themselves were university-educated intellectuals who had been exposed to

1071-478: A later era. These should not be considered as Buddha's teachings in Ambedkar's view. Other foundational concepts of Buddhism such as Karma and Rebirth were considered by Ambedkar as superstitions. Navayana abandons practices and precepts such as the institution of monk after renunciation, ideas such as karma, rebirth in afterlife, samsara, meditation, nirvana and Four Noble Truths considered to be foundational in

1190-539: A lay-Buddhist organisation in Sri Lanka, independent from power of conventional temples and monasteries. Interest in meditation was awakened by these developments, whereas the main Buddhist practice in temples was the recitation of texts, not of meditation practice. Lay participation in Theravada countries grew strongly in the 20th century, and eventually also reached the west. Most influential in this renewed interest

1309-544: A more liberal approach, questioning the new orthodoxy and integrating various practices and doctrines. Since the 1980s, the Vipassana movement has given way to the largely secularized "mindfulness" practice , which has its roots in Zen and Vipassana -meditation, and has eclipsed the popularity of Vipassana meditation. In the latter approach, mindfulness, understood as "the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in

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1428-705: A more sympathetic account of Buddhism, in the form of the life of the Buddha, emphasizing the parallels between the Buddha and the Christ. The sociopolitical developments in Europe, the rise of scientific theories such as those of Charles Darwin, in late 19th-century and early 20th-century created interest in Buddhism and other eastern religions, but it was studied in the West and those trained in Western education system with

1547-527: A non-judgmental attitude. Mogok Sayadaw (1899-1962) taught the importance of the awareness of noticing the 'arising' and 'Passing away' of all experience as the way to gain insight into impermanence. Mogok Sayadaw emphasized the importance of right understanding and that a meditator should learn the theory of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada) when practicing Vipassana. The Mogok Vipassana Method focuses on meditation of Feeling (Vedanannupassana) and meditation on Mind states (Cittanupassana). The method of

1666-448: A pale imitation of what Buddhism means in their life. According to Burkhard Scherer – a professor of Comparative Religion, the novel interpretations are a new, separate Buddhist sectarian lineage and Shambhala International "has to be described as New Buddhism (Coleman) or, better still, Neo-Buddhism". In Central and Eastern Europe, according to Burkhard Scherer, the fast growing Diamond Way Buddhism started by Hannah and Ole Nydahl

1785-558: A professor of Buddhist Ethics. It may not be necessary to believe in some of the core Buddhist doctrines to be a Buddhist, though most Buddhists in Asia do accept these traditional teachings and seek better rebirth. The rebirth, karma, realms of existence and cyclic universe doctrines underpin the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism. It is possible to reinterpret the Buddhist doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths, states Keown, since

1904-476: A reformulation of Buddhist concepts that has de-emphasized traditional Buddhist doctrines, cosmology, rituals, monasticism, clerical hierarchy and icon worship. The term came into vogue during the colonial and post-colonial era studies of Asian religions, and is found in sources such as Louis de La Vallée-Poussin 's 1910 article. Examples of Buddhist modernism movements and traditions include Humanistic Buddhism , Secular Buddhism , Engaged Buddhism , Navayana ,

2023-566: A scholar, Rhys Davids could appreciate faith through an understanding of uncovered knowledge. According to Foyley, Rhys Davids’ goal for the Pāli Text Society was to “fructify the new attention that had just begun to be given to monastic libraries of ‘palm-leaf manuscripts.” In Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Carolina Augusta Foyley Rhys Davids recounts how by 1936, the society

2142-537: A series of retreats together for the next two years. The retreats were modeled on 10- and 30-day Goenka retreats, but the technique taught was mainly based on Mahasi Sayadaw's practice (with the inclusion of Metta meditation). In 1976 Kornfield and Goldstein, along with Sharon Salzberg and Jacqueline Schwartz founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre , Massachusetts . Kornfield later founded

2261-564: A sister center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center , in Marin County, California, and Goldstein and Salzberg founded the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on land adjoining IMS. Kornfield, and related teachers, tend to de-emphasize the religious elements of Buddhism such as "rituals, chanting, devotional and merit-making activities, and doctrinal studies" and focus on meditative practice. According to Jack Kornfield, We wanted to offer

2380-562: A vast body of Western intellectual literature. The fact that what was presented to the West as Japanese Zen would be so commensurate with the Enlightenment critique of "superstitious," institutional, or ritual-based religion is due to this fact, as such ideals directly informed the creation of this new tradition. This reformulation work has roots in the writings of Eugène Burnouf in the 1840s, who expressed his liking for "the Brahmins,

2499-570: A way that occludes their historical construction. Instead, Buddhist modernist traditions often employ an essentialized description of their tradition, where key tenets are reformulated in universal terms, and the modernistic practices significantly differ from Asian Buddhist communities with centuries-old traditions. The earliest western accounts of Buddhism were by 19th-century European travelers and Christian missionaries who, according to James Coleman, portrayed it as another "heathen religion with strange gods and exotic ceremonies", where their concern

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2618-413: A widowed, single mother, Dipa Ma was a householder (non-monastic) who exemplified liberation and taught Vipassanā as not only a retreat practice but also a lifestyle. Her message to women and men was you don't have to leave your family to reach high states of spiritual understanding, and she taught a radical inclusiveness. She encouraged women who were mothers of young children to practice Vipassanā through

2737-530: Is a "definite affinity" between the four jhanas and the bojjhaṅgā , the seven factors of awakening. The "bare attention" propagated in the New Burmese Method has been popularized as mindfulness , starting with Jon Kabat Zinn's mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), developed in the late 1970s, and continuing in applications such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based pain management (MBPM). The Pa-auk method

2856-510: Is a Neo-orthoprax Buddhism movement. The charismatic leadership of Nydahl and his 600 dharma centers worldwide have made it the largest convert movement in Eastern Europe, but its interpretations of Tibetan Buddhism and tantric meditation techniques have been criticized by both traditional Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Others have used "New Buddhism" to describe socially engaged Buddhism. In 2001, David Brazier published his "manifesto of

2975-441: Is a re-adaptation, a kind of Buddhism "a la carte", that understands the needs and then is reformulated to fill a void in the West, rather than reflect the ancient canons and secondary literature of Buddhism. Some Western interpreters of Buddhism have proposed the term "naturalized Buddhism" for few of these movements. It is devoid of rebirth, karma, nirvana, realms of existence, and other concepts of Buddhism, with doctrines such as

3094-569: Is being compiled by Margaret Cone, with the first of three volumes (A - Kh) published in 2001. By 1922, when T. W. Rhys Davids died, the Pāli Text Society had issued 64 separate texts in 94 volumes exceeding 26,000  pages, as well a range of articles by English and European scholars. The Pāli Text Society signed an MoU between the Dhammakaya Foundation, Thailand, on 1996 for collaboration and published

3213-518: Is being taught in Jail 4 of Tihar Prisons to inmates in two ten day courses every month around the year since 1994 onwards. This program was said to have dramatically changed the behavior of inmates and jailers alike. Inmates who completed the ten-day course were less violent and had a lower recidivism rate than other inmates. This project was documented in the documentary film, Doing Time, Doing Vipassana . Vipassana prison courses are routinely offered at

3332-442: Is classed as a "deconstructive" form of meditation by Buddhist scholar and scientist Cortland Dahl and coauthors. Psychology researchers differ as to whether an association exists between unpleasant meditation-related experiences and deconstructive meditation types; a recent study noted that their sample size was too small to draw definitive conclusions. However, these authors did find a correlation between meditators having attended

3451-414: Is different from Western modernism, states Skaria, given his synthesis of the ideas of modern Karl Marx into the structure of ideas by the ancient Buddha. According to Ambedkar, several of the core beliefs and doctrines of traditional Buddhist traditions such as Four Noble Truths and Anatta as flawed and pessimistic, may have been inserted into the Buddhist scriptures by wrong headed Buddhist monks of

3570-448: Is due to the presence in them of what I may designate as the Zen element. Scholars such as Robert Sharf have argued that such statements also betray inklings of nationalist sentiment, common to many early Buddhist Modernists, in that they portray Zen, which Suzuki had described as representing the essence of the Japanese people, as superior to all other religions. A Neo-Buddhist movement

3689-554: Is lovingly referred to by her students, also used to lead chants with her husband. Indian Shambhavi Chopra , a former textiles designer and divorced mother of two who is now co-director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, writes of her 10-day Vipassanā meditation training at a retreat center in Germany in her book Yogini: The Enlightened Woman , and encourages students to explore Vipassanā practice and mastery as

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3808-504: Is mindfulness of breathing based on sutan and visuddhimagga. Women have been quite prominent as teachers in the Vipassanā movement. Though the formal Theravāda Vipassanā tradition has been maintained by an almost exclusively male monastic tradition, nuns and non-monastic female adepts have played important roles, despite being completely absent or only noted in the background of the historical record. These teachers and practitioners expand

3927-557: Is not a form of concentration-meditation, but a training in heightened awareness and equanimity, which forms the culmination of the Buddhist path. According to Buswell, by the 10th century Vipassana was no longer practiced in the Theravada tradition, due to the belief that Buddhism had degenerated, and that liberation was no longer attainable until the coming of Maitreya . According to Braun, "the majority of Theravadins and dedicated Buddhists of other traditions, including monks and nuns, have focused on cultivating moral behavior, preserving

4046-483: Is not the same as belief in reincarnation , because rebirth in Buddhism is envisioned as happening without an assumption of an "atman, self, soul", rather through a "consciousness conceived along the anatman lines". The doctrine of rebirth is considered mandatory in Tibetan Buddhism, and across many Buddhist sects. According to Melford Spiro, the reinterpretations of Buddhism that discard rebirth undermine

4165-467: Is the modern aspect of a variety of Buddhist schools in different locations. Moreover, he suggests that they have their own cosmopolitan lineage and canonical "scriptures," mainly the works of popular and semischolarly authors—figures from the formative years of modern Buddhism, including Soyen Shaku , Dwight Goddard, D. T. Suzuki , and Alexandra David-Neel , Shunryu Suzuki , Sangharakshita and Alan Watts . Controversially, he even goes as far to include

4284-554: Is the only force in which the Western people know that they are inferior to the nations of the East ... Let us wed the Great Vehicle [Mahayana Buddhism] to Western thought...at Chicago next year [referring to the 1893 World Parliament of Religions] the fitting time will come." According to Martin Verhoeven, "The spiritual crisis of the West exposed its Achilles' heel to be vanquished. Though economically and technologically bested by

4403-711: Is the ultimate fact of all philosophy and religion. Every intellectual effort must culminate in it, or rather must start from it, if it is to bear any practical fruits. Every religious faith must spring from it if it has to prove at all efficiently and livingly workable in our active life. Therefore Zen is not necessarily the fountain of Buddhist thought and life alone; it is very much alive also in Christianity, Mohammedanism , in Taoism , and even positivistic Confucianism . What makes all these religions and philosophies vital and inspiring, keeping up their usefulness and efficiency,

4522-483: The Fourteenth Dalai Lama , Thich Nhat Hanh (Zen master and founder of Plum Village and the global movement for Engaged Buddhism) and Chögyam Trungpa (Tibetan Buddhist master credited with presenting authentic Buddhist teachings by making a clear distinction between the cultural aspects of Buddhism and the fundamental teachings of Buddhism). No doubt, according to the early Indian Buddhist tradition,

4641-598: The Journal of the Pali Text Society . Thomas William Rhys Davids was one of three British civil servants who were posted to Sri Lanka , in the 19th century, the others being George Turnour , and Robert Caesar Childers (1838–1876). At this time Buddhism in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon ) was struggling under the weight of foreign rule and intense missionary activity by Christians . It was an administrative requirement that all civil servants should be familiar with

4760-621: The Pa Auk Sayadaw is closely based on the Visuddhimagga , a classic Theravada meditation manual. He promotes the extensive development of the four jhanas , states of meditative absorption and focus. The insight element is based on surveying the body by observing the four elements (earth, water, fire and wind) by using the sensations of hardness, heaviness, warmth and motion. Western teachers who work with this method include Shaila Catherine , Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen. Since

4879-668: The open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library. The Pāli Text Society was founded with the goal of spreading the academic merit of Buddhism across Europe. It is a learned Society, dedicated not only to the translation of the Pāli Canon, but to the publication of a variety of Buddhist literature, the teaching of the Pāli language, and to spread their publications to libraries across Europe. The Pāli Text Society, specifically its founder, Thomas William Rhys Davids, and his wife, Carolina Augusta Foyley Rhys Davids,  have been attributed to creating

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4998-485: The "modern argument" that "one can still obtain all the results of the practice without having to accept the possibility of rebirth." He states, "rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition." According to Owen Flanagan, the Dalai Lama states that "Buddhists believe in rebirth" and that this belief has been common among his followers. However, the Dalai Lama's belief in rebirth, adds Flanagan,

5117-624: The 1950s onward. Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923) prepared the ground for the popularisation of meditation by a lay audience, by re-introducing the practice of meditation, based on the Abhidhamma. S. N. Goenka (1924–2013) was a well-known Indian lay teacher in the Ledi-lineage who was taught by Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899–1971). According to S. N. Goenka, Vipassanā techniques are essentially non-sectarian in character, and have universal application. He asserted that Vipassana technique of meditation

5236-409: The 1970s, giving rise to the more dhyana -oriented mindfulness movement. The Burmese Vipassana movement has its roots in the 19th century, when Theravada Buddhism came to be influenced by western modernism, and some monks tried to restore the Buddhist practice of meditation. Based on the commentaries, Ledi Sayadaw popularized Vipassana meditation for lay people, teaching samatha and stressing

5355-767: The Americas, and has become synonymous with Vipassana . A comparable development took place in Thailand, where the Buddhist orthodoxy was challenged by monks who aimed to reintroduce the practice of meditation, based on the Sutta Pitaka. In contrast to the Burmese Vipassana teachers, Thai teachers taught Vipassana in tandem with samatha . The practical and doctrinal differences have been heatedly debated within south-east Asian Theravada Buddhism. They have also influenced western teachers, who have tended to take

5474-465: The Buddha's great discovery, as condensed in his experience of nirvana, involved the remembrance of his many former existences, presupposing as fact the reality of a never-ending process of rebirth as a source of deep anxiety, and an acceptance of the Buddha's overcoming of that fate as ultimate liberation. Pali Text Society The Pāli Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote

5593-509: The Buddha’s teachings (dharma), and acquiring the good karma that comes from generous giving." Southern Esoteric Buddhist practices were widespread in the whole Theravadin world before being replaced by the Vipassana movement. The interest in meditation was re-awakened in Myanmar (Burma) in the 18th century by Medawi (1728–1816), who wrote Vipassana manuals. The actual practice of meditation

5712-533: The Buddhist sources. And while the New Burmese Method is strictly based on the Theravāda Abhidhamma and the Visuddhimagga , western teachers tend to base their practice also on personal experience and on the suttas, which they approach in a more textual-critical way. A recent development, according to some western non-monastic scholars, is the understanding that jhana , as described in the nikayas,

5831-407: The Buddhist traditions. Ambedkar's Neo-Buddhism rejected these ideas and re-interpreted the Buddha's religion in terms of class struggle , social equality and social justice. Ambedkar called his version of Buddhism Navayana or Neo-Buddhism . His book, The Buddha and His Dhamma is the holy book of Navayana followers. According to Junghare, for the followers of Navyana, Ambedkar has become

5950-747: The Buddhists, the Zoroastrians" and a dislike for "the Jesuits" to Max Muller . Imakita Kosen, who would become D.T. Suzuki's teacher in Zen until his death in 1892, was an important figure in this movement. Largely responding to the Reformation critique of elite institutionalism, he opened Engakuji monastery to lay practitioners, which would allow students like Suzuki unprecedented access to Zen practice. Advocates of New Buddhism, like Kosen and his successor Soyen Shaku, not only saw this movement as

6069-483: The Burmese orthodoxy, and propagate an integrative approach, in which samatha and Vipassana are developed in tandem. Kornfield, who trained in both Burma and Thailand, also propagates an integrative approach. A main criticism of the Burmese method is its reliance on the commentatorial literature, in which Vipassana is separated from samatha, and jhana is equated with concentration meditation. Thanissaro Bhikkhu stresses

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6188-649: The Donaldson Prison Facility in Alabama through the Vipassana Prison Trust. Burma Thailand Burma/Burmese tradition Western teachers Buddhist modernism The Neo-Buddhism movements differ in their doctrines and practices from the historical, mainstream Theravada , Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. A co-creation of Western Orientalists and reform-minded Asian Buddhists, Buddhist modernism has been

6307-533: The Four Noble Truths reformulated and restated in modernistic terms. This "deflated secular Buddhism" stresses compassion, impermanence, causality, selfless persons, no Bodhisattvas, no nirvana, no rebirth, and a naturalist approach to well-being of oneself and others. Meditation and spiritual practices such as Vipassana , or its variants, centered around self-development remain a part of the Western Neo-Buddhist movements. According to James Coleman,

6426-433: The Four Noble Truths, for it does not address the existential question for the Buddhist as to "why live? why not commit suicide, hasten the end of dukkha in current life by ending life". In traditional Buddhism, rebirth continues the dukkha and the path to cessation of dukkha isn't suicide, but the fourth reality of the Four Noble Truths. According to Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary Buddhists, today as well as in

6545-662: The Japanese-initiated new lay organizations of Nichiren Buddhism such as Soka Gakkai , Girō Seno’o ’s Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism, the Dobokai movement and its descendants such as Oneness Buddhism, Sanbo Kyodan and the missionary activity of Zen masters in the United States , the New Kadampa Tradition and the missionary activity of Tibetan Buddhist masters in the West (leading

6664-478: The New Buddhism," calling for a shift from monasticism and traditional doctrines to innovative interpretations engaging with the secular world. He argues that traditional schools like Theravada and Mahayana have become "instruments of state policy for subduing rather than liberating the population" and focus on "individual salvation rather than addressing the roots of world disease." Donald S. Lopez Jr. uses

6783-469: The Pāli Text Society, as Foyley records it in the 1926 report: " The Subscription to the Society is One Guinea a year, for texts, or a text and Journals, and ten shillings a year for a translation, payable in advance. Publications, two volumes a year, and, when possible, a translation, are sent post free on receipt of the subscription. Back issues are sent post free on payment of the subscription for

6902-502: The Roman text editions of the Pāli Canon was not financially rewarding, but was achieved with the backing of the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka who underwrote the printing costs. Childers published the first Pāli-English dictionary in 1874. This was superseded in 1925 by the new dictionary which had largely been compiled by T. W. Rhys Davids over 40 years, but was finished by his student William Stede. Currently another dictionary

7021-425: The Western powers, Japan saw a chance to reassert its sense of cultural superiority via religion." For a number of reasons, several scholars have identified D.T. Suzuki —whose works were popular in the West from the 1930s onward, and particularly in the 1950s and 60s—as a "Buddhist Modernist." Suzuki's depiction of Zen Buddhism can be classified as Buddhist Modernist in that it employs all of these traits. That he

7140-468: The Zen missionary movement. Zen would be touted as the essential Japanese religion, fully embodied by the bushido , or samurai spirit, an expression of the Japanese people in the fullest sense, in spite of the fact that this version of Zen was a recent invention in Japan that was largely based on Western philosophical ideals. Soyen Shaku, Suzuki's teacher in Zen after Kosen's death in 1892, claimed "Religion

7259-444: The belief in karma and rebirth foundational to the Four Noble Truths. The "naturalized Buddhism", according to Gowans, is a radical revision to traditional Buddhist thought and practice, and it attacks the structure behind the hopes, needs and rationalization of the realities of human life to traditional Buddhists in East, Southeast and South Asia. Gowan posits that for traditional Buddhists, "naturalized Buddhism" might come across as

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7378-404: The classic Pāli Texts, including two volumes on the translation of Apadna, published by the Society in 1925 and 1927 respectively. A 1926 annual report, published in the second edition of The Journal of the Pāli Text Society (1924-1927), reveals that the Society had recently published a new Pāli Dictionary to replace Robert Caesar Childers's, which Foyley quoted to be "antiquated and imperfect",

7497-502: The colonial era, many palm-leaf manuscripts were disassembled and destroyed, with individual pages of texts being sold as decorative objets d'art to Western collectors. The Pāli Text Society created the Fragile Palm Leaves project to collect, catalogue, and preserve these artifacts, including scanning them into electronic formats in order to make them available to researchers without threatening their preservation. In 2001

7616-563: The commentarial tradition, and stress the joined practice of samatha and Vipassana . The 'American Vipassanā movement' includes contemporary American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein , Tara Brach , Gil Fronsdal , Sharon Salzberg , Ruth Denison , Shinzen Young and Jack Kornfield . Most of these teachers combine the strict Burmese approach with the Thai approach, and also other Buddhist and non-Buddhist ideas and practices, due to their broader training and their critical approach to

7735-699: The core practice of early Buddhism, and noting that this practice was not a form of concentration-meditation, but a cumulative practice resulting in mindful awareness of objects while being indifferent to it. Polak, elaborating on Vetter, notes that the onset of the first dhyana is described as a quite natural process, due to the preceding efforts to restrain the senses and the nurturing of wholesome states . Recently Keren Arbel, elaborating on Bronkhorst, Vetter and Gethin, has argued that mindfulness, jhana, samatha and Vipassana form an integrated whole, leading to an alert, joyful and compassionate state of mind and being. Polak and Arbel, following Gethin, further note that there

7854-559: The cultivation of a high level of sustained concentration known as "momentary concentration" (khanika samadhi). Nyanaponika Thera coined the term "bare attention" for the mindfulness practice of the "new Burmese Method." Yet, Robert H. Sharf notes that Buddhist practice is aimed at the attainment of "correct view", not just "bare attention": Mahasi’s technique did not require familiarity with Buddhist doctrine (notably abhidhamma), did not require adherence to strict ethical norms (notably monasticism), and promised astonishingly quick results. This

7973-399: The current life, and themes such as cosmic interdependence. Some advocates of Buddhist modernism claim their new interpretations to be original teachings of the Buddha, and state that the core doctrines and traditional practices found in Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism are extraneous accretions that were interpolated and introduced after Buddha died. According to McMahan, Buddhism of

8092-405: The daily activities of mothering. She once said to Joseph Goldstein that "Women have an advantage over men because they have more supple minds... It may be difficult for men to understand this, because they are men." When asked if there was any hope for men, she replied "The Buddha was a man, and Jesus was a man. So there is hope for you." Dipa Ma's mettā (loving-kindness) meditation instruction

8211-411: The deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. The practice is usually taught in 10-day retreats, in which 3 days are given to the practice of anapanasati, intended to increase consistency and precision of attention, and

8330-662: The discipline of Buddhist studies. Scholar George D. Bond writes that the historical significance of the Davids’ family work, as well as the Society’s work, “ contributes to a new understanding of the British Raj in India and Ceylon”. Furthermore, the Davids’s understood that not only did Buddhism in Sri Lanka hold a rich religious history, but that Pāli itself was the second oldest language East Asian religious texts had been recorded in,

8449-465: The early 1980s, insight meditation has gained a growing popularity in the western world, and saw a synthesis of various practices and backgrounds, with the growing insight in its roots and doctrinal background, and the introduction of other modern traditions. A major developments is the popularisation of mindfulness as a technique of its own. Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein taught a series of classes at Naropa University in 1974, and began teaching

8568-546: The entire PTS edition of the Pāli canon on CD-ROM. In 1994, the Pāli Text Society inaugurated the Fragile Palm Leaves project, an attempt to catalogue and preserve Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts from Southeast Asia. Prior to the introduction of printing presses and Western papermaking technology, texts in Southeast Asia—including the Pāli scriptures—were preserved by inscription on specially preserved leaves from palm trees. The leaves were then bound together to create

8687-406: The eradication of the tradition, which was seen as foreign, incapable of fostering the sentiments that would be vital for national, ideological cohesion. In addition to this, industrialization had taken its toll on the Buddhist establishment as well, leading to the breakdown of the parishioner system that had funded monasteries for centuries. In response to this seemingly intractable state of turmoil,

8806-475: The fact that the kasina method is marginally treated in the suttas, in which the emphasis is predominantly on jhana . In the suttas, samatha and Vipassana are qualities of the mind which are developed together. This point is also reiterated by Shankman, arguing that samatha and Vipassana cannot be separated. Groundbreaking research on early Buddhist meditation has been conducted by Bronkhorst, Vetter, Gethin, Gombrich, and Wynne arguing that jhana may have been

8925-434: The final goal and the answer to the problem of suffering is nirvana and not rebirth. According to Konik, Since the fundamental problems underlying early Indian Buddhism and contemporary western Buddhism are not the same, the validity of applying the set of solutions developed by the first to the situation of the second becomes a question of great importance. Simply putting an end to rebirth would not necessarily strike

9044-702: The first being the Vedanic tradition. The linguistic merit of Pāli was so culturally significant because, as Foyley writes, the language was “ as dead as is Latin, and yet as alive, built out of old Indian dialects as the vehicle of the Canon…”. The motivation for the formation of the Pāli Text Society has its roots in Thomas William Rhys Davids’ Civil Service career. Since he had familial connections to ministry, and he received his education in Germany, studying both Greek and Sanskrit, Rhys Davids

9163-461: The focus of most vipassana students in the west "is mainly on meditation practice and a kind of down-to-earth psychological wisdom." For many western Buddhists, the rebirth doctrine in the Four Noble Truths teaching is a problematic notion. According to Lamb, "Certain forms of modern western Buddhism [...] see it as purely mythical and thus a dispensable notion." Westerners find "the ideas of karma and rebirth puzzling", states Damien Keown –

9282-409: The form found in the West today has been deeply influenced by this modernism. Buddhist modernist traditions are reconstructions and a reformulation with emphasis on rationality, meditation , compatibility with modern science about body and mind. In the modernistic presentations, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist practices are " detraditionalized ", in that they are often presented in such

9401-490: The fountainhead of all religious sentiment. As McMahan explains, "In his discussion of humanity and nature, Suzuki takes Zen literature out of its social, ritual, and ethical contexts and reframes it in terms of a language of metaphysics derived from German Romantic idealism , English Romanticism , and American Transcendentalism ." Drawing on these traditions, Suzuki presents a version of Zen that has been described by hostile critics as detraditionalized and essentialized: Zen

9520-459: The framework of Vipassanā to incorporate the immanence of the female body and its innate opportunities for enlightenment through the cycles of its physiology and the emotions of marriage, childlessness, childbearing, child loss, and widowhood. The modern Bangladeshi teacher Dipa Ma , a student of Anagarika Munindra , was one of the first female Asian masters to be invited to teach in America. As

9639-404: The funding of which was provided by donors in Japan. In that same report, Foyley mentions how the publication of the new dictionary was one of the most costly expenses over the past three years, but how support from donations and subscriptions to the Society's works helped to keep the Society financially stable, both attributed to Foyley's economic genius. The following is the subscription plan for

9758-485: The laity, but was also severely criticised because of its disregard of samatta . Most senior western Vipassana teachers (Goldstein, Kornfield, Salzberg) studied with Mahasi Sayadaw and his student Sayadaw U Pandita . Nyanaponika Thera (1901–1994) ordained already in the fifties, contributing to the interest in Vipassana with his publications. Prominent teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi is a student of Nyanaponika. Ajahn Tong

9877-521: The language, literature, and culture of the land in which they were posted, so the three men studied with several scholar monks where, along with an introduction to Sinhala culture and language, they became interested in Buddhism. The Pāli Text Society was founded on the model of the Early English Text Society with Rhys Davids counting on support from a lot of European scholars and Sri Lankan scholar monks. The work of bringing out

9996-609: The monastery to undergo koan practice in sanzen with the roshi. The fact that Suzuki himself was able to do so as a layman was largely a result of New Buddhism. At the onset of the Meiji period, in 1868, when Japan entered into the international community and began to industrialize and modernize at an astounding rate, Buddhism was briefly persecuted in Japan as "a corrupt, decadent, anti-social, parasitic, and superstitious creed, inimical to Japan's need for scientific and technological advancement." The Japanese government dedicated itself to

10115-456: The past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth". Buddhist morality hinges on the hope of well being in this lifetime or in future rebirth, with nirvana (enlightenment) a project for a future lifetime. A denial of karma and rebirth undermines their history, moral orientation and religious foundations. However, adds Gowans, many Western followers and people interested in exploring Buddhism are skeptical and object to

10234-412: The powerful practices of insight meditation, as many of our teachers did, as simply as possible without the complications of rituals, robes, chanting and the whole religious tradition. Some teachers adhere to a strict 'Burmese approach', in which meditation is equated with kasina (concentration) meditation, and Vipassana is the main aim. Others, like Bhikkhu Thannissaro, who trained in Thailand, criticise

10353-575: The practice of satipatthana to acquire Vipassana (insight) into the three marks of existence as the main means to attain the beginning of awakening and become a stream-enterer . It was greatly popularized in the 20th century in traditional Theravada countries by Mahasi Sayadaw , who introduced the "New Burmese Satipatthana Method". It also gained a large following in the west, due to westerners who learned Vipassana from Mahasi Sayadaw, S. N. Goenka , and other Burmese teachers. Some also studied with Thai Buddhist teachers, who are more critical of

10472-661: The present moment, and non-judgmentally", is the central practice, instead of Vipassana . The Vipassanā movement emphasizes the use of Vipassanā to gain insight into the three marks of existence as the main means to attain wisdom and the beginning of awakening and become a stream-enterer , or even attain full liberation. The practices are based on the Satipatthana sutta , the Visuddhimagga , and other texts, emphasizing satipatthana and bare insight. The various movements espouse forms of samatha and Vipassanā meditation. The various Vipassana teachers also make use of

10591-648: The prevalent cultural premises and modernism . The first comprehensive study of Buddhist modernism in the Theravada tradition as a distinct phenomenon was published in 1966 by Heinz Bechert . Bechert regarded Buddhist modernism as "modern Buddhist revivalism" in postcolonial societies like Sri Lanka. He identified several characteristics of Buddhist modernism: new interpretations of early Buddhist teachings, de-mythologisation and reinterpretation of Buddhism as "scientific religion", social philosophy or "philosophy of optimism", emphasis on equality and democracy, "activism" and social engagement, support of Buddhist nationalism, and

10710-743: The project was formalised as a nonprofit in Thailand as the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation. In February 2013, the Pāli Text Society, Sendai University , and the University of Toronto , along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from U Pho Thi Library in Thaton , and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa. The digitised manuscripts are available at

10829-1034: The quickly growing Buddhist movement in France ), the Vipassana Movement , the Triratna Buddhist Community , Dharma Drum Mountain , Fo Guang Shan , Won Buddhism , the Great Western Vehicle, Tzu Chi , and Juniper Foundation. Buddhist modernism emerged during the late 19th-century and early 20th-century colonial era, as a co-creation of Western Orientalists and reform-minded Buddhists. It appropriated elements of Western philosophy, psychological insights as well as themes increasingly felt to be secular and proper. It de-emphasized or denied ritual elements, cosmology, gods, icons, rebirth, karma, monasticism, clerical hierarchy and other Buddhist concepts. Instead, modernistic Buddhism has emphasized interior exploration, satisfaction in

10948-417: The rest of the time is given to Vipassanā in the form of "body sweep" practice in which the meditator moves through the body in sections, or as a whole, paying attention to the various sensations that arise without reacting to them. According to Bhikkhu Analayo , "this form of meditation has by now become what probably is the most widely taught form of insight meditation world-wide." Ruth Denison (1922–2015)

11067-400: The revival of meditation practice. The term Neo-Buddhism and modernism in the context of Japanese Buddhist and Western interactions appear in late 19th-century and early 20th-century publications. For example, Andre Bellesort used the term in 1901, while Louis de La Vallée-Poussin used it in a 1910 article. According to James Coleman, the first presenters of a modernistic Buddhism before

11186-399: The scheme of the insight knowledges , stages of insight which every practitioner passes through in their progress of meditation. The foundation for this progress is the meditation on the arising and passing away of all contemplated phenomena ( anicca ), which leads to an understanding of their unsatisfactory ( dukkha ) nature and insight into not-self ( anatta ). Vipassana/Insight meditation

11305-809: The struggle against western hegemonism, giving voice to traditional values and culture. But the Theravada-tradition was also reshaped, using the Pali scriptural materials to legitimize these reforms. Ironically, the Pali canon became widely accessible due to the western interest in those texts, and the publications of the Pali Text Society . A major role was also being played by the Theosophical Society , which sought for ancient wisdom in south-East Asia, and stimulated local interest in its own traditions. The Theosophical Society started

11424-702: The study of Pāli texts." Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The Pāli texts are the oldest collection of Buddhist scriptures preserved in the language in which they were written down. The society first compiled, edited, and published Latin script versions of a large corpus of Pāli literature, including the Pāli Canon , as well as commentarial, exegetical texts , and histories. It publishes translations of many Pāli texts. It also publishes ancillary works including dictionaries, concordances, books for students of Pāli and

11543-402: The term "Modern Buddhism" to describe the entirety of Buddhist modernist traditions, which he suggests "has developed into a kind of transnational Buddhist sect", "an international Buddhism that transcends cultural and national boundaries, creating...a cosmopolitan network of intellectuals, writing most often in English", which he claims is rooted neither in geography nor in traditional schools but

11662-482: The traditional preliminary practice of fixed concentration or tranquilization (appana samadhi, samatha ). Instead, the meditator practices Vipassana exclusively during intensive periods of silent retreat that can last several months with a daily schedule of meditation from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Two key elements in Mahasi’s method for developing mindfulness are the careful labeling of one’s immediate experience together with

11781-436: The western Buddhist as the ultimate answer, as it certainly was for early Indian Buddhists. Traditional Buddhist scholars disagree with these modernist Western interpretations. Bhikkhu Bodhi , for example, states that rebirth is an integral part of the Buddhist teachings as found in the sutras, despite the problems that "modernist interpreters of Buddhism" seem to have with it. Thanissaro Bhikkhu , as another example, rejects

11900-460: The year, or years, in which the volumes were issued (that is, of One Guinea a year or a proportional payment per volume). But the payment for issues dating prior to 1901 is now increased 50 per cent". Upon acknowledging how little time she had left, she wrote in a diary entry "It is not likely I shall be here to finish to our work”, referring to the re-issuing of the original translations of Vinaya, Milinda, and Jataka. Foyley died in 1942, leaving

12019-418: Was a Thai master who studied for a short time under Mahasi Sayadaw before returning to found his own Vipassana lineage at Chom Tong in Thailand. The "New Burmese Method" emphasizes the attainment of Vipassana , insight, by practising satipatthana , paying close attention to the ongoing changes in body and mind. According to Gil Fronsdal: An important feature of the “Mahasi approach” is its dispensing with

12138-508: Was a common recurrence that members of the Anglican clergy would hold public debates against the Buddhists clergy and lay people alike of Sri Lanka. While these debates were intended to be demonstrations of Christian superiority, they actually increased the interest in Buddhism, both in the community and for Rhys Davids. From there, Rhys Davids went on to study the Pāli language and Sinhalese with Ceylon Monk, Yatramulle Sri Dhammarama. Dhammarama

12257-455: Was a core component to be practiced after each Vipassanā session. It involves five stages, the first of which was the mastery of self-compassion in mind and heart, then continuing to the other stages. The prayer of the first stage, given in English is as follows: Let me be free of enemies Let me be free of dangers Let me be free of mental anxieties Let me pass my time with good body and happy mind. Indian teacher Ilaichidevi Goenka ,

12376-417: Was a university-educated intellectual steeped in knowledge of Western philosophy and literature allowed him to be particularly successful and persuasive in arguing his case to a Western audience. As Suzuki presented it, Zen Buddhism was a highly practical religion whose emphasis on direct experience made it particularly comparable to forms of mysticism that scholars such as William James had emphasized as

12495-459: Was another senior teacher of the U Ba Khin method. Anagarika Munindra studied with both S.N. Goenka and Mahasi Sayadaw, and combined both lineages. Dipa Ma was a student of his. The "New Burmese method" was developed by U Nārada (1868–1955) and popularized by his student, Mahasi Sayadaw (1904–1982). It was introduced to Sri Lanka in 1939, but became popular in the 1950s with the arrival of Burmese monks, where it gained great popularity among

12614-406: Was dedicated to the process of Anglicization, and committed to “instilling English ideas of industry and liberty among people” . However, his wife, Carolina Foyley Rhys Davids, documents that her husband, despite both his familial and educational ties to the study of religion, was atheist, and that his fascination with Sri Lankan culture came from a place of greater academic cultural curiosity. It

12733-493: Was employed by the British government to serve as an administrator in Sri Lanka from 1864 to 1872. During this decade of his career, Rhys Davids was posted in both Galle and Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, serving as a clergyman, a judge, Secretary to Governor William Henry Gregory, and as Archeological Commissioner. According to scholarly reviews of his work by George D. Bond and Ananda Wickremeratne,  Rhys Davids’ Civil Service work

12852-475: Was founded by the Indian Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar in the 1950s. Ambedkar held a press conference on October 13, 1956, announcing his rejection of many traditional interpretations of practices and precepts of Theravada and Mahayana vehicles, as well as of Hinduism . He then adopted Navayana Buddhism, and converted between 500,000 and 600,000 Dalits to his Neo-Buddhism movement . He perceived it

12971-470: Was losing financial support due to the economic state of the country during The Great Depression. Following the passing of her husband, Thomas William Rhys Davids, in 1922, Foyley took over the Society’s president; like her husband, her career was in Buddhist Studies, and she was a scholar of both the Pāli language and Sanskrit. However, because Foyley’s educational background was in economics, she

13090-454: Was made possible through interpreting sati as a state of "bare awareness" — the unmediated, non-judgmental perception of things "as they are," uninflected by prior psychological, social, or cultural conditioning. This notion of mindfulness is at variance with premodern Buddhist epistemologies in several respects. Traditional Buddhist practices are oriented more toward acquiring "correct view" and proper ethical discernment, rather than "no view" and

13209-469: Was necessary for them to convert for advancing equality and societal change. All the elements of religious modernism, state Christopher Queen and Sallie King, may be found in Ambedkar Buddhism where his The Buddha and His Dhamma abandons the traditional precepts and practices, then adopts science, activism and social reforms as a form of Engaged Buddhism. Ambedkar's formulation of Buddhism

13328-588: Was not typical of Japanese Zen during their time, nor is it typical of Japanese Zen now. Although greatly altered by the Meiji Restoration , Japanese Zen still flourishes as a monastic tradition. The Zen tradition in Japan, aside from the New Buddhism style of it, required a great deal of time and discipline from monks that laity would have difficulty finding. Zen monks were often expected to have spent several years in intensive doctrinal study, memorizing sutras and poring over commentaries, before even entering

13447-572: Was not understanding the religion but to debunk it. By mid 19th-century, European scholars gave a new picture but once again in concepts understood in the West. They described Buddhism as a "life-denying faith" that rejected all the Christian ideas such as "God, man, life, eternity"; it was an exotic Asian religion that taught nirvana , which was explained then as "annihilation of the individual". In 1879, Edwin Arnold's book The Light of Asia presented

13566-588: Was originally espoused in Rigveda however lapsed after the Vedic era and was rejuvenated by Gautam Buddha. One need not convert to Buddhism to practice these styles of meditation. Meditation centers teaching the Vipassanā popularized by S. N. Goenka exist now in Nepal, India, other parts of Asia, North and South America, Europe, Australia, Middle East and Africa. In the tradition of S.N.Goenka, Vipassanā practice focuses on

13685-540: Was re-invented in Theravada-countries in the 19th and 20th centuries and simplified meditation techniques, based on the Satipatthana sutta , the Visuddhimagga , and other texts, emphasizing satipatthana and bare insight were developed. In the 19th and 20th century the Theravada traditions in Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka were rejuvenated in response to western colonialism. They were rallying points in

13804-417: Was the "new Burmese method" of Vipassana practice, as developed by U Nārada (1868–1955) and popularized by Mahasi Sayadaw (1904–1982). Ultimately, this practice aims at stream entry, with the idea that this first stage of the path to awakening safeguards future development of the person towards full awakening, despite the degenerated age we live in. This method spread over South and Southeast Asia, Europe and

13923-399: Was the one that managed the Society’s finances, and furthermore, it was Foyley who helped pull the Society out of debt. Foyley dedicated her entire career to completing the work of her late husband. Under her presidency, she was able to publish two editions of "Journal of the Pāli Text Society", both which took roughly three years to complete. She also continued to work on the translations of

14042-447: Was the one who taught Rhys Davids of the Pāli Canon, on which he later dedicated his public career to, including the formation of the Pāli Text Society. Although, in Europe during this period of time, Buddhist studies did not exist as an academic discipline, Rhys Davids sought to challenge Eurocentric ideas of Christian supremacy in order to argue in support of Buddhism as a valid religious area of knowledge. Despite his apparent atheism, as

14161-549: Was the wife of the Burmese-trained S. N. Goenka and mother of six children, began practicing adhittan Vipassanā when her youngest child was four years old, eventually joining her husband on the teaching platform as co-teacher to thousands of students at retreat centers and prisons all over India as well as internationally. Prisoners who do Vipassanā meditation reportedly experience less behavior problems while incarcerated and have lower rates of recidivism. "Mataji", as she

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