Insight Myanmar10 Nov 2020

Media Corner: The Discovery of Mindfulness

“Having already witnessed first-hand the transformation of mindfulness from mysterious curiosity to commercialized buzzword, going back to read about a time when so much was still so unexplored generated a kind of nostalgia in me. Perhaps this is like when Americans pine for the ‘simplicity’ of the 1950s or the ‘freedom’ of the Old West—it says more about the psychology of the one doing the pining or the state of current society than about those actual time periods.”

So writes Carl Stimson after reviewing three books: Journey of Insight Meditation (1978) by Eric Lerner, One Night’s Shelter (1985) by Bhikkhu Yogavacara Rahula aka Scott DuPrez, and The Quiet Mind (1971) by John Coleman. Bringing himself into the study as a fourth character, Carl goes on to tackle wider questions as to what we can learn about the growth and expansion of the vipassana movement from Asia to the West. He covers such themes as an early lack of diversity among Western meditators and teachers, the benefits as well as consequences of greater access to mindfulness teachings, meeting challenges along the spiritual path, and the maturation process of a meditator.

If you would like to support our mission, we welcome your contribution. You may give by searching “Insight Myanmar” on PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Go Fund Me, and Patreon, as well as via Credit Card at www.insightmyanmar.org/donation.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(594)

Rangoon Calling

Episode #579: “I did not expect to be conversing in Urdu with someone in Yangon.” Bilal Hassan, a Pakistani creator and doctor, traveled to Burma after noticing how much of Karachi’s everyday culture ...

28 Jul 1h 42min

Past the Commentaries

Episode #578: Aye Myat Thwe is a Burmese lay Buddhist practitioner raised inside the Mahasi Vipassana world, where devotion, meditation, and study were braided into ordinary family life. Watching her ...

27 Jul 1h 54min

A Border Runs Through It

Episode #577: Thomas Shapwon, a Naga elder and former politician, recounts the long struggle of the Naga people for sovereignty and survival between India and Myanmar. He describes the Naga as an anci...

24 Jul 1h 51min

The Hidden Flock

Episode #576: “I have been attempted [at assassinations] twice when they shot me, but I escaped. My family, my brother, they are targeted, and armed groups are always behind us. They kill in a second....

23 Jul 1h 4min

Terms of Extraction

Episode #575: Lindsey Kennedy, an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker focused on organized crime, corruption, and conflict, argues that the scam-compound economy across Cambodia, Myanma...

21 Jul 1h 26min

Unscripted Awakening

Episode #574: Diego Prieto, a Chilean filmmaker, embarked on a journey to explore the Buddha's legacy and its modern relevance. His documentary started as an effort to explain the core teachings of Bu...

20 Jul 1h 6min

Behind the Firewall

Episode #573: “I brought you here to the United States not so you could forget our homeland,” Salih Hudayar remembers his father telling him, “but so you could become educated and one day return to li...

17 Jul 3h 21min

Let Them Eat Cake

Episode #572: “The government will survive for as long as it can feed the people,” says Christopher Lamb, former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar, distilling what he believes defines the country’s pol...

16 Jul 1h 54min