On Vipassanā and Authenticity
Insight Myanmar17 Aug 2025

On Vipassanā and Authenticity

Episode #380: “I started meditation at a fairly young age,” begins scholar and author, Daniel Stuart. At nineteen, he traveled to India, disillusioned by the world he grew up in and searching for an alternative. What he discovered was vipassanā meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka, and for him it was “a quite revolutionary experience!”

For Stuart, meditation was never confined to the cushion. His practice sparked questions about history, authenticity, and cultural context. This curiosity took him through India and Burma, into the study of Pāḷi and Hindi, and ultimately into academia, where he now bridges rigorous research with personal commitment. A “die-hard student” of S.N. Goenka, Stuart nonetheless insists on examining the lineage within its historical complexity, even when this has put him at odds with the community.

Over time, Stuart has come to see that many teachings in the Goenka tradition emerged from Buddhism’s historical evolution over time, not in an unbroken line unchanged since the time of the Buddha, as is claimed in the tradition. Yet for him, this does not diminish the value of the teachings; it reveals how Buddhist traditions adapt and remain meaningful. He contrasts this with what is called the “Protestant” view of authenticity by many Western meditators who equate purity and authenticity only with the original texts.

Instead, Stuart sees Goenka’s teaching as a pragmatic response to the cultural worlds and contexts he navigated. He says that embracing this complexity has only deepened his faith and his practice. “We live in this space in between,” Stuart says, “like ancient tradition and modernity… and that’s where the whole game is.”

Avsnitt(507)

No Magical Thinking

No Magical Thinking

Ni Ni has been planning for a revolution for as long as she can remember… just not this one. She had expected her fight to be about gender equality. But she says, “Now, I am fighting back about basic ...

20 Maj 20211h 34min

Punk Revolutionary

Punk Revolutionary

Kyaw Kyaw has been a revolutionary about as long as he can remember. His political awakening came through an unlikely influence: punk culture. “Punk is being yourself. It’s a rebellion against injusti...

15 Maj 20211h 55min

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Home Is Where the Heart Is

You are listening to the second episode in our ongoing series, titled “Love Letters to Myanmar.”This series features guests who share their warmest memories and anecdotes, discuss what life lessons th...

9 Maj 20211h 40min

Operation Defection

Operation Defection

For his contribution to the resistance, Ven Detta is seeking inspiration from Vladmir Lenin, spending the last several months studying the history of how soldiers are coaxed to defect during insurrect...

5 Maj 20211h 6min

Literally A Nightmare Scenario

Literally A Nightmare Scenario

Thiri is no stranger to the trauma brought on by the military coup. She spent five years with Human Rights Watch listening to people with cruel and brutal stories of their families killed or harmed by...

30 Apr 20212h 12min

A Risk-Taker at Risk

A Risk-Taker at Risk

“Thurain” (not his real name) had planned to spend the start of 2021 building on his already impressive worldly achievements. Though a “country boy” from birth, he had made his mark in Yangon, establi...

25 Apr 20211h 49min

Touches with the Golden Land

Touches with the Golden Land

Our team has decided to present a new series that focuses on our love and appreciation for the Golden Land. We hope that upcoming episodes in this series can help to provide some kind of counterbalanc...

21 Apr 20212h 15min

Going Rogue: A Doctor on the Front Lines

Going Rogue: A Doctor on the Front Lines

Coco’s career path in medicine wasn’t supposed to end up this way. But on February 1st, for Coco and so many others, “all of the dreams just got wasted away.”He was initially hesitant to join the stre...

14 Apr 20212h 27min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

aftonbladet-krim
motiv
rss-krimstad
p3-krim
fordomspodden
spar
flashback-forever
rss-viva-fotboll
aftonbladet-daily
rss-sanning-konsekvens
blenda-2
svenska-fall
rss-krimreportrarna
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-frandfors-horna
olyckan-inifran
rss-flodet
dagens-eko
svd-dokumentara-berattelser-2
krimmagasinet