Mindful America: Meditation and the Mutual Transformation of Buddhism and American Culture
Abstract
Thirty years ago, “mindfulness” was a Buddhist principle mostly obscure to the West. Today, it is a popular cure-all for Americans’ daily problems. A massive and lucrative industry promotes mindfulness in every aspect of life, however mundane or unlikely: Americans of various faiths (or none at all) practice mindful eating, mindful sex, mindful parenting, mindfulness in the office, mindful sports, mindfulness-based stress relief and addiction recovery, and hire mindful divorce lawyers. Mindfulness is touted by members of Congress, CEOs, and Silicon Valley tech gurus, and is even being taught in public schools, hospitals, and the military. Focusing on such processes as the marketing, medicalization, and professionalization of meditation, Jeff Wilson reveals how Buddhism shed its countercultural image and was assimilated into mainstream American culture. The rise of mindfulness in America, Wilson argues, is a perfect example of how Buddhism enters new cultures and is domesticated: in each case, the new cultures take from Buddhism what they believe will relieve their specific distresses and concerns, and in the process create new forms of Buddhism adapted to their needs. Wilson also tackles the economics of the mindfulness movement, examining commercial programs, therapeutic services, and products such as books, films, CDs, and even smartphone applications.
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Following his Zen training, with the opening of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in 1976, Kabat-Zinn also began to participate in vipassanā or insight training within Theravāda traditions taught by young Westerners like Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzburg and Christina Feldman, who had studied within the Burmese and Thai reformist traditions.
“Following this Zen training, with the opening of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in 1976, Kabat-Zinn also began to participate in vipassanā or insight training within Theravāda traditions taught by young Westerners like Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzburg and Christina Feldman, who had studied within the Burmese and Thai reformist traditions.”
From Spacious Awareness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and Its Role in the Modern Mindfulness Movement (2017) · cites this paper as Wilson 2014
This technique has the much more active, cognitive quality compared with the Sōtō Zen approach of resting in spacious awareness, letting 'thoughts and sense impressions come and go like the wind'.
“This technique has the much more active, cognitive quality compared with the Sōtō Zen approach of resting in spacious awareness, letting 'thoughts and sense impressions come and go like the wind' (Wilson 2014, 20, 21).”
From Spacious Awareness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and Its Role in the Modern Mindfulness Movement (2017) · cites this paper as Wilson 2014
Their approach originated primarily with two Burmese teachers: Ledi Sayadaw and Mahasi Sayadaw, founders of revivalist movements which drew their techniques from Pali canonical sources.
“Their approach originated primarily with two Burmese teachers: Ledi Sayadaw and Mahasi Sayadaw, founders of revivalist movements which drew their techniques from Pali canonical sources (Wilson 2014, 32, 33).”
From Spacious Awareness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and Its Role in the Modern Mindfulness Movement (2017) · cites this paper as Wilson 2014
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Local Cure, Global Chant: Performing Theravadic Awakening in the Footsteps of the Ledi Sayadaw
Stuart, D. M. (2024) · Numen · doi:10.1163/15685276-20240006 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Solomonova, E., Lindahl, J. R., Gold, I., Cooper, D. J., Little, C., Arteca, D., Cao, C., & Britton, W. B. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1644684 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…Western notions of well-being, while also contrasting the modern theory and practice of meditation with the more diverse range of effects and goals found throughout the history of religions, especially Buddhism (Hickey, 2019; McMahan, 2008; McMahan and Braun, 2017; Salguero, 2023; Wilson, 2014).”
- Authors
- Wilson, J.
- Corresponding author
- Wilson, Jeff
- ORCID
- Wilson, Jeff
- Venue
- Oxford University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Published
- 2014-08-01
- OpenAlex
- W2482451226
- Cited by
- 303
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 59.56
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oxford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Keywords
- mindfulness, Buddhism, American culture, cultural assimilation, medicalization, professionalization, meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, addiction recovery, mindful parenting, mindful eating, religion and technology
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