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Cited by 26Indian and Buddhist StudiesMindfulness and Compassion InterventionsStudy and Philosophy of Religion

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Rethinking Meditation: Buddhist Practice in the Ancient and Modern Worlds

McMahan, David L.·2023
DOI 10.1093/oso/9780197661741.001.0001
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Abstract

Rethinking Meditation provides a new theoretical and historical approach to Buddhist and Buddhist-derived meditative practices. It shows how, rather than coming down to us unchanged from the time of the Buddha, the standard articulation of mindfulness as bare, nonjudgmental attention to the present moment is a distillation of particular strands of classical Buddhist thought that have combined with western ideas to create a unique practice tailored to modern forms of thought and ways of life. Part genealogical study and part philosophical argument, it inquires into some of the widespread assumptions about how meditation works and what it does, presenting a view of meditative practices as technologies of the self embedded in cultural forms of life. It shows that the relationship between meditative practices and cultural context is much more crucial than is suggested in typical contemporary articulations, which often emphasize transcendence of cultural conditioning and achieving “objective” internal access to the contents of consciousness. Meditation, McMahan argues, is always situated in social contexts and draws from repertoires of cultural categories, concepts, and values, sometimes accommodating them and sometimes resisting them. Rethinking Meditation also considers the scientific study of meditation and meditation in relation to modern articulations of secularism, freedom, authenticity, appreciation, and interdependence. It also examines the potential for meditation to enha…

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Metadata

Authors
McMahan, D. L.
Affiliations
Franklin & Marshall College (US)
Corresponding author
McMahan, David L.
Publisher
Oxford University PressNew York
Published
2023-07-20
DOI
10.1093/oso/9780197661741.001.0001
OpenAlex
W4384931514
Cited by
26
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1
FWCI
25.98
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
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 › Study and Philosophy of Religion
Keywords
meditation, mindfulness, Buddhist meditation, technologies of the self, secularism, autonomy, authenticity, interdependence, freedom

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