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Cited by 10Religion, Spirituality, and PsychologyMindfulness and Compassion InterventionsIndian and Buddhist Studies

Relationships between Religious and Scientific Worldviews in the Narratives of Western Buddhists Reporting Meditation-Related Challenges

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Palitsky, Roman, Cooper, David J., Lindahl, Jared R., Britton, Willoughby B.·2023·Journal of Contemplative Studies
DOI 10.57010/gdcw6138
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Abstract

Contemporary Buddhist meditators in the West are likely to find themselves engaged in practices with rich associations with both religious and scientific worldviews. Meditation-related challenges can provoke existential concerns that make unexplored relationships between religious and scientific worldviews more important and explicit for Western Buddhist meditators, who may turn to both religion and science for making sense of these challenges. Interviews with 68 meditators and 33 meditation experts were analyzed to examine how meditators and meditation teachers understand the roles of, and relationships between, scientific and religious worldviews in the context of meditation-related challenges. Observed themes included: conflict between science and religion, compatibility between science and religion, nested relationships between science and religion, science and religion as discrete domains, and complementarity between science and religion. These themes suggest an expansion of existing understandings of the relationships between religion and science as they apply to Buddhist meditators, especially in the context of meditation-related challenges. The variety of relationships between religion and science, their existential relevance for meditators, and their interaction with responses to meditation-related challenges suggest that varied relationships between religious and scientific worldviews are important considerations in the scientific study of contemplative practices. Nuanced understandings of how religion and science relate may also benefit practitioners, experts, and their communities when addressing meditation-related challenges.

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  • More meditation teachers differentiated their role from a mental health professional, believing them to be distinct domains of expertise, and acknowledging that while they have expertise in the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation, it is not their role to act as a therapist or provide guidance during an acute mental health episode.

    “More meditation teachers differentiated their role from a mental health professional, believing them to be distinct domains of expertise, and acknowledging that while they have expertise in the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation, it is not their role to act as a therapist or provide guidance during an acute mental health episode (cf. Palitsky et al. 2023).”

    From The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as Palitsky et al. 2023

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  • Dual relationships between meditation teaching and therapy raise questions about how boundaries between religion and science are understood and justified in various ways.

    “Such dual relationships also raise questions about how boundaries between religion and science are understood and justified in various ways (Helderman 2019; Palitsky et al. 2023).”

    From The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as Palitsky et al. 2023

    The Results (page unavailable) describe a meditation teacher who was also a mental health professional and show teachers distinguishing Buddhist practice from therapy. The Conclusion (page unavailable) finds varied ways practitioners understand the relationship between religious and scientific frameworks. The paper does not establish that dual teaching–therapy relationships themselves raise these questions. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • There was at times a tension among those practitioners and teachers who thought that Buddhist meditation as taught in the West should be compatible or congruent with psychology, versus those who conceived of Western psychology and Buddhist meditation as operating in discrete domains.

    “However, there was also at times a tension among those practitioners and teachers who thought that Buddhist meditation as taught in the West should be compatible or congruent with psychology, versus those who conceived of Western psychology and Buddhist meditation as operating in discrete domains (Palitsky et al. 2023).”

    From The Teacher Matters: The Role and Impact of Meditation Teachers in the Trajectories of Western Buddhist Meditators Experiencing Meditation-Related Challenges (2025) · cites this paper as Palitsky et al. 2023

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Authors
Palitsky, R., Cooper, D. J., Lindahl, J. R., & Britton, W. B.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Contemplative Studies
Publisher
Contemplative Sciences Center
Published
2023-04-13
Pages
1-28
ISSN
3066-9030 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.57010/gdcw6138
OpenAlex
W4365450879
Cited by
10
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
FWCI
2.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-nd
Locations
  • Journal of Contemplative Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
Keywords
Western Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, existential concerns, science and religion conflict, contemplative practice

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