Jamie KimmelFinal PaperCharlie PokornyHRHS 1515: Buddhist Traditions of South Asia

Explorations Regarding the Spread of Mainstream Buddhism: Reviews of The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw by Erik Braun (2013), and Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation in American Culture by Jeff Wilson (2014)

These days, Buddhism is almost synonymous with meditation for many people. We can see this in modern day America very clearly, where a variety of 'mindfulness' practices are being promoted and widely practiced at a scale never seen before. Modern mass meditation practices in America, such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, often qualify themselves by claiming to tap into a very old traditional framework, positing themselves as being the receivers of an unchanged and authentic Dharma. An example can be found in this title: Adapting Ancient Wisdom for the Treatment of Depression: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Group Training.[footnoteRef:2] The claims embedded here are complex, and the coupling of 'ancient wisdom' with a very modern practice which has adapted this wisdom is something we are seeing more and more. Buddhist teachings have been written and rewritten many times by myriads of people, both monk and lay, and for various reasons. Sometimes it appears as if Buddhism has been erased completely within modern secular teachings of mindfulness, but yet there is somehow still a connection. Trying to make sense of this, we realize that Buddhism has a history in practice as well as in doctrine, and both of these have been used to suit the wants and needs of practitioners throughout history, changing and adapting in many ways as they proliferate through the world. [2: Maggie Chartier, et al., Adapting Ancient Wisdom for the Treatment of Depression: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Group Training, PubMed Central, National Institute of Health, Author Manuscript (Dec 2010), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190038/ (accessed November 15, 2014).]

In this paper, I will provide summaries and analyses of two recent books dealing with the rise and spread of mass meditation movements, one in Burma in the 19th century, and the other in America during the 20th and 21st century: The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw by Erik Braun (2013), and Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture by Jeff Wilson (2014). Both of these books deal with how the Buddhist practice of meditation became integrated into lay society on a mass scale, previously being something which only monks did, and only certain monks. How did this happen, and how did the actors involved use the Buddhist teachings to adapt them to their respective societies, and for what reasons? I will summarize the content of these books, offering my praise, criticism, and suggestions about the work, and then draw connections between them and our class readings. It is my hope that by reviewing and analyzing these books, I will be able to offer some insights into the multiple and complex histories and methodologies of mass lay meditation movements in both America and Burma.Braun tells us that, Prior to the colonial era, in Burma as in other Theravada cultures, some monks and even some laypeople studied meditation as a scholarly topic, but this did not lead to its widespread practice.[footnoteRef:3] In general, meditation was considered an isolated practice in Burma without much of a following. Patrick Pranke refers to the fact that it was not until Burmese society was destabilized during the decline of the Nyaungyan King Dynasty, a period of social and political upheaval, that the possibility of awakening (becoming an arhat) was even entertained by lay people. He convincingly says that this possibility must have seemed very attractive to people faced with intense political instability and social upheaval.[footnoteRef:4] While this upheaval contributed to integrating meditation more into Burmese society, it wasn't until King Mindon in the mid 1800's instituted more control over monastics, enforcing stricter discipline which drove monks into the forest to meditate as a daily practice.[footnoteRef:5] Growing monastic interest in meditation was also complimented by a 'literati' interest in meditation as well, where upper class people involved in the Courts wrote and commissioned works describing meditation practices. [3: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013), 2.] [4: Patrick Pranke, On Saints and Wizards: Ideals of Human Perfection and Power in Contemporary Burmese Buddhism Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 33 Number 12 (2010), https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/viewFile/9290/3151, 456 (accessed November 15, 2014).] [5: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 30.]

Ledi Sayadaw became a monk during Mindon's time and was well aware of the ongoing interest in meditation happening in Burma. But the turning point for Ledi which led him to become an intense promoter of meditation occurred with the defeat of the Burmese during the third Anglo-Burman War in 1885, where Burma was colonized and became a province of Britain. The now deposed King was the person, along with the Courts, who historically had a close relationship with Buddhism and offered it protection and guidance. In his place were the British, who followed their longstanding policy in Burma which said that they would 'avoid entanglements in religious matters' in countries they had colonized, and who had also brought with them a Christian educational system.[footnoteRef:6] Around this time, Ledi became a forest monk and started practicing meditation. He claimed that the British Colonization of Burma signaled that the end of the sasana was near, which is a term that signifies the 'complex of Buddhist teachings and institutions started by the Buddha. This theme is also one which the Buddhist teachings foresee. Paul Williams points out: Buddhism as a religion in history was founded in ancient India and even the truth as articulated in history, Buddhism itself, it is thought by Buddhists, will eventually cease to exist due to forces of irreligion...Eventually all Buddhism will cease in this world.[footnoteRef:7] Although Williams points out that sasanas will forever be destroyed and then also reestablished by future Buddhas, for Ledi Sayadaw, the gravity of these proclamations within the tradition along with their apparent confirmation in Burmese colonization set in motion his drive to spread the teachings.[footnoteRef:8] [6: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 66.] [7: Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition (London: Routledge, 2012), 5.] [8: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 176.]

It is at this point in the book, against the historical backdrop of the British Colonization of Burma, that Braun tells us how Ledi Sayadaw helped spread the Buddhist teachings to lay people in an effort safeguard Buddhism in Burma from extinction. Braun shows us the beginnings of how this happens by localizing it into a specific controversy regarding a commentary by Ledi on the Abhidhamma. Through talking about this controversy, Braun illuminates for us how both secular and religious concerns shaped the form of the birth of mass Buddhism in Burma. Braun's method of using specific and historical examples to talk about something which has world wide implications is a skillful way of letting us make more sense of the latter day explosion of mass meditation throughout the West. Through Braun, we are able to understand how very complex and culturally specific movements can have future effects which they themselves might not have foreseen.

The Abhidhamma ControversyIn the Beginning of Chapter 2, Braun tells us Ledi Sayadaw's commentary, called the Paramatthadipani, on an Abhidhamma summary called the Abhidhammatthasangaha, ignited a 'war of commentaries in Burma at that time. Over forty books tried to challenge it, debates amongst both monk and lay appeared in the nation's major newspapers, and many public meetings took place in order to discuss it.[footnoteRef:9] Ledi wrote his commentary as a critique of another commentary of the same Abhidhamma summary, called the Vibhavini, which at that point was considered authoritative for monks learning the Buddhist teachings. He wrote his response in Pali, using harsh words to minutely critique what the Vibhavini had to say, while at the same time staying true to the overall Abhidhamma doctrine. Even though he did provide the means for provocation amongst monks for his critique of the Vibhavini, Braun points out that the controversy was about much more than matters of textual accuracy within the monkhood.[footnoteRef:10] Braun's writing here is a pleasure to read, as he takes on a detective tour of an almost anthropological nature to show how the Abhidhamma is an important cultural document in Burma and for the Burmese in their everyday life. Donald Lopez, in his introduction to Buddhism in Practice, points out that 'the significance of Buddhist texts does not lie simply in their doctrinal or philosophical content but also in the uses to which they have been put. He goes on to state that this has been the case ever since the Buddha entered Nirvana, and cuts across all traditions.[footnoteRef:11] This being the case, it becomes important to look at the culture surrounding a document rather than just what it says. [9: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 45.] [10: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 45-50.] [11: Donald Lopez, ed. Buddhism in Practice, Abridged Edition (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007), 31.]

Regarding its tradition in Burma, the Abhidhamma has been central in Burmese Buddhism since the 17th century, when the Pali text was translated into Burmese over many years and many of its sections memorized by monks, all of this being promoted by the King. The Burmese looked at the Abhidhamma as the perfect teachings of the Buddha, representing not conventional, but ultimate truth. Paul Williams illuminates its complexity when he points out that The Abhidharma represents a phase of systematisation and clarification in the sutras, and probably grew out of summary lists of the main topics of a teaching prepared for memorisation. With the evolution of the Abhidharma, and Abhidharma style, however, what we find emerging are not just lists of essential points in the discourses. Rather, we find lists which enumerate with maximum possible exactitude what is actually occurring in a particular psychological or physical situation spoken of in the sutras or occurring in life generally. Since it is a very detailed work, there have been many doctrinal commentaries written about the Abhidhamma, mostly written by Indian monks early on. Monks in Burma primarily learned about the Abhidhamma through 'handbooks' or manuals which summarized certain sections of these Abhidhamma commentaries.[footnoteRef:12] But with the invention of the printing press, lay people all across Burma were becoming able to read texts which were previously reserved for monks only. And with the Burmese King being deposed by the British, the lack of a centralized authority to comment on these texts left open space for all kinds of debate, creating an absence of hierarchy regarding these matters. There were many commentaries on the Abhidhamma written around this time directed more towards lay people, occurring in the 1870's, signaling an important shift in Burma from A Buddhism in which expertise centered on a small subset of largely monkish doctrinal experts, to one in which doctrine and learning became the basis for a pan-Burma Buddhist identity.[footnoteRef:13] [12: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 62-66.] [13: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 69.]

Rather than the issue of Doctrine, which Braun tells us Ledi Sayadaw stayed true to, the source of this controversy was due to a perceived decline in the monkhood caused by colonization, the advent of the printing press, and the exalted place of the Abhidhamma in Burmese culture. Ledi's commentary, while doctrinally true, used language harsh enough which, in this social context, made it explode everywhere in Burma. Given the central place of the Abhidhamma in Burmese society, Ledi's commentary sparked a controversy even though it does not change the Abhidhamma doctrine. The Burmese believed that Buddhism in Burma was weakening and would eventually die, with monks stating that Buddhaghosa prophesied that when Buddhism starts to disappear, the Abhidhamma texts would go first among all the canonical texts.[footnoteRef:14] Through the popular response to his text, and his unshaken belief that Buddhism was in serious trouble in Burma, Ledi focused on how to move Buddhism into a place where it would be safe because it would become everyone's: the lay population. [14: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 70.]

Ledi and the Lay Population, part 1: Reframing the AbhidhammaBraun uses his chapter on the Abhidhamma commentary controversy to point out that the foundation was now in place for the birth of mass meditation in Burma. Ledi believed that in order to safeguard Buddhism in Burma, it would require 'study and self cultivation' amongst the laity. Specifically, he first would have to make the Abhidhamma easy to understand, which was no small feat. Ledi believed that although the Abhidhamma was a highly technical text espousing the truth of Buddhism, it's real importance lie within the fact that it was teaching tool for the preservation of Buddhism. He also wanted lay people to be able to confirm the truths of Buddhism in their everyday experience, which for him meant introducing meditative practices to the laity, something which previously had never been done.[footnoteRef:15] [15: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 78.]

I believe one of the most important distinctions in this book is how Braun tells us that while embarking on his mission to spread Buddhism to the broader lay population, Ledi showed no signs of believing that he had to reconcile Buddhism with science (as some modern western accounts do) because these truths were subservient to the Buddhist worldview: Ledi says a scientist, even with his learning and powerful tools of observation, can miss the truth about reality. But a person with right views, even without scientific learning or special devices, gets it right. Science can only reveal phenomena already described in ultimate terms in the Buddhist texts. This was not a hostile attitude toward science and technology, but one that ranked the truths of Buddhism above themindeed, as insuperable.[footnoteRef:16] Proving his point, Braun says that within colonial Burma, the British had set up a number of Christian schools, which contributed to the declining monkhood (and hence supporting the widespread Burmese belief in Buddhism's immanent decline and disappearance), since the best jobs were for those who spoke English and were British educated. Ledi decided to argue for the superiority of Buddhism within this context. Braun illuminates how he did this, with a focus on the interplay between science and Buddhist cosmology. [16: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 83.]

Ledi Sayadaw does not see a contradiction between classical Buddhist cosmology and the Western worldview, unlike certain western Buddhists who downplay or manipulate Buddhist cosmology within what Jeff Wilson calls The Mindfulness Movement in modern day America. He uses the concept of karma to point out that the weakness in Christianity is that Christians must wait for God to do something to help them, signifying that they can do nothing themselves to improve their karma. The vitality of Buddhism, Ledi says, lies within the fact that one can accumulate good karma by one's own actions, which he claims is the superior teaching.[footnoteRef:17] This statement points directly tot the methodology which Ledi was able to successfully employ. As Braun says, Ledi saw science not as challenge to his worldview but as a support for it. Such a view had wide appeal, because it assured laypeople that science and the modern world it evoked did not undercut their study and their spiritual efforts. Rather, it supported them.[footnoteRef:18] We also see this happening somewhat in Jeff Wilson's book, but the difference lies in modern proponents of mindfulness isolating meditation as a practice and divorcing it from traditional Buddhist cosmology, hence reconciling a certain practice with science, but leaving out the cosmology which might contradict it. [17: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 82.] [18: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight 84.]

Ledi continued to make Buddhism available for the Lay population by writing the 'Summary of the Ultimates', which was a summary of the Abhidhammatthasangaha, the latter being a commentary on one of the books of the Abhidhamma written by Acariya Anuruddha. The 'summary' written by Ledi is actually a poem, and it's chief importance lies in positing enlightenment as something which can happen in this lifetime, rather than as a remote possibility.[footnoteRef:19] This book was instantly very popular in Burma, and remains so today because it supports the spiritual pursuits of lay people, making what are very complicated teachings easier to understand and applicable to daily life. Braun tells us that Ledi wrote this summary in order to reorient the Abhidhamma for lay concerns, slightly rearranging it as he did so. Braun cites three examples: Ledi places human beings out of sequence in the traditional Abhidhammic system, emphasizing the sense-sphere realm of existence more than the others; he gives much more detailed examples of the hells which people may end up in if they commit bad deeds, and he rearranges the chapter on meditation by starting with the 'seven purifications' found in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga rather than starting with descriptions of calming and insight meditation. Through reading Braun's book, we are made aware of countless examples of the manipulation of Buddhist texts to suit people in various times and places, highlighting tensions in the relationship between Buddhist teachings and Buddhist practice. [19: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 101.]

Ledi knew that what was important to the lay population was living a moral life, which was a means for them to amass good karma and a better rebirth among all the possibilities. This is the reason why he gives bigger prominence to the human centered realm and the cultivation of virtue in his summary: he wanted to give everyone the 'dhamma tools' for awakening in this very life. Braun points out that Ledi's summary was not a straightforward translation, but a 'retranslation' that refocused Burmese Buddhism on Lay life: [It] formed part of the construction of a particular modern ethos. To see the cosmos oriented around your life, to understand moral action in your life as a robust part of the process of spiritual development outlined in the most rarified textssuch examples show how the Summary made all the details of the Abhidhamma relevant to laypeople's experience, and so made laypeople's experience relevant to the Abhidhamma as a powerful path to awakening.[footnoteRef:20] Braun's comment here particularly struck me, because it made me think of all of the texts which Buddhist practitioners chant, read, and make meaning out of (including myself). It left me wondering what their history is, and to what extent knowing this matters for the individual practitioner in any given time. Reading through Braun's excellent genealogy of how Ledi Sayadaw refashioned the Abhidhamma for lay people has given me more 'insight' into how Buddhist practice is one thing and Buddhist doctrine is another, showing how these two are continually being refashioned in an effort to spread the dharma for multiple reasons. [20: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 116.]

Lastly, to make sure that the Lay population would study his Summary, he organized Summary groups, in which lay people would participate collectively in learning this text, written just for them. Recitation was the key activity, which corresponds with an old Theravadin Buddhist tradition of memorizing the sutras, both as a style of learning and to acquire merit. These groups became very popular, with some historians claiming up to 400,000 participants during their high point.[footnoteRef:21] Braun tells us that the reasons for the collective study of the Summary and its organization into village study groups were two fold. One is because he was concerned about the protection of the Abhidhamma as a text which would be lost first as the Dharma declined, and secondly to show that awakening was possible in 'this very life', which would enable the laity to start meditating. Braun says of the impact of the Ledi's Summary: The transformation of the Abhidhamma study it enabled, from an elite monastic practice of commentarial exegesis in precolonial times to one of lay study for self-cultivation in the colonial period, would form the basis for the birth of insight meditation as an influential practice...[footnoteRef:22] It is this practice of meditation that Braun takes up next, and it will conclude my review of this book. [21: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 120.] [22: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 121.]

Ledi and the Lay Population, part 2: Mass MeditationBraun has showed us how Ledi Sayadaw refashioned the Abhidhamma for lay people, focusing on a human centered approach to virtue through studying the dhamma, but he points out that the culmination of Ledi's approach to bring Buddhism to the lay population lie in his 'recasting the burden of practice' within their daily lives in the present. The answer to why most modern meditation movements within the Theravada tradition can trace their origin to Burma lies in Ledi Sayadaw's approach at this time, in the late 1800's and early 1900's. During this time, Ledi produced many cheap pamphlets, widely distributed, extolling the virtues of meditation for everyone.[footnoteRef:23] Ledi believed that with the disappearance of the Burmese King, who was the historical protector of Buddhism, the lay population would now become the collective stand in for the king. It is within this context, as also as a product of Ledi's real concern regarding the decline of the Sasana, that Braun points out, meditative practice...served as another way to strengthen Buddhism by spiritually strengthening individual buddhists.[footnoteRef:24] This is in stark contrast to the reasons behind some of the current practices of mindfulness meditation in America, where mindfulness is employed not necessarily to 'spiritually strengthen' people as Buddhists, but more for secular reasons such as being more productive at work or to ease their anxiety. This contrast provides us with a good example of how certain practices stemming from the same tradition can be used for vastly goals depending on a number of factors, an important one being cultural context. [23: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 123-125.] [24: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 124.]

How did Ledi Sayadaw remake meditation in this way? Braun identifies a few features, through highlighting common themes amongst the many pamphlets Ledi wrote for the lay audience. Firstly, Ledi made the audacious claim that anyone could meditate, including hunters and fisherman (who people commonly believed were destined for the lowest hell when they died). He uses the Abhidhamma text Puggalapannati to argue that while different people have different spiritual potentials, it is rare to be able to be a human and study the dhamma while it is still here. Once again, we see Ledi using the threat of the immanent extinction of Buddhism to bolster his mission to spread Buddhism in many possibly controversial ways.[footnoteRef:25] On top of this, Ledi also refocused the practice of traditional Burmese Buddhists from giving and morality to a focus on wisdom. Braun points out that making wisdom the most important aspect of practice would not be a big deal in terms of the monkhood, but to tell laypeople this, who historically focused on generosity to build merit to avoid negative rebirths, might have been shocking. [25: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 126.]

Ledi gave meditation a firm grounding in the Abhidhamma while at the same time simplifying it. While Ledi thought that no one had to master the Abhidhamma in order to meditate, he did think that having a sense of even just a small amount it was important because he saw meditative practice as an outgrowth of learning, and that having an 'Abhidhammic outlook' helped people formulate a mode of practice in which everyday events can 'be ripe with the potential for spiritual attainment'.[footnoteRef:26] We see similar things about spirituality in everyday life being said in modern American meditation movements as well, but without the Abhidhammic focus, as this is not important for most Americans who want to benefit from mindfulness practices. Braun tells us that Ledi uses lists similar to the style of the Abhidhamma, with the intention being that people could memorize them. He viewed the Abhidhamma as a 'dhamma tool for awakening', rather than simply an archaic book reserved for monks, and used it along with certain sutras (one prominent one being the Anapanasati Sutta) in simplified language to promote meditation. One example Braun gives is his use of sensory stimuli as a means of detachment. He focused on the 'the great essentials' in the discussion of materiality in the Sangaha: fire, earth, water, and air. He uses these elements among many others because he thought that 'a novice meditator could perceive them relatively easily in his or her mundane experience.[footnoteRef:27] [26: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 137.] [27: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 132.]

Lastly, Braun points out that Ledi Sayadaw reorganized the Anapanasati Sutra to suit the needs of the lay population, which is significant because it is this that directly links how mass meditation is practiced today. Like the sutra, he presents a four stage process, but he tells meditators that they are not set in stone. Braun tells us that Ledi urges practitioners who cannot attain the four jhanas, which are the domain of stage two and three, to skip to stage four if they want to, which is the stage of vipassana or insight meditation. Braun quotes Ledi: The suttas and the commentaries say that one can move to the fourth stage only after attaining the four jhanas through mindfulness of breathing. If one can proceed in this way, it is best. But if one cannot, one can also move to vipassana from the third jhana, from the second, or from the first. If one has not reached the jhanas, one can move to insight practice from access concentration or from the stage noting the long and short breaths. One can also move to vipassana from the stage of counting the breaths, when you have pacified the thoughts of the mind that run hither and thither.[footnoteRef:28] Basically, he is saying that a person to does not have to go beyond counting the breaths in order to practice insight meditation, effectively bypassing the need for calming meditation by cultivating the jhanas. By presenting this option to people, Ledi promoted a very inclusive form of meditation with the goal of attaining insight. Braun makes the case that this did not contradict the sutras, where in the Visuddhimagga we find that some meditators can begin practice following 'the way of calm' and also there is the meditator, called 'dry visioned', who begins practice by following 'the way of insight' without deep concentrative states. But, while the sutra talks about both of these options, the preference, in Buddhaghosa'a view, was for starting with 'the way of calm'. Braun tells us that Ledi was one of the first teachers in the modern era to offer this approach of practice as a viableeven preferredoption.[footnoteRef:29] It is in his reformulation of the Abhidhamma as the basis for learning and also his reformulation of this sutra which paves the way for what is now practiced as modern day Insight Meditation. Ledi himself did not go so far as to teach meditation, but it was in this way that he set the foundation for latter day teachers to make it what it is today. [28: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 138.] [29: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 138-139.]

Braun says that mindfulness (sati) certainly played a role in Ledi's reformulation of meditative practice, but he never would have conceived it as playing such the dominating factor as it does today in modern America, isolated from the teachings: Mindfulness for Ledi fits with its characterization in the canonical texts as the ability to bring knowledge of the dhamma to bear on the present moment, rooted in one of the establishings (upatthanaas). In other words, it is a sort of double faceted mental state: recollection of Buddhist truths combined with awareness of immediate sensate experience. It is not simply bare awareness as one finds it often defined in later literature.[footnoteRef:30] Mindfulness for Ledi is really one of many factors that goes into the cultivation of knowledge and insight. Braun then ends his book by comparing and contrasting Ledi Sayadaw's methods with more modern day ones, like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, which is one of the manifestations of the new 'mindfulness movement' which Jeff Wilson writes about in his book. [30: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 143.]

Mindful AmericaJeff Wilson says that the guiding thesis for his book is that This is actually how Buddhism moves into new cultures and becomes domesticated: in each case, members of the new culture take from Buddhism what they believe will relieve their culturally specific distresses and concerns, in the process of spawning new Buddhisms (sometimes crypto-Buddhisms) that better fit their needs. My focus throughout, therefore, is on the specific practices necessary to make the product of a foreign time (premodern), culture (Asian), and religion (Buddhism) available for widespread application in contemporary American society.[footnoteRef:31] He is not trying to present an argument for or against what is happening with the takeoff of everything mindful in America, but trying to provide an overview. He is not trying to address whether or not mindfulness 'works', or what the 'real' definition of it is, but to document what modern practitioners say it is and how they make it work, making this book more of a cultural study rather than a history. He goes on to state that rather than focus on 'particular mindfulness applications and their historical specificities', he organized the chapters around the 'process of adaptation' and how it works.[footnoteRef:32] I dislike his approach, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is no objectivity in writing. Something as seemingly benign as ordering information means there is an opinion embedded within it. To claim objectivity is questionable, because it obscures that the information presented always has a subjective context and hence is opinionated in some way. Also, I have a preference for historical specificity and in depth particular examples, because I think that form of writing is more effective at bringing up more universalizing ideas than a broad overview. There is too much information to provide a 'broad overview' which is really accurate about something as vast as mindfulness in America, and I really appreciated Erik Braun's book for its limited scope and its portrayal of how a particular history can give rise to something very different and perhaps unintended. In other words, I think Wilson's book is too ambitious about being a summation of a 'movement'. On the other hand, I like the way he writes, as he is often quite humorous at times, and as a religious scholar is able to bring up many good points tying the modern 'mindfulness movement' in with the Buddhist Teachings. [31: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 3.] [32: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 3.]

The Reconfiguration of MindfulnessBacking up his thesis, Wilson focuses the first chapter, entitled Mediating Mindfulness, on how mindfulness as a concept transitioned from 'premodern Asia' to 'modern America'. In it, he talks about how the term 'mindfulness' became translated as 'sati', because this always hasn't been the case. He says that Sati literally means 'memory or remembrance', but it also is used as a technical Buddhist meditation term, implying awareness, attention, or alertness. The translation of mindfulness, until the early twentieth century, was relatively ambiguous. It wasn't until William Rhys-Davids translated the Mahasatipatthana Sutta in 1910 that Sati firmly became mindfulness, which then became standard in English because of the wide dissemination of this text through the Pali Text Society.[footnoteRef:33] Wilson then gives us an overview of mindfulness meditation and how it was practiced before the 20th century leading to its subsequent popularization in the 1970's with the founding of the Insight Meditation Center in Barre, MA, along with its mainstreaming by Jon Kabat Zinn in the 1980's with Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction. [33: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 17-19.]

Chapter 2, entitled 'Mystifying Mindfulness', was my favorite chapter because of its direct historical linkage to Erik Braun's The Birth of Insight. Wilson's focus here is on how modern mindfulness teachers reinterpret Buddhist cosmology, and we can see how this process occurred in a particular instance by looking at the cross sections between two different cultural understandings which give us in modern America a more western psychologically based form of mindfulness. Ledi Sayadaw corresponded many times with Caroline Rhys-Davids, the wife of William Rhys-Davids. They discussed the intricacies of the Abhidhamma and Buddhist doctrine in general, and the Pali Text Society also printed Ledi's texts in Europe. Her repeated questions concerning the Abhidhamma prompted Ledi to say that the Abhidhamma gives delight to the scientific men of other religions.[footnoteRef:34] Braun points out that although their delight might have been shared, they each thought of Buddhism in a highly different way. Caroline Rhys-Davids was interested in Buddhist philosophy, of which the Abhidhamma played a major role, but significantly, she was an orientalist whose vision of Buddhism was divorced from its cosmological world view. Braun points out: In a moment of mutual and overlapping influence, a Westerner such as Rhys-Davids could take from her interaction with Ledi the philosophical knowledge she sought, even as he shaped her approach to the Abhidhamma along Burmese lines.[footnoteRef:35] [34: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 129.] [35: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 130.]

We can fit Braun's historical example into Wilson's thesis regarding chapter 2, which is that one of the major reasons why Buddhist derived mindfulness has become so popular in the West is that the historical connection between Buddhism and Mindfulness has been 'altered, obscured, diminished, eliminated, or simply ignored' and what the implications are in this process.[footnoteRef:36] He mentions figures like Mara, historically thought of as the fear inducing opponent of the Buddha, becomes reinterpreted as a psychological state fueled by attachments and fears. He uses as an example The Zen of Eating, a book about mindful weight loss, where 'Mara's Army' becomes transformed into french fries and our attachment to them. He then goes on to say that by removing the monastic context of mindfulness, and that by removing the Buddhist context of mindfulness and its ties to morality, mindfulness is 'whitened' in order to be appropriated by mainstream American society. As a modern reaction to this development, there have been relatively recent and ongoing inclusionary attempts by modern teachers to set up mindfulness contexts for people of color with varying degrees of success. Beneficial or not, all of this happens, Wilson says in regards to mindfulness, because it increases 'the sellers who appropriate it and the buyers who consume it. He says this is a progressive process: First Buddhism is made palatable via mindfulness in order to sell Buddhism, then mindfulness is made palatable via eliminating Buddhism in order to sell mindfulness, then mindfulness is so appealing and denatured that it can be used to sell other products, such as financial services, vacations, clothing, computer software, etc.[footnoteRef:37] [36: Jeff Wilson, Mindful in America, 44.] [37: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 45-73.]

Skillful Means and The DharmaWilson points out that questions regarding the divorce of a religious practice from its context are not a problem for most modern practitioners of mindfulness, because their chief concern is ending their suffering now. This is an astute observation because Buddhism teaches that the end of suffering is achieved in fact by following its religious path, as is explained most prominently within the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are part of the Dharma, which is how things actually are, and by seeing how things actually are, there is an end to suffering. Mindfulness, in this context, is one part of the eight fold path. However, we learn in a class lecture that There is a current within the tradition which is careful to emphasize that conceptually grasping the teachings can actually prove to be a hindrance if treated as a goal unto itself. However, the tradition has also consistently viewed it as absolutely necessary to carefully study the Dharma in order to realize truth. The Dharma guides practitioners in where to look, what to look for, and in the cultivation of a mind that can deeply actualize truth. Only Buddhas and Pratyekabuddhas have the necessary cultivation of knowledge in previous lives to realize truth without the guidance of the Buddha Dharma.[footnoteRef:38] In regards to the view that it is necessary to carefully study the Dharma to realize truth, I doubt that most mindfulness practitioners regard themselves as Buddhas or Pratyekabuddhas, although to some extent this might be true (I don't know). [38: Charlie Pokorny, Class Notes from Lecture 3, 7.]

But in regards to the former view, that it could be a hindrance to attach to the teachings as a goal unto itself, we find that certain people have taken this at face value, and often cite a doctrinal justification for divorcing the tradition from its context: skillful means. In Chapter 3 of Jeff Wilson's Book, Medicalizing Mindfulness, we see the term skillful means employed liberally to argue for the practice of mindfulness within the context of the Dharma cited as an ontological category. Jon Kabat-Zinn is most prominently featured in this respect, and Wilson goes into detail about the pains he took in order to make Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) a reality. A strong point in Wilson's overview is his analysis of Kabat-Zinn's refashioning of the Dharma and his use of skillful means to justify the work he is doing. Basically, Kabat-Zinn goes along with the interpretation of the Dharma as 'reality' or 'things as they are'. He then postulates that this 'law of dharma' is not historically contextual, but reality as it always has been, citing the Buddha. He is privileging the ontological definition of the Dharma rather than the soteriological one, the latter being a specifically Buddhist teaching and path to follow. In the words of Kabat-Zinn: The word Dharma refers to both the teachings of the Buddha and also the way things are, the fundamental lawfulness of the universe. So although the Buddha articulated the Dharma, the Dharma itself can't be Buddhist any more than the law of gravity is English because of Newton or Italian because of Galileo. It is a universal lawfulness.[footnoteRef:39] Paul Williams mostly agrees with him here, pointing out that many in the West use the word Buddha and Dharma interchangeably. He says this usage is not correct because the Dharma is Buddhism as content. That is, what is actually taught by Buddhism as a religion. It consists of the truths, both concerning how things are, and the way to practise in order to bring about cognition of how things are...Buddhism is built on the absolute objectivity of truth, and Buddhists claim that the Dharma (their Dharma) is that absolutely objective truth.[footnoteRef:40] Once again, if we take a truly ontological view, both Williams and Kabat-Zinn are in agreement. But looked at in terms of practicing the Dharma, their agreement becomes questionable because Kabat-Zinn does not subscribe to a soteriological view of the Dharma. [39: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 86.] [40: Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought, 5.]

Kabat-Zinn regards his severing the Dharma from its Buddhist Context as an example of skillful means, another Buddhist term. Skillful means, Wilson points out, is used by Kabat-Zinn in order to frame his program of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as the next stage in Buddhism's development. Paul Williams tells us we find this term referenced in the Lotus Sutra and the Saddharmapundarika Sutra, where teachings are delivered relative to context. In time this was taken also to mean that the behavior of enlightened beings too is relative in context. Also, in the Upayakausalya Sutra, we find all the key actions of the traditional life of Saykamuni explained with reference to their compassionate purpose in helping and teaching others. A spiritually advanced practitioner may not behave in what would normally considered to be an appropriate manner.[footnoteRef:41] [41: Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought, 126.]

We can see this point explicated in the sutra most vividly when skillful means is claimed as a justification by the Buddha in one of his past lives for killing a man who was plotting to kill 500 Bodhisattvas and for having sexual intercourse with a woman who threatened to kill herself because she loved him too dearly. The only thing which Williams tells us is predictable when skillful means is employed is that it is motivated by compassion and wisdom, these two being hallmarks of a Buddha. Wilson tells us that Kabat-Zinn came from the Vipassana and Zen traditions, and he does receive praise from countless authentic spiritual teachers, but it remains a mystery if he is an advanced spiritual practitioner or a Buddha. This issue brings up the problematic nature of who is authorized to use skillful means and if their definition of compassionate action and wisdom is the same as a Buddha's. By bringing this to our attention, I am hoping to highlight that these questions only seem to matter if one is concerned about tradition or what tradition is, which in an American context, can be questionable.Kabat-Zinn uses a plethora of scientific findings based on stress reduction trials to prove the practical benefits of MBSR, and then creates a nationwide organization to promote this technique and to justify it in terms of what the Americans it will be marketed to trust most: science. Wilson tells us that this practice has become wildly successful, and also has had other effects such as the fact that 'today large numbers of people engage in mindfulness in completely secular settings, overseen by experts trusted for their medical qualifications without ever learning about Buddhism. The strategy of promoting Buddhism by not promoting it as Buddhism seems to have worked amazingly well, and especially the tactic of emphasizing the positive results that accrue from mindfulness practices.[footnoteRef:42] Wilson provides us with an overview of some of these practices, signifying their broad acceptance by middle class Americans because of their beneficial effects backed up by science. It is interesting to note the difference between this outlook and Ledi Sayadaw's. Believing in traditional Buddhist cosmology, he thought that science, rather than it needing to prove the efficacy of Buddhist practices, was actually subservient to Buddhist truths about the world. Buddhist cosmology dictated Ledi Sayadaw's world, rather than the modern scientific rationale which dictates the world of middle class American culture. [42: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 103.]

Mindfulness, Markets, MoralsWilson points out, correctly I think, that surely the hallmark of contemporary American culture is the strength of market forces. He uses examples within American culture that mindfulness is applied to, such as parenting, work, and eating, and says that all of these are tied to the economy and because of this, mindfulness itself is also a commodity which is marketed.[footnoteRef:43] Mindfulness is turned into a product, but the issue is that although mindfulness is highly valuable, one cannot actually physically sell it because it is a technique rather than a physical product. Because of this dilemma, many products are designed and marketed to either 'introduce or augment mindfulness, or sell their expertise at teaching mindfulness and delivering the benefits of mindfulness'. Wilson then points to all the products used to sell mindfulness like singing bowls, natural salts for relaxation, pillows, flags, prints, jewelry, statues, and CD's among other things. In addition to this, we find experts selling their knowledge of mindfulness. The most sought after knowledge, Wilson says, comes from ordained monks like Thich Nhat Hanh, but close to monks come westerners who have trained in Asia, like Jack Kornfeld or Sharon Salzberg. We do see parallels to this in The Birth of Insight, where the lay population is more likely to listen to Ledi Sayadaw because of his status as forest monk, which was something very highly regarded in Burma.[footnoteRef:44] But where the motivation to practice for the lay population of Burma lay in their desire to accrue merit to avoid future rebirths, in America I think the motivation to practice is something much more centered on the here and now, and very much divorced from the teaching of karma. [43: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 132.] [44: Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 17.]

Wilson ties this promoting of mindfulness into Buddhist history as well, pointing out that a text such as the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch claims to embody the true essence of Buddhism in profound teachings and meditation techniques transmitted mind to mind in a lineage descended in secret from the Buddha himself, only now being revealed to the public.[footnoteRef:45] Also, I think we see this in the Lotus Sutra as well, where the Buddha uses skillful means to point out that one can think that there are three vehicles for the realization of enlightenment (the arhat and the pratekyabudda) but in reality there is just one that will get you there: The bodhisattva, which of course is an exalted form in Mahayana Buddhism. In this sense, the Lotus Sutra can be said to be 'selling' Mahayana Buddhism. Certainly both Wilson's example and my own are very far from the dealings of American Capitalism, but I think that the parallels involved do tell us that religion has not been terribly averse to promoting itself as the 'the best one' or making itself look attractive to spread itself. The difference here seems to lie in what the cultural context and ultimate vision is for those looking for something in religion, and how this information is then tailored by those promoting it to suit seeker's needs. It is this realm of morality and values that Jeff Wilson explores next, and it will conclude my review of his book. [45: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 142.]

Looking at the literature, Wilson points out that some dominant themes surrounding mindfulness practices and products in America are about finding happiness, cultivating compassion towards the self, and accepting the self. According to the purveyors of modern mindfulness, Americans have many problems: One of the primary concerns that mindfulness authors voice is the idea of disconnection. Throughout the various applications of mindfulness, there is the sense of alienation from oneself and one's surroundings. Modern Americans, apparently, are estranged from their minds, bodies, surroundings, and each other. They are parenting mindlessly, eating mindlessly, working mindlessly, and generally living in a detached, distracted manner.[footnoteRef:46] Americans also have problems with self hate, looking down upon themselves, and are generally dissatisfied. Mindfulness is promoted to help these problematic aspects of middle class America by teaching them to be compassionate towards themselves. For instance, Americans are told to 'accept their bodies' and 'their selves' to bolster self-esteem, which for many can be lacking. Citing a gap between the sutras and this modern framing of practice, Wilson points out that calls for acceptance of the bodyand by extension one's total selfdirectly contradict scriptural mindfulness teachings...The traditional source for mindfulness practice advocates viewing the body as impure, full of guts and disgusting substances, and recommends detachment fromnot love for and acceptance ofthe body.[footnoteRef:47] We also find a reframing and rearranging of the more 'traditional' teachings in 'The Birth of Insight', where Ledi Sayadaw refashions the Abhidhamma to include more detailed descriptions of hells and a bigger emphasis on morality by making the Abhidhamma more human centered. Such changes, Ledi thought, would spur lay people to practice, which would save Buddhism from extinction. The motivations for modern mindfulness teachers, as Jeff Wilson points out, are very different. Also, the traditional Buddhist cosmology of everything being impermanent and subject to decay remains in place for Ledi as an example of the truth of the Teachings as indicated in the 4 Noble Truths. Morality remains in play in both examples, with the different emphases embedded within their cultural context. [46: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 162-163.] [47: Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 117-118.]

ConclusionWe find in a version of the Asokarajavadana a story where Ananda overhears a monk reciting the words of the Buddha as stated in the Dhammapada, but he recites them completely incorrectly. The monk's words are: It would be better for a man to live a single day and see a 'marsh fowl' than for him to live a hundred years and not see a marsh fowl. Ananda overhears this and corrects him, telling the monk that the Buddha did not say 'marsh fowl', but instead said the 'harsh, fowl nature of samsara'. One would think Ananda would know, since Ananda listened to and memorized all of the Buddha's sermons, reciting them at the First Council after the Buddha's parinirvana. But instead the monk becomes confused. Wondering what he should do, he asks his preceptor which version is the correct teaching. The preceptor says that Ananda cannot be trusted because he is getting old and his memory is getting worse, so the monk should continue to say it as he had been taught. Ananda then reflects to himself, sadly no doubt, that he is not sure anyone will ever convince the monk to change, as he is the last of the Buddhas disciples left alive, the rest of them having entered Nirvana. I shall also enter Nirvana, Ananda says, effectively illuminating, as Strong points out, that Indeed, according to Buddhists themselves, the Buddha's 'True Dharma' was subject to the same laws of impermanence and change as anything else. Thus 'what the Buddha taught' was bound to be lost, forgotten, transformed, or reinterpreted.[footnoteRef:48] [48: John S. Strong, The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpretations (Boston: Wadsworth, 2008), 98-99.]

The two books I have reviewed, The Birth of Insight by Erik Braun, and Mindful America, by Jeff Wilson, both illustrate the above point very well. We find that even within the 'traditional' teachings, Ledi Sayadaw rearranges texts to suit the needs of the lay population. Jeff Wilson has pointed out that these teachings also have been manipulated in the West, but possibly even more so. But really, I think it hard to say what is truly 'authentic', and also how much importance one should place in knowing this. We find here a tension within the tradition: on the one hand, a prominent reason for the success of Buddhism as a religion lies in its adaptability (except, notably, in India), but on the other hand one wonders how far Buddhism can adapt and still keep its parameters as a proper religion. For instance, we see this tension problematized in the liberal usage in America of Buddhist terms like skillful means as a way to change the teachings but also in Ledi Sayadaw's reframing of meditation for lay people despite that it exists within the parameters of traditional cosmology. I think it is also appropriate to ask how the tradition changes in America, where in the mainstream to be mindful is not to dwell on the impermanence of the body but on 'bare attention' to the present moment, with a moral outlook that exalts the body and also possibly can increase productivity. Isn't the body subject to decay and death, like everything else? There are so many ways to look at the teachings, and because of this they can be used for many purposes.One of the reasons why Buddhism has become important in my life is that it proposes a solution to the problem of suffering, but this solution for me also points to my Buddhist practice and study. But then, isn't the reduction of suffering by whatever means a good thing, regardless if it stays true to the teachings or not? When we take the teachings away from the tradition, what anchor do we have to cope with our own death, something that happens to us all? As a chaplain in training, I ponder what all this means, and I also have no clear cut answers. It seems as if Buddhism has always been fluid in this sense, and that there will always be many 'Buddhisms' that exist. There seems to be no 'right' kind of Buddhism, and that there has always been, since the Buddha died long ago, reinterpretations and reimaginings of the teachings as they have been spread, enacting and reenacting a tension which started thousands of years ago between the doctrine and the practice.

Bibliography

Braun, Erik. The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.Chartier, Maggie, et al., Adapting Ancient Wisdom for the Treatment of Depression: Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Therapy Group Training, PubMed Central, National Institute of Health, Author Manuscript (Dec 2010), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190038/ (accessed November 15, 2014).Lopez, Donald, ed. Buddhism in Practice, Abridged Edition. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007.Pokorny, Charlie. Class Notes from Lecture 3 on The DharmaFoundational Teachings of Buddhism. Berkeley, 2014.Pranke, Patrick. On Saints and Wizards: Ideals of Human Perfection and Power in Contemporary Burmese Buddhism Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 33 Number 12 (2010), https://journals.ub.uniheidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/viewFile/9290/3151 (accessed November 15, 2014).Strong, John S. The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpretations. Boston: Wadsworth, 2008. Williams, Paul, et al. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. London: Routledge, 2012.Wilson, Jeff. Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.