Variety in Theravada Meditation
- Submitting institution
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King's College London
- Unit of assessment
- 31 - Theology and Religious Studies
- Output identifier
- 135227164
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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- Title of journal
- Contemporary Buddhism
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 1
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1-2
- ISSN
- 1463-9947
- Open access status
- Not compliant
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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2
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Despite the exponential rise in publications on the subject of meditation derived from Theravada Buddhism, the representation of Theravada meditation itself, in all its rich diversity, has remained narrow. This volume addresses that gap by looking, not at the diversity of the global applications, but at the variety within their presumed source. We examine not just what people meditate on, which has narrowed in modern practice, but the different techniques of meditation, including at advanced levels of practice. Rather than sticking to entry level practice, as found in more superficial comparisons of meditation, we have specifically focused on high level practice, and its association with spiritual transformation. The gaps that this volume address include: i) developments that took place over the 2,500 millennia between the formation of the canon and the modern revival of meditation; ii) techniques not previously documented; iii) experiences not previously documented; iv) practices on the margins of the Theravada world long unaffected by the global rise of modern mindfulness, but now under threat; v) the details of experience usually avoided in humanities; vi) practice in relation to stages of life, documenting previously unrecognised traditions of healthy ageing; and vii) looking beyond the colonial, revivalist and modern secular approaches to Buddhism that have co-operated in obscuring the richness of Theravada’s meditation history and practice.
The papers were developed over the course of three international conferences held in London, U.K. and in Siem Reap, Cambodia in 2013, 2016 and 2017. The 377-page volume consists of twelve articles, an extensive introduction highlighting its innovative contributions, and a short afterword. I co-organised the conferences, edited the papers, mentored inexperienced writers (bringing together PhDs with experienced octogenarians), co-wrote the introduction and afterword and contributed my own 15,500 word article.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -