Jamie Kimmel

Final Paper
Charlie Pokorny
HRHS 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.1 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
1

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).

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.
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.2 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

Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw (Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 2013), 2.

political instability and social upheaval.3 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.4 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.
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.5 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.6
Although Williams points out that sasanas will forever be destroyed and then also reestablished by
3
4
5
6

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.uniheidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/viewFile/9290/3151, 456 (accessed November 15, 2014).
Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 30.
Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 66.
Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition (London: Routledge, 2012), 5.

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.7
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 Controversy

In 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.8 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,
7
8

Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 176.

Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 45.

Braun points out that the controversy was about much more than matters of textual accuracy within the
monkhood.9 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.10 This being the case, it becomes
important to look at the culture surrounding a document rather than just what it says.
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.11 But with the invention of the printing press, lay people all across Burma
9 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 45-50.
10 Donald Lopez, ed. Buddhism in Practice, Abridged Edition (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007), 31.
11 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 62-66.

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.12
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.13 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.

Ledi and the Lay Population, part 1: Reframing the Abhidhamma

Braun 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.
12 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 69.
13 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 70.

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.14
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.15 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.
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
14 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 78.
15 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 83.

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.16 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.17 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.
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.18 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
16 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 82.
17 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight 84.
18 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 101.

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.
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.19 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.
Lastly, to make sure that the Lay population would study his Summary, he organized Summary
19 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 116.

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.20 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...21 It
is this practice of meditation that Braun takes up next, and it will conclude my review of this book.

Ledi and the Lay Population, part 2: Mass Meditation

Braun 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.22 Ledi believed that
with the disappearance of the Burmese King, who was the historical protector of Buddhism, the lay
20 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 120.
21 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 121.
22 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 123-125.

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.23 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.
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.24 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.
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
23 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 124.
24 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 126.

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'.25 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.26
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
25 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 137.
26 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 132.

vipassana from the stage of counting the breaths, when you have pacified the thoughts of the mind that
run hither and thither.27 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.28 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.
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.29 Mindfulness for Ledi is really
one of many factors that goes into the cultivation of knowledge and insight. Braun then ends his book
27 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 138.
28 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 138-139.
29 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 143.

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.

Mindful America
Jeff 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.30 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.31 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
30 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2014), 3.
31 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 3.

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.

The Reconfiguration of Mindfulness

Backing 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.32 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 MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction.
Chapter 2, entitled 'Mystifying Mindfulness', was my favorite chapter because of its direct
32 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 17-19.

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.33
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.34
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.35 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
33 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 129.
34 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 130.
35 Jeff Wilson, Mindful in America, 44.

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.36

Skillful Means and The Dharma

Wilson 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
36 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 45-73.

Buddhas and Pratyekabuddhas have the necessary cultivation of knowledge in previous lives to realize
truth without the guidance of the Buddha Dharma.37 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).
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.38 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
37 Charlie Pokorny, Class Notes from Lecture 3, 7.
38 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 86.

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.39 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.
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.40
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
39 Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought, 5.
40 Paul Williams, et al, Buddhist Thought, 126.

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.41
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.

Mindfulness, Markets, Morals

Wilson 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.42 Mindfulness is turned into a product,
41 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 103.
42 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 132.

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.43 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.
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.44 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,
43 Erik Braun, The Birth of Insight, 17.
44 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 142.

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.
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.45 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 selfesteem, 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 self
directly 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.46 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
45 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 162-163.
46 Jeff Wilson, Mindful America, 117-118.

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.

Conclusion
We 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.47
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
47 John S. Strong, The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpretations (Boston: Wadsworth, 2008), 98-99.

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.

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