Unrequited Vipassana Love Demons

Picture from Wat Arun, Thailand

I love Brooke from Wandering Dhamma – I know it’s sudden – but sometimes she blows my mind. I have never heard a more clear and concise description of the secular Buddhism as this…

Because Buddhist meditation, especially vipassana, has been divided out from and is seen as separate from the Buddhist religion, it can be considered an example of a portable and exportable version of an indigenous Asian tradition. It has become portable because of its non-specific religiosity and few institutional connections. Among Western Buddhists, vipassana meditation has been popular because it has been interpreted as having this universal, transcultural quality. This kind of thinking is certainly true in some American Buddhist circles. In Wendy Cadge’s study of a convert community in Cambridge, Massachusetts, titled Heartwood, she finds that the Buddha’s teachings are primarily conveyed through meditation instruction. Many Western vipassana meditation teachers adapt and present the teachings in a Westernized way so that practitioners often call themselves vipassana meditation students rather than students of Theravada Buddhism.

I especially like this definition which, from my experience, is how many of my Sangha-mates view Buddhism in general and Zen practice in particular (not overtly or specifically religious). This way that compartmentalized aspect of “an indigenous Asian tradition”moves into whatever devotional or cosmological framework you already have established (from your experience or upbringing). And while Brooke is primarily referencing vipassana in her post; I think that the same can be said of Zen meditation as well.

Since this portable Buddhism has sort of a luggage theme running with it, I’m not sure if I would call those that utilize meditation in the course of their spiritual and religious explorations converts. I believe I will call them Buddhist Travelers and they will be required to identify themselves by wearing pointed red hat like that gnome from the Expedia commercials.

So Brooke…I know we are both already attached but there is always reincarnation, right? Maybe we will come back as bunnies.

Too much?

Cheers,