Natural Awakening David McMahan: Rethinking Meditation & Buddhist Modernism
Sep 18, 2025
David McMahan, a Professor of religious studies specializing in Buddhism, delves into the evolution of meditation practices in a modern context. He contrasts traditional Pali canon aims with contemporary mindfulness, highlighting shifts towards a more world-affirming approach. The conversation also explores the commercialization of meditation and the mixing of lineages in modern practices. McMahan advocates for a balance between personal cultivation and social engagement, drawing on Western philosophical resources to inform modern Buddhist scholarship.
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Modern Meditation Is Historically Constructed
- David McMahan shows modern Western meditation is a historically situated, narrow slice of broader Buddhist practice.
- He traces this formation to 19th-century influences like science, romanticism, and colonialism.
Monastic Aims Versus Modern Mindfulness
- Early Pali texts aim meditation at renunciant monastics with an anti-worldly orientation and extreme disenchantment.
- Modern mindfulness often assumes a world-affirming background that changes meditation's goals and meaning.
Mahayana and World Affirmation Shaped Modernity
- Mahayana developments introduced world-affirming strands like Buddha-nature and visionary sutras that re-sacralize the world.
- These currents later blended with Western romantic and transcendental values to reshape modern Buddhism.
