Buddhist meditation in Britain: 1853 and 1945

Discussions about Buddhist meditation in the West usually focus on the post-1960s period and explain the popularity of meditation in a context of modernistic discourses. In this article the author suggests that meditation was in fact available in Britain much earlier than is usually assumed, in a pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religion
Main Author: Federman, Asaf (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group [2015]
In: Religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Great Britain / Buddhism / Meditation / History 1853-1945
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BL Buddhism
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBF British Isles
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Discussions about Buddhist meditation in the West usually focus on the post-1960s period and explain the popularity of meditation in a context of modernistic discourses. In this article the author suggests that meditation was in fact available in Britain much earlier than is usually assumed, in a period which was without doubt ‘modern,' yet which did not quickly produce mass acceptance of meditative practices in its host culture. While the migration of meditation was influenced by modernist discourses, these were sometimes contradictory to each other and hindered acceptance. The author examines how the term meditation itself has evolved, who first brought it to Britain and why, as well as the political and social forces that shaped its trajectory of acceptance and rejection in the first half of the 20th century.
ISSN:0048-721X
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2015.1027969