The article focuses on the practice of mindfulness, which has migrated from being part of a religion, Buddhism, to being an integral part of Western psychology. Mindfulness is especially used in cognitive behavioural therapy, but also in, e.g., dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). In Sweden several doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists use and recommend mindfulness for therapeutic purposes. Mindfulness is used today in many segments of mainstream medical and therapeutic care. Mindfulness is also used outside the mainstream medical and therapeutic sector, in the area of personal development or spirituality, as well as in more traditional Buddhist groups and innovative Buddhist groups such as vipassana groups. This paper investigates the migration of mindfulness from a religious to a secular sphere, and discusses whether mindfulness is a religious practice or not.

This article describes and discusses a phenomenon I call the Satsang network, a group of Westerners claiming to have reached enlightenment. Several of these persons spent many years with the controversial guru, Osho; hence, I argue that one way of understanding the Satsang network is as a post-Osho development in which satsang holders become an example of how charismatic leaders emerge from institutionalized religious movements. Also discussed are the construction, confirmation, and social support of the enlightenment process; the alteration of meanings when Eastern concepts are interpreted from a Western perspective; and ways in which certain core teachings in the Satsang network mirror key processes of current globalization.

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