The Economies of Health in Western Buddhism: A Case Study of a Tibetan Buddhist Group in France

A Qualitative Analysis of Experiential Challenges Associated with Meditation Practice

“…That said, looked at more positively, the analysis here may also potentially be over-reporting possible issues with meditation practice, since the sample also excludes other hypothetical categories of practitioners, such as those who have found meditation to be so successful that they have ceased to need to practice it. Moreover, participants here were mainly recruited from just one meditation centre: scholars are beginning to understand the extent to which meditation experience is shaped by the philosophy and pedagogy of the particular teaching context EXPERIENTIAL CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH MEDITATION 25 (Obadia, 2008); as such, it is possible that the problems uncovered in this paper were a function of the particular context in which these participants practised. Finally, it is important to remind readers that all participants in this study deemed meditation to be a valuable activity, one conducive to mental wellbeing.…”

The Sociology of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine

“…The term has been generally used in a positive way, to refer to a ‘playful combination of various cultural elements in art and literature, and particularly to the forming of an identity in the context of migration’ but has only recently been applied to medicine (Frank and Stollberg 2004a ). There have been a number of studies applying this theoretical perspective to empirical data on movements of practices across national and cultural boundaries (Kim 2006 ; Obadia 2007 ; Reddy 2002 ; Santosh 2013 ). Using hybridity to interpret the ‘big picture’ offers two distinctive contributions to the sociology of TM and CAM: first, it offers a more spatially-informed analysis, and second, it is an alternative to the ‘integration’ concept (that is less Western-centric).…”

“…Khan argues that a simple biomedical dominance model is insufficient to explain the medical system in India and that, ‘although the “cultural authority” and hegemony of biomedicine over indigenous science and knowledge were initiated by the colonial state, they were extended by the mainstream national leaderships and national governments with far more extensive and profound implications and less resistance’ (Khan 2006 :2786). Reddy ( 2002 ) explores how Ayurveda in the United States has interacted not only with the American medical culture but also with ‘New Age’ spiritualities, and Obadia ( 2007 ) has described how the religious practice of Buddhism has become ‘therapized’ in France.…”

A religion of wellbeing? The appeal of Buddhism to men in London, United Kingdom.

“…Conversely, a second perspective focuses on Buddhism becoming Westernized, diverging from traditional forms, and reconstructed to suit secular Western sensibilities by eschewing “ritualized forms and traditional religious affiliations” (King, 1999, p. 156). For example Obadia’s (2008) study of a French Buddhist group revealed a form of “Therapized Buddhism,” involving a preoccupation with health: leaders used discourses constructing the practitioners as “sick,” unhealthy activities as “impure,” and Buddhism as the “remedy.” From this stance, even people who meditate in a secular way without reference to Buddhism—as most do (Shapiro, 1994)—are engaged with Buddhism, albeit in a form that disidentifies with its antecedent roots. However, it is argued that constructions of East and West risk treating cultures as “organically binding and sharply bounded” in a way at odds with features of globalization (Robertson, 1995, p. 39).…”