Changing Buddhist Practice in Burma - Online Burma Library

first conducted in Burma by the U Nu government in the early 50s. For
psychologists it is recognized for its effect, "clarity of mind and even I.Q. rises
with the effects of the sustained concentration in meditation" (Jordt 2001: 330).
In some contexts vispassana is secular and in other aspects it embodies
Buddhist ideas. "[T]he consequences of vispassana meditation practice and the
assumed philosophy that underlies it has led to the threshold of still more
deeply secular territory than medicine and institutional efficiencies. This is the
realm of politics. In this encounter we can witness a still more complex and
international framework for discourse over the underlying moral philosophy
behind meditation, which is Buddhism" (Jordt 2001: 331).
The meditation movement and social phenomena interact with each other in
dialectic relationships. The meditation practices tend to respond to social
phenomena of tensions, problems, and conflicts generated by social and
political changes. The mediation practice allows an individual to relate to
other individuals in an appropriate way, and it allows the meditation movement
itself to play a role in society. In other words, the meditation movement has its
own place and role in Buddhist ideology; and because of this it can play a
particular role in secular society. The relations between meditation and
political and social changes become more vivid when viewed from the
perspective of Buddhist ideology about the individual and the world. I discuss
this in Chapter 3.
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