Transcending Gender: Female Non-Buddhists’ Experiences of the Vipassana¯ Meditation Retreat
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 4
Abstract
Female non-Buddhists have been writing detailed descriptions of their personal experiences in vipassana¯ meditation retreats since the 1960s. These memoirists relate to the English-speaking world their experience of the retreat process and self-transformations. Early memoirists traveled Asia in order to learn and practice vipassana¯ meditation. These memoirs are as much about the meditation practice itself as living in an Asian culture. The mindfulness craze, beginning in the late 2000s, brought with it increased awareness of vipassana¯ practice. At this time we see a renewed interest in recording vipassana¯ retreat experiences, but these are even more personal and not concerned with travel, as many vipassana¯ meditation retreats are now available outside of Asia. I consider four female memoirists: Marie Byles and Jane Hamilton-Smith, writing in the 1960s and 1970s, and Raji Lukkoor, and Jennifer Howd, whose memoirs appeared in 2010 and 2014, respectively. These women’s writings demonstrate that, although non-Buddhist female meditators understand vipassana¯ meditation as a nongendered practice, it is still an embodied, gendered experience. Each of these women has different reactions to the female gender on the retreat, from outrage at gender discrimination to acceptance of it, from judgment of female teachers and meditators to revealing a more feminine self.
Authors and Affiliations
Brooke Schedneck
Keywords
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- EP ID EP25958
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9040090
- Views 282
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