Meditation in Modern Buddhism:
Renunciation and Change in Thai Monastic Life
Cambridge University Press, 2010
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In contemporary Thai Buddhism, the burgeoning popularity of vipassanā meditation is dramatically impacting the lives of those most closely involved with its practice: monks and mae chee (lay nuns) living in monastic communities. For them, meditation becomes a central focus of life and a way to transform the self. This ethnographic account of a thriving Northern Thai monastery examines meditation in detail, and explores the subjective signification of monastic duties and ascetic practices. Drawing on fieldwork done both as an analytical observer and as a full participant in the life of the monastery, Joanna Cook analyzes the motivation and experience of renouncers, and shows what effect meditative practices have on individuals and community organization. The particular focus on the status of mae chee - part lay, part monastic - provides a fresh insight into social relationships and gender hierarchy within the context of the monastery.
PRAISE FOR
MEDITATION IN MODERN BUDDHISM
"This is an engaging, inspiring, and thought-provoking ethnography and phenomenology of Buddhist insight meditation in contemporary Thailand. Using her own experience as a 'nun' (mae chee) as well as her relationships with others in a monastic setting, Cook uncovers and analyzes the formation of subjectivity, inter-subjectivity and the embodiment of ethics in Buddhist practice. The book should be required reading for anyone concerned with Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, and will be of interest to many others: for example, to those concerned with religious ethics, with the practice of self-reflexive anthropology, and to Gender Studies as a discipline."
Steven Collins
University of Chicago
"This is a most welcome development in the study of Thai Buddhism - scholars have tended to focus on the religious roles, experience, activities, achievements and institutions of male Buddhists. … The book excels in achieving an impressive analytical depth that allows insights into (female) monasticism and what Cook, drawing on Foucault, calls 'meditation as a practice in self-formation'. She is able to do this thanks to the cogent engagement of data gained from other practitioners and her own experience as a meditating mae chi and deploying an impressively wide range of literature from and beyond the field of Buddhist studies."
Martin Seeger
South East Asia Research
"Cook’s theoretical analysis of the evolution of religious practice is richly supported through the depth and clarity of her presentation of how people learn and practice meditation, and how they negotiate a complex social world that enables renunciates to work towards enlightenment. She offers a new analysis of how religion— in both its interior and exterior experiences—changes in response to the modern world, an analysis well worth reading and pondering."
Susan M. Darlington
Hampshire College
"The title of Joanna Cook's monograph, Meditation in Modern Buddhism, does not do justice to the scope of its content … [and] its compelling description and interpretation of monastic practice at a singular monastery-temple in northern Thailand"
Donald K. Swearer
Harvard University
"This is a rare book for scholars and the general public interested in modern meditation and how it relates to contemporary Thai monasticism … Sprinkled throughout the book are stories of Cook’s fieldwork experiences. These add a richness and vividness to the portrait of this temple and also show the experience of the ethnographer in a way not often seen in scholarship … it is clear that in her first book Cook has already contributed much to the fields of anthropology and Buddhist studies. In my view, this book will become required reading for those interested in gender studies, meditation, monasticism, Buddhist studies, and anthropology. It moves forward specific conversations on modern Buddhism and meditation’s role in society, but it also importantly furthers anthropological and religious studies questioning of the formation of the religious self and the constructions of religion in this global era."
Brooke Shedneck
Rhodes College