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Book Review: Remembering The Present: Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia by Julia L. Cassaniti |
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| Author |
Saruya, Rachelle (評論)
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| Source |
Religious Studies Review
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| Volume | v.45 n.3 |
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| Date | 2019.09 |
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| Pages | 407 - 408 |
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| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
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| Publisher Url |
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
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| Location | Oxford, UK [牛津, 英國] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article; 書評=Book Review |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | REMEMBERING THE PRESENT: MINDFULNESS IN BUDDHIST ASIA. By Julia L. Cassaniti. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2018. Pp. xiv + 297. Cloth, $95; paper, $27.95. |
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| Abstract | Cassaniti's recent book, Remembering the Present, maps out the ways in which mindfulness meditation is perceived and practiced in Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, and the United States. She compares five groups: monks at two different monasteries, students at a local university, hospital staff of a psychiatric hospital, and both laypeople and monks in a rural village. She uses both interviews and surveys that include a total of 600 participants. To analyze her findings, she employs what she calls the TAPES of mindfulness. T standing for temporality, A for affect, P for power, E for ethics, and S for selfhood.
Her book is divided into three parts, with the first three chapters dedicated to Thailand, as this is the country in which she has done the majority of her research. In chapter 1, she questions monks about mindfulness. In the second chapter, she writes about her experiences at a Goenka meditation retreat. From these retreats, she feels she understands “viscerally” what people talk about when they talk about meditation. In chapter 3, she discusses the books that schoolchildren read regarding mindfulness, sati in the media, sati used by the government, ghosts and how they relate to sati, and finally more on the scientific use of sati in a psychiatric hospital.
In the second section, Cassaniti compares her work in Thailand with that of Burma and Sri Lanka. In Burma, she notes the importance of the Abhidhamma, and in Sri Lanka she finds two types of mindfulness that many mention, a wrong way and a right way. For the third section concerning the United States, she finds that Americans tend to focus more on present awareness, and in Southeast Asia concentrate on the past and memory. In comparing the category of affect, she finds that in America, mindfulness practices are meant to cultivate happiness, well-being, and regulate emotions, whereas in Southeast Asia, equanimity is more valued. For power, mindfulness in the United States focuses on one's own benefit, and in Southeast Asia, there are more “political and social influences” and influences from ghosts. In the United States, when it comes to ethical aspects, she finds more of a nonmoral stance, whereas in Southeast Asia, there is more emphasis on morality. Finally, for the last category of self, Americans have a harder time with the concept of anicca or nonself.
The author is transparent in her data collection and describes how she conducted the data in great detail. The book is ambitious and easy to read, has many “rich descriptions,” that would be good for undergraduates and graduate students interested in mindfulness, Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhism, and the anthropology of Buddhism. |
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| ISSN | 0319485X (P); 17480922 (E) |
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| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14095 |
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| View book details | Remembering the Present: Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia. Cassaniti, Julia L. (著). Ithaca, NY, US [伊薩卡, 紐約州, 美國]: Cornell University Press, 2018.04.15. 318. 9781501709173. (pbk).; 1501709178. (pbk).; 9781501707995. (hc).; 150170799X. (hc).; 9781501714160. (eb).; 1501714163. (eb). |
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| Hits | 93 |
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| Created date | 2023.07.26 |
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| Modified date | 2023.07.26 |
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