Evolving Dharma: The Meditation Revolution in Western Religious Contexts | Boston
at Boston College
Gasson Hall 305
Boston, MA
Every year, one million Americans take up meditation for the first time — an unprecedented development in Western spirituality. Increasingly, many do so in Jewish and Christian contexts, as well as Buddhist and secular ones. But while the goals are clear in most Buddhist traditions (liberation through less clinging) and most secular Western approaches (stress reduction), what is the point of meditation in the context of Western religious communities? How is meditation changing what religion is meant to do, and the ways Jews, Christians, and “Nones†relate to one another?
Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson, Contributing Editor to the Forward newspaper and author of Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment, will present some of the results of his longtime academic research and his own “insider†position as a leading “BuJu†(Buddhist Jewish) leader today.
