The Evolving Dharma

"The Evolving Dharma" by Jay Michaelson came out just a couple of months ago, and I came across it via twitter linking to a few blogs about it (like this one). It's billed as a "guide to the meditation revolution", charting how meditation and mindfulness have moved from Buddhist monasteries to self-help groups and retreat centres, to classrooms and hospitals, neuro-research labs and academic conferences. It really sparked my interest.

He begins the book discussing what he calls the post-modern, post-Buddhist, mindfulness movement, which has evolved out of Buddhist practice in the last 20-30 years. Mindfulness is now a completely secular set of techniques for what he describes as brain-hacking, or upgrading the software of our brain, and is indeed a flourishing academic subject, government-endorsed practice, and general buzzword in its own right.

In part two he discusses how the more traditional Buddhist pursuit of awakening or enlightenment is evolving in the west, using much of his own experience (mainly from the Theravadan tradition) as the base. He gives a very eloquent account of his months-long silent retreat exploring concentration and the four dhyana (or jhana) states, then his subsequent retreat looking more into insight, and his experiences of the shadow side – what St. John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul" (which, interestingly, has been the subject of scientific study by Dr. Britton at Brown University).

The subject of the third section is how this "contemplative wisdom" is interacting with our western cultural ideas of religion, spirituality, identity and gender, and is being extended to things like political activism (known as "engaged Buddhism"). He comments on how we're in the age of contributed content (blogs vs. newspapers, etc.), which tends to have the effect of flattening the power structure as people take responsibility for creating their own media. In terms of Buddhism, the consequence may be a decreased emphasis on the role of the guru-teacher. He also talks about the interaction between contemplative practice and social justice, and mentions a few examples of where teachers in the American Buddhist community have fallen foul of their desires.

In general Jay does a great job in describing Buddhism's ongoing journey to the west, looking at its first 100 years of integration and evolution. Being an American he's obviously very US-centric in his description of how Buddhism and meditation practice have encountered "the west". I think most of the trends though are present in Europe (even if the specific teachers he mentions are not), although I'm not sure whether movements such as the Buddhist Jews (so-called BuJus), or queer/gay Buddhists are quite so well-known or outspoken over here. Perhaps this reflects a more progressive or open culture in the US, or maybe just Jay's own background and interests (he's gay and a Jew).

Before reading this book I was worried that this might be another fluffy journalistic account of Buddhism written by someone who hadn't really done much meditation themselves. But I was impressed. Jay has obviously travelled a good way along the meditative journey himself and writes very eloquently about his own experiences. I think this adds a great deal of credence to what he says.

After all, all of us who practice or study yoga, mindfulness, meditation, or zen are actively involved in the evolution of Buddhism to the west. That encounter or dialogue actually comes up more often than you might think – it's a regular topic of discussion at our zen group in London. For example, as Zen students should we wear our formal robes to our weekly meditation session or is a tracksuit more appropriate? Should we bow in gassho to greet each other, or shake hands/kiss on the cheek as you would do in everyday life? Should we chant in Japanese or in English? Obviously we follow our teacher's lead on this, and he must have to think pretty hard about what's most appropriate for the London culture we live in. We're ploughing new and exciting furrows...