The Contemplative Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion is sponsoring three panels at the annual conference in San Diego, CA from November 23-26, 2024:

Confucian Contemplation: Historical Landscape and Contemporary Significance. Saturday, 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM. Convention Center-6F (Upper Level West)

Confucian contemplation, particularly quiet-sitting meditation, has been historically overlooked in contemplative studies. This is despite its deep integration in Confucian traditions, where figures like Cheng Yi and Yang Shi viewed it as crucial for moral self-cultivation and active engagement with the world. Zhu Xi’s evolving stance further illuminated its philosophical depth. The underrepresentation is partly due to the practice’s societal integration, the absence of texts with detailed techniques, and the scholarly necessity to reinterpret and recontextualize these traditions after their decline in modern times.The papers session advocates for including the Ruist perspective in global research, noting its potential relevance to modern professionals akin to ancient Ru scholars. It includes papers exploring early Chinese ritual fasting, the philosophical dimensions of quiet-sitting in the lineage of pattern-principle learning, Zhu Xi’s meditation interpreted through a Chinese Catholic lens, and the efficacy of Confucian practices in contemporary pedagogy of liberal arts.

Presiding
Anna Sun, Duke University

Panelists
Christopher Yang, Brown University
Ritual Fasting and Inner Cultivation in Early China

Bin Song, Washington College
Quiet-Sitting Meditation: A Philosophical Practice in Cheng-Zhu Learning of Pattern-Principle

John Pino, Harvard University
Rereading Zhu Xi’s Quiet-Sitting Practice through a Chinese Catholic Lens

Judson Murray, Capital University
Confucian Contemplation and Experiential Learning

Responding
Jea Sophia Oh, West Chester University

Meditation as Sickness, Meditation as Medicine. Sunday, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM. Convention Center-11B (Upper Level West) 

The panel examines how Buddhist meditation instructors and practitioners interpret, respond to, and manage the potential challenges of meditative practice. The panel adopts an interdisciplinary approach, analyzing the complex nature of meditation from religious, cultural, historical, psychological, and gender perspectives. Six panelists examine meditation-related health concerns experienced by lay and monastic Buddhists in different geographical areas, including Tibet, Nepal, Taiwan, the United States, Burma, and Thailand. Their combined efforts reveal the intricate nature of meditation, highlighting its connections not only to individual experiences but also to larger institutional frameworks. The discussion makes a significant contribution to the exploration of strategies for preventing, alleviating, and effectively managing potential challenges that may arise from meditation practice. By highlighting the limitations of a one-size-fits-all approach in meditation research and practice, it advocates for a more nuanced and culturally sensitive methodology in contemplative studies, Buddhist studies, and religious studies.

Presiding
C. Pierce Salguero, Pennsylvania State University

Panelists
Michael Sheehy, University of Virginia
Meditation as Medicine: Tibetan Buddhist Contemplative Practices for Health and Wellbeing 

Ira Helderman, Vanderbilt University
A Clinician’s View from Contemporary Nepal: Interviews with Dr. Pawan Sharma

Dixuan Yujing Chen, Grinnell College
Shengyan’s Views on Meditation Sickness within the Han Chinese Buddhist Context 

Kin Cheung, Moravian University
Deviation from Proper Chinese Self-Cultivation or Spiritual Practices: Interview with a Contemporary Teacher of Martial Arts, Qigong, and Buddhist Healing

Daniel M. Stuart, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina
Healing Meditation and Meditation Sickness: The Strategies of Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899–1971)

Daphne Weber, Washington State University
Meditation Sickness as Gendered Karmic Consequence: An Analysis of Thai Female Monastic’s Adverse Meditation Experiences

Responding
James A. Benn, McMaster University

What do we mean by Meditation? Sunday, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM. Convention Center-7B (Upper Level West).

These papers offer engaging new discourse on contemplative praxis as a means of teasing out precisely what we mean when we discuss practices like meditation. The first paper addresses meditation praxis within a historical Tibetan context by examining the healing effects of  praxis within the context of the use of sound in the Unimpeded Sound Tantra (Sgra thal ‘gyur). The second paper in this panel draws from the writings of Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), (Gampopa (1079-1153) and Longchen pa (1308-1363) to discuss the Tibetan practice, thukdam, where the body of an advanced Tibetan practitioner exhibits signs of though clinically dead. The third paper offers an analysis of meditation practice through two different lenses, one derived from a religious context and one that exhibits something more akin to a technological reading of meditation praxis.

Presiding
Loriliai Biernacki, University of Colorado

Panelists
Devin Zuckerman, University of Virginia
Healing the Body, Speech, and Mind: A Model of Buddhist Contemplative Medicine in the Unimpeded Sound Tantra (Sgra thal ‘gyur)

Tenzin Bhuchung, Princeton University
Contemplative Practices involved in Thukdam: A Post-Clinical Death Meditation Observed Among Certain Tibetan monks

Luca Del Deo, Harvard University
Unveiling the Dual Technological and Cultural Identities of Meditation

Responding
Loriliai Biernacki, University of Colorado

Michael Sheehy, University of Virginia