This review argues for David L. McMahan’s Rethinking Meditation as a significant intervention in the study of Buddhist modernism and meditation, tracing how contemporary assumptions about the self and interiority have shaped dominant understandings of mindfulness practice. Highlighting McMahan’s critique of objectivist models of meditation, the reviewer foregrounds the concept of the social imaginary as a framework for understanding the complex transcultural exchanges that have shaped both contemporary and ancient interpretations of meditation.