The Discovery of Mindfulness

Carl Stimson reviews three books by American vipassana meditators who discovered Dhamma in the 1960s and 1970s: a hippy, a Vietnam veteran, and a former CIA agent who take up practice after traveling through Burma, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Nepal. Initially reflecting on the experience of these Western pioneers who brought themselves to the practice in an age when the mindfulness movement is firmly entrenched in the West, Stimson goes on to reflect about how (and if) meditation can be sustained after the honeymoon period has ended.