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This chapter began with the contextualization of the historical circumstances in Burma and the United States that brought about the interactions between these two groups; namely, Burmese Buddhist specialists (monks and lay meditation teachers) and the American vipassana practitioners. It argues for a more comprehensive understanding of what “modern Buddhism” means for various constituents by investigating the ways in which some of the key figures of both Asian Buddhist modernists (e.g., Mahasi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Ajahn Cha) and the pioneers of American vipassana movement (e.g., Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg) converged with respect to the dissemination of vipassana meditation. It examines modernist approaches of these central figures of both East and West in the adaptation of vipassana meditation.

This chapter moves the narrative to Myanmar (Burma) where, through the popularization efforts of Mahasi Sayadaw, Ledi Sayadaw and others, many of the international mindfulness movements have especially drawn from. After a visit to the ancient capital of Bagan, the author continues interviews with monks, students, psychiatrists and villagers in the areas around Mandalay, including at Maha Gandayon Monastery, Mandalay University, and the Government Psychiatric Hospital. Here we learn that mindfulness (called thati in Burmese) takes on many similar and some particular qualities relative to those in Thailand. These particular understandings of meaning and practice, including a greater emphasis on the Abhidhamma and the role of memory, are examined in light of the TAPES of temporality, affect, power, ethics, and selfhood.

Chapter 4 situates Ashin Jinarakkhita’s life, ideas, and networks in the broader history of South China Sea Buddhism. The chapter argues that Ashin Jinarakkhita’s attempt to make Buddhism less Chinese was a calculated strategy to ensure the survival of Buddhism as a minority religion in the world’s largest Muslim nation. Unlike his contemporaries in Malaysia and Singapore who sought to spread ideas of Buddhist modernism among the Chinese community, Ashin Jinarakkhita’s vision of Buddhist modernism was to shatter the image of Buddhism as a religion and culture of the Chinese population in Indonesia. As this chapter reveals, Ashin Jinarakkhita founded the Buddhayāna movement that promoted nonsectarian doctrines and practices to be in line with the national discourse of “Unity in Diversity.” What emerged was a form of Indonesian Buddhism (agama Buddha Indonesia) for the modern Indonesian state.