ABSTRACT
It is easy to get the impression from reading the literature that the principal form of meditation current today in Theravada Buddhism is a particular type of insight meditation (vipassanii)-one which is keenly recommended by adherents. Meditation practice of this kind has in relatively recent years spread from Burma to other Southern Buddhist countries and even outside the traditional environment of this form of Buddhism. Today centres and teachers for the practice of insight meditation are to be found in England, Germany, India, U.S.A., and many other countries. Almost all of these derive ultimately from Burma, although they are not all of the same branch of Burmese meditation. This method is advocated with great, if not excessive, enthusiasm-perhaps a single quotation (from the well-known German monk NiiI:lapotPka Mahathera) will suffice: I
"This ancient Way of Mindfulness is as practicable today as it was 2,500 years ago. It is as applicable in the lands of the West as in the East; in the midst of life's turmoil as well as in the peace of the monk's cell. Right Mindfulness is, in fact, the indispensable basis of Right Living and Right Thinking--everywhere, at any time, for everyone."
