An Exhibition on Buddhist
Meditation
I fervently hope that a prominent
museum in the United States
would have the vision to hold an exhibition on “Buddhist Meditation.” Just like
Yoga, Buddhist meditation has found root in the United States and has earned a
permanent place in its spiritual lexicon.
Medical profession has begun to
acknowledge the beneficial effects of meditation to enhance the human immune
system. There has been a dramatic increase in the research and study of
Buddhist meditation as a subfield of neurology. A group of investigators at Harvard Medical School
and affiliated medical research centers recently reported of the measurable
effects of meditation on human brain and differences of those effects based on
the specific type of meditation practices.
Buddhist meditation has become a
part of curricular at some American universities that offer academic and
professional degrees in healthcare sciences. For instance, the Stanford
University Center for Investigative Medicine teach mind and body awareness
techniques for coping with physical or psychological symptoms from stress and
stress-related illnesses.
Professional meditation
consultants and businesses offering meditation training to corporate employees
have strung up in the United
States during the last two decades. There is
growing evidence that meditation will soon surpass Yoga as an income generating
business.
American businesses have realized
that meditation improves employee productivity and creates a workplace
environment for innovation. Accordingly, a trend has begun among American
businesses to treat meditation as a means to relieve employee stresses and
increase productivity. Major corporations such as Apple, Proctor & Gamble,
Google, Nike, AOL, Yahoo, Prentice Hall, Time Warner, McKinsey & Company,
HBO and many others accommodate and encourage meditation for employees during
the workday on a regular basis. The number of American corporations embracing
this phenomenon is steadily increasing.
The importance of meditation has
also reached the nation’s legislators. Some members of the U.S. Congress have
openly embraced Buddhist meditation and are advocates of its value and
relevance for good governance. The invitation to His Holiness Dalai Lama
several years ago to perform the opening prayer in the United States Senate and
the award of the Congressional Gold Medal are symptomatic of the appreciation
of Buddhism and Buddhist meditation among the U.S. legislators.
It is estimated that nearly 40%
of the Americans engage in some form of meditation and the Buddhist forms of
meditation are the most predominant. Buddhism is the 3rd largest religion in
the United States.
According to some estimates there are over 2.6 million Buddhists in the United States
with an additional 3 to 4 million Buddhist sympathizers. There is even a larger
number of Americans who are aware of meditation and of its beneficial effects.
Millions of non-Buddhists in the United States are intrigued by the
concept of “Buddhist Meditation.” An exhibition on Buddhist meditation would
translate meditation from an abstract concept into visual perception.
The exhibition I envision would
incorporate meditation practices of both Mahayana (e.g. Tibet, China,
Japan) and Hinayana (e.g. Thailand, Sri Lanka) schools of Buddhism. The
exhibition should represent live physical demonstration of meditation
practices, objects representing meditation postures, and tools and instruments
used as aids for meditation. A similar exhibition has never been held in the
Unite States.
In the final analysis,
exhibitions of this nature are expression of soft power public diplomacy that
enhances the image of a culture and its people. We believe that the exposition
of such cultural values promote understanding and friendship among nations.
Outward projection of cultural values that compliment universal standards and
norms of governance and external relations is an exercise in applied soft power
diplomacy.
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