RE: Buddhism is the New Opium of the People

Mark Vernon in his essay on Buddhism writes:

"...Western Buddhism presents itself as a remedy against the stresses of modern life though, as Slavoj Žižek has noted, it actually functions as a perfect supplement to modern life. It allows adherents to decouple from the stress, whilst leaving the causes of the stress intact: consumptive forces continue unhindered along their creatively destructive path. In short, Buddhism is the new opium of the people..."

Mark has penned a provocative piece. Perhaps that was his purpose.

Buddhism for me is not an opiate. I do not practice Vipassana meditation in order to reduce my stress. I do not sit so that I might experience transcendent moments of serenity. I meditate so that I might increase my awareness. I meditate in an effort to gain insight into how my mind works. Meditation practice is part of a journey of honest and rigorous and compassionate self-examination, not an escape from reality. In fact, quite to the contrary, Vipassana meditation is a journey toward reality and away from the various melodramas and illusions that characterize normative cultural values in the West.

Perhaps nowhere is our penchant for melodrama and illusory thinking more powerful than in the competitive arena. Athletes, both young and old, often attach themselves to thoughts and beliefs and perceptions that are rooted in falsehood and that are borne of a lack of self-awareness. Meditation offers the practitioner the chance to step away from his attachment and identification with his perceptions, and to, in a lighthearted and non-judgmental way, see things for how they really are.

Athletes can benefit greatly from such a practice---not because meditation might get them "in the zone" so to speak, but because, through a dedication to discerning truth from fiction, they might participate in their chosen endeavor with the clarity, confidence, wisdom and generosity that come with self-knowledge.