Inward: Vipassana Meditation and the Embodiment of the Self

by Michal Pagis

Western society has never been more interested in interiority. Indeed, it seems more and more people are deliberately looking inward—toward the mind, the body, or both. Michal Pagis’s Inward focuses on one increasingly popular channel for the introverted vipassana meditation, which has spread from Burma to more than forty countries and counting. Lacing her account with vivid anecdotes and personal stories, Pagis turns our attention not only to the practice of vipassana but to the communities that have sprung up around it. Inward is also a social history of the westward diffusion of Eastern religious practices spurred on by the lingering effects of the British colonial presence in India. At the same time Pagis asks knotty questions about what happens when we continually turn inward, as she investigates the complex relations between physical selves, emotional selves, and our larger social worlds. Her book sheds new light on evergreen topics such as globalization, social psychology, and the place of the human body in the enduring process of self-awareness.

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 4, 2019

Reviews

[kamila gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michal Pagis' Inward observes the growing interest in Vipassana meditation as practice that is simultaneously solitary and social in nature. She includes interviews with experienced meditators which chronicle the circumstances that lead them to try meditation as well as how they have progressed in their respective programs.

As someone who has never attended a Buddhist meditation retreat, I found this to be insightful as to how the Vipasssana centers are laid out and what their goals are for their participants. Reading multiple accounts about how mediation has impacted the lives of others was a reflective experience, as I tried my hand at a lite form of Zen meditation this past spring and found it an enriching part of my daily routine.

Furthermore, having spent much time in Protestant churches, I found Pagis' note on the self-secularization of Buddhism to be very interesting and counterintuitive as to how I imagine the spread of a belief system (or certain tenants of that belief system).

Overall, this was a fine read, if only a little dull at points. The last chapter on embodiment did feel out of place to my classmates and I, but I am wondering how much of that is a result of this being Pagis' dissertation reshaped in the format of a conventional book.

[Dalia Kagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inward is the most captivating book I’ve read recently! I especially loved how it articulately combines an extensive research of Vipassana meditation and a variety of personal stories. I found myself immersed in those intimate reflections and contemporary struggles, sometimes laughing and sometimes with tears in my eyes. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more deeply the life that surrounds contemporary meditation practice, but even if you are not interested in meditation per se I believe you will find it interesting and inspiring. This book truly transformed the way I see myself and others around me and made me think a lot about who we are.