Cheetah House First Do No Harm Meditation Safety Training

LEVEL 2C: Historical and Cultural Competencies

Modern meditation exists at a unique intersection between traditional Buddhism and the modern West, science, medicine, wellness and therapeutic modalities. The complexities of this history and blend of cultures plays a key role in meditation-related difficulties, which is why we dedicate an entire module to understanding it. The first three courses explain the phenomenon of “Buddhist Modernism” which is key to understanding how Buddhism is currently understood in the West. Although not required, we encourage students to read David McMahan’s book The Making of a Buddhist Modernism, followed by Evan Thompson’s book “Why I am not a Buddhist” to a get the most complete picture of our historical moment. The main points of each book are reiterated in the courses.

Armed with a more complete understanding of Buddhist Modernism and our historical, you are now in a better position to grapple with different ways of interpreting or making sense of meditation-related challenges. Dr. Pierce Salguero, the editor of the “Meditation Sickness” Sourcebook (2026) introduces perspectives from Chines Buddhism, and Drs. Anya Foxen and Sravana Borkataky-Varma unpack the history of the common but muddled term “Kundalini”. We finish series with research on the lived experiences of meditators navigating different worldviews, and what criteria teachers use to decide “progress or pathology” or when to intervene.