insight meditation

A modern umbrella term for contemplative practices, insight meditation examines bodily and mental processes to cultivate insight into impermanence, suffering, and nonself. While grounded in Theravada vipassana traditions of Southeast Asia, insight meditation, as it is commonly practiced today, took shape in Western contexts in the 20th century, where it was adapted for lay practitioners and often presented in nonsectarian or secular forms. Centers such as Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society played a central role in popularizing these approaches, reflecting broader currents of Buddhist modernism.