Meditation experiences through a developmental lens: Does the “Stages of Insight”, a Buddhist model of meditative progression, apply to contemporary meditators?

Unwanted meditation-related experiences are common and alternate with positive ones, but predicting them is difficult because they have been studied as isolated events. This survey of 886 U.S. meditators tested whether a modern interpretation of the Stages of Insight (SoI), a Buddhist model of meditative progression, fits contemporary meditators. Only four of the eight stages could be assessed. The pattern of item endorsement predicted the number of stages reached better than chance, but early stages were not more frequently endorsed than later ones, and more meditation experience did not predict classification into later stages. The findings provide no clear evidence that the SoI model applies across contexts and traditions, but show that traditional models can guide research on meditation experiences as developmental processes.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Objective. Unwanted meditation-related experiences commonly occur and alternate with positive experiences over time. So far, effects have been studied as discrete events, creating difficulties to predict challenging experiences. We explored meditation experiences through a developmental lens, investigating whether a modern interpretation of the Stages of Insight (SoI), a Buddhist model of meditative progression, applies to contemporary meditators. Methods. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 886 U.S. meditators on meditation-related experiences. Out of 103 survey items, those that captured SoI phenomenology were selected via inter-rater agreement. Endorsing 75% of stage-relevant items would classify a meditator as “reaching” that stage. We tested three hypotheses: (1) SoI-related item endorsement (signal) predicted number of stages more than endorsing more items in general (noise), (2) stages said to appear early in the process would be more frequently endorsed than those purported as later stages, and (3) there would be a positive association between the amount of meditation experience and being classified into later stages.Results. 39 items representing four (of a total 8) stages were included in the analysis; only stages 3, 4, 5, and 7 could be assessed. We found evidence for hypothesis 1, but not for hypotheses 2 and 3.Conclusions. This preliminary exploration found no clear evidence that the SoI model applies to contemporary meditators across contexts and traditions. Nevertheless, we show that traditional models can guide research, and that meditation-related experiences can be studied as developmental processes.