Ahn Hee-young, director of the Korea MBSR Institute, outlined five challenges facing Korea's meditation community during a presentation titled "Asking Which Path Korean Meditation Should Take" at the meditation conference held Sept. 18 at Dongguk University as part of the 7th Seoul International Meditation Expo.
Claims About Benefits Beyond What Research Supports
The first issue Ahn raised was commercialization and exaggerated marketing. He warned that claims about benefits beyond what research supports, along with pseudoscientific marketing, could undermine the credibility of the entire meditation community. As research on meditation's effects has expanded, the boundaries of what those studies actually show have also become clearer. The concern is that promotional language is crossing those boundaries.
"A Proliferation of Certifications Is a Safety Issue, Not a Market Issue"
The second issue she identified was the training of instructors. Accelerated instructor-training programs are becoming more common without requirements for personal practice or supervision, she said. "A proliferation of certifications is a safety issue, not a market issue," Ahn said. She also pointed to the lack of ethical standards for verifying instructors' competence and protecting participants in vulnerable states.
She added three more challenges: fragmentation, with groups devoted to Seon Buddhism, Vipassana and MBSR operating in isolation from one another; and a research-practice gap in which small, short-term studies fail to connect with work in the field.
Adverse Effects Are Already Being Reported in the Numbers
Participant safety is not merely an abstract concern. A 2020 review cited in the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health's (NCCIH) "Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety" materials analyzed 83 studies involving 6,703 participants and found reports of negative experiences in 55 studies. About 8% of participants in the review experienced negative effects from meditation, most commonly anxiety and depression. The NCCIH materials also note that relatively few studies have examined the potential harmful effects of meditation and mindfulness. The page was last updated in June 2022.
The NCCIH cites evidence that meditation and mindfulness may help with anxiety and depression, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress in cancer patients, chronic pain, insomnia and cravings associated with substance use disorder. But it distinguishes those areas from high blood pressure, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, acute pain and migraines, for which results are mixed or evidence remains insufficient. The very practice of distinguishing between areas where benefits have been established and those where they have not reflects the restrained language Ahn called for.
Five Practical Tasks
Ahn did not stop at identifying the problems; she also proposed practical steps. First is to establish standards for instructor training that include a minimum training period, personal-practice requirements and supervision standards. Second is an ethics code and quality-control system to protect vulnerable participants, establish a culture of reporting adverse effects and promote trauma-sensitive approaches. Third is to institutionalize regular dialogue among traditional Buddhism, modern mindfulness, and the medical and education sectors. Fourth is to conduct research that includes instructors working in the field and to test cultural suitability among Koreans. Fifth, she proposed incorporating adult education, saying the field must understand not only "what to teach" but also "how people learn."
"Three Gates" Linking Tradition and Modernity
In the latter part of her presentation, Ahn proposed "three gates" as a framework encompassing both traditional and modern meditation. The first is an entry gate consisting of accessible modern meditation programs; the second is an advanced gate involving intensive practice and systematic instruction; and the third is an ultimate gate corresponding to practices such as nonduality and koan inquiry. She explained that the gates are not hierarchical but reflect practitioners' capacities and needs, and that the Dharma is complete at every gate.
As the number of people practicing meditation grows and programs become more diverse, the proposal is to examine the foundations of trust before focusing on the pace of growth. Because no single institution can create instructor-training standards and an ethics code on its own, the third task—regularizing the dialogue platform—becomes a condition for accomplishing the others.
Who Will Judge Whom?
These developments in South Korea's rapidly growing meditation community are an essential step toward making healthy meditation part of everyday life. If certifications become merely a way to make money, it will be difficult for any certification to earn public trust.
But deciding who should determine whether someone is qualified to teach is also a difficult question. It is hard even to evaluate what standards should determine who is qualified to make that judgment.
Still, these developments are a necessary part of growing pains. I hope they become an opportunity to consider whether the community can build a wiser system, rather than focus on who is more qualified or enjoys greater social recognition.
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