Valuation Work in Mindfulness Research: Creating Patches of Religion in Modern Science

Neuroscientific research on mindfulness meditation has become a topic of academic and public debate. Scientists emphasise that their research seeks to contribute to healthy living and well-being. Some Buddhist practitioners worry that a scientific framing of meditation strips the practice of its Buddhist roots and makes it amenable for ethically dubious ends—for instance, as a productivity booster in companies. Against this backdrop, it is surprising that mindfulness research has not received much attention in Science and Technology Studies, which has a history of examining boundary work between science and religion and entanglements between science and values. This chapter analyses how values are enacted in mindfulness research to gain deeper insights into the practical labour of creating patches of Buddhism in brain research. Based on praxeographic research in a clinical trial on mindfulness and compassion meditation, it introduces the concept of “valuation work” to analyse how objectivity of scientific procedures and trained judgement of experienced meditators were made compatible in scientific practice. The conclusion outlines how praxeographic studies could support meditation researchers in understanding how religious beliefs and cultural practices—including those embedded in scientific examination—orchestrate the embodied experience of meditation.