Disaffiliation

Abstract

This chapter offers a detailed examination of the narratives of individuals who left Goenka’s Vipassana movement after years of intense commitment. The analysis is done in light of the recent developments in religious disengagement literature. Through detailed linguistic analysis of a case study, the chapter argues that Vipassana disaffiliation narratives are characterised by an ambivalent language, which involved the participants’ ongoing convictions about the transformative efficacy of the technique and a certain doubt about their own abilities to progress towards enlightenment. Despite this characteristic, many facets of Vipassana disaffiliation narratives corresponded with the existing literature on religious disengagement, even though the process of conversion was tacit for these individuals.