Mindfulness practices derived from Buddhist sources have become ubiquitous. Meditation teachers will sometimes say that this is the same practice that the Buddha taught over 2500 years ago. David McMahan shows that the standard articulation of mindfulness is, rather, a distillation of particular strands of Buddhist thought that have combined with western ideas to create a unique practice tailored to modern life. 'Rethinking Meditation' asks how and why these practices coalesced into the version we have today.