Meaning in Buddhism

Buddhist teachings do not usually ask "What is the meaning of life?" in the modern Western way. Their central aim is freedom from suffering, often called awakening or nirvana. Most traditions also teach karma (the idea that actions have consequences) and rebirth (Siderits, 2023). "Meaning" is a modern lens that some people apply to these teachings.

The teachings begin with a plain observation: life includes suffering. The word in Pali, an ancient Indian language, is dukkha. It can mean pain, and also a deeper unease linked to change, aging, illness, and death (Velez, n.d.). The Four Noble Truths summarize this: suffering exists, it has causes, it can end, and there is a path toward that ending (Siderits, 2023).

Impermanence says that all conditioned things, including body and mind, change. Non-self (anatta in Pali) is most often read as the claim that no permanent, independent self can be found in the changing mix of body and mind. Scholars debate how to read it, and it is not usually taken to mean that people do not matter (Siderits, 2023; Velez, n.d.).

The path is often described as the Noble Eightfold Path: wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental training, which includes mindfulness (steady, open attention to the present) (Velez, n.d.). Buddhists who are not monks or nuns commonly follow five ethical guidelines, called precepts, such as not harming living beings (Keown, 2020).

Some modern writers link this path to what psychologists call meaning. One 2024 philosophy paper argues that mindfulness meditation may connect to meaning, using philosopher Susan Wolf's ideas (Hanner, 2024). That is a philosophical argument, not a study or a research finding.

• Buddhism has several major traditions, such as Theravada and Mahayana (a family that includes Zen). Many Theravada practitioners aim to become an arahant, a person who has reached full awakening. Many Mahayana practitioners take a bodhisattva vow, a promise to work for the awakening of all beings (Goodman & Schultz, 2024).

In psychology, meaning in life is often described in three parts. Coherence is a sense that life makes sense. Purpose is having goals and direction. Significance is a feeling that your life matters (Martela & Steger, 2016).

A meta-analysis (a study that combines the results of many studies) of 66 studies found that meaning in life was linked with better physical health. The link was weak to moderate, and stronger for self-rated health than for objective measures. A link does not show that meaning causes better health (Czekierda et al., 2017).

Mindfulness-based programs, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, are secular health programs adapted from meditation. They are not the same as Buddhist practice. One scholar traces much of today's mindfulness to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the early 20th century and argues it is at odds with more traditional Theravada teaching in some respects (Sharf, 2015).

A review of 47 trials of meditation programs found moderate evidence of small improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain, and low evidence of improvement in stress and quality of life. For other outcomes, such as sleep, attention, and positive mood, the evidence showed no effect or was insufficient. The programs were not shown to be better than active treatments (Goyal et al., 2014).

For people who have had depression more than once, a study that pooled data from 9 trials (1,258 people) tested Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for preventing relapse. Over about 60 weeks, relapse risk was lower than for people who did not receive it (hazard ratio 0.69) and lower than for people given other active treatments, including antidepressants (hazard ratio 0.79). A hazard ratio below 1 means a lower risk (Kuyken et al., 2016). It is one option to discuss with a clinician, not a replacement for care.

Most of these studies measured symptoms or well-being, not meaning, so they cannot show whether mindfulness builds meaning. Researchers have also warned that mindfulness research has been exaggerated and sometimes poorly designed (Van Dam et al., 2018).

The biopsychosocial view looks at body, mind, and relationships together. For the body, a review of 18 trials in people with sleep problems found that mindfulness meditation improved sleep quality compared with similar-effort activities, but was not shown to be better than established sleep treatments. The authors call the findings preliminary (Rusch et al., 2019).

For community, a review found that taking part in religious services is linked with well-being, meaning and purpose, and close relationships, much more so than private practice. That research is not specific to Buddhism, and it does not show why the link exists. Shared values, practices, and social ties may all play a part (VanderWeele, 2017). Pew estimated about 324 million Buddhists worldwide in 2020 (Pew Research Center, 2025).

Meditation can be hard. A review of 83 studies found that 65 percent of the studies reported at least one unwanted effect. Across all participants, about 8 in 100 had one: about 4 in 100 in experimental studies and about 33 in 100 in observational studies. Anxiety, depression, and changes in thinking or perception were most often reported, including in people with no earlier mental health problems (Farias et al., 2020). Interviews with meditators and teachers in Western countries listed 59 meditation-related experiences, from very positive to very difficult. That study shows the range, not how often each happens (Lindahl et al., 2017).

In a study of 96 people in an eight-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program, 83 percent reported at least one effect linked to meditation, whether positive, neutral, or negative. About 58 percent reported an effect that felt negative, 37 percent reported one that got in the way of daily life, and 6 to 14 percent reported lasting bad effects (Britton et al., 2021). In a population-based U.S. survey, about 1 in 3 people who had meditated reported an unwanted effect when asked in general, and about 1 in 10 reported one lasting a month or more. Childhood adversity was linked with higher risk. People with and without unwanted effects were about equally glad to have practiced (Goldberg et al., 2022).

Spiritual bypassing means using spiritual ideas to avoid painful feelings or needs. The idea comes from a small interview study (Picciotto et al., 2018). Accepting that things change is not a reason to ignore your pain, or to skip care you need.

• Do not stop or change treatment because of meditation or any belief (see the safety note above).

You can skip any question. If these bring up strong distress, talk with a professional or someone you trust.

• When do I feel that my life makes sense, has direction, or matters?
• When something painful cannot be changed, what helps me cope?
• Which relationships or communities help me feel I belong?
• How can I respect a tradition that is not mine, and learn from it with care?

• Britton, W. B., Lindahl, J. R., Cooper, D. J., Canby, N. K., & Palitsky, R. (2021). Defining and measuring meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(6), 1185-1204. Link
• Czekierda, K., Banik, A., Park, C. L., & Luszczynska, A. (2017). Meaning in life and physical health: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 11(4), 387-418. Link
• Farias, M., Maraldi, E., Wallenkampf, K. C., & Lucchetti, G. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: A systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 142(5), 374-393. Link
• Goldberg, S. B., Lam, S. U., Britton, W. B., & Davidson, R. J. (2022). Prevalence of meditation-related adverse effects in a population-based sample in the United States. Psychotherapy Research, 32(3), 291-305. Link
• Goodman, C., & Schultz, A. (2024). Ethics in Indian Buddhism. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Link
• Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M. S., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E. B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(3), 357-368. Link
• Hanner, O. (2024). Mindfulness meditation and the meaning of life. Mindfulness, 15(9), 2372-2385. Link
• Keown, D. (2020). Buddhist ethics: A very short introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Link
• Kuyken, W., Warren, F. C., Taylor, R. S., Whalley, B., Crane, C., Bondolfi, G., Hayes, R., Huijbers, M., Ma, H., Schweizer, S., Segal, Z., Speckens, A., Teasdale, J. D., Van Heeringen, K., Williams, M., Byford, S., Byng, R., & Dalgleish, T. (2016). Efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in prevention of depressive relapse: An individual patient data meta-analysis from randomized trials. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(6), 565-574. Link
• Lindahl, J. R., Fisher, N. E., Cooper, D. J., Rosen, R. K., & Britton, W. B. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0176239. Link
• Martela, F., & Steger, M. F. (2016). The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531-545. Link
• Pew Research Center. (2025, June 9). Buddhist population change. Link
• Picciotto, G., Fox, J., & Neto, F. (2018). A phenomenology of spiritual bypass: Causes, consequences, and implications. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 20(4), 333-354. Link
• Rusch, H. L., Rosario, M., Levison, L. M., Olivera, A., Livingston, W. S., Wu, T., & Gill, J. M. (2019). The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1445(1), 5-16. Link
• Sharf, R. H. (2015). Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters). Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 470-484. Link
• Siderits, M. (2023). Buddha. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Link
• Van Dam, N. T., van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., Fox, K. C. R., Field, B. A., Britton, W. B., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., & Meyer, D. E. (2018). Mind the hype: A critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda for research on mindfulness and meditation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 36-61. Link
• VanderWeele, T. J. (2017). Religious communities and human flourishing. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(5), 476-481. Link
• Velez, A. (n.d.). Buddha. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from Link

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