The modernization of Buddhism was and is a global exchange process. European and American scholars, but also other groups such as freethinkers, were appropriating and reinterpreting Buddhist topoi. These were in turn taken up by Asian Buddhists and used in the anti-colonial struggle. The modernization of Buddhism also affected meditation practices, for example, the "new Burmese school" emerged against the background of British colonial rule. The same applies to Zen practice. Both practices have been and are taken up in North Atlantic societies. Above all, the modernized version of Vipassana, mindfulness, is increasingly taking on the function of a self-technology and disciplining practice in both management and pedagogy, oriented towards usefulness and control in a post-industrial society.