Abstract
This chapter situates the question of ethics and mindfulness in the context of a global crisis—a crisis that is at once ecological, social, and personal—and suggests that these dimensions of the global crisis contain a common and underlying crisis of being, a nihilistic despair that is symptomatic of an inability to come to terms with groundlessness and relativity. Informed by the methods of insight (vipashyanā) within the awareness traditions of Tibetan Buddhist Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen, the emerging trend of “compassion” within secular mindfulness discourse is critiqued and applied to the question of nihilism and the global crisis. Through normalizing and cultivating a familiarity with groundlessness and relativity, mindfulness practice can anchor itself to deeper intentions that can not only critique the way that mindfulness is currently being taught and practiced but can also liberate the personal and collective resources necessary for global sustainability. By honoring the integration of groundlessness and compassion presented in the traditional “mind training” teachings, secular compassion trainings can facilitate a novel and emergent culture of groundlessness within secular society. In this way secular compassion training can become an authentic and powerful agent for personal and social change, forming the basis of globally sustainable ethical action, i.e., a groundless ethics of wisdom and compassion.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Batchelor, S. (2012). A secular Buddhism. Journal of Global Buddhism, 13, 87–107.
Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., … Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 230–241.
Francis, P. (2015). Encyclical letter Laudato Si’ of the holy father Francis on the care of our common home. Vatican, Rome: The Vatican Press. Retrieved from: http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf
Garfield, J. L. (1995). The fundamental wisdom of the middle way: Nagarjuna’s mulamadhyamakakarika. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hofstadter, D. R. (1980). Gödel, Escher, Bach, an eternal golden braid. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 281–306.
Khyentse, D. J. (2003). Introduction to the middle way. Seattle, WA: Khyentse Foundation.
Kierkegaard, S. (1980). The sickness unto death: A Christian psychological exposition for upbuilding and awakening. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kierkegaard, S. (1985). Fear and trembling: Dialectical lyric by Johannes de Silentio. New York, NY: Penguin.
Lindahl, J. R. (2015). Why right mindfulness might not be right for mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6, 57–62.
Macy, J. (2007). World as lover, world as self. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press.
Marcuse, H. (1991). One dimensional man. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
McMahan, D. (2008). The making of Buddhist modernism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Nagel, T. (1986). The view from nowhere. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Nishitani, K. (1982). Religion and nothingness. Los Angeles, CA: University of California.
Norbu, T. (1992). White sail: Crossing the waves of ocean mind to the serene continent of the triple gems. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Ray, R. (2008). Touching enlightenment: Finding realization in the body. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.
Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., Astin, J. A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, 373–386.
Siegel, D. (2007). The mindful brain: Reflection and attunement in the cultivation of well-being. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Siegel, D. (2010). The mindful therapist: A clinician’s guide to mindsight and neural integration. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Siegel, D. (2011). Mindsight: The new science of personal transformation. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Siegel, D. (2012). Pocket guide to interpersonal neurobiology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Singer, T., & Bolz, M. (2013). Compassion: Bridging practice and science. Munich, Germany: Max Planck Society.
Tāranātha. (2016). Mahamudra amulet: Instructions on the threefold natural settling. Avalon, France: Rimay, Dragyur Dzamling Künchab.
Thurman, R. (1976). The holy teaching of vimalakirti: A mahayana scripture. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Trungpa, C. (2004). The collected works of Chögyam Trungpa (Vol. 8). Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Welwood, J. (2000). Toward a psychology of awakening. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Yorke, T. (1997). Fitter, happier. On O.k. Computer [MP3 file]. Los Angeles, CA: Capital Records.
Žižek, S. (2001). From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism. Cabinet Magazine. Issue 2. Retrieved from: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/2/western.php
Žižek, S. (2009). Violence. London, UK: Profile Books.
Žižek, S. (2011). Living in the end times. New York, NY: Verso.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Karma, L. (2018). Sacred Groundlessness: Deepening the Ethics of Mindfulness in the Midst of Global Crisis. In: Stanley, S., Purser, R., Singh, N. (eds) Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76538-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76538-9_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76537-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76538-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)