Abstract
The theory and practice of mindfulness originate in an ancient oriental religion and yet is being appropriated by modern social and psychological sciences. This has created problems in how mindfulness and its theoretical framework can be adapted to contemporary conditions without either importing a new religion or excluding ideas and experience that may be useful to the contemporary application of mindfulness. This chapter addresses these problems through a return to the Buddha’s dharma, before “Buddhism” was invented, treating it as an empirical phenomenology based on a first-person perspective. It examines, in particular, the Buddha’s understanding of sīla (ethics, moral discipline) and its embrace of what we would call the realm of the secular. By taking seriously the Buddha’s understanding of what is required for human flourishing in a this-worldly sense, we may find a way to apply his understanding to the diversity of contemporary life without the need to adopt ideological commitments incompatible with a secular and scientific world view.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baer, R. (2011). Measuring mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 241–261.
Baer, R. (2015). Ethics, values, virtues, and character strengths in mindfulness-based interventions: A psychological science perspective. Mindfulness, 6, 956–969.
Bodhi, B. (1994). The noble eightfold path: Way to the end of suffering (2nd ed.). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
Bodhi, B. (1995). The great discourse on causation: The Mahānidāna Sutta and its commentaries (2nd ed.). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
Bodhi, B. (2000). Abhidhammattha Sangaha. A comprehensive manual of Abhidhamma. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti.
Bodhi, B. (2011). What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 19–39.
Braun, E. (2013). The birth of insight. Meditation, modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw. Chicago & London, UK: University of Chicago Press.
Brown, C. G. (2014). Mindfulnesss: Stealth Buddhist strategy for mainstreaming meditation? The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/candy-gunther-brown-phd/mindfulness-stealth-buddh_b_6243036.html
Caputo, J. D. (2001). On religion. London, UK: Routledge.
Darwall, S. (2002). Virtue ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Davis, J. H. (2015). Facing up to the question of ethics in mindfulness-based interventions. Mindfulness, 6, 46–48.
DeCaroli, R. (2004). Haunting the Buddha: Indian popular religions and the formation of Buddhism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Dennett, D. C. (1991). Consciousness explained. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company.
Dunne, J. (2011). Toward an understanding of non-dual mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 71–88.
Gethin, R. M. L. (2001). The Buddhist path to awakening: A study of the bodhi-pakkhiyā-dhammā. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications.
Gowans, C. W. (2003). Philosophy of the Buddha. London, UK/New York, NY: Routledge.
Grossman, P. (2010). Mindfulness for psychologists: Paying kind attention to the perceptible. Mindfulness, 1, 87–97.
Grossman, P. (2015). Mindfulness: Awareness informed by an embodied ethic. Mindfulness, 6, 17–22.
Grossman, P., & Van Dam, N. T. (2011). Mindfulness, by any other name … : Trials and tribulations of sati in western psychology and science. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 219–239.
Harvey, P. (1995). Criteria for judging the unwholesomeness of actions in the texts of Theravāda Buddhism. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2, 140–151.
Houtman, G. (1990). Traditions of Buddhist practice in Burma. London University. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/1836315/Burmese_Traditions_of_Buddhist_Practice
Houtman, G. (1999). Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/1836314/Mental_Culture_in_Burmese_Crisis_Politics_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi_and_the_National_League_for_Democracy, https://www.academia.edu/1836314/Mental_Culture_in_Burmese_Crisis_Politics_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi_and_the_National_League_for_Democracy
Hwang, Y.-S., & Kearney, P. (2015). A mindfulness intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder: New directions in research and practice. New York, NY: Springer.
Jayatilleke, K. N. (1963). Early Buddhist theory of knowledge. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
Jordt, I. (2007). Burma’s mass lay meditation movement. Buddhism and the cultural construction of power. Athens, Greece: Ohio University Press.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living. Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144–156.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism, 11(1), 281–306.
Kalupahana, D. J. (1969). A Buddhist tract on empiricism. Philosophy East and West, 19(1), 65–67.
Kalupahana, D. J. (1992). A history of Buddhist philosophy. Continuities & discontinuities. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Karunadasa, Y. (1996). The Dhamma theory: Philosophical cornerstone of the Abhidhamma the wheel publication no. 412/413. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
Kearney, P. (2011). Transformations of insight. In C. Rocha & M. Barker (Eds.), Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in change (pp. 107–112). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Keown, D. (2001). The nature of Buddhist ethics. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Leary, M. R., & Tate, E. B. (2007). The multi-faceted nature of mindfulness. Psychological Inquiry: An international Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory, 18(4), 251–255.
Linehan, M. M. (1993a). Cognitive-behavioural treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York, NY: Guilford.
Linehan, M. M. (1993b). Skills training manual for treating borderline personality disorder. New York, NY: Guilford.
Mahāsī, S. (2016). Manual of insight. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Monteiro, L. M., Musten, R. F., & Compson, J. (2015). Traditional and contemporary mindfulness: Finding the middle path in the tangle of concerns. Mindfulness, 6(1), 1–13.
Nagel, T. (1986). The view from nowhere. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Pandita, S. U. (1993). In this very life: The liberation teachings of the Buddha (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Purser, R. E. (2015). Clearing the muddled path of traditional and contemporary mindfulness: A response to Monteiro, Musten, and Compson. Mindfulness, 6, 23–45.
Purser, R. E., & Milillo, J. (2015). Mindfulness revisited: A Buddhist-based conceptualization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24, 3–24.
Saddhatissa, H. (1997). Buddhist ethics (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York, NY: Guilford.
Sharf, R. H. (1995). Buddhist modernism and the rhetoric of experience. Numen, 42, 228–283.
Sharf, R. H. (2015). Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters). Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 470–484.
Silananda, V. U. (1990). The four foundations of mindfulness. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Stanley, S. (2013). ‘Things said or done long ago are recalled and remembered’: The ethics of mindfulness in early Buddhism, psychotherapy and clinical psychology. European Journal of Psychotherapy Counselling & Health, 15(2), 151–162.
Sujiva, V. (2000). Essentials of insight meditation. A pragmatic approach to vipassanā. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Buddhist Wisdom Centre.
Tejaniya, A. (2011). Dhamma everywhere. Yangon, Myanmar: Anantar Dhamma Literature.
Thapar, R. (2002). Early India: From the origins to AD 1300. London, UK: Allen Lane.
Titmuss, C. (2013). The Buddha of mindfulness. The politics of mindfulness. Retrieved from http://christophertitmussblog.org/the-buddha-of-mindfulness-the-politics-of-mindfulness
Vasen, M. (2014). Buddhist practice as play: A virtue ethical view. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 21, 537–568.
Williams, P. (2009). Mahāyāna Buddhism: The doctrinal foundations (2nd ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Wynne, A. (2003). How old is the Sutta pitaka? The relative value of textual and epigraphical sources for the study of early Indian Buddhism. Retrieved from http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebsut055.htm
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
Kearney, P., Hwang, YS. (2018). Dharma and Diversity. 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_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76538-9_15
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)