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Re-contextualising mindfulness:
Ethical and spiritual
dimensions of awareness
Dr. Tim Lomas
University of East London
Overview
●Theoretical presentation
●The re-contextualisation of mindfulness
●ATherevada Buddhist perspective
●Three types of mindfulness?
●Sati (awareness of the present moment)
●Appamada (awareness suffused with ethical care)
●Sampajañña (awareness suffused with spirituality)
Mindfulness de-contextualised
●Surge of interest in mindfulness
●Hundreds of empirical studies each year
●Largely de-contextualised
●Presented in secular / scientific format
●This was arguably both…
●Necessary: to appeal to secular Wester audiences
●Useful: had a profound impact
But…
●Does this diminish its power?
●‘The rush to define mindfulness within Western
psychology may wind up denaturing it in
fundamental ways’
●There is ‘the potential for something priceless to
be lost’
–Williams & Kabat-Zinn (2011, p. 4)
Re-contextualisation
●Many schools of thought
●Theravāda
–Circa first century BCE onwards
–Buddhist communities who closely adhered to the Pāli canon
●Mahāyāna
–Circa first century CE onwards
–adapting/developing teachings in new and innovative ways
●Vajrayana
–Circa third century CE onwards
–Further philosophical and ritualistic development
A Therevada persepctive
●Urgyen Sangharakshita
●Born Dennis Lingwood in London in 1925
●Ordained in Therevada tradition (India, 1950)
●Founded the (F)WBO in 1967 (recently renamed Triratna)
●Syncretic, selective and non-exclusive approach
●Multiple influences
●Sarvāstivāda (emerged circa second century BCE)
●Buddhaghosa (circa fifth century CE)
Basis: paṭiccasamuppāda
●The law of conditionality
●‘This being, that exists; through the arising of this, that arises. This
not being, that does not exist; through the ceasing of this, that
ceases’ (Majjhima Nikāya, 79).
●Central to Buddhism
●Meta law that underpins all other laws, such as the second Noble
truth (that suffering has a cause)
●Pathway to liberation
●‘Once we have understood and are fully convinced about the nature
of reality as paṭiccasamuppāda, we align ourselves with those
regularities or laws that lead us to liberation.’
–Sangharakshita and Subhuti (2013, p. 49)
Fivefold niyama
●Exegesis/interpretation by Bodhidharma
●‘Laws, conditions or constraints that govern processes or
phenomena’ (Keown, 2003)
●Utu-niyāma:law of ‘the seasons’
●Bīja-niyāma: law of ‘seeds’
●Citta-niyāma: law of ‘the mind’
●Kamma-niyāma: law of ‘karma’
●Dhamma-niyāma: law of ‘nature’
Sati
●Satipaṭṭhāna sutta
●‘Establishing present-moment recollection right where
you are, simply breathe in, simply aware, then breathe
out, simply aware’
–Discourse on the establishment of mindfulness (MN 10)
●Conceptual origin for mindfulness
●‘The awareness that arises through paying attention on
purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to
the unfolding of experience moment by moment’ (Kabat-
Zinn, 2003, p.145)
Why ‘mindfulness’?
●Selected by T. W. Rhys Davids (Gethin, 2011)
●1881 publication of suttas, sati was rendered as ‘mental
activity’ (p.9) and even simply ‘thought’ (p.63)
●Only with 1910 work that he settled on ‘mindfulness’
●Means ‘remembrance/recollection’
●Not historical/chronological memory per se
●Remembering to focus on ‘what is otherwise too easily
forgotten: the present moment’ (Analayo, 2003, p.48)
Conceptualising sati
●Western psychological perspective
●‘Open monitoring’: an ‘open field capacity to detect
arising sensory, feeling and thought events within an
unrestricted ‘background’ of awareness, without a
‘grasping’ of these events in an explicitly selected
foreground or focus (Raffone & Srinivasan, 2010, p.2)
●Buddhist perspective
●Awareness of utu-niyāma (environmental causality)
●Awareness of bija-niyāma (biological causality)
●Awareness of citta-niyāma (psychological causality)
The value of sati
●Basis for contemporary MBIs
●Arguably mainly foster insight into citta-niyāma
●E.g., MBCT (Teasdale et al., 2000)
●Awareness of recurrent thought patterns
●Learn to ‘de-centre’
●‘Retraining awareness’: people may ‘more consciously
choose... thoughts, emotions and sensations... rather
than habitually reacting to them’ (Chambers et al, 2009)
Is anything missing?
●What about ethics?
●Influences the experiences that one has in meditation
●Lack: arguably renders negative affect more likely
●What about spirituality
●Influences the extent/reach of development
●Lack: neuters the potential of meditation practice
●Other ‘types’ of awareness in the canon
●Appamada (awareness suffused with ethical care)
●Sampajañña (awareness suffused with spirituality)
Appamada
●Another ‘type’ of mindfulness/awareness
●Not ‘distinct’ from sati, but a quality that may augment it
●Introduces an ethical dimension to mindfulness
●Awareness of one’s actions in light of ethical guidelines
●Range of translations
●Vigilant care (Soeng, 2006)
●Moral watchfulness (Rao, 2007)
●Awareness… with regard to the sphere of qualities of
good conduct (Old Commentary of the Dhammapada)
Ethics in Buddhism
●Various sets of precepts/guidelines
●Noble eight-fold path
●3 aspects concerned with morality (sīla): right speech, right
action, and right livelihood
●Pañca-sīla (Five precepts)
●Absintence from: harming living beings, taking the not given,
misconduct concerning sense pleasures, false speech), and
unmindful states related to consumption of alcohol or drugs
●Pāṭimokkha (Monastic Disciplinary Code)
Why do ethics matter?
●Benefits the actor, not only others/society
●Kamma-niyāma: law of ‘karma’
●‘The law of karma states that anu volitional action rooted in
non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion (or in positive
terms: generosity, love/compassion, and wisdom) gives rise
to virtuous or positive imprints in the mind that would
subsequently result in experiences of happiness and
pleasure.’ Conversely, ‘any ethical action rooted in greed,
hatred or delusion gives rise to their opposite non-
virtuous/negative mental imprints that later result in
experiences of suffering and displeasure’
Kang (2009, p.73)
Sampajañña
●Another ‘type’ of mindfulness/awareness
●Not ‘distinct’ from sati, but a quality that may augment it
●Introduces an spiritual dimension to mindfulness
●Awareness of one’s actions in light of spiritual possibilities
●‘Clear comprehension’ (Bodhi, 2011)
●Shantideva: ‘Samprajanya comes and, once come, does not
go again, if smṛti [sati] stands guard at the door of the mind’
●Samprajanya = a ‘more spontaneous and effortless state of
watchfulness of the body and mind’ (Maharaj, 2013, p.67)
Spirituality in Buddhism
●Sampajañña = awareness of dhamma niyāma
●Appreciate that people have potential to become Buddhas
●Evaluate one’s actions in terms of progress on a path
●One can still be spiritual with sati mindfulness
●Sampajañña = spiritual development a conscious, explicit
and overriding priority in their life
●Stages of spiritual development
●Many different models
●Bucknell (1984): 6 different lists just in Tipiṭaka
Sarvāstivāda 5 path schema
1) Integration
1) ‘Cultivating ever-more skilful actions of body, speech and mind’
2) Skilful intention
1) ‘Systematic cultivation of skilful intentions and actions’
3) Spiritual death
1) Insight into anicca (impermanence), anattā (insubstantiality), and
dukkha (suffering), especially with respect to self
4) Spiritual re-birth
1) Enter ‘deeper’ sense of self (co-terminous with dhamma niyāma
5) Enlightenment
Sangharakshita and Subhuti (2013, p.133)
Conclusion
●Value of re-contextualising mindfulness
●Introduce ethical and spiritual dimension to MBIs
●Potential for more powerful impact on wellbeing
●Caveats
●This is just one perspective here (others are available…!)
●Be careful about imposing on anyone (e.g., not everyone
is comfortable with spirituality)
●Offer as an ‘invitation’ where appropriate
Thank you for listening!
Any questions?
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