Meditation in Contemporary Contexts : Current Discussions

Peer reviewe

On the Buddhist roots of contemporary non-religious mindfulness practice: Moving beyond sectarian and essentialist approaches

Mindfulness-based practice methods are entering the Western cultural mainstream as institutionalised approaches in healthcare, education, and other public spheres. The Buddhist roots of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and comparable mindfulness-based programmes are widely acknowledged, together with the view of their religious and ideological neutrality. However, the cultural and historical roots of these contemporary approaches have received relatively little attention in the study of religion, and the discussion has been centred on Theravāda Buddhist viewpoints or essentialist presentations of ‘classical Buddhism’. In the light of historical and textual analysis it seems unfounded to hold Theravāda tradition as the original context or as some authoritative expression of Buddhist mindfulness, and there are no grounds for holding it as the exclusive Buddhist source of the MBSR programme either. Rather, one-sided Theravāda-based presentations give a limited and oversimplified picture of Buddhist doctrine and practice, and also distort comparisons with contemporary non-religious forms of mindfulness practice. To move beyond the sectarian and essentialist approaches closely related to the ‘world religions paradigm’ in the study of religion, the discussion would benefit from a lineage-based approach, where possible historical continuities and phenomenological similarities between Buddhist mindfulness and contemporary non-religious approaches are examined at the level of particular relevant Buddhist teachers and their lineages of doctrine and practice

The 'Universal Dharma Foundation' of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction : Non-duality and Mahāyāna Buddhist Influences in the Work of Jon Kabat-Zinn

The discussion on the Buddhist roots of contemporary mindfulness practices is dominated by a narrative which considers the Theravāda tradition and Theravāda-based ‘neo-vipassanā movement’ as the principal source of Buddhist influences in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and related mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs). This Theravāda bias fails to acknowledge the significant Mahāyāna Buddhist influences that have informed the pioneering work of Jon Kabat-Zinn in the formation of the MBSR programme. In Kabat-Zinn’s texts, the ‘universal dharma foundation’ of mindfulness practice is grounded in pan-Buddhist teachings on the origins and cessation of suffering. While MBSR methods derive from both Theravāda-based vipassanā and non-dual Mahāyāna approaches, the philosophical foundation of MBSR differs significantly from Theravāda views. Instead, the characteristic principles and insights of MBSR practice indicate significant similarities and historical continuities with contemporary Zen/Sŏn/Thiền and Tibetan Dzogchen teachings based on doctrinal developments within Indian and East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism.Peer reviewe

Mindfulness-pohjainen stressinhallintaohjelma post-buddhalaisena meditaatioperinteenä

This article-based doctoral dissertation explores the Buddhist influence on the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme and the historical-ideological continuity between Buddhist modernism and contemporary mindfulness. The analysis is based on textual materials, ethnographic data from MBSR teacher training in Finland, and a research interview with the founder of the programme Jon Kabat-Zinn. Through the combination of both ethnographic and textual data, the dissertation shows that exclusive attention to either alone would result in an incomplete image of the MBSR tradition. I identify methodological weaknesses in previous mindfulness research and suggest ways of moving forward. Instead of discussing ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Buddhist mindfulness’ in essentialist or sectarian terms, we need to focus our analysis of Buddhist influence on specific Buddhist teachers, texts, and lineages that are relevant to our research question and object of study. Also, the differences between authoritative texts and lived practices should be accounted for in our treatment of both Buddhist meditation and contemporary mindfulness. In light of my analysis, MBSR appears as a non-dual approach to meditation with significant influences from contemporary Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan Buddhist lineages and doctrinal developments in Indian and East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism. The detailed articulation of signature Mahāyāna influences is a needed correction to the dominant Theravāda Buddhist bias in previous mindfulness research. The existential, ontological, and ethical dimensions of the MBSR programme reveal the shortcomings of strictly instrumental-therapeutic depictions of contemporary mindfulness. However, in the ethnographic data from MBSR teacher training these dimensions and the non-dual aspects of the programme are less pronounced. I build on current research on Buddhist modernism to develop ‘post-Buddhism’ as a more mature theoretical concept in the study of religion and Buddhist studies. I argue that the MBSR programme both continues and radicalizes the principal cultural processes of Buddhist modernism and is best understood as a post-Buddhist tradition of meditation practice with characteristic post-secular features. The concept of post-Buddhism denotes a radical form of detraditionalization, which maintains a perceived ‘essence’ of Buddhist teachings and practices but rejects a Buddhist self-identity and dependence on established Buddhist institutions, lineages, and authorities.Tarkastelen artikkeliväitöskirjassani mindfulness-pohjaisen stressinhallintaohjelman (MBSR) buddhalaisia vaikutteita sekä historiallis–ideologista jatkuvuutta buddhalaisen modernismin ja nykyaikaisen mindfulness-harjoituksen välillä. Analyysini perustuu tekstiaineistoihin, etnografiseen aineistoon suomalaisesta MBSR-ohjaajakoulutuksesta sekä ohjelman perustajan Jon Kabat-Zinnin tutkimushaastatteluun. Väitöskirjani näyttää, että yksinomaan tekstiaineistoon tai etnografiseen materiaaliin keskittyvä tarkastelu tuottaisi puutteellisen kuvan MBSR-perinteestä. Osoitan metodologisia ongelmia aiemmassa mindfulness-tutkimuksessa ja esitän keinoja, joilla ne voidaan ratkaista. Yksinkertaistavan essentialismin ja perusteettomasti vain yhtä buddhalaisuuden suuntausta painottavan tarkastelun sijaan buddhalaisten vaikutteiden analyysissa on tärkeää yksilöidä ne buddhalaiset opettajat ja lähteet, jotka ovat relevantteja tietyn mindfulness-menetelmän ja tutkimuskysymyksen näkökulmasta. Lisäksi auktoriteettiasemassa olevien tekstien ja elettyjen käytäntöjen väliset erot tulee huomioida sekä buddhalaisen meditaation että nykyaikaisen mindfulness-harjoituksen tutkimuksessa. Analyysini valossa MBSR näyttäytyy meditaatioharjoituksen ei-dualistisena suuntauksena, jossa on merkittäviä vaikutteita moderneista zen-, vipassanā- ja tiibetinbuddhalaisista opetuslinjoista sekä opillisista painotuksista Intian ja Itä-Aasian mahāyāna-buddhalaisuudessa. Näiden mahāyāna-vaikutteiden erittely korjaa aiemman mindfulness-tutkimuksen vinoumaa, joka on painottanut yksipuolisesti theravāda-buddhalaisia lähteitä ja näkökulmia. MBSR-ohjelman eksistentiaaliset, ontologiset ja eettiset ulottuvuudet osoittavat, että mindfulness-harjoitusten pelkkään välineelliseen tai terapeuttiseen hyötyyn keskittyvät kuvaukset ovat yksinkertaistavia. Ilmiöiden keskinäistä yhteyttä korostavat eettiset ja maailmankuvalliset ulottuvuudet ovat kuitenkin vähemmän esillä MBSR-ohjaajakoulutukseen liittyvässä etnografisessa aineistossa. Tutkimuksessani kehitän ”post-buddhalaisuutta” teoreettisena käsitteenä buddhalaiseen modernismiin liittyvän aiemman tutkimuksen pohjalta. Väitän, että MBSR-ohjelma sekä jatkaa että radikalisoi buddhalaisen modernismin keskeisiä kulttuurisia prosesseja. Se voidaan parhaiten ymmärtää post-buddhalaisena meditaatioperinteenä, jossa on keskeisiä post-sekulaareja piirteitä. Post-buddhalaisuus viittaa detraditionalisaation pitkälle edenneeseen muotoon, joka säilyttää buddhalaisten opetusten ja harjoitusten koetun "ytimen" mutta hylkää buddhalaisen itseidentiteetin sekä riippuvuuden vakiintuneista buddhalaisista instituutioista, opetuslinjoista ja auktoriteeteista

New Spirituality from the learning perspective

Peer reviewe

Religion and spirituality as sites of learning

Learning penetrates religion in many ways. Primary religious socialisation – sometimes referred to as religious nurture – is the process by which children are explicitly and purposefully taught to do things religiously or they learn implicitly by following what their families and other people around them do, speak and feel. In secondary religious socialisation one sets about learning something additional to or different from what was learned and internalised in one’s religious or non-religious childhood home and surroundings. Secondary socialisation may also entail processes of unlearning something previously learned in order to grasp and master the skills, ways of thinking and feeling, and discursive habits of the new worldview and context of life. Learning in both primary and secondary socialisation can in some cases turn into a thoroughly religiously informed way of life. Alternatively, religious learning may not always be sufficiently lengthy and committed to result in full socialisation. Many people engage in religion merely in special situations or turning points in life, and after that particular need is over, religion loses its acute significance. Furthermore, religious learning may also have intended or unintended effects and consequences beyond the more strictly bounded religious sphere and may come to be reflected in personal and relational life much more widely. (See Long and Hadden 1983; Sherkat 2003; Collet Sabe 2007; Berliner and Sarró 2008; Erricker, Ota and Erricker 2012; Scourfield et al. 2013; Klingenberg, Sjö and Broo 2019.

On the Buddhist roots of contemporary non-religious mindfulness practice : moving beyond sectarian and essentialist approaches

Mindfulness-based practice methods are entering the Western cultural mainstream as institutionalised approaches in healthcare, education, and other public spheres. The Buddhist roots of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and comparable mindfulness-based programmes are widely acknowledged, together with the view of their religious and ideological neutrality. However, the cultural and historical roots of these contemporary approaches have received relatively little attention in the study of religion, and the discussion has been centred on Theravāda Buddhist viewpoints or essentialist presentations of ‘classical Buddhism’. In the light of historical and textual analysis it seems unfounded to hold Theravāda tradition as the original context or as some authoritative expression of Buddhist mindfulness, and there are no grounds for holding it as the exclusive Buddhist source of the MBSR programme either. Rather, one-sided Theravāda-based presentations give a limited and oversimplified picture of Buddhist doctrine and practice, and also distort comparisons with contemporary non-religious forms of mindfulness practice. To move beyond the sectarian and essentialist approaches closely related to the ‘world religions paradigm’ in the study of religion, the discussion would benefit from a lineage-based approach, where possible historical continuities and phenomenological similarities between Buddhist mindfulness and contemporary non-religious approaches are examined at the level of particular relevant Buddhist teachers and their lineages of doctrine and practice.Mindfulness-based practice methods are entering the Western cultural mainstream as institutionalised approaches in healthcare, education, and other public spheres. The Buddhist roots of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and comparable mindfulness-based programmes are widely acknowledged, together with the view of their religious and ideological neutrality. However, the cultural and historical roots of these contemporary approaches have received relatively little attention in the study of religion, and the discussion has been centred on Theravāda Buddhist viewpoints or essentialist presentations of ‘classical Buddhism’. In the light of historical and textual analysis it seems unfounded to hold Theravāda tradition as the original context or as some authoritative expression of Buddhist mindfulness, and there are no grounds for holding it as the exclusive Buddhist source of the MBSR programme either. Rather, one-sided Theravāda-based presentations give a limited and oversimplified picture of Buddhist doctrine and practice, and also distort comparisons with contemporary non-religious forms of mindfulness practice. To move beyond the sectarian and essentialist approaches closely related to the ‘world religions paradigm’ in the study of religion, the discussion would benefit from a lineage-based approach, where possible historical continuities and phenomenological similarities between Buddhist mindfulness and contemporary non-religious approaches are examined at the level of particular relevant Buddhist teachers and their lineages of doctrine and practice.Peer reviewe

Mindfulness-harjoituksen buddhalaiset juuret

Peer reviewe

Contemporary Mindfulness and Transreligious Learning Paths of Mental Health Professionals

In this article, we apply and assess the concept of transreligiosity in the study of formally educated and licensed psychologists and psychotherapists in Finland who integrate mindfulness practices in their professional toolkit. Our analytical focus complements the discussion on the use of religious and spiritual traditions as therapeutic resources by turning scholarly attention from individual coping tools to the professional skills of therapeutic work and from complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices to mainstream health care and education. In the field of mindfulness research, we add to the cumulative body of ethnographic approaches by analyzing the mindfulness-related individual learning paths of mental health professionals through qualitative interview data. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the professional skills of using mindfulness practices in secular health care and education can result from transreligious learning trajectories, in which psychologists and psychotherapists supplement science-based academic education with learning in Buddhist communities and training with Buddhist teachers. This role of Buddhist environments and resources points to a blind spot in the current understanding of adult and professional learning, in which the value and position of religious traditions as possible complementary sources of professional knowledge and skills are not sufficiently recognized

Religion and Spirituality as Sites of Learning

Learning penetrates religion in many ways. Primary religious socialisation – sometimes referred to as religious nurture – is the process by which children are explicitly and purposefully taught to do things religiously or they learn implicitly by following what their families and other people around them do, speak and feel. In secondary religious socialisation one sets about learning something additional to or different from what was learned and internalised in one’s religious or non-religious childhood home and surroundings. Secondary socialisation may also entail processes of unlearning something previously learned in order to grasp and master the skills, ways of thinking and feeling, and discursive habits of the new worldview and context of life. Learning in both primary and secondary socialisation can in some cases turn into a thoroughly religiously informed way of life. Alternatively, religious learning may not always be sufficiently lengthy and committed to result in full socialisation. Many people engage in religion merely in special situations or turning points in life, and after that particular need is over, religion loses its acute significance. Furthermore, religious learning may also have intended or unintended effects and consequences beyond the more strictly bounded religious sphere and may come to be reflected in personal and relational life much more widely. (See Long and Hadden 1983; Sherkat 2003; Collet Sabe 2007; Berliner and Sarró 2008; Erricker, Ota and Erricker 2012; Scourfield et al. 2013; Klingenberg, Sjö and Broo 2019.