Zen and the Art of Living Mindfully: The Health-Enhancing Potential of Zen Aesthetics

Amidst the burgeoning enthusiasm for mindfulness in the West, there is a concern that the largely secular ‘de-contextualized’ way in which it is being harnessed is denuding it of its potential to improve health and well-being. As such, efforts are underway to ‘re-contextualize’ mindfulness, explicitly drawing on the wider framework of Buddhist ideas and practices in which it was initially developed. This paper aims to contribute to this, doing so by focusing on Zen Buddhism, and in particular on Zen aesthetic principles. The article concentrates on the seven principles identified by Hisamatsu (1971) in his classic text Zen and the Fine Arts: kanso (simplicity); fukinsei (asymmetry); koko (austere sublimity); shizen (naturalness); daisuzoku (freedom from routine); sei-jaku (tranquillity); and yūgen (profound grace). The presence of these principles in works of art is seen as reflecting and communicating insights that are central to Buddhism, such as non-attachment. Moreover, these principles do not only apply to the creation and appreciation of art, but have clear applications for treating health-related issues, and improving quality of life more generally. This paper makes the case that embodying these principles in their lives can help people enhance their psychosomatic well-being, and come to a truer understanding of the essence of mindful living

The emperor’s clothes: A look behind the western mindfulness mystique

Mindfulness is presently a popular word, taken originally from Buddhist practices, that has stimulated enthusiastic research in psychology, neuroscience, medicine, and clinical psychology. But what is the mindfulness that these disciplines study? Although there are diverse Western definitions of the term, the most frequent de facto operational definition is that subjects have taken some form of the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. Accordingly this chapter provides: (a) A review of the meaning and place of mindfulness in the three main historical forms of Buddhism. (b) An analysis of the contents of the MBSR program and, in particular, of how participants use those contents. (c) A critique of the mindfulness measurement scales. Participants were found primarily responding not to mindfulness in either Buddhist or Western definitions, but to a variety of Western therapeutic components embedded in the program. I show how these findings could lead to new and more grounded research questions, better individually targeted therapies, and, when combined with some of the Eastern material, perhaps to shifts in our understanding of body and mind