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Mindfulness goes mainstream


redhen

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And you know what the means .......

"Tech leaders flock annually to the Wisdom 2.0 conference, and there are now countless smartphone apps devoted to the subject. But these developments have led to a growing concern that mindfulness is being co-opted and corrupted.

Why is that?

Long-term adherents of mindfulness worry that what is fundamentally a spiritual practice is being appropriated by new age entrepreneurs seeking to profit off it. Others are concerned that Fortune 500 executives are pushing meditation so that overworked employees can be even more productive without melting down."

News article here.

For those interested in the origins of mindfulness meditation, you can search for Satipatthana

Edited by redhen
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Even US military is adopting it. Good for my brethren. A true warrior knows when to be merciful.

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The meditation thing seems to come and go as a fad in the business and mainstream world.

I'd say give it a few months, and if the profits aren't what they want them to be it'll go back to its niche following.

...no offense meant as niche

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The meditation thing seems to come and go as a fad in the business and mainstream world.

I'd say give it a few months, and if the profits aren't what they want them to be it'll go back to its niche following.

...no offense meant as niche

Usually the business types are lacking in empathy and aesthetics, from the observation of my firsthand encounters.

I hope meditation gives them some new insights and make that realize that they should have long-term goals and visions beside immediate profits.

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Long-term adherents of mindfulness worry that what is fundamentally a spiritual practice is being appropriated by new age entrepreneurs seeking to profit off it.

Is mindfulness fundamentally a spiritual practice? I'm not sure what 'spiritual' means in this context. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

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Something w/o a tangible gain is what I took it as. You can't get rich directly from meditating, or gain political influence or power, but you can get "peace of mind".

That sort of thing

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Isn't every human being naturally mindful?

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Anytime something goes mainstream it gets a umbrella effect. It starts to mean variations of different things to different people.

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Isn't every human being naturally mindful?

I would agree that every human being is naturally mindful, but this mindfulness gets superceeded by all the noise that is constantly going on in the mind: thoughts, concepts, desires, imaginations, preconceptions, memories, etc. It's quite a different state of mind to pay attention to and live in the present moment.

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Is mindfulness fundamentally a spiritual practice? I'm not sure what 'spiritual' means in this context. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

i'm with you on this one
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Is mindfulness fundamentally a spiritual practice? I'm not sure what 'spiritual' means in this context. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

In this sense "mindfulness" is not just simply being aware of your surroundings, or in military jargon "situational awareness". It's a methodical practice whose aim is Nirvana. Here's the beginning of the Satipatthana Sutta.

"Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was living among the Kurus, at Kammasadamma, a market town of the Kuru people. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhu thus: "Monks," and they replied to him, "Venerable Sir." The Blessed One spoke as follows:

This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely, the four foundations of mindfulness. What are the four?

Herein (in this teaching) a monk lives contemplating the body in the body,[1] ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating feelings in feelings, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating consciousness in consciousness,[2] ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief."

http://www.accesstoi...a/wheel019.html

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Post #12 above.
n the Buddhist context nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.[1] In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the divine ground of existence Brahman (Supreme Being) and the experience of blissful ego-lessness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

I still don't see where the spiritual part come into play except in Hindu philosophy, which is a religion. I suppose if one were a Hindu, nirvana would relate to spirituality.

I would say that in Buddhism, mindfulness is practical experience, more a psychological state of mind than spiritual. One can add all sorts of mental extras or concepts like spirituality to mindfulness, but when we add something to mindfulness, is it really mindfulness?

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i dont see a direct connection between mindfulness and spirituality

to be mindful is merely to be aware

if you want to be spiritual and be aware that's fine but one does not necessarily require the other

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The authors of this news article seem to use the words spiritual and religious interchangeably. Actually they don't use the words religion or religious at all. It is implied though when they write; "What is mindfulness, exactly? It's a meditation practice central to the Buddha's teachings, which has now been adapted by Western teachers into a secular self-help technique."

I suspect many people who have signed up for mindfulness meditation classes have no idea that they are treading on holy ground.

I have a worn out copy of this book; The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: Satipatthna: A Handbook of Mental Training Based on the Buddha's Way of Mindfulness.

I would recommend it to anyone interested in this technique/religious practice. Where's Frank Merton when you need him?

Edited by redhen
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I can't conceive of a single thing that is non-spiritual.

Spirituality never ceases, nor is it anywhere prohibited or non-present.

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I can't conceive of a single thing that is non-spiritual.

Spirituality never ceases, nor is it anywhere prohibited or non-present.

that's a very subjective statement.
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I suspect many people who have signed up for mindfulness meditation classes have no idea that they are treading on holy ground.
I can't conceive of a single thing that is non-spiritual.

Spirituality never ceases, nor is it anywhere prohibited or non-present.

I can understand a transcendental feeling when one mindfully meditative, a sort of spirituality without object, but I still suggest that mindfulness itself is a secular experience. In mindfulness there is actually no mind involved. We can add anything we like to it, but this would be creating mind again, holding some thought or concept in our consciousness.

Mindfulness is an empty mind that is aware (in Zen, no-mind or an awareness of suchness) . When we add some concept we disturb this calm water, so to speak.

As I say, this can be a transcendental experience in a sense, but without object. We can call this holy ground, but this is another thought held in the mind that disturbs this calmness. Better to just leave the mind alone.

Just my views of the subject.

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Once upon a time it was referred to as introspection, then meditation and now we gotta learn a new word, mindfulness? sheeesssss, what's wrong with meditation?

But it is good to see results coming from mainstream professionals and a wider audience for previously wierdo pratices.

Been an adherent most of my life and so its a 'normal' part of everyday life but not as the Buddist method practices, the sitting down thing, that method I only employ when I want to check another races way of doing things.

Like a lot of things, it has its pro's and con's and one of the unfortunate parts about seeing Western society getting into practices from alternate cultures is that they invariably dont have the racial background for the practices and so miss out on a lot of the basics integral to the practises.

You can take a huge step and use it as a form of 'magic' for wont of a better word in that you can actively influence others minds with the practice, always to ones own detriment in small ways mostly but can be downright dangerous for all involved.

But on the other hand, the same technique can be hugely beneficial to oneself as observed in the above results.

These are of course my own personal observations based on my own experiences and yes, spirituality is in fact integral to the practice in my mind.

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I can't conceive a single thing which didn't have colors, weight and movement. Nor spiritual resonance, because I can't conceive a single thing without colors, weight, shape and movement.

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I can understand a transcendental feeling when one mindfully meditative, a sort of spirituality without object

Ah, but there are objects of meditation, see the Wiki entry again, specifically the "four foundations of mindfulness"'

body, feelings, mind, mental objects.

What you were describing is "bare attention". Luckily I found a quote online from the book I mentioned, so I don't to type it all out;

"Bare attention is the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us, at the successive moments of perception. It is called ‘bare because it attends just to the bare facts of a perception as presented either through the five physical senses or through the mind ... When attending to that sixfold sense impression, attention or mindfulness is kept to a bare registering of the facts observed, without reacting to them by deed, speech, or by mental comment, which may be one of self-reference (like, dislike, etc.), judgement or reflection."

That's bare attention. It's the very first step, but it's only the beginning.

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That's bare attention. It's the very first step, but it's only the beginning.

I understand what you are saying and I think you are correct. The kind of mindfulness I mean would include the 'four foundations' . Mindfulness is being aware of the body, the senses, the mind and one's environment. I don't always express myself as I would like. :) Though I wouldn't consider these objects of awareness in that they are not separate from each other in this kind of awareness.

This is just my understanding and experience. I'm not a Buddhist, and I think one can become tangled up in one's study of these subjects: one can become a life-long student. I don't really like the word 'meditation', as it infers something special that we do. I would consider the meditative mind as what we do, and the non-meditative mind as something special.

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I wouldn't consider these objects of awareness in that they are not separate from each other in this kind of awareness.

I think I know what you mean. you mean concentrating or bringing awareness to something external. That could be a candle, an image, a sound. Or it could be directed to a mental image; a deity, or towards others in general. In Buddhism this last one is called metta "with the meditator cultivating loving-kindness towards themselves, then one's loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers, enemies, and finally towards all sentient beings."

I think Christian contemplative prayer fits in here too.

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"There are no ordinary moments." Mindfulness is not just about awareness. It's a conscious recognition of quaila. When you recognize quaila properly its a bit euphoric. It really is amazing that we are even hear. A blessed gift of you being you. The goal with mindfulness is to hold this throughout your day and through your actions. Through nural plasticity you start to take pleasure in everything. Very beneficial for a person.

Edited by White Crane Feather
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