Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Bhikkhu Bodhi
620 citations
Mindfulness meditation, as described in the Pāli Canon, is best understood as 'lucid awareness' rather than 'bare attention.' The term mindfulness (sati) originally meant 'memory,' but the Buddha gave it a new meaning central to his teaching. Clear comprehension (sampajañña) bridges mindfulness and the development of insight. The author argues that while secular applications of mindfulness are acceptable for alleviating suffering, they should not reduce the practice to a mere technique and must respect its Buddhist roots.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Paul Grossman, Nicholas T. van Dam
540 citations
The Buddhist concept of mindfulness, central to many Western psychological interventions, originates from a centuries-old systematic investigation of subjective experience. Current enthusiasm for mindfulness in Western science has led to many different definitions, measurements, and self-report questionnaires that treat it as a stable personality trait. This paper identifies persistent problems with these attempts and warns that they risk distorting, diluting, or reifying the original Buddhist ideas. To properly understand and measure mindfulness, psychologists and scientists may need to study Buddhist phenomenology more deeply and engage in long-term direct practice of insight meditation, a step that seems necessary before any valid characterization or quantification can occur.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
J. Mark G. Williams, Jon Kabat‐zinn
390 citations
This special issue on Mindfulness integrates mindfulness-based approaches into medicine, psychology, neuroscience, healthcare, and education. The guest editors explain the rationale, aims, and intentions behind the collection, highlighting the growing interest and application of mindfulness across diverse fields. The issue brings together contributions that explore the theory, practice, and empirical evidence of mindfulness, aiming to advance understanding and foster interdisciplinary dialogue. It underscores the potential of mindfulness to enhance well-being, clinical outcomes, and educational practices, while also addressing challenges and future directions for research and implementation.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Ruth A. Baer
271 citations
Mindfulness-based treatments produce clinically meaningful improvements for depression, anxiety, pain, and stress, but the mechanisms driving these benefits remain unclear. Central questions include whether mindfulness training increases the general tendency to respond mindfully to daily life and whether such changes explain mental health improvements. Answering these questions requires reliable assessment tools. Several mindfulness questionnaires are now available, and early evidence indicates they are useful despite shortcomings needing further work. This paper summarizes the rationale for these questionnaires, their construction methods, and research findings on their utility, while discussing challenges in maintaining consistency with Buddhist conceptions of mindfulness when applying psychological research methods.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Melanie Fennell, Zindel V. Segal
31 citations
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy combines mindfulness meditation, rooted in Buddhist thought, with Western cognitive and clinical science. This article examines points of congruence and difference between these two traditions and concludes that, despite initial appearances, the partnership is fruitful and likely to endure.
Contemporary Buddhism
November 1, 2013
Beatrice Alba
19 citations
Participants at two metta meditation retreats reported significant increases in happiness and compassionate love, along with reductions in avoidance motivation, revenge motivation, and depression, anxiety, and stress scores. These changes were observed from the beginning of the retreat to two weeks after its conclusion.
Contemporary Buddhism
April 22, 2025
Nicholas K. Canby, Jared R. Lindahl, David J. Cooper et al.
1 citation
Meditation teachers can have both beneficial and detrimental impacts on practitioners facing meditation-related challenges. A mixed-methods study of 68 meditation practitioners and 33 experts from various Buddhist lineages found that beneficial relationships involved access to well-qualified teachers, appropriate guidance, and teachers with psychology or mental health training. Unhelpful factors included teacher unavailability, limited student tracking or disclosure, invalidating or victim-blaming responses, lack of perceived expertise, and mismatched interpersonal or cultural dynamics. The psychologization of Buddhist meditation in the West shapes student-teacher relationships and expectations, especially during challenges.
Contemporary Buddhism
June 1, 2026
Kanae Kawamoto
In the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, six supernatural powers called abhiññās—including recalling past lives and reading minds—are often marginalized as non-essential or heterodox. This research examines how the contemporary meditation method of Burmese monk Hpa-Auk Sayadaw restructures these powers as a systematic, canonical practice. Based on fieldwork and interviews since 2014, the study shows that abilities such as recalling past lives and the 'divine eye' function as rational tools for deepening understanding of Buddhist teachings, including karmic interconnectedness, the cycle of rebirth, and compassion. Analyzing the living practice of three nuns in Myanmar, the paper demonstrates how cultivating abhiññās is integrated within the Pāli canonical meditation system, expanding focus beyond popular mindfulness and vipassanā movements.
Contemporary Buddhism
February 20, 2019
P. Kyaw
This article examines two popular meditation traditions in Myanmar: Sunlun and Theinngu. Their founders, Sunlun Sayadaw and Theinngu Sayadaw, were laypeople until their mid-40s before becoming respected meditation teachers. Both traditions use rapid, strong, and rhythmic breathing combined with contemplation of intense bodily sensations. The article documents their techniques in detail, contrasts their use of mindfulness with the modern Mindfulness movement, and discusses how both masters' practices were authorized by senior members of the Burmese Sangha using Pāli texts to verify the popular belief that they were arahants, situating this within Burmese laypeople's concerns about defending Buddhism from decline.