From the Mindfulness Revolution to the Mindfulness Wars

The mindfulness movement, though often associated with American Buddhist convert communities, actually belongs to the lineage of scientific rationalism, one of the three main discourses of modern Buddhism. This chapter traces the movement's development from U Ba Khin's modernist reframing of mindfulness as a nonsectarian practice to Jon Kabat-Zinn's scientific universal iteration. Buddhist scholars including McMahan, Wilson, Sharf, and Braun agree that secular mindfulness is an extension and expression of Buddhist modernism. However, Buddhist critiques of mindfulness reveal considerable opposition to core modernist components such as universalism, individualism, an emphasis on the experiential, and the scientific-rational lineage.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter examines the ambivalent relationship between American Buddhist convert communities and the mindfulness movement, and tracks some of the major patterns around mindfulness that have emerged from within those communities. It argues that the mindfulness movement should be located in the lineage of scientific rationalism, one of the three main discourses of modern Buddhism, and is clearly traceable from U Ba Khin's modernist reframing of mindfulness as a nonsectarian practice to Kabat-Zinn's scientific universal iteration. Indeed, Buddhist scholars such as McMahan, Wilson, Sharf, and Braun are united in seeing secular mindfulness as an extension and expression of Buddhist modernism. Buddhist critiques of mindfulness, however, show considerable opposition to core modernist components: universalism, individualism, an emphasis on the experiential, and the scientific-rational lineage.