Buddhist Meditation and the Skillful Integration of Self: Buddhist Pedagogy and Scientific Models of Mind

Scientific and traditional Buddhist models of the mind can be reconciled by examining their underlying assumptions about the self. Two models are compared: the Theater-of-the-Mind, which places a central self at the heart of experience, and the Ten Ox Herding Pictures, which uses a conventional self but ultimately affirms impermanence and no-self. A practical pedagogical reconciliation is possible through provisional acceptance of a reified self in Buddhist teaching, as illustrated by a recently developed Buddhist-based meditation program. This approach may reduce tensions between secular and religious views of meditation by clarifying the models of mind each practice implies.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article aims to show how scientific interpretations of the mind can be integrated with traditional Buddhist models of the mind that maintain no-self in light of modern Buddhist meditation practices. Building on David McMahan’s work, it compares two models of mind, the Theater-of-the-Mind and the Ten Ox Herding Pictures (C. Shíniútú; K. Sibudo 十牛圖). The former places the self at the center of experience, while the latter, although it makes use of a conventional self, ultimately maintains the impermanence of the self. While this article primarily contributes to a theoretical understanding, a practical claim is made regarding the pedagogic reconciliation between these two approaches. This is done through the analysis of the two models of mind, an explanation of how Buddhist pedagogy integrates a model that reifies the self through provisional acceptance, and finally by providing an example of this integration with a recently developed Buddhist-based meditation program. One implication of this work is that the tensions between the secular and religious approaches to meditation that afflict so much of the discussion surrounding practices such as mindfulness can be quelled, at least to some extent, by a careful philosophical interrogation of the models of mind implied by those practices.