Sustainable Compassion Training: Integrating Meditation Theory With Psychological Science
Frontiers in Psychology September 11, 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02249 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Proposes that Sustainable Compassion Training (SCT) can recover important contextual factors of meditation to flexibly meet the diverse needs of modern secular and religious participants. |
Abstract
Meditation programs continue to proliferate in the modern world, with increasing participation from scientists and many others who seek to improve physical, mental, relational, and social flourishing. In developing such programs, the meditation practices have been adapted to meet the needs of modern cultures. However, through that adaptation, important contextual factors of traditional contemplative cultures are often dropped or forgotten. This article presents a system of compassion and mindfulness training, Sustainable Compassion Training (SCT), which is designed to help people cultivate increasingly unconditional, inclusive, and sustainable care for self and others. SCT aims to recover important contextual factors of meditation that flexibly meet the diverse needs of modern secular and religious participants. SCT draws on Tibetan Buddhism in dialogue with caregivers, other contemplative traditions and relevant scientific theories to inform meditative transformation for secular contexts. We provide an overview of SCT meditations that includes both contemplative and scientific theories that draw out important features of them. Each meditation includes novel hypotheses that are generated from this dialogical process. We also provide links to audio-guided meditations.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 12
- A neurophenomenological approach to non-ordinary states of consciousness: hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics Trends in Cognitive Sciences December 22, 2022
- Beyond All Splits: Envisioning the Next Generation of Science on Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools for Students. Mindfulness November 11, 2022
- Compassion as a Skill: A Comparison of Contemplative and Evolution-Based Approaches Mindfulness August 3, 2023
- The neurophysiology of the intervention strategies of Awareness Training Program on emotion regulation Frontiers in Psychology July 22, 2022
- The Orientation on Being Program: A Prospective Pilot Study Comparing Its Results With the Standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program. Psychological Reports July 20, 2026
and 7 more in the library
Cites 9
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience Numen 1995
- Differential effects of non-dual and focused attention meditations on the formation of automatic perceptual habits in expert practitioners Neuropsychologia July 21, 2018
- When mindfulness is therapy: Ethical qualms, historical perspectives. American Psychologist 2015
- Self-related processing in mindfulness-based interventions. Current Opinion in Psychology July 13, 2019
and 4 more in the library