Nondualism as a Research Paradigm for Mindfulness Research and Beyond
Oleg N. Medvedev, Christian U. Krägeloh
Mindfulness September 24, 2026 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-026-02992-7 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that the standard paradigm typology in qualitative methods is not comprehensive because it presupposes a subject-object distinction that nondual commitments treat as derived rather than fundamental. Proposes that nondualism, articulated via the Kyoto School and a framework called "unitlessness," enters paradigm debate on equal terms, requires no contemplative practice, and changes only how findings are worded and what they are taken to show, not research methods themselves. |
Abstract
Abstract Many qualitative methods textbooks instruct researchers to begin by declaring their paradigm position from a standard typology, such as positivist, postpositivist, constructivist, critical, and poststructural paradigms, and to ensure methodological coherence with that position. This typology is often perceived to be a comprehensive framework for locating research positions. We argue that it is not. We examine what is at stake methodologically when a researcher’s starting commitments are nondual, that is, when the subject-object distinction that structures every position on the standard typology is itself treated as a derived rather than fundamental feature of reality. Researchers whose work is shaped by such commitments may be more common than the explicit literature suggests, particularly in mindfulness, contemplative science, and consciousness research, where Buddhist philosophical commitments implicitly underlie much of the work without being made methodologically explicit. We situate our argument by noting parallel attempts to articulate paradigm positions from non-Western philosophical traditions, and by introducing the Kyoto School’s articulation of nondualism through the work of Nishida Kitarō. We then present a recent framework called “unitlessness” that renders nondualism’s methodological consequences accessible to contemporary researchers. We close by drawing out the implications of adopting nondualism as the starting commitment. First-person and third-person methods are located at the same structural level rather than ranked on a hierarchy of fundamentality. Reflexivity is deflated rather than made constitutive: positionality statements are themselves discourse-level acts, and they cannot close a researcher–researched gap that is itself a discourse-level structuring. Research methods are left unchanged; what changes is how findings are worded and what they are taken to show. Nondualism enters paradigm debate on the same terms as any other position; it requires no contemplative practice of the researcher and claims no privileged access to truth.
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
Cites 12
- Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation Perspectives on Psychological Science October 10, 2017
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- The Empirical Status of Mindfulness-Based Interventions: A Systematic Review of 44 Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials Perspectives on Psychological Science February 16, 2021
- Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness Frontiers in Psychology September 4, 2018
- Neural correlates of nondual awareness in meditation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2014
and 7 more in the library